Edinburgh University

Students hold further protests over fees

November 24, 2011 By kittywaller Leave a Comment

Edinburgh University was the scene of student protests yesterday. Those involved are demanding that the university reverse its decision to implement £9000 fees for non-Scottish students.

The march was organised by the EUSA and the Edinburgh University Anti-Cuts Coalition, and took place yesterday at 12.30pm. Students marched from Holyrood along the Royal Mile to the Scotland Office on Melville Street, with police closing Lothian Road in order to allow the protestors through.

Around 150 people are believed to have attended. The Anti-Cuts Coalition told Napier News that students were also “coming in on buses from Aberdeen, St Andrews and Glasgow” in order to take part.

Following the demonstration, a number of students took to the George Square Lecture Theatre at around 9pm, and proceeded to occupy part of the building, with reports emerging that there were around 27 people present.

The Anti-Cuts Coalition announced on Twitter that they would be leaving the building before lectures were due to start today, meaning that there would be no need for the University to alter classrooms or timetables.

A number of similar demonstrations and occupations took place all over the UK yesterday. Occupations took place at York, Birmingham, Goldsmiths and Warwick universities.

Several speeches were made at the end of the Edinburgh march, from Robin Parker, the president of NUS Scotland, and Matt McPherson, the president of the EUSA.

Mr Parker said, “Ultimately these fees are the responsibility of the regressive educational policies of the Westminster Government, and the Scottish Liberal Democrat MP’s who went back on their promises have to take ultimate responsibility.”

“Students from the rest of the UK will potentially be paying more than £36,000 for a degree in Scotland from next year. This is more than the maximum allowed in England, if you take the huge numbers from down south who attend Edinburgh and St Andrews into account.”

“And unlike in other parts of the UK, there are no requirements in Scotland for institutions to have a minimum bursary level for poorer students, and no independent regulation to ensure transparency for students about what additional support is on offer.”

However, Edinburgh University have claimed that they are introducing the most generous bursary package available to English, Welsh and Northern Irish students who come to study in Scotland.

Professor Mary Bownes has previously announced that, “From the total resources available to the University, we intend to create a bursary scheme of £6.7 million for RUK students. We are also planning to use investment income to fund a significant number of new access and accommodation bursaries a year for Scottish-domiciled students.”

The Anti-Cuts Coalition announced to Napier News that they are “planning a feeder march from Edinburgh University to the Scottish Trades Union Council (STUC)” on November 30, in order to show solidarity with public sector workers. The STUC protest is due to begin at the Usher Hall.

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: Edinburgh University, march, occupations, protests, Scotland, STUC

Local land mine breakthrough

November 20, 2009 By martinadam Leave a Comment

By Martin Adam

Edinburgh University students have developed a bacterium which could ease the ability to detect land mines across the world’s battlefields via a financially cheap and accurate manner.

The fast emerging biological engineering technique known as BioBricking has allowed for intricate molecules of bacteria or BioBricks to be added together piece by piece to form a new synthesised strain. BioBrick is an open source technology developed by the BioBricks Foundation, a non-profit organization founded by engineers and scientists from MIT, Harvard, and UCSF.

What is unique about the researchers’ custom made organism is that it is specifically designed to react with chemicals leaking from buried explosive devices and glow a distinguishing green hue.

Production costs are potentially minimal as the bacteria can simply be mixed into colourless solution then deposited by aircraft onto areas of terrain which are pinpointed as being of concern. Utilising a simple to deliver technique which would very much mirror traditional crop dusting methods.

(Image courtesy of www.musegreen.com

In modern warfare land mines have been located using expensive hand-held detectors that utilise impulse ground penetrating technology.

A contract to deploy 210 such instruments ready for initial operations in Afghanistan cost the United States army 6.8 million dollars. Radar also heightens the percentage of false alarms occurring and it can take considerable time to comb risk spots, resulting in the endangerment of the soldier involved. The new bacteria which poses zero harm to animal life or human beings can show results within three hours.

It is estimated that there are 45 to 100,000000 anti personal mines laying dormant inches under foot across the globe. They affect approximately 80 countries, maiming and sometimes killing a figure of 20,000 victims per annum. Some of the worst affected regions include Afghanistan, Cambodia, Bosnia, Croatia, Angola, Somalia, Sudan and Colombia.

Despite researchers declaring they have no current framework set out to release their discovery into the commercial market, DR Alistair Eflick of the institutions’ School of Engineering commented that,

“This anti-mine sensor is a great example of how innovation in science can be of benefit to wider society. It also demonstrates how new scientific techniques can allow molecules to be designed for a specific purpose.”

Land mines have been cleared from 3,200 square kilometres (1,236 square miles) in 90 countries over the last decade, however almost the same area still needs to be de-mined. The Scottish breakthrough if implemented on a large scale could make the mammoth task more manageable.

Filed Under: Science and Technology Tagged With: BioBrick, Edinburgh University, land mine

Parents Drinking Causes Harmful Consequences on Scotland’s Children

November 19, 2009 By jennif90 Leave a Comment

: Bottle www.12steptreatmentcentres.com

By Jennifer Flett

ChildLine issued a new worrying report this week stating that in the last year 230 children in Scotland have called the charity help line about their parents’ drinking, with 87% claiming physical abuse as a consequence.

These figures demonstrate a different aspect of Scotland’s ongoing problems with alcohol, as they establish calls are disproportionately twice as high as anywhere else in Britain.

Spokesperson Alison Wales for ChildLine said of the new report;

“What we know about already is that kids continue to call about it and since a study in 2005 issued by Edinburgh University, where alcohol was found to be the biggest concern for children, the situation has not got better.

“Since the report, we now know that there are hidden children who are not likely to have talked about problems because of how chronic the situation is for them and it’s the crucial aim of ChildLine to voice their concerns to get the message out there.”

Government agency Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) worked in conjunction with ChildLine to complete this full in-depth report.

Dr Evelyn Gillian, director of SHAAP and co-author of the study highlighted the consequences on children in this situation in saying,

“The degree of emotional stress experienced by children is taking away from their childhoods especially in cases where they are having to take on more responsibilities within the family.”

In addition to Dr Gillian’s comment, Alison Wales spokesperson from ChildLine underlined a prevalent issue concerning attitudes to drinking;

“ There is a lot seen in the media about young people drinking, a lot of negative press. In reality children and young people phoning in about parents drinking habits is heard much more consistently.

“Alcohol has been marginalized in terms of young people and binge drinking, especially in Scotland and our relationship with SHAAP is important in allowing society to look at the broader issues at hand.”

This September the Scottish Government unveiled new licensing laws in supermarkets, pubs and clubs, targeting the price of alcohol in hope of minimizing excessive alcohol consumption.

The report recommends that to accompany new laws better education is needed in schools to teach the social aspects of alcohol abuse within a family, including family break-ups, bereavement and job loss and not just health effects.

Along with education another important factor in addressing the issue is to create more services for children and young people to turn to which are age appropriate and able to cater for the “hidden” children who may be at substantial risk because of limited options.

Tam Baillie, Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, emphasized;

“The Government has to take the appropriate steps in tackling alcohol misuse as a matter of urgency because this impacts children more than drug misuse does in Scotland.”

Filed Under: Life and Society Tagged With: alcohol, ChildLine, children, Edinburgh University, Scotland, SHAAP

Fears for future of Edinburgh arts venue

November 6, 2009 By Peter Simpson Leave a Comment

Jesus H. Foxx performing at The Bowery (photo by Markus Thorson @ flickr)

Normally, birthdays are a time for celebration. The first birthday of The Bowery this weekend has got people talking for different reasons, with widespread fear over the venue’s future. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Entertainment Tagged With: Edinburgh, Edinburgh University, eus, jesus h foxx, meursault, Old Town, roxy art house, the bowery, withered hand

SNP: Alcohol report shows need for minimum pricing

November 4, 2009 By Nick Eardley Leave a Comment

Nick Eardley

A report from Edinburgh University which suggests that minimum pricing of alcohol would help stem alcohol abuse in Scotland has been welcomed by the SNP.

MSP Michael Matheson has said that the study, which indicates that chronic drinkers use cheap alcohol to fuel their habits, is evidence of the need for further measures aimed at tackling the countries alcohol problems.

Matheson said: “There is a clear correlation between price and alcohol consumption. This study reveals the strength of this link, particularly where drinking is causing serious health problems.”
The research focused on a sample of 377 problem drinkers, finding that the average price per unit of alcohol consumed by was much lower than the average throughout the country.

70 per cent of the alcohol consumed by the sample was bought for less that 40 pence per cent, whilst the national average price paid was 72 pence.
Matheson added: “With the majority of alcohol drunk by those with serious problems available for less than 40 p per unit there can be no denying the important impact minimum pricing could have on Scotland’s health.
“Minimum pricing will have an impact where it matters most –in reducing the availability of the pocket money priced alcohol that causes much of the health and social harm.”

The Scottish Government is due to announce plans to introduce minimum pricing regulations later in the

The Scottish Government wants to introduce a minimum price per unit for alcohol

year, but faces opposition from both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrat.

The proposed move has also been attacked by the The Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) has said that the move could have serious ramifications for Scottish business.. WSTA Chief Executive Jeremy Beadles told the Daily Record:

“The Scottish government is preparing to hand England a massive competitive advantage.

“Their Bill could push huge numbers of Scots to buy alcohol south of the Border.”

Filed Under: All Politics, Economy and Business, News in Brief Tagged With: Alcohol legislation, Edinburgh University, SNP, The Wine and Spirit Trade Association

Student scammed by fake website

November 27, 2008 By adamcouper Leave a Comment

By Adam Couper

A fourth year student at Edinburgh University has been left out of pocket by a fake ticket website.Iain Lobban, 21, from Edinburgh had purchased tickets for The Mighty Boosh live show from www.londonticketshop.com which he had thought was a legitimate website he soon realised something was wrong.

Iain Lobban after learning his tickets would not arrive

‘I checked with my bank and the money had been taken out but the tickets hadn’t arrived. I then went back to have a look at the email to check all the details and when I scrolled down to the bottom I saw it had a website from Hungary. I knew straight away that I’d been conned.

‘I revisited the website which had been shut down by a solvency agency and replaced by a site which has links to reputable sites such as ticketmaster and had more customers who had also been ripped off warning people against using the site,’ he said.’It looked for all the world to be a genuine ticket site. It looked professional, and to be honest at no point was I suspicious.

‘It seems to have happened to a lot of people which doesn’t make me feel quite as much of an idiot.

On the new website hundreds of people who have also been scammed by the company have left angry and disappointed comments. Mr Lobban was as upset about the fact that he wouldn’t be going to the show as he was about the money..

‘To find out that the tickets were fakes is really annoying. I’m more upset that I’ll be missing the show than the loss of money although obviously my bank account has taken a hit. ‘I wish I’d been a bit more thorough when I was organising it but lets be honest no one reads every inch of an email. ‘It’s left me £100 out of pocket and there is no chance of getting a refund.’

Filed Under: Life and Society Tagged With: Edinburgh University, Hungary, The Mighty Boosh, ticketmaster