- Edinburgh Council wins procurement awards
- Greens to be included in BBC TV debates
- Dunbar Science Festival
- Stevenson lecture
- Cake competition
The city council has just won not one but two awards at the National Government Opportunities Excellence in Public Procurement Awards otherwise known as GO.
The council has been recognised for its delivery of traffic enforcement and for the advertising deal it has struck with JCDecaux.
As the only council in Scotland to win at these awards, it is also only one of two public organisations which have won two awards in one year.
Finance and Resources Convener, Councillor Alasdair Rankin, said: “I am delighted with these awards, demonstrating the excellent work carried out by both our Procurement service and Parking Operations, and which show that the Council is clearly leading the field in these key areas.
“A strategic and innovative approach to procurement and purchasing activity, as well as contract management and partnership working, is crucial to our efforts to make budgeted savings, as well as the Council’s Transformation Programme, so I commend all those involved in helping us to achieve this.”
By making efficiencies in areas such as procurement and contract management, the Council aims to make necessary savings over the coming years while retaining essential frontline services.
With the dissolution of the Scottish Parliament just around the corner on 23 March, the TV stations are gearing up for a number of weeks of wall to wall election coverage.
The Scottish Green Party had appealed to the BBC Trust to be included in their coverage on equal terms with the other ‘larger’ parties, the SNP, Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. That appeal has worked, and the BBC Trust have decided that the Scottish Greens will be afforded equal coverage.
Responding to the publication by the BBC Trust of guidance for the corporation’s programme – makers ahead of the Holyrood election, a spokesperson for the Scottish Greens said: “This is a victory for common sense. Thousands of Scots signed our petition urging the BBC Trust to rethink its ill-considered draft guidance, with Nicola Sturgeon and Kezia Dugdale backing our position. Today’s decision reflects the fact that the Scottish Greens are one of five parties that have had a continual presence in the Scottish Parliament.
“With our positive polling, surging membership and a strong figurehead in Patrick Harvie, we look forward to taking part in the full range of BBC programming in the run up to an election that will be crucial in deciding the future direction of our Parliament.”
Dunbar Science Festival runs on until tomorrow and photographer Jon Savage has been there to capture what they have been getting up to.
Writer and broadcaster Nick Rankin will next week mark the opening of Europe’s largest single scholar archive on Robert Louis Stevenson with a public lecture.Edinburgh Napier University’s Mehew Collection contains a treasure trove of material about the life and work of Kidnapped and Treasure Island author Stevenson.Assembled over a period of 60 years, it includes rare early editions and previously unseen images of the celebrated 19th century writer.
Rankin – whose 1987 book Dead Man’s Chest follows Stevenson’s travels from Scotland to Samoa – will offer an insight into the collection to mark its opening to the public next Thursday in his presentation, Stevenson Unbound.
Rankin will be speaking with some authority, having first met leading Stevenson scholar Ernest Mehew while working on his own book about the author.
Mehew edited Stevenson’s collected letters and also built up a formidable collection of books on and by the author, and memorabilia relating to him.
Following Mehew’s death in 2011, Edinburgh Napier’s Centre for Literature and Writing acquired the collection from his estate. The almost 4000 items within it have now been painstakingly catalogued and the collection has been given its own dedicated room at the Merchiston campus.
It includes first editions of Stevenson’s works, literary magazines and first editions of works by Robert Harborough Sherard, on Oscar Wilde, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Rankin will give a short lecture on the rare collection at lecture theatre B2 at Merchiston on Thursday March 17, from 6pm-7pm. The event is free but please register attendance to lectures@napier.ac.uk.
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A chef from Royal Yacht Britannia yesterday joined veterans from Lady Haig’s Poppy Factory in Edinburgh to launch a schools competition to design a birthday cake for the Queen’s 90th Birthday.
The Design a Cake competition is open to primary school pupils from across Scotland in two age groups – P1-3 and P4-7. Pupils are encouraged to be as creative as possible and two lucky pupils will have their designs made into stunning cakes for the Queen’s Birthday on 12th June.
The Factory was chosen as a charity partner because it is also celebrating its 90th birthday this week. Since 1926, veterans have been hand-assembling poppies and wreaths for the annual Scottish Poppy Appeal, run by Poppyscotland.
During the event, the veterans had a go at decorating their own cake, under the watchful eye of Britannia’s confectioner, Pauline de la Cruz.
Chefs from @britanniayacht and veterans from @poppyscotland launch cake competition! pic.twitter.com/5PDSWmg1dH
— Edinburgh Reporter (@EdinReporter) March 11, 2016
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