Here’s your first update of the autumn together with details of how to join Trinity Community Council. It’s really very simple. Just get two other residents who haven’t already nominated someone to sign the attached form (below) , fill in your own details, sign the second side of it and return both to Cllr Allan Jackson at Edinburgh City Chambers by 4pm on Monday 26th September.
People’s Assembly Scotland Conference this Saturday
The People’s Assembly Scotland is organising an industrial and political conference on Saturday 17 September in the Renfield St Stephens Centre, 260 Bath St, Glasgow G2 4JP starting at 10.30am where leading trade unionists from UNITE, UNISON, RMT, FBU and others will address activists to discuss and organise building unity in the fight against austerity in a post-EU Scotland. Continue reading Building unity after EU Referendum
Community Council nominations open on Monday
Nominations for Edinburgh’s community councils open on Monday (5 September) and the city council is calling on people passionate about their area to play an active role and be part of something great! Continue reading Your community needs YOU! – be part of something great!
It’s official: the EU referendum debate left voters totally in the dark.
The final result could not have been clearer. But the actual campaign was anything but. Today we’ve set out what went wrong – how people from both sides of the EU debate found the experience top-down, negative and personality-dominated – but more importantly, how to make referendums better in the future.
We’re proud to launch our definitive analysis of the EU referendum debate, ‘It’s Good to Talk: Doing Referendums Differently After the EU Vote’. Because now that the dust is starting to settle, we need to learn the lessons from the EU campaign.
So today, we’re calling for a root-and-branch review into how we do referendums in the UK, with nine key recommendations on how to ensure voters get the debate they deserve in any future vote
From giving an official body the power to censure claims that are misleading, to ensuring grassroots citizen involvement at every stage of the process, we’ve laid out the ‘referendum reforms’ that are needed to prevent us making the same mistakes again.
We hope you find the report interesting and useful. Instead of leaving voters out in the cold, together we can make sure that future referendums offer the kind of informed and engaging debate we need. Thanks for your support.
| READ THE REPORT |
Best wishes,
Katie Ghose,
Chief Executive,
Electoral Reform Society
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn will deliver this year’s Jimmy Reid Foundation Annual Memorial Lecture. Continue reading Corbyn to deliver Reid Memorial Lecture
ELREC (Edinburgh & Lothian Regional Equality Council) and Granton & District Community Council have organised an event to encourage more BME residents to get involved in neighbourhood activities through Community Councils …
You are invited to an event:
Celebrating Diversity in Community Councils
Thursday, 11 August, 6 – 8.30pm
Royston Wardieburn Community Centre, 11 Pilton Drive North
The key aim of the event is to increase the representation of BME communities in community councils and hosted jointly by ELREC- Diversity in Public Life project and the Granton & District Community Council.
Edinburgh & Lothians Regional Equality Council (ELREC) has been working on Diversity in Public Life project since last year, aiming to increase the participation of the BME community in public life and in the democratic process. The project works with the diverse communities and it is funded by the Scottish Government. Under this project, a special scheme, Public Life Champion (PLC) has been launched to provide advice, training and mentoring to BME individuals who live/work across Edinburgh and the Lothians.
Community council triennial elections will take place in Sept-Oct 2016. In the wake of oncoming election, the event will provide useful information (i.e.: nomination/registration process) and practical advice for those who are interested to stand as a community councillor. This event will also help establish a link between community councillors and the prospective BME candidates.
If you are interested to represent the views of your local community to the local authority and other public bodies, then joining the community council would be an ideal vehicle as well as an entry point to get into public life.
See details about: what is community council ?
The event is open to BME residents lived across Edinburgh & Lothians and community council members. Tea/Coffee and refreshments will be provided. Booking is required to give us an estimate for the catering service. Please let us know if you have any special requirements. Please circulate among your contacts/networks who might be interested on this.
To book your place online, please click here.
For more information, please contact us by email:publiclife@elrec.org.uk or Tel: 0131 556 0441
A new report by Common Weal argues that an independent currency pegged to Sterling is likely to be most advantageous initially for an independent Scotland, but flexibility would be needed over the longer term. Continue reading Sound as a Pound?
Jack Caldwell, who stood as an independent candidate in Northern and Leith in May’s Holyrood elections, has produced a ten-page report describing his experiences of the campaign. He hopes his campaign report will encourage others to stand as independents in future elections – but plans to join a political party himself.
