The Edinburgh Minute ⏰ Weekend edition 7 - 9 March 2025
Students 'using AI to cheat', hairdresser fire, bin hubs moving + your weekend guide including International Women's Day Wellness Triathlon in Porty
☀️ Good morning Edinburgh. Here’s Friday’s Edinburgh Minute, followed by the local weekend guide.
🧑💻 University of Edinburgh researchers have flagged up fears students are ‘using AI to cheat their way to a degree’. - Kayleigh Harvey, BBC Scotland News.
⮑ The uni has so far reprimanded 78 students, reports Hannah Gross in The Tab.
🅿️ Councillors have rejected Bangholm residents’ pleas for some of the city’s narrowest roads to be exempted from the city’s pavement parking ban. - Ian Swanson, Evening News.
🗑️ Local councillors are considering moving more than 100 bin hubs after complaints by residents. - Joseph Sullivan, Local Democracy Reporter, STV News.
🚔 A car was pictured on its roof in Clermiston Road North last night. - Lee Dalgetty, Edinburgh Live.
🔥 There was a fire at Belle Cheveux salon on Albert Street in Leith yesterday. Police beleive the fire may have been started deliberately. - Cara Blackhall, Edinburgh Live.
⮑ Residents were evacuated in middle of the night, reports Callum McCormack in the Evening News.
🛍️ Footfall at Edinburgh shops has bucked the national trend, with the number of people visiting the capital’s shops up by 2% according to the Scottish Retail Consortium. - Read more on LBC.
⮑ Chinese toy shop Miniso is to open its first Scottish store on Princes Street later this month. - Mark McDougall, The Herald.
🏗️ Having been rejected once already, developers have drawn up new plans for student flats on vacant plot at Inglis Green Gait, just off the Lanark Road. - Neil Johnstone, Evening News.
🌳 Some curious old things have been unearthed around the Royal Botanic Garden’s Palm Houses during works for its Biome project. - The Spurtle took a look.
🗞️ There are 6,000 copies of March edition of The Edinburgh Reporter around town in print. You can also read it online here.
📌 Edinburgh Minute Community Noticeboard
📌 “Our Basic Sewing: A lifetime skill workshop will quickly walk you through the basics, build your confidence and get you started on the exciting journey of sewing and mending! Using a sewing box or sewing machine, easily creating new garments as well as mending or altering existing items is a sustainable and eco-friendly way of reducing garment waste and extending the life of our garments. The small workshop size ensures valuable one-to-one teacher and participant time, allowing maximum engagement and assistance. It is an easy to follow class with clear simple instructions, hosted at Out of the Blue with Remode Collective.” - Thanks to Earth In Common for sharing this.
📌 “Come and see the beautiful mural scheme by Phoebe Anna Traquair at Mansfield Traquair Centre. We are open on Sunday 9 March from 1.00-4.00 pm and tours are available at twenty minute intervals until 3pm. Entry is free and we welcome donations to help sustain ’Edinburgh’s Sistine Chapel’.” - Thanks to a Friend of Mansfield Traquair Centre for sharing this.
📌 “For the first time, guided touch tours will be held at the Palace of Holyroodhouse on Monday, 17 March. This will be a special opportunity for visually impaired and blind visitors to engage with selected features of the Palace of Holyroodhouse and handle replica objects to bring the incredible history of the Palace of Holyroodhouse to life. The tour will include audio descriptions of the rooms with relevant stories by a specialist audio describer.” - Thanks to the Royal Collection Trust for sharing this.
📌 “Start your week off with a gentle meditation at the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Centre with Maimouna Ly this Monday from 10am until 12pm. Join us for a deeply transformative Cacao Ceremony and experience its heart-opening magic and enter a beautiful, sacred space for an awareness-raising journey. Tickets: £8.” - Thanks to the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Centre team for sharing this.
📌 “The importance of trees to our environment and how we can help protect them will be the topic for discussion at our next public talk. Mike Foy, who is East Lothian Council's Tree Officer is kindly giving us his expert insights. The talk takes place at 7:30pm on Wednesday 12 March at St Peters Church Hall, Musselburgh - all welcome, with a cuppa & biccies afterwards!” - Thanks to Musselburgh Conservation Society for sharing this.
📌 “The German Church in Marchmont is hosting their next monthly board games-meet up on Sun 9 March, from 3pm to 5pm at 1 Chalmers Crescent. Suitable for ages 8+ through to adults, all levels of German welcome. Refreshments provided.” - Thanks to Jenni for sharing this.
📌 ““The Get Down Pay Back! The successful Leith Local Event TheGetDown, celebrates the local support, by offering local business & Staff a limited number of tickets for just £5 1/4 the current price... As always when we approach sell out we give back and release our £5 +bf Local Business Tickets. So If you are a business based in Leith hit the Link and use the code ILUVLEITH and save yourself £15 on one of the hottest tickets in town. Ticket includes pre-party, Over 18's only.” - Thanks to Luvin'Leith Events for sharing this.
📌 “The Second Saturday of the Month sees the return of Balerno Farmers' Market on Main Street, from 9am - 1pm. Great mix of local suppliers, groups and street food providers—plus it's the Market's annual "Tattie Day"! Ten varieties of seed potatoes for sale, with advice on how to cultivate your own spuds! ” - Thanks to C&B News for sharing this.