What’s On at The Playhouse?

The digital version of the new Edinburgh Playhouse What’s On July-December 2017 brochure is online now.

Highlights include Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Tony Award winning Sunset Boulevard with Ria Jones and Danny Mac (pictured) this October and Cabaret featuring Will Young and Louise Redknapp in November, while December will see the Broadway and West End smash hit Beautiful – The Carole King Musical come to the Scottish capital as part of its first ever UK tour.

And helping mark seven decades of Edinburgh as a festival city, August will see  The Playhouse on the Fringe showcase the works of five international performers across a programme of 56 shows.

You can also keep up to date with the Playhouse on social media.

Facebook | @edinplayhouse | Instagram

July’s plant of the month: Potted summer bulbs

 
Colourful, impressive, summery bulbs 
Most people are familiar with spring-flowering bulbs but there are also a various range of bulbs sold in pots in the summer months that can bring colour and atmosphere to the patio. We have selected three summer-flowering potted bulbs as the Garden Plant of the Month for July: the Calla, the Lily and the Star of Bethlehem. Varied, colourful and impressive, both on their own and combined together or with other garden plants.
Potted summer bulbs: Calla, Lily and Star of Bethlehem 
Zantedeschia is often known as the Calla or Arum Lily. In the past, we were only really familiar with the flowers of the white Zantedeschia aethiopica – it has large white calyxes and can grow quite big in the garden. There are now more compact varieties, in many different colours from white to orange and dark purple to yellow. The flowers are smaller, the plants also have attractive markings on the leaves in the form of silver spots.
Potted Lilies are all hybrids – many original species originate from Japan, China and Korea. The name LA (Longiflorum x Asiatic hybrids) is an old Latin plant name for the Lily. The plant is characterized by the many buds on the stem and the leaf that extends the full length of the stem. The larger the bulb that is used, the more buds there will be on the stem. The most common potted Lilies have large flowers with a strong scent, and the LA Group usually comes in pastel shades. The range of colours varies from yellow, orange and red through to pink and white. Many bicoloured lilies also have flowers with an extra spot in the Calix.
Ornithogalum, as the Star of Bethlehem is officially known, grows from beautiful leaf rosettes from which a leafless stem emerges with the flower on the end. The name Ornithogalum derives from an old Greek plant name which means ‘bird milk’ (‘ornithos’ = bird, ‘gala’ = milk). There are three most common species. O. Saundersiae has long stems over a metre in length bearing a composite white flower. Every separate flower has an eye-catching black dot at its heart. O. dubium is much shorter, often just 10 to 30 centimetres and is available in orange and yellow. O. thyrsoides has white composite flowers in the shape of plumes.
Caring for Calla, Lily and Star of Bethlehem
The summer-flowering bulbs are very easy to care for, and will give weeks of pleasure.
  • The plants are undemanding and can be placed in both the shade and the sun. The temperature does need to remain above at least 5-8 °C, but that won’t pose a problem in the summer.
  • Make sure that the soil never dries out, so water regularly, particularly when the plants are placed in pots or containers. The bulbs and tubers mean that the plants can survive through a slightly drier period, which is handy when you go on holiday for a week.
  • Give plant food once a fortnight to ensure lavish flowering. Remember, the plants are only for decoration and not for consumption.
Tips for keeping potted summer bulbs
Summer-flowering potted bulb plants can be kept by bringing them indoors after flowering in October or November. That gives them a hibernation period whereby the plant remains dry and the foliage dies back. The bulbs and tubers will then produce plenty of new flowers during the next growing season. You can plant them outside again from April onwards. The plants will then produce the fabulous flowers again in the summer.
More information about potted summer bulbs and other garden plants can be found at Thejoyofplants.co.uk.

Rankin joins the greats at Edinburgh’s Writers’ Museum

Ian Rankin has joined the ranks of Sir Walter Scott, Robert Burns and Robert Louis Stevenson today as his work is is celebrated in a new exhibition at Edinburgh’s Writers’ Museum. A rare selection of personal items, manuscripts and images belonging to the best-selling writer are displayed in a new exhibition celebrating the 30th anniversary of his much-loved Edinburgh sleuth, Detective Inspector Rebus. Continue reading Rankin joins the greats at Edinburgh’s Writers’ Museum

Circle receives cash boost from Morrisons Foundation

Local charity Circle has received a £950 donation to develop the outdoor area at their West Pilton base, where high school volunteers team up with primary school children to provide mentoring and support. The donation, awarded by the Morrisons Foundation, will be used to renovate the garden area and purchase equipment, picnic benches and raised beds. Continue reading Circle receives cash boost from Morrisons Foundation

Botanics’ Edible Garden Project wins national award

Horticulture Week Custodian Awards

Edible Gardening Project – Best Food Growing Initiative

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) Edible Gardening Project has won an award at this year’s Horticulture Week Custodian Awards. The local project scooped the Best Food Growing Initiative award, one of 18 presented at Woburn Abbey Sculpture Gallery on Wednesday. Continue reading Botanics’ Edible Garden Project wins national award

Westminster welfare cuts ‘damaging our people’

New report examines evidence of impact in Scotland

Social Security Minister Jeane Freeman says that women, disabled people and young people would be those disproportionately affected by damaging UK Government welfare cuts.The Minister was commenting on a Scottish Government report detailing the impact of UK Government welfare cuts on people across Scotland published yesterday.

The statutory report, which was submitted to the Scottish Parliament, estimates the impact of all welfare measures passed by the UK Government between 2010 and 2017 drawing upon independent analysis by the Office for Budget Responsibility.

Based on the latest forecasts, it is expected that the UK Government annual social security spend in Scotland will reduce by £3.9 billion by 2020/21. In addition, hundreds of thousands of people have lost or will lose some of their benefit payments.

Local authority level analysis suggests that West Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire, Dundee, Inverclyde and North Lanarkshire will see the most significant falls in welfare spending by 2020/21 relative to their working-age population size.

Social Security Minister Jeane Freeman said: “This report presents the stark reality of the UK Government’s austerity programme which imposes unjust welfare cuts that not only continue to cause misery and push more people into poverty, but also directly affect local economies across Scotland and attract international criticism.

“These cuts are damaging our people and they are harmful to our communities.  Every pound taken away from those entitled to financial support not only affects those individuals and their families, it is also a pound less that is spent locally.

“Shockingly, with many of the harshest cuts still to come, the reforms will reduce spending on welfare in Scotland by nearly £4 billion a year by the end of this decade.  This is in addition to the 9.2% (or £2.9 billion) real terms cuts between 2010-11 and 2019-20 that the Scottish Government will see in the day-to-day budget that pays for public services – and that is before the further £3.5 billion of cuts that are expected to be applied to public spending across the UK in 2019-20.

“That will obviously have an impact on the amount of money the Scottish Government has available within its budget to spend.  And while we have used over £350 million since 2013/14 to mitigate against the worst damage, it is simply not possible to for us to mitigate all of the UK Government’s welfare cuts without major reductions in our expenditure in other vital public services, in growing our economy and in providing real opportunity to our young people

“The UK Government is responsible for all of this damage to individual lives and local communities and we will continue to use every opportunity to press the UK Government to reverse these unjust policies.  They need to recognise that social security is the foundation of a just and decent society and that everyone, no matter their social or economic status, deserves to be treated fairly and with dignity and respect. ”

Yesterday the Scottish Government laid regulations in the Scottish Parliament to help people by making their Universal Credit payments more flexible.

The regulations, which represent the first use of the new devolved social security powers, will give Universal Credit claimants in Scotland the option of :

  • being paid Universal Credit twice a month rather than monthly
  • having their Universal Credit housing element being paid directly to landlords

Welcoming this, Ms Freeman continued: “We have consistently said the new social security system in Scotland will treat everyone with dignity, fairness and respect.  Introducing this flexible approach to Universal Credit demonstrates this and I look forward to the new regulations coming into force and making life that little bit easier for a number of people.”

The flexibilities will come in to force on 4 October 2017 and, because Universal credit remains a reserved UK Government benefit,  will be delivered by the DWP on behalf of the Scottish Government.

This year the Scottish Government will spend around £454 million on measures that either directly mitigate the changes introduced by the Act or are part of wider measures tackling poverty in Scotland.

Scottish Ministers are required by the Scottish Parliament to report annually on the Welfare Reform (Further Provision) (Scotland) Act 2012.

The report is published here: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2017/06/6808 

Following this publication, a series of shorter reports will be published later this year focusing on groups who are particularly affected by UK Government welfare cuts. The reports will cover the impact on children and families, people with disabilities and the impact of welfare reform on homes and housing. 

Universal Credit remains a reserved benefit.  In January the Scottish Government committed to introducing flexibilities for Universal Credit. More detail can be found here: https://news.gov.scot/news/scottish-flexibilities-for-universal-credit

The Universal Credit (Claims and Payments) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 can be viewed here: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/

The Scottish Government’s also today published its response to the Consultation on Universal Credit (Claims and Payments) (Scotland) Regulations 2017, which can be viewed here: http://gov.scot/Publications/2017/06/8512

Continue reading Westminster welfare cuts ‘damaging our people’