Parliament to debate crisis of Mediterranean migrants
Today’s exams
May Planning committee
Balerno Community Council
Dark Horse at the Cameo
Today in Holyrood the parliament will debate what is happening in the Mediterranean and what we see on our TV screens each evening on the news.
The motion is this:
“*S4M-12950# Alex Rowley: Thousands of Migrants Dying Attempting to Reach Europe Each Year—That the Parliament expresses its shock at the recent loss of life in the Mediterranean sea where almost 400 migrants attempting to reach the EU are believed to have died in a shipwreck off the coast of Libya; supports the comments of human rights groups across Europe that have condemned the scrapping of rescue operations in the Mediterranean, which it believes is endangering the lives of thousands of desperate migrants making perilous journeys across the sea; acknowledges the comments of the human rights group, Amnesty International, which stated that “European governments’ on-going negligence towards the humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean has contributed to a more than 50-fold increase in migrant and refugee deaths since the beginning of 2015”; believes that the decision of the EU to stop funding Italy’s Mare Nostrum rescue mission last year in favour of the surveillance patrols currently being carried out by its border agency, Frontex, is a clear example of its dereliction of duty with regard to this matter; notes the evidence given to the European and External Relations Committee by Pasquale Terracciano, the Italian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, who stated: “We are pressing to persuade the European Union that there is an external border that is of common interest and should be managed at a common level, we are pressing other partners to make it a European priority and all political pressure is welcome to create awareness of the scale of the phenomenon”, and believes that it is the duty of all EU nations to work together to tackle this humanitarian crisis, the scale of which it considers is causing widespread concern and disbelief in the Cowdenbeath constituency and in communities across Scotland.”
This will be followed by First Minister’s Questions being held unusually on a Wednesday afternoon at 3.05pm ahead of voting in the General Election tomorrow.
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Today pupils across Scotland are sitting exams in Computing Studies, Computing Science, Computing and Latin. Are you sitting today’s exams? Would you like to tell us what you think of the papers today? Then get in touch with us by email on theedinburghreporter@gmail.com to let us know how you got on, and what you thought of the papers.
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The Planning Committee next meets on 12 May 2015 and you should by now be able to read the papers and the agenda for the meeting on Council Papers Online (CPOL). One of the main decisions the committee will have to take is the form of the new Local Development Plan (LDP) which is the skeleton within which all other planning applications and decisions are made.
But the other is the matter referred from the February meeting to consider a deputation from the Cramond and Barnton Community Council who wish to be heard on how the LDP will affect them.
Community Councils have a big role to play in planning matters and across the city they regularly make representations or objections to the variety of planning applications lodged with the City of Edinburgh Council.
You can learn more about community councils and how they work here.
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Balerno Community Council are scheduled to meet tomorrow evening at Balerno High School at 7.30pm. Sadly their website is not up to date with their minutes and agenda. The last minutes available are those for January. If you have anything to do with the Community Council then perhaps you would get in touch with us to provide us with your updated news?
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If you have nothing better to do today or tomorrow around lunchtime (or if you can just make some time in your day!) then get along to the Cameo to watch this film. “An inspirational British underdog tale in the vein of PRIDE and BILLY ELLIOT, DARK HORSE is a triumphant celebration of a working-class Welsh community and the horse they bred for glory.” Click here for ticket details.
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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
