2009 October 13

The Green Belt Of Scotland

October 13, 2009 By alicecroal Leave a Comment

By Alice Croal

2009 marks the beginning of a new environmental renovation of post industrial Scotland, known as the Central Scotland Green Network Project. The aims of the project are to improve areas of Scotland such as Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling and Falkirk by planting new forests, tending to derelict areas of land, improving foot paths, building new cycle ways and to create habitats for wild life. The Central Scotland Green Network Project is the biggest of its kind and hopes to cover an area twice the size of London and plant trees over 34000 hectares.
The project is fronted by the Central Scotland Forest Trust, but works in partnership with the Forestry Commission Scotland, Scotland Natural Heritage and vairious local authorities. Sue Evans, speaking for the Trust states that the project ‘is at a very early stage’ and that the ‘draft vision looks ahead to 2050′ for the complete renovation of Scotlands Central belt and its landscape. The hopes are that by improving the environment around the central belt, it will also improve the quality of life in those areas. The project would also improve the value of certain areas and attract business. When asked how the Trust proposed to fund such a large project Sue Evans responded that ’no specific funding has been identified, but funds like SDRP, Landfill Tax are already used for the delivery of woodlands, wetlands, etc’.
The project announces on its website that they want to make ‘Central Scotland a play to live, work and play’.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: environment, green, project, Scotland

Number of international students on the rise

October 13, 2009 By hamishwilson Leave a Comment

by Adam Wilson

The number of university students in the United Kingdom from outside the European Union has increased significantly over the last 10 years, according to the Patterns of Higher Education Institutions report from Universities UK.

According to the report, from 1996 to 2006 the international student enrolments have more than double. Students coming from China remain the highest percentage of international students coming to the UK. Other prominent nationalities are Indian and American.

The report states that from 1998-99, the number of international students in UK universities was 117,290. This number increased in 2007-2008 to 229,640, making nearly 10% of all enrolments being international. In this 10 years, the number has increased by 96%.

Beyond the 1996 to 2006 timeline, numbers are still on the rise. A contributing factor to this increase is the announcement that Tony Blair made in 2006. He announced that in the second phase of his Initiative for International Education would be to attract a total number of 100,000 more students in the next 5 years.

The statistics reflect a successful policy so far. In 2006, when Blair made the announcement, the total number of international students in universities in the UK was 218,395 with the number of students taking first degrees being 79,000. In 2009 the numbers have increased significantly, with the total increasing to 229,640, making a 20% rise, and the first degree number rising to 86,000, making nearly a 10% rise.

However, these numbers may fall by 20%, according to agents who recruit international students for UK schools. This is because of a recent change to the immigration and visa system. In April of this year, the government introduced a points based system for applications for visas. It has been seen as a missed opportunity to Diana Warwick, chief executive of Universities UK.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Vettriano Exhibits in Kirkcaldy

October 13, 2009 By lmcgirk Leave a Comment

Just one of the collection coming to Kirkaldy

By Lucy McGirk

Fife born artist Jack Vettriano’s current exhibition documenting 100 years of the famous yacht the Tuiga is set to exhibit in the artist’s home town of Kirkcaldy early next year before travelling to London and Milan.

Vettriano, 58, born Jack Hoggin, is Scotland’s best selling, and best known artist, he has painted this collection after being approached by the Yacht Club of Monaco to mark the occasion.

Vettriano said, “to get involved with the Tuiga centenary was just lovely. Sometimes i have to pinch myself”.

The artist was approached by the yacht club at his home in Nice after his previous collaberation with Sir Jackie Stewart unveiled in 2007. He stated ” looking at the beautiful motorcars, looking at beautiful women, the style and architecture – it stimulates all your senses” .

He does however, still reside for some of the year in his home town in Fife, staying close to is roots. He maintains that growing up “Leven beach meant almost everything to me”.

The artist, sometimes referred to as the ‘People’s Painter’ has chosen Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery for his work. Jane Freel, the Museum’s curator said ” this is a great thing that’s happening”.

Jack is currently headlong into a new project which is still in the development stages.

Filed Under: Entertainment, Uncategorized

Helping Children Make the Right Choice

October 13, 2009 By carolinef1 Leave a Comment

By Caroline Fraser

It is understood that more than one in four children in the early years of secondary school in the north of Scotland feel stressed due to high and increasing workloads. Although many children decide to listen to music or go to the cinema to help them relax and ‘switch-off’ from their school life, a shocking percentage turn to alcohol, drug misuse and tobacco.

Statistics taken earlier this year show that 6% of children aged 11-15 years in the north of Scotland use drugs, 16% often smoke tobacco and a staggering 30% drink alcohol on a regular basis; all in order to de-stress. With the news that Scottish schools are excluding and even expelling pupils for drug and alcohol consumption more often this year than previous years, it seems necessary to educate these young people about the dangers of peer pressure even more.

A programme primarily aimed at young people in Scotland called Choices For Life is determined and committed to making young people, parents and teachers much more aware of such pressures on children at such a fragile age. Bob Pollock, a former inspector with the Northern Constabulary, Inverness was heavily involved with the programme and has said, ‘Choices for Life gives youngsters information [about the dangers of alcohol, drugs and tobacco] so they can make informed choices and resist peer pressure when they are making that crucial leap from primary to secondary school.’

Mr Pollock adds that the programme ‘has been very well received by pupils and teachers alike.’

Filed Under: Life and Society, News in Brief Tagged With: Choices for Life, Northern Constabulary

The End for First Past The Post?

October 13, 2009 By gemmashaw17 Leave a Comment

By Gemma Shaw

A recent survey has confirmed that the majority wants to change Britain’s current voting system, known as First Past The Post.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in his 28 September speech, promised Britain a referendum on the voting system, if Labour are re-elected. The survey by YouGov was of 673 adults in Britain who watched Brown’s speech, and showed that 77% agreed that the referendum is a good idea, with 18% believing that it is a bad idea. When asked how they would vote in a ‘First Past The Post vs Alternative Vote’ referendum, 58% would vote for AV, while 30% would stick with FPTP. 2% would not vote.

Alternative Vote, commonly regarded as a more complicated but accurate voting system than First Past The Post, involves a ballot on which voters rank the candidates, instead of choosing a favourite as in FPTP. It also means that usually candidates have to have more than half of the vote in order to win the election.

The survey also asked whether the participants think that local referendums on whether to recall local MPs are a good idea. This means that the public get the chance to get rid of MPs who have not done their job well enough. 88% of the people who voted believe that this type of referendum is a positive thing, with 8% disagreeing.

This move by Labour promises the people more power in the event of the party’s re-election. The most recent YouGov voting intentions survey – 9 October – shows that 27% of participants intend to vote Labour, while 44% currently favour Conservative.

Filed Under: All Politics Tagged With: Alternative Vote, Elections, First Past The Post, Gordon Brown, voting

Young People to Tackle Binge Drinking

October 13, 2009 By lmcgirk Leave a Comment

By Lucy McGirk

A group of young people have been commissioned by the Scottish government to look at the issue of binge-drinking in our culture over a twelve month period ending in December this year.

The commission consists of 19 young people who’s job it will be to gather information from around the country through desk-based research alog with other more ‘iinnovative’ methods.

The Minister for Public Health, Shona Robertson announced the intention of the Scottish government to tackle this after Nicola Sturgeon’s announcement that “alcohol misuse continues to act as a brake on Scotland’s social and economic growth”, “over 40, 000 people each year in Scotland are hospitalised with an alcohol related illness.

Marc Liddle, a member of the Ministerial group on Alcohol, said “it is very exciting”, “young people have better ideas about this than us”.

The commission has now entered its ‘Deliberation Time’ according to the proposal set out to the government by Young Scot.

The commission will also have a support group of experts, including lawyers, who will help to advise the young people involved of reasonable ideas to combat this issue, however Young Scot maintain that “the independence of the Commission is vital to ensure credibility”.

The outcome of the Commission will be presented for relevant ministers and at a major national conference in December.

Filed Under: Economy and Business, Life and Society

Pirates franchise is in Depp waters

October 13, 2009 By Today I don't like... Leave a Comment

By Ewan Angus

Taken from http://im.in.com

Spanning three films, several theme park rides and more merchandise than you can shake a cutlass at, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has become a brimming chest of gold for Disney since the first movie’s release in 2003. So with Box Office sales shooting sky high it was always a franchise Disney wouldn’t let go of. Starring Orlando Bloom, famous for his Legolas portrayal, period actress Keira Knightley and the academy award nominee Johnny Depp as the stories protagonists.

For the next film Disney went out on a limb and got in touch with a certain well known fantasy author. In 1988 Tim Powers, author of the award winning The Anubis Gates and the Stress of her Regard, wrote a historical fantasy novel that dealt with a Pirate named Jack. In the novel Jack goes looking for the Fountain of Youth. Something Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow was seen looking for on a magical map of the at the end of the third movie, At Worlds End.

Tim Powers spoke to Edinburgh Napier News about the Disney buying the rights to the book, the transition to film and how it came about.

“As to On Stranger Tides — Disney approached my agent a few years ago asking if they could buy an option on the book, for use in an eventual fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and I agreed.”

The novel, which was released in 1988 to critical acclaim and nominations for the prestigious Locus Fantasy award and the World Fantasy Award is, like all of Powers novels, a historical fantasy. In that it means that real people and real times are the background twisted with a fantasy setting. Meticulous research and historical accuracy are expected when it comes to novels set in the ‘real world’ and the novel takes both of these very seriously.

However, the fate of the fourth Pirates film has been fraught with rumours and problems. Firm supporter of the trilogy and Walt Disney studios chairman Dane Cook resigned recently leading to Depp speculating that the film might not even go ahead. The director of the trilogy Gore Verbinski also announced he would not return to the film before his computer game adaption Bioshock was finished. Since then the Bioshock movie has run aground and the rumours are circulating that he’ll be back on deck for On Stranger Tides.

The speculation was put to bed early last month at the D23 convention as Johnny Depp surprised everyone by appearing on stage in full Jack Sparrow get up to announce that the fourth Pirates film would be aptly named On Stranger tides.

As the film is still in its development stage Powers had to play it subtle when it came to certain questions. When asked about the state of the script and the stage of development he gave a coy reply.

“(I know) Just what everybody knows! Namely that they’re planning to start filming in April or May.”

Taken from www.theworksoftimpowers.com

As for if he’s met any of the crew of the Black Pearl he admitted his distance from the project.

“No — I hope to, sometime! At the premier, for instance!”

So when Powers was asked about the state of development and his opinion on the movie he answered honestly and openly.

“I think it would be terrific if they do it! I’ve never thought that a movie needs to be very much like a book it might be based on.”

As there has been three movies set before this one, each firmly establishing the characters, mytharc and the canon there will be a lot of chopping and changing to the original stand alone novel. Many of the novels characters and subplots will be replaced or removed entirely in order to integrate it full into the Pirates world. these changes and alteration to his novel are something Powers seems upbeat and ok with.

“Well, yes — my book naturally doesn’t fit into the Pirates of the Caribbean world, so I’d expect a lot of deviation. But I have no idea what directions the script writers might be pursuing!”

So with the changes more or less definite and the novel acting merely as a template the movie that emerges, should it emerge, might not be anything like the original. Something Hollywood has no qualms with when it comes to the book to movie transition. Tentatively scheduled for a 2011 release date, the movie is aiming to be out before Disney and Depp’s other offering The Lone Ranger.

Filed Under: Entertainment Tagged With: Johnny Depp, Kiera Knightley, Orlando Bloom, Pirates of The Carbbean, Tim Powers

Bridge Over Troubled Waters

October 13, 2009 By dickj91 Leave a Comment

by Joseph Dick

courtesy of A Room In

Residents of Leith, Edinburgh are united in outrage at the sudden closure of the bridge across Rennie’s Lock, a vital artery for pedestrian transport to the Scottish Government and residences nearby such as Rennie’s Isle.

Serving as a direct route from Dock Place to the rear entrance of the creche at the Scottish Government the bridge offers busy working mothers with prams a valuable time and effort saving shortcut in the most stressful part of their day. As well as those with children being affected by the sudden closure the residents of nearby Rennie’s Isle are forced to make a lengthy detour en route to work or socialising in the nearby shore area.

Hence this has a large effect on passing trade for businesses such as Teuchters Landing, whose co-owner Peter Knight described the closure as ‘coming out of the blue, angering locals and totally disrupting passing trade. As an independent business we rely on a core group of loyal locals who now first have to think “can I really be bothered taking the detour to go for a pint at Teuchters Landing”, whereas before it was just a case of “I’ll just nip across the bridge for a pint”‘.

As the bridge is privately owned by Forth Ports they have no obligation to fix the bridge and after a series of people tripping and threatening legal action decided simply to close the bridge off. After a series of residents complaints, chiefly coming from George Singh the chairman of the Rennie’s Isle Residents Association who has also tendered a contract to Forth Ports for his company to repair the bridge at the price of £3,500. Despite this contract being tendered there has still been no action towards the repair of the bridge and the remaining time of the bridge’s closure has been estimated at 8 weeks, leaving residents and social users of the area relatively stranded.

Filed Under: Travel and Communities

Hogmanay Madness To Strike Capital

October 13, 2009 By mikaela124 Leave a Comment

by Mikaela MacKinnon

Hogmanay ‘madness’ struck the capital over the weekend, with tickets to Edinburgh’s four-day New Year celebrations going on sale on Saturday. Event organisers predict that tickets to the festivities will sell out in record timing, with the announcement that Madness have been confirmed to headline the Concert In The Gardens on New Years’ Eve.

Madness last performed in Edinburgh fifteen years ago, with news of their return to the city sparking much enthusiasm from prospective revellers.

The band will celebrated their successful three decades in the music industry with a fitting hat-trick of concerts this year: having performed at this years Glastonbury festival, going back to their Camden roots by staging a one-off concert in London’s Regent Street, and finishing with Edinburgh’s Hogmanay centered around Princes Street Gardens.

Pete Irvine, Creative Director of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, said in a press release, ‘Madness are the perfect party band and we’re delighted that they’ve agreed to headline Edinburgh’s Hogmanay music and firework spectacular.

Councillor Steve Cardownie, Festival and Events Champion at the City of Edinburgh Council, noted the importance of Scotland’s ‘Homecoming 2009′ year – a celebration of 200 years since the birth of Robert Burns – as a factor to help draw large numbers of tourists back to Edinburgh in time for the Hogmanay celebrations.

‘Edinburgh’s Hogmanay is envied across the world and this year, with Madness set to perform, there will be no better place to be to bring in the New Year,’ Mr Cardownie stated. ‘Madness know that Edinburgh can celebrate with the best of them – they’ll have the city jumping to Ska so its definitely not to be missed.’

Filed Under: Entertainment Tagged With: Hogmanay, Madness

The West Arrival In Morningside

October 13, 2009 By mikaela124 Leave a Comment

by Mikaela MacKinnon

A new independent clothing shop is due to open on Morningside Road by the end of the month, as Ginger knitwear designer Anna Skea branches out from her original workshop and showcase in the west-coast village of Morar.

The new branch of Ginger – founded by Anna Skea in 1993 – will take the place of the empty unit which formerly housed bridalwear shop Liliana Dabic.

Ms Skea noted the importance of the prospective Edinburgh branch to boost revenue for her company and bring a taste of the Highlands to the Morningside community.

‘Morningside is full of small, interesting, independently owned shops so I feel Ginger will fit in well. Our designs are made to last, with sustainable materials, which is what people tend to look for nowadays – particularly our target market of professionals in the area.’

News of the shops opening also brought positive feedback from other small business owners in the area. Rhona Waddell, owner of jewellery shop Azalay on Morningside Road, noted how unique clothing shops offering a range of products – in the case of Ginger, clothing, jewellery and gifts – would be particularly attractive to prospective shoppers in Edinburgh.

‘In this area wealth really does go from one extreme to the other,’ Ms Waddell said. ‘Small independent businesses here can’t really afford to specialise.’

Filed Under: Life and Society Tagged With: Ginger, Morningside

New Laws to Combat Our Drinking Culture

October 13, 2009 By falserodhull Leave a Comment

A delicious, cold pint of beer which could end up costing just that little bit more.

Picture courtesy of the Scottish Government.

By Simon Brown

The Scottish Government have welcomed a report which states that the NHS could save up to £910 million by setting a minimum price for a unit of alcohol.

The report, conducted by researchers at the University of Sheffield, also found that the social problems caused by alcohol misuse could also be curbed significantly.

The Health Secretary, Nicola Sturgeon, said “Those who are damaging themselves and others by binging on dirt-cheap alcohol will be hit hardest, while moderate drinkers will be almost completely untouched. While minimum pricing is not the whole answer, sensible drinking starts with sensible pricing”

The Chairman of the British Medical Association, Dr Brian Keighley released a statement in tandem with Ms Sturgeon, adding, “By reducing consumption, there will be a significant improvement in health for those who drink at harmful levels and the research suggests a significant saving for the NHS – which is increasingly important at a time when budgets are increasingly tight.”

The study also recommends that off-sales promotions are banned, coming as a blow for off-licences. Heather Shand, manager of an Edinburgh Wine Rack store has spoken out against this particular measure. “It seems like it’s taking things a little too far… our promotions help us stay competitive with the supermarket chains.”

The news comes just a matter of weeks after new drinking legislation came into effect. The Act, which became law on the 1st September, increases the level of responsibility for license holders and has done away with irresponsible promotions, such as happy hours.

Filed Under: All Politics, Life and Society