Capital driving out hate crime on public transport

The first pledge in Scotland to end hate crime on public transport has been launched by the City of Edinburgh Council and transport partners. The ‘Charter for Public Transport’ aims to provide ‘hate free’ travel and partners Edinburgh Trams, ScotRail, Police Scotland, British Transport Police and First Scotland East came together in Haymarket station to make their pledge. Continue reading Capital driving out hate crime on public transport

Auld Reekie: glad to be gay?

Edinburgh features in world’s top 30 LGBT+ friendly cities

  • Madrid is top in the 2017 Best LGBT Cities List, scoring an impressive 23.56 out of a possible 25

  • Berlin ranks first in the LGBT nightlife category but only sixth overall, held back by LGBT rights laws in Germany

  • Tel Aviv is the highest ranking city outside of Europe and North America, ranking as the fourth best LGBT city

Furnished housing aggregator, Nestpick, has conducted one of the largest studies of its kind, researching the world’s best cities for the LGBT+ community. Five factors were investigated in order to understand which cities offer the best quality of life for those who identify under the LGBT initials. Nestpick conducted the study as part of Pride Month, releasing the results on June 28th, an important date historically for the gay liberation movement, marking the 48th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.

To make the list truly comprehensive and inclusive, thousands of cities were considered in the development stage. Polls were conducted amongst the LGBT community in 80 countries, using social media and other polling tools. More than 2,500 participants from each city were asked to give three lifestyle factors a rating out of five: the strength of their city’s gay dating scene, the quality of its LGBT nightlife, and the openness of their fellow citizens. A final shortlist of the 100 cities with the best poll results was then created.

Two additional categories were measured for the cities in the final shortlist: safety and the rights of LGBT citizens. These factors were included in order to recognise that although some cities offer an attractive lifestyle, a lot may still need to be done to protect people from hate crime and to give them equal rights. Information on the rights of LGBT citizens at a national level was provided by national and regional governments of each country, and data regarding the safety of the LGBT community was provided by local and national authorities.

“It’s no coincidence that the world’s most exciting cities have a strong LGBT community, contributing much to the dynamism, openness and prosperity which defines locations such as Madrid, Amsterdam and Berlin”, said Ömer Kücükdere, Managing Director of Nestpick.

The ten top scoring cities worldwide are:

Rank

City

Dating Scene

LGBT Nightlife

Openness in the City

Safety Score

LGBT Rights

Total

1

Madrid

4.63

4.87

4.87

4.19

5

23.56

2

Amsterdam

4.81

4.66

4.72

4.07

5

23.26

3

Toronto

4.60

4.57

4.78

3.74

5

22.69

4

Tel Aviv

4.72

4.81

4.81

4.23

4

22.57

5

London

4.94

4.97

4.94

2.61

5

22.46

6

Berlin

4.97

5.00

4.97

3.95

3

21.89

7

Brighton

4.15

4.45

4.66

3.54

5

21.80

8

Barcelona

4.84

4.78

4.75

2.41

5

21.78

9

New York City

5.00

4.94

4.91

2.85

4

21.70

10

San Francisco

4.75

4.84

5.00

3.02

4

21.61

Click here for the full list of 100 cities: https://www.nestpick.com/best-lgbt-cities/

Edinburgh scored 19.33 points out of a possible 25 and ranked in position 29 out of a possible 100, with the following scores and rankings:

Rank

Dating Scene Score

Dating Scene Rank

LGBT Nightlife Score

LGBT Nightlife Rank

Openness in the City

Openness in the City Rank

Safety Score

Safety Score Rank

LGBT Rights Score

Total

29

3.09

64

3.57

48

3.27

58

4.40

16

5

19.33

As scores for LGBT Rights were between 1-5 as whole figures, many cities scored the same amount. A ranking was therefore not included above, with many locations having tied in score.

10 UK cities were included in the ranking, with the following results:

Rank

City

Dating Scene

LGBT Nightlife

Openness in the City

Safety Score

LGBT Rights

Total

5

London

4.94

4.97

4.94

2.61

5

22.46

7

Brighton

4.15

4.45

4.66

3.54

5

21.80

13

Manchester

4.54

4.60

4.54

2.65

5

21.33

20

Bristol

3.60

4.24

4.24

3.66

5

20.74

29

Edinburgh

3.09

3.57

3.27

Spectacular Jousting comes to Linlithgow Palace

Horses, knights and lances are at the ready as Spectacular Jousting returns to Linlithgow Palace on 1st and 2nd July. To help celebrate the year of History, Heritage and Archaeology, visitors can take part in a thrilling festival of horsemanship, pageantry and music as a host of colourful, historic characters battle it out to be crowned the King’s Champion. Continue reading Spectacular Jousting comes to Linlithgow Palace

Children’s ward at St John’s: Questions and Answers

NHS Lothian announced last week that is making changes to the children’s inpatient services at St John’s Hospital, Livingston.
 
Patients will not be admitted to the children’s inpatient ward at St John’s Hospital, from Friday 7 July 2017. The children’s ward will continue to operate as an assessment and programmed investigation unit from Monday to Friday between the hours of 8am and 8pm.
 
NHS Lothian says it is ‘committed to reinstating the full service as soon as possible after the summer.’

Continue reading Children’s ward at St John’s: Questions and Answers

Housebuilder helps fund Scarlett’s Next Steps

A family is celebrating this week after receiving a £1,000 donation towards vital treatment for their young daughter. Scarlett Moore, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy following a traumatic birth, has been gifted the money from Persimmon Homes East Scotland’s Community Champions scheme towards the cost of Advanced Biomedical Rehabilitation (ABR). Continue reading Housebuilder helps fund Scarlett’s Next Steps

Empowering Our Communities: a firm step forward on a rocky road

More than one hundred and fifty people from across Scotland attended an ‘Empowering Our Communities’ event organised by the Scottish Government’s Ingage team in Edinburgh yesterday. Continue reading Empowering Our Communities: a firm step forward on a rocky road

300 new finance sector jobs fro Edinburgh

Plans by Australian financial services company Computershare to open a new technology centre of excellence in Edinburgh, creating 300 jobs, have been welcomed by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

The company secured a £2 million grant from Scottish Enterprise and has worked closely with Scottish Development International (SDI) to develop the project.

The expansion plans were announced on the same day SDI annual results were published, which showed 7,839 jobs were secured in Scotland through new and existing investors – an increase of 10% on the previous year.

The First Minister visited Computershare’s new office in the city centre which is being fully refurbished and will open next year. She said: “This announcement, with the creation of 300 highly skilled technology jobs and investment in the city centre, is fantastic news for Edinburgh’s economy.

“Scotland is open for business and continues to be a very attractive location for investment, as evidenced by the recent EY Attractiveness survey, which noted that Scotland was the top UK location for foreign direct investment outside London for the fifth consecutive year.

“Together with the inward investment figures published by SDI, this offers further evidence that we have the skills and expertise to attract and retain global companies like Computershare.”

Stuart Irving, global President and CEO of Computershare said: “As a truly international capital city, Edinburgh has a bright future and is a natural home for a global company. As a growing business we need the skills and hard work we see on offer in this city.

“We are grateful to the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Development International for helping us with our plans and are looking forward to our continued partnership.”

Neil Francis, operations director at SDI, said: “When a company like Computershare chooses to invest in Scotland, it sends a message to the rest of the world that Scotland is a first-class destination.

“We have a clear focus on winning the right kind of investment for Scotland – which is secured because of our skills base, science and research excellence and our connected business infrastructure, and this investment by Computershare is an example of this.

“We’re thrilled to have secured these new jobs for Edinburgh; it’s a ringing endorsement of our offering to international investors and we look forward to working with the Computershare team to help them fulfil their growth ambitions in Scotland.”

Computershare was founded in Melbourne in 1978 and its existing Edinburgh operation was established in 1998, serving locally-based clients and those further afield. From its current base in Edinburgh Park, the company provides relationship management and registry services to around 150 listed companies – from FTSE100 to AIM – many of whom are registered in Scotland.