Category Archives: Edinburgh

Council tax in Scotland to reach record high with 15% rise in some areas

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Levies on tourists and cruise ships considered by some local authorities in attempt to plug funding gaps

Council tax costs in Scotland will hit record levels next month after local authorities agreed to raise rates by up to 15%, with some planning new levies on tourists and cruise ships.

All of Scotland’s 32 local authorities have announced council tax increases from April of at least 6%, with the majority raising them by about 10%, after years of successive cuts to their grant funding.

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Mystery donor’s £17.5m gift could turn Scottish estate into rewilding showcase

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Scottish Wildlife Trust plans to create rainforest, restore peatland and end deer stalking on Highland sporting estate

Scottish conservationists hope to convert a Highland sporting estate into a rewilding showcase after a mystery benefactor gave them more than £17.5m to buy it.

The Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT), best known for its small nature reserves, has bought Inverbroom estate near Ullapool in north-west Scotland, complete with an 11-bedroom lodge that boasts an indoor swimming pool.

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Why Scottish students at Edinburgh University want more support to counter classism

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Only 25% of institution’s students are from Scotland, and they are more likely to be from working-class backgrounds

From the first day Shanley Breese started her law degree at the University of Edinburgh, she encountered demeaning comments about her accent. She was told she was hard to understand and was asked to repeat herself in tutorials when she used words from the Scots language.

“It was just a little thing to differentiate us and point it out … It meant that I didn’t participate in my tutorials,” she says.

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Letter from 1300 in support of Scottish hero William Wallace goes on display

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Fragile, rarely seen artefact sent by the King of France was briefly available for public view on St Andrew's Day

An important letter in support of Scottish hero William Wallace has been put on display on St Andrew’s Day.

More than 250 people turned up on Saturday to see the fragile document, which was only on display for five hours to protect it from too much daylight.

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Police ask public not to share images of man in fatal bus collision in Edinburgh

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‘Distressing’ images and videos were circulating after 74-year-old was struck by a single-decker in Cowgate area

Police have asked the public to stop sharing “distressing” images and videos after a man died in Edinburgh on Saturday evening.

The 74-year-old man was struck by a single-decker bus in the Cowgate area of the city, when the streets were busy with weekend revellers.

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Talks on UK rejoining EU could start in 10 years’ time, says Peter Mandelson

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Labour peer says in meantime it is essential to try to reduce damage of Brexit deal struck by Boris Johnson

Peter Mandelson has suggested the UK could start talks on rejoining the EU in 10 years’ time, much earlier than Keir Starmer believes.

Lord Mandelson told an audience in Edinburgh the “truth is that [reversing Brexit] could be a conversation which starts in 10 years’ time”, but only if EU member states were willing to consider it.

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Edinburgh councillors say new tourist tax will help build council housing

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Daily 5% visitor beds surcharge that will cover hotels, bed and breakfasts and AirBnB could raise up to £50m a year

Councillors in Edinburgh are hoping to build new council houses and improve public parks thanks to a new tourist tax that could raise up to £50m a year.

The city council is expected to become the first in the UK to introduce a comprehensive visitor levy using new government powers, with tourists and visitors paying a daily 5% surcharge on their beds from July 2026.

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Prisoner who absconded while attending family funeral found

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Police Scotland thanks public who helped trace 29-year-old Jamie Ross who escaped from guards while at Edinburgh crematorium

A prisoner who escaped from guards while attending a family funeral in Scotland has been found, police said.

Officers began a search for Jamie Ross after he absconded from custody at about lunchtime on Tuesday.

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Gender-critical activists and pro-transgender groups clash in Edinburgh

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Let Women Speak leader says rally aimed to test Scotland’s new hate crime legislation, Telegraph reports

Gender-critical activists and counter-protesters clashed in Edinburgh in a dispute over transgender rights.

Let Women Speak (LWS), an organisation described by supporters as a “gender-critical feminist” campaign, led a rally outside the Royal Scottish Academy in the Scottish capital on Saturday.

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Man, 84, dies after explosion at neighbour’s home in Edinburgh

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Police named man as James Smith, while a woman, 43, and a man, 54, were also taken to hospital

An 84-year-old man who died after an explosion at his neighbour’s house in Edinburgh has been named locally as James Smith, Police Scotland said.

Police officers were called to the Baberton area at 10.25pm on Friday after “multiple reports” about the blast.

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Exit from Edinburgh zoo may signal end to era of China’s panda diplomacy

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Beijing’s strained relations with the west are less easily mollified by loans of cuddly endangered bears

As the UK’s only giant pandas leave Edinburgh zoo , returning to their native country after a 12-year sojourn away from China, the era of panda diplomacy also looks to be coming to an end.

Tian Tian and Yang Guang will board the panda express back to Sichuan less than a month after three giant pandas left the Smithsonian national zoo in Washington DC, ending the zoo’s five-decade panda programme.

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Ports rebuff UK plan to house asylum seekers on cruise ships

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Government reportedly hands back two vessels after ports in the Wirral, London and Scotland deny permission to dock

Controversial plans to house asylum seekers on redundant cruise ships have been thrown into disarray after two vessels were unable to find somewhere to dock.

There had been tentative reported plans for cruise ships to be housed in the Wirral, just outside Edinburgh and in London, but the proposals were all rebuffed. Sky News reported that two ships have been returned to their prior owners after their acquisition by the government.

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Edinburgh University tries to defuse row after trans rights protests over film

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Executives holds talks with both sides after screening of gender critical documentary was cancelled

Edinburgh University hopes to defuse a crisis involving gender critical and pro-trans academics after clashes over the screening of the film Adult Human Female.

University executives are holding talks with both sides after pro-trans activists prevented the gender critical documentary from being screened on campus for the second time late last month, by blockading a theatre where it was due to be shown.

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Man found guilty of murdering pregnant wife at Arthur’s Seat

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Kashif Anwar, 29, pushed Fawziyah Javed, 31, off Edinburgh hill, leading to death of wife and unborn child

A man has been found guilty of murdering his pregnant wife by pushing her off the edge of Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh.

Kashif Anwar, 29, was found guilty by a jury at the high court in Edinburgh of murdering Fawziyah Javed, 31, in September 2021 by pushing her from the hill, causing her multiple blunt-force injuries and ultimately her death, and that of her unborn child.

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Fifteen people taken to hospital after ship topples over at Leith dry dock

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Another 10 people treated at scene as police, ambulances and fire service called to incident in Edinburgh

Twenty-five people were injured when a ship tipped over in a dry dock in Leith, Edinburgh, the Scottish ambulance service has said.

Fifteen people were taken to hospital while a further 10 people were treated and discharged at the scene on Wednesday morning. The ambulance service said 11 patients were taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and four to Western general hospital.

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British woman undertakes trip from London to Edinburgh using only £2 local buses

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Thousands are following and supporting Emily Turner’s epic journey on Twitter

A British woman undertaking an epic three-day expedition from London to Scotland using only local buses has expressed her surprise at the level of support from thousands of people following the chronicles of her journey on Twitter.

Writer and podcast host Emily Turner, from London, began her nearly 400-mile journey in the early hours of Friday, announcing on Twitter: “I’ve been wanting to do this for YEARS!!”, explaining that she “loves buses” and promising to share photos and observations along the way.

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Edinburgh Hogmanay organisers hopeful of avoiding washout

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Worst of expected bad weather in Scottish capital should have passed before new year celebrations

Organisers of Hogmanay in Edinburgh are hoping to avoid a new year washout, with heavy rain forecast to have passed by the time revellers ring in 2023.

The celebration in the Scottish capital has been cancelled due to Covid for the past two years, but on Saturday a sellout crowd of 30,000 is expected to bring in the new year in Princes Street as part of the three-day event.

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With sorrow and song, Scotland bids emotional farewell to ‘our Queen’

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Service of thanksgiving at St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh pulses with history as nation pays its respects

The people of Scotland, from prime ministers to benefit claimants, have said an emotional goodbye to their Queen as her coffin was set at rest in the “parish church of Edinburgh” where she was first given the Scottish crown 69 years ago.

Psalms the Queen used to sing in Crathie Kirk on the Balmoral estate were set to soaring organ music as hundreds of dignitaries attended a service of thanksgiving for her life at St Giles’ Cathedral.

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Scotland school and waste service strikes called off after ‘credible’ pay offer

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Unison, GMB and Unite suspend industrial action day after Nicola Sturgeon hosted talks

A wave of strikes across waste services and schools in Scotland has been called off after a “credible” new pay offer.

Hundreds of schools and nurseries were set to close over three days next week as support staff joined industrial action, along with a second wave of strikes by refuse workers that had already seen bins overflowing and piles of accumulated rubbish in Scotland’s major cities.

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