Tag: Edinburgh

City losing out during festival boom, say Greens

As tens of thousands of visitors descent on Edinburgh for the festival season, new analysis by Andy Wightman MSP shows that £10.6million of taxes are being avoided this year due to the boom in private homes being let out as holiday accommodation. Continue reading City losing out during festival boom, say Greens

‘Ambitious’ City Deal to bring 21,000 jobs to Edinburgh

Keith Brown: ‘Ambitious’ city deal will deliver opportunities across Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and the Borders.

Edinburgh

 The Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal will deliver inclusive economic growth across the region through housing, innovation, transport, skills and culture.  It is expected that the new deal will deliver 21,000 new jobs for the area – but the city’s Green councillors say the deal sells Edinburgh short.

Continue reading ‘Ambitious’ City Deal to bring 21,000 jobs to Edinburgh

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

Edinburgh’s general election by numbers

With less than a week to go until the UK General Election, preparations are well under way in Edinburgh. Here are some of the numbers that go into running the election in the Capital’s five constituencies:

143: the number of polling places across the city (buildings in which people vote), which house 336 polling stations, each with one ballot box.

There are five constituencies in Edinburgh: Edinburgh East, Edinburgh North and Leith, Edinburgh South, Edinburgh South West and Edinburgh West.

22 candidates are standing across the five constituencies, representing 6 different parties.

There are 352,600 people registered to vote in Edinburgh, with 79,963 of these postal voters. This is an increase of 8.3% in postal voters compared to the local elections on 4 May (74,481) and the highest number of postal voters since the Scottish Independence Referendum in 2014 (81,666).

As of Tuesday 30 May, Edinburgh has had 33.1% of all the postal votes returned.

3000 books of ballot papers will be used by polling staff on 8 June.

More than 3600 pencils will be available and attached to polling stations using a total of 360 balls of string (more than two miles in length) – though voters do not have to use pencil and can bring their own pens.

745 polling staff will make sure voting runs smoothly in Edinburgh during the day on 8 June, while 510 count staff will count the city’s votes that night.

There is one mobile polling place in Edinburgh, the mobile library, which is parked at Forrester Park Avenue.

Amongst the equipment used across polling places during the day will be approximately 300 yellow post-its, 150 black bin bags, 84 sets of pliers and 500 fingerettes.

While 16 and 17-year-olds were able to vote in the Scottish Referendum and the recent local elections, voters must be 18 to take part in the General Election.

More numbers still…

At the recent Scottish Local Government Elections on 4 May 2017, Edinburgh had more postal votes returned – 55,056 – than any other council in Scotland.  Edinburgh also had more votes to count 187,157 than any other of the 32 councils.

Edinburgh counts for around 9% of Scotland’s electorate – second most behind Glasgow.

Sweet spot: count staff will eat around 2800 boiled sweets on the night of 8 June.

Edinburgh uses cardboard polling booths – they are recyclable and save over £5000 in repair and maintenance costs for each election.

Polls open at 7am on 8 June and close at 10pm.

Find out more about when, where and how to vote.

It’s all about the Union as Edinburgh elects new council

Resurgent Tories run SNP close 
The Local Government Election results for Edinburgh’s 17 wards were announced at Meadowbank Sports Centre yesterday following the 4 May vote. The SNP is now the biggest party – but only just. Campaigning on the Indyref2 issue, Conservative and Unionists ran the SNP very close, with the outcome of the election hanging in the balance and going down to the declaration of the final ward result.

Continue reading It’s all about the Union as Edinburgh elects new council

‘One janitor, one school … and keep our cleaners’ – UNISON Edinburgh in pre-election appeal

UNISON’s Edinburgh branch, the union representing council staff, fears new council proposals will mean Edinburgh’s schools will no longer have their own janitor and cleaning hours will be cut. The union is asking voters to challenge candidates to oppose the cuts in the run-up to Thursday’s local elections. Continue reading ‘One janitor, one school … and keep our cleaners’ – UNISON Edinburgh in pre-election appeal

STV explores Sscotland’s past in new series of People’s History Show

 Edinburgh featured in STV’s People’s History Show

31 March 8pm on STV

Edinburgh, Shetland, Dundee, Hamilton, New Lanark, Glasgow and the Borders will feature in a new series of STV’s The People’s History Show, which explores the tales of Scotland’s past in six brand new episodes.

Fronted by presenter and journalist Sarah Mack and historian and adventurer Ashley Cowie, the series looks back in time to discover the places and people that make up Scotland’s history, with Sarah and Ashley travelling from the Borders in the south to Shetland in the north.

The new series, which started on Friday, features some of the most fascinating events in Scottish history, including the Shetland Bus, the special WW2 operation that linked Shetland to Germany occupied Norway; the Great Fire of Glasgow in 1652; the historical naval base Scapa Flow; the Udston mining disaster in Hamilton; the Scots who fought in the Spanish Civil War and Dundee aviation pioneer Preston Watson.

Presenter Ashley Cowie said: “The history of Scotland is found not only in books, but in the stories and folklore of its people. This series is extra special to me as we travelled the length of Scotland and filmed some great characters in my home county of Caithness, giving the show a truly nationwide appeal.”

Sarah Mack said: “It has been a fantastic opportunity to work on a series that never ceases to amaze me with the weird, wonderful and sometimes gruesome history it explores. No matter where you live in this great country we want to encourage you to scratch the surface and take a closer look because you never know what tales and adventures you might unearth right on your doorstep.” 

Elizabeth Partyka, deputy director of channels at STV, said: “This new series is a must-see for anyone with an interest in Scotland’s history, with Ashley and Sarah travelling all over Scotland to delve into some of the most remarkable stories of our past.”

The series will also be available to watch live or for catch-up on the STV Player.