2016 Scottish Parliamentary Election
Musselburgh Races
Scottish Student Journalism Awards
Portobello
Edinburgh Reportage
No sooner have we put one election behind us and another is on the horizon.
[tweet_box design=”default”]There are to be some changes in Edinburgh’s Holyrood constituencies at the Scottish Parliamentary elections next year on 5 May 2016. [/tweet_box]Here is what we know so far:
In Edinburgh North and Leith Malcolm Chisholm, a former MP, has held the seat for Labour since 1999 when the parliament was first set up. Previously he was an English teacher and was given the accolade of Politician of the Year in 2002.
He has already confirmed that he will be retiring at the next election and so all is left to play for by new candidates (or old candidates having another try) who wish to represent the area. Councillor Lesley Hinds has been selected as the Labour candidate for the Holyrood constituency.
In Edinburgh Western the seat held by Colin Keir MSP for the SNP with a majority of 2689 in 2011, the LibDems have already chosen Alex Cole-Hamilton as their candidate and his portrait now adorns the shop on St John’s Road that erstwhile Liberal Democrat MP Mike Crockart used during his term.
In Edinburgh Eastern Kenny Macaskill the former Justice Minister has announced that he is to stand down. Kezia Dugdale has announced she will stand here for Labour. By that time she may have succeeded in her fight to become leader of Scottish Labour.
In Edinburgh Central the SNP MSP Marco Biagi has said he will stand down to return to academia.
Gordon MacDonald MSP has confirmed he has been selected to stand in Edinburgh Pentlands for the seat he currently holds for the SNP which the former Lothian Buses accountant has done since he ousted the incumbent Conservative MSP, David McLetchie.
Edinburgh Southern is held by the SNP’s Jim Eadie MSP.
The Green Party is very organised and has already selected 10 people to stand for Lothian seats in this order:
- Alison Johnstone
- Andy Wightman
- Lorna Slater
- Peter McColl
- Alys Mumford
- Steve Burgess
- Pat Black
- Chas Booth
- James Mackenzie
- Dan Heap
Other Lothians MSPs include Neil Findlay who contested the Scottish Labour leadership earlier in the year, Gavin Brown Conservative MSP and Sarah Boyack who also contested the Labour Leadership.
If you are standing for any Edinburgh Holyrood constituency then we would very much like to hear from you as our plan is to interview all candidates over the next 12 months (and not just once…..!)
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The Edinburgh Reporter had a lovely Edinburgh Cup afternoon courtesy of Musselburgh Races yesterday. It was a sunny but windy afternoon and some of the ladies were pretty dressed up for this race meeting as they will be next week on Ladies Day.
That occasion is already sold out and the next fixture is the Edinburgh Gin Raceday on 29 June when the doors open at 4.00pm. If you have never been to the races you can consult the how to guide here which has lots of advice.
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The Edinburgh Reporter’s film expert Douglas Greenwood is a student on the Journalism course at Edinburgh Napier University. He was in Cannes last month writing reviews, and gave us his views on the offerings coming up at Edinburgh International Film Festival. What he omitted to tell anybody however was that he recently won a student award.
At the Scottish Student Journalism Awards he was feted in the Column of the Year section as winner for the blog he maintains here.
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Dr Walhid Salhab from Queen Margaret University makes films. He makes very pretty films and mostly they are time lapse – but now that he has a drone he has made a film with a different view of the beach at Portobello.
Portobello Edinburgh from walid salhab on Vimeo.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
