Latest news with #LisaFerguson
Scotsman
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
The Royal Highland Show 2025 in pictures
It's that time of year again - the Royal Highland Show is back, running from Thursday to Sunday. The country's biggest agricultural show, it will see almost 200,000 visitors pass through the gates, and more than 4,000 farm animals are brought to the arena. Hundreds of businesses have filled up the grounds, selling everything from agricultural machinery, clothing and motor vehicles to Scottish food and drink. Here are 18 images from this year's RHS. 1 . Say cheese The judging continues on day three of the show. The RHS sees over 190,000 visitors each year. | Lisa Ferguson Photo Sales 2 . Very grand What a grand and proud face. Over 6,000 animals are shown at the Royal Highland Centre over duration of the show. | Lisa Ferguson Photo Sales 3 . Trio of sheep The animal's are brought out in front of the judges to face inspection and a range of livestock is exhibited at the show each year. | Lisa Ferguson Photo Sales 4 . Another one for the judges Another proud animal! The show has been taking place at Ingliston since 1822. | Lisa Ferguson Photo Sales
Scotsman
2 days ago
- Business
- Scotsman
Edinburgh University staff on strike over threatened £140 million cuts which could mean 1,800 job losses
Edinburgh University staff are on strike today in the first of a series of walk-outs over plans for £140 million of cuts and a refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Members of the University and College Union (UCU) were mounting picket lines across the university and holding a rally in George Square. The union estimates that £140m cuts could see 1,800 staff lose their jobs. It said the cuts would be the biggest ever made by a university in Scotland, and claimed the university had not made the case for why they were pursuing such massive cuts while, at the same time, planning record capital expenditure. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad A UCU Scotland rally at the Scottish Parliament earlier this year against threatened job cuts | Lisa Ferguson The union argued there were other areas where the university could make savings that did not involve cutting staff numbers and damaging the teaching and research which are central to the university's mission. For example, the union said senior management recently announced plans to spend £400,000 on public relations and media consultants, and the university regularly appeared near the top of rankings on principals' and senior staff pay. Today's stoppage, timed to coincide with a university open day, follows a ballot where 84 per cent of UCU members at the university voted for strike action and 93 per cent to back action short of strike. The turnout was 60 per cent. UCU members overwhelmingly rejected a last-minute management offer to avert the strike as too little, too late with 92 per cent voting to reject. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Further strike action is planned for the start of the new academic year in September. And UCU members will also take part in action short of strike, including working to contract and boycotting administrative work relating to implementing the cuts. The union is also considering a marking and assessment boycott as well as telling members not to use their personal devices for work. But it said it was holding off escalation of the dispute to give senior managers the opportunity to end the dispute by ruling out compulsory redundancies. Sophia Woodman, president of the Edinburgh University UCU branch, said: 'Taking strike action is the very last thing UCU members at Edinburgh want to do but the decision of the principal to press ahead with huge cuts and the refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies has simply left us no choice. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'University staff are worried about the future and whether they'll have a job this time next year. We are striking on Open Day to sound the alarm about the future of research and teaching at the university, because we care deeply about the quality of education we provide to our students. 'Staff are stunned to see university senior management pressing ahead with plans to spend vast sums on public relations consultants and increase spending on buildings while cutting the staff who teach students and carry out world leading research. Even at this late stage it's not too late for the university to rule out the use of compulsory redundancies and end this dispute.' A university spokesperson said: 'Open Day is a hugely important event in our calendar, and we are delighted to be welcoming thousands of potential students to our campus. While we respect colleagues' right to take part in industrial action, we are doing our utmost to keep any disruption to a minimum.'
Scotsman
2 days ago
- Sport
- Scotsman
Hearts Maroon Mile lamppost banners in Gorgie and Dalry approved to mark Edinburgh club's 150 years
Hearts' proposed Maroon Mile lamppost banners have been approved to mark the Edinburgh football club's 150th anniversary last year. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The Maroon Mile heritage trail will consist of 15 lamppost banners around Gorgie and Dalry in the shadows of the club's Tynecastle Park home, along a proposed heritage trail from Haymarket to Tynecastle Park. Two of the banners will be placed on lampposts on McLeod Street with a further three on Gorgie Road, at the top of McLeod Street, at the junction with Newton Street, just before the Ardmillan junction and at the junction itself. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The Maroon Mile heritage trail to mark Hearts 150 years as a football club will begin at Haymarket and head towards their Tynecastle Park ground on McLeod Street. | Lisa Ferguson Further Maroon Mile banners will be placed on lampposts along Dalry Road, just after the junctions with Murieston Crescent, Downfield Place, Springwell Place and Caledonian Place. With more Dalry Road banners to be placed on lampposts around the junctions of Orwell Terrace, Orwell Place, Caledonian Road, with the final two around the junction with Distillery Lane, just before Haymarket.
Scotsman
3 days ago
- Business
- Scotsman
Royal Highland Show celebrations overshadowed by a government failing farmers
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... It is Scotland's biggest annual event celebrating all to do with agriculture, from internationally-recognised livestock breeds to the food and drink culture of the nation. But the sense of pride and cheers for competition winners at this year's Royal Highland Show are set to be a little subdued given the backdrop of political uncertainty around farming and what it stands for in this country under the current governments. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The latest discussions on signing a £1.6bm trade agreement with the Gulf states have prompted widespread concern in the agricultural community about opening Britain's doors to importing meat from countries with lower welfare standards to the UK. Cattle are washed and scrubbed in the washing area at the back of the Highland Hall | Lisa Ferguson Farmers have told Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer that the deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council would go against a commitment he made at the National Farmers' Union (NFU) conference to protect high welfare standards, saying that the way most poultry is produced in Gulf states 'would be illegal in the UK.' The NFU said deals must be 'fair and balanced' so as to not undermine standards in Britain. While farming groups have said there are some benefits from recent trade deals with the UK and the US, including reduced trade barriers and increase in market access, some were dismayed at the regular drumming of the 'lower prices in supermarkets' narrative from the prime minister amid the handshaking. Growers and producers have said the tone makes them feel they are on a 'race to the bottom' when it comes to putting food on the table. 'Cheap food' slogans hardly uplifting Affordable and accessible food is a must. But the 'cheap food' slogans coming from the leader of the UK is hardly uplifting for farmers working hard to feed the nation in a challenging climate - both on the ground and in politics. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Meanwhile, Scottish farmers are also feeling deeply concerned by the Climate Change Committee's latest advice on carbon budgets to reduce Scotland's sheep and cattle numbers by 26 per cent. It seems a contradictory when conservation groups like Trees for Life and RSPB Scotland are 'reintroducing' the cow for nature recovery projects. Scottish minsters have regularly said farmers play a vital role in climate change mitigation. Yet they are still to confirm details of the four-tier subsidy system to replace pre-Brexit farm payments, which includes detail on funding for specific environmental projects, such as habitat management and water quality protection. Further clarity has been delivered on tier one and two, including direct payments, but farmers are still kept in the dark on what the subsidy scheme looks like under tier three - the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS). Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Detail is said to be finalised by 2028. But with the Scottish Government aiming to be "Nature Positive" by 2030, that doesn't give farmers much time to adapt in an industry that requires serious forward planning. And hanging over all of the above, of course, is the ongoing impact of the UK Government's changes to inheritance tax, otherwise known as the 'family farm tax'. It will be the first Royal Highland Show since the changes to APR and BPR were announced, a move which farming leaders said cut deep across the sector like they hadn't seen before. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad
Scotsman
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Dancers take to the Royal Mile ahead of Scottish premiere of ballet version of 1970s cult classic film
The ballet was inspired by the 1979 film of the same name Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Dancers took to Edinburgh's Royal Mile ahead of the Scottish premiere of a ballet version of cult classic film Quadrophenia. The ballet, performed from today at the city's Festival Theatre, will recreate the story told in the 1979 film inspired by a best-selling album by the Who. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The dancers recreated a moment from the film of the same name. Pic: Lisa Ferguson | Scotsman Originally an album recorded by The Who, it quickly became an iconic and multi-million selling success, which defined a generation. In 1979, it inspired the cult classic feature film of the same name.
