The Comedy Army aiming to spark change

Comedy and football will collide later on Monday as Comedy Army and Simon Community Scotland, with support from Street Soccer and the Ripple, deliver a unique day of Comedy-on-Prescription – blending stand-up, live sport, music, workshops, and film.

This one-day preview highlights the power of laughter, connection, and creativity in tackling one of the UK’s most urgent social crises: homelessness. The movement kicks off in classic Scottish style with banter, boots, and a ball before going nationwide on 8 October with Comedians Vs. Homelessness: a one-day comedy takeover in clubs, theatres, and venues across the nation during World Homeless Week, raising vital funds and awareness for homelessness prevention.

The homelessness crisis we can’t ignore

  • UK-wide, over 400,000 people are experiencing homelessness, including 160,000 children rough sleeping in the UK is up 20% in the last year alone
  • In Scotland, 33,619 households were assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness in 2023/24—up 4% on last year. Within these households were 38,075 adults and 15,474 children.
  • One in every 165 people in the UK has no stable home
  • Beyond rough sleeping, most homelessness is hidden—families in B&Bs, people sofa-surfing, and young people without safe housing

The Day’s Line-Up | Monday 18 August 2025 – Edinburgh

Public tickets available: bit.ly/filthcomedy

Wester Hailes – funding for a new playpark

After several years of planning work, Wester Hailes Growing Communities (WHGC) has received a large grant of £234,588 from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund which it will use to build a playground at Murrayburn/Hailesland.

Due to constraints of time, the project has to be completed by March 2026. The group say that the adventure playground will be built on land owned by The City of Edinburgh Council who will then adopt it when complete and will maintain it. But separately WHGC say that Wester Hailes Growers might be contracted to repair and improve the facility. 

More information here

Traditional Building Festival

An unusual Fringe show – the 13th Edinburgh Traditional Building Festival – will take place this year at Edinburgh World Heritage’s historic offices at Acheson House, 5 Bakehouse Close, 146 Canongate from 19-21 August 2025.

The outdoor talks cover all manner of traditional skills and on Tuesday there will be a free demo by Compass Roofing. Edinburgh World Heritage ar4e behind the “show” and they said: “Roof slating is one of the oldest, and most popular forms of roof finishes worldwide. But did you know that not only is the material and practice sustainable, a well-maintained slate roof can last for 100+ years. In this practical, expert-led demonstration, Compass Roofing of the National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC) bring the roof to you with an exciting and fun demonstration on the application and maintenance of slate roofing.”

More details here.

Live Performance on 22 August

As part of Edinburgh Art Festival Fire on the Mountain, Light on the Hill, a special live performance, will take place on Friday 22 August, connecting the exhibition’s themes to Collective’s unique location on Calton Hill.

Artist Mercedes Azpilicueta has collaborated with award-winning, Edinburgh based artist and choreographer Janice Parker and other local performers to create this one-off event for the closing weekend of Edinburgh Art Festival.

The performance brings the exhibition to life through movement, using costumes and props that are on display in the exhibition. You can also explore drawings related to the performance in our Library, for a behind-the-scenes look at how the costumes and props were designed. More details here.

This week at the council

  • Monday, 18th August, 2025
  • Tuesday, 19th August, 2025
  • 10.00 am Policy and Sustainability Committee – Dean of Guild Court Room – City Chambers. The council is to decide whether to continue to use X (formerly Twitter) to help it fulfil its duty to warn and inform. Since 2023 the council has not spent any advertising monies with the social media platform, although between 2022 and 2023 it spent £14,000 on adverts.
  • Council officers recommend remaining on X while building on an approach to “deprioritise the platform” and develop other customer support channels. But meantime the X channel will be retained for “key service information and emergency communications” and the council will “maintain Edinhelp and Edintravel X accounts in the short term, while alternative direct customer support channels are developed”.
  • If a motion initiated by Cllr Kate Campbell is approved then there may be less webcasting of council meetings in future, saving additional costs of £6,113 for approximately 100 additional hours of webcasting per year. The council transmits live recordings of its meetings which are then also available as historic recordings for anyone who has missed them or wants to check what was said by councillors and council officers.
  • The move is to cut back the cost of webcasting by agreeing to “Maintain existing service webcasting meetings listed at paragraphs 3.1 and 3.3, with the exception of the Consultative Committee with Parents, Pentland Hills Regional Park Joint Committee and the Local Review Body.” The list of meetings which are webcast as detailed at 3.1 includes:
  • 3.1.1 The Council
  • 3.1.2 executive committees
  • 3.1.3 Governance, Risk and Best Value Committee
  • 3.1.4 Petitions Committee
  • 3.1.5 Planning Committee
  • 3.1.6 Development Management Sub-Committee
  • 3.1.7 Regulatory Committee.
  • The list of meetings detailed at 3.3 which might be cut includes:
  • 3.3.1 Local Review Body
  • 3.3.2 Traffic Regulation Orders Sub-Committee
  • 3.3.3 Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal Joint Committee
  • 3.3.4 Pentland Hills Regional Park Joint Committee (RPJC)
  • 3.3.5 Consultative Committee with Parents (CCwP)
  • The council webcasts most meetings except those dealing with licensing at present, but The Edinburgh Reporter takes the view that removing any webcasting from the schedule could open the door to remove other meetings in future – which would diminish public access to council discussions. It is however noted that the quasi-judicial body which deals with Traffic Regulation Orders (and which has become one of the most controversial of committees) will continue to be webcast.
  • Wednesday, 20th August, 2025
  • 10.00 am Development Management Sub-Committee – Dean of Guild Court Room – City Chambers
  • Thursday, 21st August, 2025
  • 10.00 am Culture and Communities Committee – Dean of Guild Court Room – City Chambers (An update on the agenda for this meeting will be written up for Tuesday’s Five things you need to know today.)
  • Friday, 22nd August, 2025

W Hotel

Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.

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