Commonwealth Games
Farmers’ Market
Former Lord Provost says yes
Edinburgh business owner says no
Street Market
The Opening Ceremony for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow takes place this evening and will be televised live across the world.
71 nations are taking part and Edinburgh has a part in it with the Diving which begins here on 30 July.
All details of the diving schedule are here on the Games website.
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Farmers’ Market is on from 9am to 1pm in the dental surgery car park on Lanark Road this Saturday
The market space provides Juniper Green with a monthly focal point to discuss local issues, a precious facility in these fast changing times. Come and add your views to the common pool, partake of some goodies and have a chat with the community councillors on duty. The usual range of goods will be on sale including meat, veg, bread, cakes, preserves etc.
Use it so we don’t lose it! You never know when your interest group will want an opportunity to publicise its work/concerns.
The free community stall will be occupied by local author, Jenny Robertson who has just published Wojtek – War hero bear (Birlinn Publishing)-,a true story for 10 -14 year-olds, and From the Volga to the Clyde (Fleming Publications) – a collection of thought-provoking short stories, crafted from true war-time memories, for young adults/adults.
Also available will be a few older books by Jenny and the recently published book on the history of Baberton Mains.
Entertainment will be provided by the Blue Moon Cabaret Band a well established ensemble with a wide repertoire.
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The first lady Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh is the latest person to align with one side or the other in the Independence Referendum.
She has urged her former Labour Party colleagues to join the campaign for independence to ensure a fairer and more just nation.
Eleanor McLaughlin, who was once against devolution because it lacked the powers required by ‘a proper government’, says she is in no doubt that a Yes vote on September 18 is the only way to achieve social justice and benefits for all in ‘the very rich country that is Scotland’.
This now means that a former Lord Provost of Edinburgh and her counterpart on Lothian Region, the then leader John Mulvey, the former Lord Provost of Glasgow Alex Mosson and former leader of Strathclyde Region Sir Charles Gray are all backing independence. Other Labour stalwarts such as Bob Thomson, former Scottish Labour Party Chairman, Pat Kelly, former STUC President and Carol Fox, three-times Labour Party candidate, have also urged Labour supporters to declare their support for a Yes vote.
Mrs McLaughlin, now 76, who was Edinburgh’s Lord Provost for four years to 1992, talked about the anti-Poll Tax campaign she and colleagues fought more than 20 years ago and how she was threatened with a warrant sale at her home unless she paid up. ‘We refused to pay the Poll Tax because it was so wrong and the people of Scotland knew that,’ she said. ‘As a council we were prepared to go to the edge on that.’
Now, two decades on, she is vehemently against Westminster policies such as zero-hour contracts and the hated Bedroom Tax imposed on the most vulnerable by a government we neither wanted nor voted for.
And she revealed that her opposition to devolution has partly been assuaged with the passage of the years. ‘I was against it because I didn’t think government works without proper tax-raising powers,’ she said. ‘That’s what government is all about. However, I think the devolved parliament has worked very well. One example is the prominent role of women in positions of power today – the Presiding Officer of the Scottish parliament, the Deputy First Minister, and the leaders of Labour and the Tories, and the leader before her. That just couldn’t happen in Westminster.
‘I believe that now that devolution has been proved to work, the next logical step has to be independence. And Scotland will become independent.’
A member of Labour for about 20 years, she left the party because ‘I just drifted away, disillusioned with Tony Blair’s New Labour – it did nothing for me’.
With more and more Labour supporters moving to a Yes vote, what would she say to those who are still undecided?
‘For those in the Labour Party, I’d say independence is the quickest way to achieve socialist aspirations, and we certainly would have a much fairer country if we run and spent the money we raise in what is a very rich nation,’ she said.
She also dismisses some of the scaremongering ‘Project Fear’ propaganda issued by the No camp. ‘For instance, the idea that a huge insurance company would up-sticks and move south of the Border just because Scotland becomes independent is simply ridiculous,’ she said.
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Meanwhile the Better Together campaign is fielding a suite of videos by people who wish to explain why they support that side of the referendum debate. Here is Ruth McKay an Edinburgh business owner explaining her views.
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The Tram Stop Market behind John Lewis are delighted to be hosting the Scottish Heats of the prestigious ‘British Street Food Awards 2014’. In addition to the regular Saturday market with its organic bread, meat pies and fresh fruit and vegetables, on Saturday 30th August, from 11am to 5pm, there will be 15 street food vendors serving up a mouth-watering selection of gourmet fast food, from the warm Moroccan flavours of City of Avalon, to the fresh taste of Nusou’s Thai noodles.
Richard Johnson, the founder of the Awards, sees 2014/2015 as a period of huge growth for street food. Johnson (who is a regular presenter of the Food Programme on BBC Radio 4, food columnist for the Guardian, and the author of the best-selling Street Food Revolution) now hosts six regional heats across Britain. “It feels like the message of street food – that good quality, fun food should be accessible to everyone – is finally getting through.”
Since its re-launch in February, The Tram Stop Market (previously known as St Mary’s Market) is quickly becoming known as the centre for street food in Edinburgh.
Market Operator, Vicky MacDonald of Edinburgh Markets says “We’ve noticed a sharp increase in the interest in Street Food. We now host a weekly Street Food Thursday as a result, which has proved popular with office workers and visitors alike. Hosting the Street Food Heats is a real honour and we are proud to be a part of this innovative movement in the food & drink industry.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
