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A row took over the tram issue with a resident group in Edinburgh’s west end claiming that traffic diversion for tram work is causing air pollution. It was only two week before we featured a news about the new tram service which is about to get started in Edinburgh. But the Moray Feus Resident’s Association has expressed worries over the rise in air pollution due to the traffic diversion to many residential areas.

According to them the levels of nitrogen dioxide had doubled in such areas due to traffic casuing a serious threat to the health of residents. It is learnt that busy streets like Princess Street have been closed due to tram project. Sad thing is that the project which was initiated to keep this Scottish capital clean and green is facing great criticism with increase in air pollution.

The resident groups are demanding for    a  relaxation of the traffic regulation order which keeps Princes Street closed to public traffic. Though the tram project remains a developing project but now time will tell how the council will manage to control the raging issue of air pollution amidst the traffic regulation

Related News :

• Edinburgh to get tram service

News Source : BBC News

Be free to talk more about this news in our Scotland news group section.

Lothian Buses has launched a new fleet of Airlink buses at the Edinburgh Airport and is said to be the highest-spec buses in the country. Passengers who are flying from the Edinburgh Airport can have a luxurious short trip before reaching the terminal. This £3 million fleet for the Airlink services is more than the standard fleet of vehicles and is priced at £200,000 each – £30,000.

Among the 75 new buses ordered in 2008 by Airlink, The 14 new fleet of buses are the best ever to be made. Although the expensive new buses are clean and emitting fewer particulates and less nitrous oxide, the managing director of Lothian Buses, Ian Craig say that they emit higher levels of carbon. He also added that the firm would be in a ‘good position’, if they invested in Hybrid and biofuel vehicles when it bought the new buses.

The main reason for the luxury buses to come into light is that due to the 28.7 percent of the passengers taking public transport thereby beating the target to 26 percent.

The new buses offer various luxurious exposures like:

• The “E-leather” upholstery- A recycled and environmentally friendly real-leather product with its claret and cream material has the perfect look and feel of pure leather.
• Provides electric sockets for charging laptops and phones
• To keep an eye on the luggage downstairs, CCTV is provided
• For a calming and mood enhancing effect, LED lights are put up that changes colour according to the time of the day and mood.
• To check emails on the 30-minute journey, free wi-fi is provided

Many fixtures and added provisions are still to come like screens that display information on stops and distance to arrival and important informations on the various hotels and tourist attractions that will add another £20,000 to the cost.

If you are a Glaswegian then this might be something really shocking for you, a recent survey has revealed that Glasgow is the second most unwelcoming city in the UK. Well, this news came at a time when Glasgow is gearing up for the Commonwealth Games. What all the reason might be, but its quite evident that the people of Glasgow are clueless and shocked as to how their city was described as unfriendly.

Meanwhile London leads the chart at first place with Aberdeen at seventh position along many other cities in the list. The survey was conducted on the basis of a poll which included 4000 adults across 30 cities, the result of the survey  were released to mark the start of the British Tourism Week. The reports also revealed that about 55% people thought that the British politeness was worse and about one in ten even came across a rude person.

Glaswegians though have denied the results which this survey showed and don’t agree to the fact that Glasgow is the second most unwelcoming city in the UK. But this survey has somehow proved to be a hit on the reputation of Glasgow, that too at a time when the city least expected anything like this to happen. Being the host of the Commonwealth games, Glasgow needs to be really watchful, and make sure the city is not tagged as an unwelcoming city in the UK.

News Source : Scotsman

The family of Sir Harry Lauder, one of the greatest entertainers and ambassador of Scotland is selling the memorabilia of the former. This rare collection of personal artefacts includes costumes and signed photograps, and cabin trunk.

Being an entertainer Sir Harry has travelled the world as a top entertainer and even became the first British performer to ever sell a million records. Expert in his art he not only was a entertainer but also wrote Roamin’ in the Gloamin’ and I Love a Lassie.

Reports have suggested that the sale will be held in Edinburgh today at the Shapes Auctioneers.

Edinburgh will soon be connected with a city-wide tram network providing people a safe and hassle free transport system. According to reports these trams will start its operations by the start of next month. This £500m project will benefit the people to commute easily and its also one of the most technically advanced projects. It is predicted that it will take two more years before the tram line linking Edinburgh Airport with the city center and Leith will be ready.

The head of transport at Edinburgh city council, Marshall Poulton said, This tram is a good quality product and will be comfortable,quite and pleasant ride for travelers. Meanwhile it is also felt that the increase in traffic will also be solved with the onset of this tram service.

Good thing about this project is that amidst all the opposition in the initial stage, now this ambitious project is all ready to be put into test. Hope the people of Edinburgh will enjoy their ride in these trams.

The star attractions in a major international exhibition that was conducted on October 16th were the two 16th-century Italian Renaissance masterpieces, Titian’s “Diana” paintings, a part of an exhibit of 12 paintings and 13 drawings from the National Galleries of Scotland. First ever to be shown in the US, these paintings were brought to Atlanta, GA by the High Museum of art.

On the first anniversary of the nation’s acquisition of Titian’s Diana and Actaeon, the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) and the National Gallery in London announced a tour of the painting to three venues in Scotland in 2010. The painting will be on public display in Aberdeen Art Gallery from 28 May to 27 June, at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow from 1 July to 1 August and at the McManus Galleries, Dundee from 6 August to 5 September.

Considered national treasures of the United Kingdom, where they have been on long-term loan at the National Galleries in Edinburgh since 1945, it was commissioned by King Phillip of Spain as part of a series of six mythological paintings based on the classical poet Ovid’s “Metamorphoses”.

In 2008, the Scottish institution and the National Gallery of London were given the opportunity to acquire the paintings, conceived by Titian as a pair. In less than five months, at a price reported at more than $70 million, the museums had purchased “Diana and Actaeon” which has long been recognized as one among Titian’s very finest creations. They are now raising funds to secure “Diana and Callisto,” (1556-1559), another supreme masterpiece of Venetian Renaissance art, which is slightly the larger of the two paintings at 73 inches by 80 inches.

It might be really strange to know that Scotland is loosing jobs at a faster rate in Western Europe with the impact of recession forcing employers to resort to layoffs in order to sustain their businesses. As per reports over 10,000 people lost their jobs in the last quarter ‘09, which takes us to the present figure of 206,000 with previous years figure of 140,000.

The upward trend in the rate of jobless people has come up as one of the major concern for Scotland. Meanwhile economists suggests that this could be due to the historical nature of Scotland for lagging behind the rest of the UK. But if we compare the present figures for the jobless people in UK we can find that 7.6 per cent of people are out of job in Scotland with UK wide figure of jobless people standing at 7.8 per cent. Even analysis done by ONS has reported that Scotland’s rate of increase stands out to be the highest across the continent with just four countries including Greece, Estonia, Latvia and Romania succeeding Scotland rate of jobless people.

This report has come out to be a disappointment not only for the people of Scotland but also for the government  who needs to tackle this problem soon. Liz Cameron, Chief Executive Scottish Chambers of Commerce said, “It is concerning we appear to be lagging against the reductions in unemployment being experienced in the rest of the UK. It may be some time before improving business.”

It is strongly felt that, if this problem is not addressed soon, then it might be a major setback for the ruling party and even a serious concern for the next elections. While SNP ministers have come out claiming the UK government needs to continue to spend to sustain the economy, the Enterprise Minister Jim Mather said, “ “The figures clearly demonstrate the compelling case for an economic stimulus package in the UK. Now time will tell who will decide the fate of those jobless people in Scotland.

News Source : The Scotsman

The Borders railway link bill,which was passed recently will ensure the reopening of the Borders rail line that ran between Edinburgh and Tweedbank near Galashiels , which was closed way back in 1969. The total project cost is expected to be over   £295m and the project will take off  in 2011 and is expected to be completed in 2014.  The MSPs approved the Waverley Railway (Scotland) Bill by 114 votes to one, with one abstention.

The new rail line that extends from Newcraighall in Edinburgh to Tweedbank. will have stations at Shawfair, Eskbank, Newtongrange, Gorebridge, Stow, and Galashiels. The  railway line will not only improve the accessibility with the border towns but will also improve tourism prospects  by way of chartered train trips, which will be of economic benefit as well.  Nonethless, claims that the reopened rail line would rake up £500,000 annually by way of tourism revenue have received a mixed public response.

The train service would make it easier for people based in Stirling or Glasgow to visit the region and will take off hundreds of cars from the Edinburgh roads, considerably reducing the emissions. Apart from the green reasons, this railway project will be a boon to the border residents to travel to Edinburgh and other cities, which at present is connected only by day time coach trips, which is time consuming and strenuous.

The old timers who share a nostalgic memory of the  romantic Waverley Line is excited at the thought that these are being brought back to life.  Many feel that an orient express theme would be  a good  idea to go back in time and space to the era of Sir Walter Scott!

Celebrating 21 years of show-stopping, eye popping and jaw dropping science, 2010 Edinburgh International Science Festival will be Europe’s largest public celebration of science and technology with 26 venues across Edinburgh and beyond. Topics ranging from hot issues of today to predictions of tomorrow, you can get down to see a stream of events that will rip the white coat off science revealing the bizarre, the intriguing and the occasionally mind-blowing.

Meet ASIMO – the world’s most advanced humanoid robot, when it visits Scotland for the very first time with its various collections. Scotland’s main science festival will showcase a new spin on ‘the beautiful game’ next month when a kick- about is staged between robots. An all- android football will be one among the main attractions in the Edinburgh science festival which will be  hosted in April by the world-leading robotics experts at the university’s School of Informatics.

Experts at the Edinburgh university will give an insight to what it takes to make a robot ‘bend it like Beckham” before letting the Android FC’s finest loose on the pitch. Others will give details about how the latest technology on robots are used to detect human emotions and simple changes in their facial expressions. The event would also take the audience through the process of creating the robots and the progress being made towards having a team of robots stage a proper match against the footballers.

The university’s series of events are expected to sale like hot cakes for the two-week festival with guest speakers including the biologist and author Richard Dawkins and psychiatrist Raj Persaud. Between 3-17 April , more than 200 events will be staged at various venues including the National Museum of Scotland and Our Dynamic Earth, the Royal Botanic Garden, the Jam House music venue, the Scotch Whisky Experience and the Filmhouse cinema.

The other main higlights of the festval include the installation of a huge 3D sound chamber at one of the city’s best-known beauty spots, premiere of a new play inspired by the latest developments in the genetic engineering and a look at the evolution of heavy metal music. It also explores into the deeper insights of human beings – their darker side- to commit horrific acts of mutilation and murder; an examination into the latest forsenic science techniques that can crack crime cases, what are the concepts or ideas that lead a human to indulge in the seven deadly sins, and the best ways to make artificial blood.

To give the youngsters a chance to explore the science behind what happens when they get a cut or bruise , a “blood bar” is also being installed in the festival’s main venue – the City Art Centre.

Many other events like a look at the faulty maths equation that could have triggered the global economic meltdown, a singles night for science buffs, various animation techniques that have been used in the latest computer games and in films like Avatar, and what one can do to try to make a real robot do the same kind of things as well as respond like a human being with a sense of balance, motion and sensitivity.

A stellar collection of the country’s best science presenters, filmmakers, performers and comedians, this festival programme is going to be a great collection that will be on par with the very best science festivals in the world.