This academic year has seen the return of National exams and Highers in Scotland after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic. For many children and their parents and carers, the exam period can be an anxious and stressful time.
A return to normality in September has seen Childline provide more support to anxious students as end-of-year tests loomed on the horizon.
In the year between April 2021 and March 2022, Childline practitioners delivered 1,734 counselling sessions to children and young people across Scotland and the rest of the UK with concerns about exam stress and revision, which is a 62% rise on the previous year.
When talking to Childline counsellors about their upcoming exams this month, children shared that their worries were affecting their mental health, anxiety levels and ability to sleep.
It is important for young people to know that they aren’t alone if they are feeling like this. Instead, that they are encouraged to share any concerns or worries with their friends or a trusted adult.
Parents and carers can help by reassuring their child that they are there to listen to what they might be feeling and to help them to take the time to think about what to do next.
There are lots of places young people can get support, including the Childline website where they can get advice on dealing with exam stress, visit our message boards or even use an art box to draw through what they want to happen and look at potential next steps.
Childline is here for every child and young person and our specially trained counsellors are also ready 24/7 to discuss exam worries and other concerns free on 0800 1111 or www.childline.org.uk
Between 16th – 22nd May, Greenpeace and Everyday Plastic are running the Big Plastic Count, and the Greenpeace Edinburgh Group is taking part.
This will be the UK’s biggest ever investigation into household plastic waste, and what really happens to our recycling.
The UK produces more plastic waste per person than almost any other country, only the USA is worse.
We need to take much faster action to clean up this plastic mess, which spoils Edinburgh’s neighbourhoods, and harms our climate, nature and health.
This year, the government is starting to decide on legal targets to reduce plastic waste. Greenpeace Edinburgh volunteers want them to set a target to reduce single-use plastic by 50% by 2025 and ban dumping our waste onto other countries.
I still can’t believe how much plastic I end up with every time I do a supermarket shop. It has gotten to the point that I hardly even notice all the wrapping I bring home because it has felt impossible to find plastic-free versions of my favourite products.
But every time my bin hits its spilling point, my single-use plastic shame stares me in the face. Do we really need bananas wrapped in plastic? Or little crisp bags wrapped in a bigger bag just for convenience?
It would be best to stop producing so much plastic in the first place but if we could at least find ways to make recycling easy and rewarding. For instance, if we could take our plastic bottles back to the shop and receive a small refund then Leith Links would be squeaky clean.
Greenpeace volunteers have been taking action on plastic pollution for years. For example, in September 2021 we did a beach clean, where the majority of rubbish was plastic that should have been recycled, or even better, not produced in the first place.
We, like lots of other Edinburgh residents are trying to do their bit, and Government, supermarkets and brands need to do theirs to cut plastic too.
A board has been ‘planted’ on Silverknowes Roundabout, inviting people to ‘Advertise Here’.
Is it possible the organisation dealing with the management of roundabouts is promoting the erection of such advertising boards on the actual roundabout?
How can they be so stupid to even think of doing so?
It is obviously meant to catch people’s atttention while they are also driving and navigating a roundabout!
Surely the transport authorities must overrule this idiotic rule?
With the elections for Scotland’s local authorities happening on May 5th, it is important to emphasise the vital role councils play in helping blind and partally sighted people to live as independently and inclusively as possible.
People with a visual impairment are more likely to depend on services from their local council, for information that’s readily available in alternative formats, public transport that’s accessible, streets and thoroughfares that allow people to walk safely and without obstacles, education that allows every child to reach their full potential, and employment that’s informed by a better understanding of what those with sight loss can do.
Around 178,000 people are currently living with a significant degree of sight loss in Scotland, of whom over 4,000 are children and young people. Our ageing population and the increase in sight-theatening conditions such as diabetes means this number will, inevitably, grow.
Let’s make one positive legacy of the upheaval we’ve all been through a resolve to make sure we re-emerge as a society in which no one is left at the margins.
Our local authorities are absolutely key to this.
James Adams
Director, Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) Scotland
With kitten season nearly here, Cats Protection is releasing a documentary highlighting the potentially tragic risks of buying underage kittens online from unscrupulous sellers who put profit before welfare.
The Big Kitten Con, narrated by Caroline Quentin, features traumatic accounts of kittens being sold at less than the legal age for commercial sale, which is eight-weeks, and sadly dying from debilitating illnesses.
Last year, 340,000 of the 500,000 cats that were purchased in the UK were found online on sites like Facebook, Gumtree, Pets 4 Homes and Preloved.
Though many sellers are responsible people, there are unscrupulous individuals who will exploit the anonymity of the internet to sell kittens that have been taken from their mums too young, denying them vital nutrients and social development, while passing them off as healthy, eight-week-old kittens.
As well as giving advice, we are encouraging the public to sign a petition calling on the Government to regulate cat breeding. It has just been introduced in Scotland and we would like to see England, Wales and Northern Ireland follow suit.
We want anyone who breeds two or more litters of kittens in a year to be licensed, which would make them subject to regular inspections.
To watch Cats Protection’s The Big Kitten Con video and to sign Cats Protection’s petition, please visit www.cats.org.uk/kitten-con
Yours faithfully
Madison Rogers,
Acting Head of Advocacy & Government Relations, Cats Protection
Plans to dismantle the Human Rights Act and create legal hurdles for ordinary people who seek to hold public bodies to account are abhorrent.
The bereaved parents of soldiers who died in ‘Snatch’ Land Rovers in Iraq and Afghanistan sued the Ministry of Defence under the Human Rights Act. Their children were sent to war in lightly armoured vehicles which were known not to offer enough protection against roadside bombs.
The Government suggests that cases brought under the Human Rights Act are often trivial and without merit.
What happened to those families was not trivial and their cases were found to be valid. If they had not fought for justice, the MoD’s failings would simply have been allowed to happen without any accountability.
Human rights claims play an essential role in keeping organisations in check and ensuring justice where those human rights are breached. We should all be alarmed by the Government’s approach.
Neil McKinley
President, Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL)
Watching a large number of medical staff gather around my baby boy to resuscitate him was the scariest thing I have ever been through.
We were at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, an hour away from our home, after rushing my son, Carter, there ourselves. Eventually the doctors managed to stabilise Carter, but he was still struggling with his breathing and needed to be intubated and kept on the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU). He had developed a respiratory virus from a cold and as a result was experiencing breathing apnoea due to a build-up of mucus in his lungs.
We went to see him in PICU where he was covered in tubes and I was just sitting there, looking at him and felt my heart break into pieces. There was a chair next to Carter’s bed that I was prepared to not move from until he got better. But with parents unable to stay on intensive care wards with their children, even this wasn’t an option.
As I started to try and work out how I was going to cope with this situation I was told about The Sick Children’s Trust and its wonderful Acorn House. It’s one of ten ‘Homes from Home’ the charity runs around the country, giving families a free place to stay close to their seriously ill children.
I was still hesitant at first about leaving Carter’s side, but when the nurses told me that Acorn House was just minutes away from the hospital the more comfortable I felt about staying there.
I knew it was likely we would be in hospital for a while; The Sick Children’s Trust supports families for an average of 14 nights when their children are on the incentive care units, so knowing we had a place to stay took away a lot of these extra stresses.
When I arrived at Acorn House, I felt at home. There was a kitchen, living room and even a playroom so I knew straight away that I could bring Elsie, Carter’s older sister, to stay as well when the time was right.
This year, The Sick Children’s Trust is celebrating 40 years of keeping families, like mine, together with their seriously ill children while they are in hospital. Since the charity was launched in 1982 they have made sure more than 73,000 families have been able to stay just minutes away from their ill child’s hospital bedside and I really don’t know what we would have done without their support.
Acorn House was our ‘Home from Home’ for two weeks while Carter recovered, and he’s been doing amazing ever since.
He’s reached all his milestones and is such a loud and energetic character. As part of their 40th anniversary celebrations The Sick Children’s Trust is aiming to raise £237,000 to support families in all 148 rooms of its ten ‘Homes from Home’ for 40 nights.
I’m encouraging everyone to think about families like mine who suddenly end up in hospital with their child critically ill and not knowing how they can stay with them. No parent wants to leave their child while they’re in hospital and by supporting The Sick Children’s Trust and its ‘Homes from Home’ you can make sure more families can be together.
Without Acorn House Carter’s time in hospital would have been so much harder. I don’t think I would’ve have coped. Please donate £40 today by visiting sickchildrenstrust.org
We’re inviting outdoor enthusiasts among your readers to join charity Meningitis Now on an exhilarating but scenic adventure to take on a Three Peaks Challenge and help us beat the deadly disease.
The Three Peaks Challenge between Friday 10 and Sunday 12 June entails climbing Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis, the highest peaks in Wales, England and Scotland over just 36 hours.
It is not for the faint-hearted, but those taking part will take an enormous amount of satisfaction from the challenge whilst enjoying the beautiful scenery and supporting our fight to beat meningitis in the UK within a generation.
Sadly, meningitis and septicaemia continue to affect thousands of people in the UK and kill more under-5s than any other infectious disease. Help us to fund research to eradicate this devastating disease, raise lifesaving awareness and support those affected.
This week marks Scottish Apprenticeship Week (7th – 11th March), a fantastic opportunity to shine a light on the vital role apprenticeships play in supporting people, employers and the economy.
It serves to celebrate the opportunities Modern Apprenticeships offer everyone, no matter their background and for every business no matter its size or sector.
The rewards of getting young people who are disabled or care experienced into work are well worth it. They bring passion, skills, dedication and drive to the workplace.
Recruiting a Modern Apprentice enables employers to fill the skills gaps that exist within their current workforce, as apprentices begin to learn sector specific skills from day one, developing specialist knowledge that will positively affect the bottom line.
However, as always, we can do more and support for businesses and other employers is key as it is they who clearly make the vital difference.
As we mark Scottish Apprenticeship Week, we would urge Scotland’s employers to look beyond the label and take on a Modern Apprentice who may have an additional need, taking advantage of the excellent skills offered by many of these young people.
Trade unions and the TUC have written to the Chancellor calling on him to use his spring statement to introduce ‘emergency support’ in response to the conflict in Ukraine.
This includes measures to support Ukrainian refugees, ensure that sanctions are effective, and protect UK families from the impact of rising energy prices.
The TUC has condemned the invasion of Ukraine, expressed its solidarity with the Ukrainian people, and called on governments to pursue all diplomatic efforts towards peace.
The letter from the TUC and unions says that the Chancellor must now step up with new financial measures to both support the Ukrainian people, and respond to the impact of the conflict on the cost-of-living crisis in the UK.
The letter calls on the Chancellor to:
Ensure that sanctions are effective by increasing enforcement funding for measures in the economic crime bill that would crack down on money-laundering in the UK; and consider a 100 per cent windfall tax on the profits of companies still invested in Russian state enterprises.
Provide safe routes to the UK for those fleeing the conflict, and scrap legislation plans that would close the door on all people fleeing war and threats to their lives.
Fund wider humanitarian assistance for displaced people, including essential medical supplies.
Protect working families against further energy price rises as a result of the crisis, by giving grants rather than loans to recued energy bill, increasing the warm homes discount, increasing universal credit, and accelerating a home energy efficiency retrofit programme.
The letter also calls on the government to ensure that those working in supply chains are protected from disruption, including by considering the use of a short-time working scheme.
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Trade unions condemn the illegal invasion of Ukraine. We know that working people in Ukraine, Russia and across Europe want peace. The UK government must pursue all diplomatic efforts to achieve that goal.
“The Chancellor must use his spring statement to act too. That means ensuring that sanctions are more effective, with funding to crack down on money-laundering in the UK. And he should fund greater humanitarian assistance for Ukrainians, including safe passage for those fleeing the war.
“Working people in the UK will need protection from even steeper hikes in gas bills from the conflict. The Chancellor should introduce grants to help with energy prices, roll out an emergency programme of home insulation, and fund it with a windfall tax on excess energy profits.”
“The government must provide safe routes to the UK for those escaping conflict. And ministers should scrap their Nationality and Borders Bill, which will close the door to people fleeing war and threats to their lives.”
Full text of the letter to the Chancellor:
Dear Chancellor
Protecting working people from the impact of the invasion of Ukraine
The trade union movement is united in its condemnation of Russia’s illegal invasion of a sovereign nation. Our solidarity is with the working people of Ukraine. Working people always suffer in conflict and the pursuit of peace is a fundamental trade union value, an essential condition to secure safety, social justice and workers’ and human rights.
The UK government must now take further action to support and strengthen international efforts to impose significant and effective sanctions on Russia and to support all diplomatic efforts towards peace. And it must play its part in supporting humanitarian assistance for forcibly displaced people and welcoming refugees seeking to come to the UK.
The government must also ensure that it takes every step possible to protect working people here at home from the impact of the conflict and measures taken in response to this. We urge you to use your forthcoming budget to act. We call on you to:
Target sanctions on wealthy elites linked to the Russian government – and ensure they are effective. We welcome the proposed register of overseas owners of UK property through the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill, but this needs to be backed up by sufficient powers and funding for Companies House to enforce.
Fund humanitarian assistance for displaced people, and welcome refugees to the UK. The new Ukrainian visa proposals are inadequate and fall well short of what is needed. Limiting asylum to Ukrainian immediate family members of those already settled in the UK will not reassure Ukrainians fleeing war and bloodshed that they will be able to seek sanctuary in our country. The government must establish a safe route, so all Ukrainian families, who through no fault of their own have been forced from their homes, can easily apply for a humanitarian visa to travel to the UK. The Nationality and Borders Bill must be scrapped. Thousands of Ukrainians fleeing war may try to find sanctuary in the UK. If the Bill is passed many of these Ukrainians, along with others around the world fleeing conflict, threats to their lives and seeking safety may find themselves treated as criminals and deported, instead of being offered sanctuary.
Protect working families against rising gas prices, by raising funds through a windfall tax on energy profits and a new tax on profits made by UK companies invested in Russian state businesses. The current energy price crisis is hitting workers hard, and prices are likely to rise further. Government should implement existing TUC calls for:
Support for households in the form of a grant, not a loan (replacing the energy price rebate proposed by the government).
An increase in the warm homes discount, and a permanent increase in Universal Credit.
Rapid implementation of an accelerated and expanded domestic home retrofit programme, delivered by local councils who are best placed to deliver fast
Funding for these measures by the implementation of a windfall tax on north sea oil and gas companies.
An immediate increase in the national minimum wage to at least £10 an hour and a strategy to protect pay across the economy, including public services.
In addition, the government should consider implementing a new 100 per cent tax on additional profits made by UK based companies from their shareholdings in Russian state-backed enterprises that have profited from the gas price crisis. For example, this includes profits made by oil companies Shell and Vitol from their shareholdings in oil and gas fields in Russia in joint ventures with state-controlled companies Rosneft and Gazprom.
Protect jobs in supply chains now and build future supply chain resilience. Forcompanies sourcing parts and supplies from Russia, sanctions could have a significant impact. To protect jobs, the UK government should:
Re-introduce the furlough scheme or a permanent short-time working scheme in order to allow companies to protect jobs while they seek to shift their supply chains.
Begin an urgent programme to provide investment support to help companies to invest in UK supply chains and jobs.
Trade union leaders would be happy to meet you to discuss these issues, and the steps we must take now to support working people in Ukraine and in the UK,
Yours sincerely
Frances O’Grady, General Secretary, TUC
Sue Ferns, President, TUC
Christina McAnea, General Secretary, UNISON
Sharon Graham, General Secretary, Unite
Gary Smith, General Secretary GMB
Kevin Courtney and Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretaries, NEU
Paddy Lilis, General Secretary, Usdaw
Patrick Roach, General Secretary, NASUWT
Dave Ward, General Secretary, CWU
Mark Serwotka, General Secretary, PCS
Mike Clancy, General Secretary, Prospect
Ged Nichols, General Secretary, Accord
Ukraine: what you can do to help
Everyone wants to do their bit to support those who have been forced to flee their homes because of the invasion. Here is how you can help.
Financial donations
If you want to donate money, there are a number of charities providing humanitarian relief in Ukraine.
The UK Government will match public donations to this appeal pound-for-pound up to £25 million.
Make your donation safely
There are lots of organisations across the UK and internationally who have launched appeals, and you may wish to donate through these organisations instead. There are some simple steps you can take to ensure your money is safe and being used effectively:
Most charities with an income of £5,000 or more must be registered, which means they are regulated by The Charity Commission
Make sure the charity is genuine before giving any financial information
If in doubt, ask the charity or organisation for more information
Donating essential supplies
One of the best ways to help is by donating cash through trusted charities and aid organisations, rather than donating goods. Cash can be transferred quickly to areas where it is needed and individuals and aid organisations can use it to buy what is most needed. Unsolicited donations of goods, although well-meant, can obstruct supply chains and delay more urgent life-saving assistance from getting through.
Organisations across the UK are gathering essential supplies, such as clothes, first aid and sanitary products. Many charities and community groups will have lists of items they need.
Charities with experience of responding to disasters are best placed to reach victims on the ground.
Apply to be a sponsor
The government will be launching a new sponsorship scheme to make sure that Ukrainians who have been forced to flee their homes have a route to safety.
The scheme will match people, charities, businesses and community groups to Ukrainians who do not have family ties to the UK.
The UK Government, Ukrainian Government and others have been sharing messages of support on social media using the hashtag #StandForUkraine
Take care what you share! There is a lot of false information about the conflict circulating online – this is often called misinformation and disinformation. You can do your part to stop the spread:
Ask yourself – does this look right? Does this sound right? Does this information come from a source I recognise?
The SHARE checklist can help you decide if information can be trusted, before you interact with or share it on your social media channels
Cyber security
The National Cyber Security Centre is not aware of any specific cyber threats to the UK in relation to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However we strongly encourage organisations and citizens to follow NCSC guidance on steps to take when the cyber threat is heightened.
Visit the Cyber Aware website where you find practical steps and tools to help keep you, your family or business more secure online.
