- The Scottish Parliamentary Elections 2016
- The World Press Photo Exhibition
- Business at Holyrood this week
- Two new hotels opened
- Former Royal High School appeal lodged
This week is the last of the fourth session of The Scottish Parliament. On Wednesday evening at midnight all MSPs are effectively out of a job along with all their staff.
The electioneering period then begins and will culminate with the Scottish Parliamentary Election on 5 May 2016.
All MSPs have been issued with packing boxes and everything goes into storage until the members of the next parliament are elected.
Some Edinburgh MSPs are not returning. Kenny Macaskill MSP for Edinburgh Eastern already declared his retirement last year, and is currently editing his book to be published later this year. Colin Keir MSP has not been reselected by the SNP branch members and is rather reluctantly standing down, but told The Edinburgh Reporter he already has plans for his future outside politics.
Malcolm Chisholm will retire after a long parliamentary career beginning at Westminster in 1992, and is another of the founding MSPs from 1999 when The Scottish Parliament reconvened.
Gavin Brown MSP will also retire from Holyrood this week. Mr Brown has been a Conservative MSP for Lothians since 2007 and stepped down as Tory finance spokesman last year.
Marco Biagi SNP MSP for Edinburgh Central has most recently been Minister for Local Government and Community Empowerment, but he is retiring to pursue an academic career.
Cameron Buchanan came to the Scottish Parliament following the death of David McLetchie. Buchanan was on the list, and almost without meaning to, became an MSP in 2013. An Edinburgh businessman, he is involved in the textiles and fashion industries, and will not be seeking reelection.
Of course there are some new faces among the candidates, and we hope to bring you interviews with as many of the Edinburgh and Lothians candidates as possible in the coming weeks. If you are a candidate then please get in touch with us by email editor@theedinburghreporter.co.uk
This summer at Holyrood there will be a photography exhibition with photos taken across the world in the interests of photojournalism. The World Press Photo exhibition begins on 29 June and ends on 23 July. Entry is free
Announcing the exhibition, Presiding Officer, the Rt Hon Tricia Marwick MSP, said:
“This outstanding exhibition highlights the contribution of photojournalism to news reporting throughout the world.
“More than ever in this age of online and social media, photojournalism brings us stories quicker and with greater impact than any other medium.
“World Press Photo has previously attracted visitors to the Parliament in their tens of thousands and I’m sure this year will be no different.”
The World Press Photo exhibition features around 140 photographs from categories ranging from general news to sports, nature and people.
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[mc4wp_form id=”169103″]There is still time left for some business tomorrow and Wednesday, and with a bit of an end of term feel to it the last First Minister’s Questions of this parliament takes place on Wednesday at 12 noon with business ending by lunchtime.
You can watch FMQs from last week here:
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Two new hotels were formally opened in Market Street last week. The Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh, the Rt Hon Donald Wilson was assisted by former Scotland rugby captain Andy Nicol to open the two Premier Inns.
One of these is the first Hub style hotel which allows guests to do everything from check in and set their room temperature with an Apple Watch.
They had everything at the launch. Highland dancers, a piper, a harpist from George Heriot’s School, characters from the Edinburgh Dungeon and children from the Royal Mile Primary School all joined in the fun at the opening ceremony.
The planning process involving the former Royal High School building on Regent Road continues.
The developer Duddingston House Properties has lodged an appeal against the December decision by The City of Edinburgh Council to refuse its application to turn the Thomas Hamilton building into a five or possibly six star hotel.
The developer already has Rosewood Hotels lined up to run the hotel when it is formed, so one can only imagine that the resources they are prepared to use must be considerable.
The development promises over 200 jobs for Edinburgh in the hotel, while a rival bid backed by philanthropic funding is to use the building for St Mary’s Music School which employs around 30 staff.
We are watching the space with interest. It would be nice to think that the east end of Princes Street would be lit up at nights rather than plunged into darkness as it has been since the Royal High School moved out in 1968.
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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
