ELECTORAL REFORM: Politics isn't working. It's time to call time on the broken culture in Westminster and have a fresh start with a fair voting system. Add your name to @electoralreform.bsky.social‬'s call to #MakeSeatsMatchVotes action.electoral-reform.org.uk/page/3782/pe...

INDEPENDENCE RALLY on Calton Hill 28 March. Flags, flags and more flags. How many attended? 5,000? 6,000? 7,000?

SHORT STORY COMPETITION? What happened here? Cut flowers left at the base of a tree behind the National Monument on Calton Hill? A memorial? A date that ended badly? An offering for someone at tomorrow's Independence Rally, but perhaps they will wilt? What do you think?

Can you help take one minute to nominate @caltonhill.bsky.social for a £1,000 grant? Every vote increases our chance of being selected 🤞 Funds would support a biodiversity management plan & volunteering activity to make Calton Hill cleaner, safer & more beautiful! movementforgood.com/draws/1000?c...

Thank you. The BENEFACT DRAW is on 23 to 27 March. Everyone is allowed one nomination per charity. Please NOMINATE Calton Hill Conservation Trust.

Please NOMINATE Calton Hill Conservation Trust (Charity No. SC053572) for a grant! The draws will be on 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27 March. movementforgood.com/draws/1000/#...

I just nominated Calton Hill Conservation Trust movementforgood.com/draws/1000#c...

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula... Facts Scotland has the best A&E in the UK. Maybe the problem is we are in the UK.

14 CALTON HILL (road) is where Agnes ‘Nancy’ Maclehose — Clarinda to Robert Burns’ Sylvander who gave her ‘Ae fond kiss’ — lived from 1810 to 1841. Her birthday is on Sunday 26 April which we will remember with a walk to her resting place in Canongate Kirkyard.

This winter I've been immersed in developing the Deep Time Trail at Siccar Point. A lot of work, but it is really starting to come together, and on schedule to complete in time to celebrate James Hutton's 300th birthday in June. You can find out more at james-hutton.org/deep-time-tr...

PORTALOOS: Midway through March and the portaloos are still there — albeit they don't seem to stay very long in one place. We have asked @edinburghcouncil.bsky.social for an update . . . again . . .

Tomorrow's front page 📰 Call for ICC to probe UK's 'complicity' in Gaza genocide

Slightly breezy morning for an archeological walk on Calton Hill with Headland Archaeology & @caltonhill.bsky.social Very interesting session again.

We are still awaiting an update from @edinburghcouncil.bsky.social about the REPLACEMENT of the PORTALOOS. They were scheduled to go at the end of January. We remain concerned about the units — not just the ugliness but also safety and security. FYI @spurtle.bsky.social @edinburghminute.com

Our GRAFFITI REMOVAL SPECIALIST VOLUNTEERS have been applying chemicals to tagging left on concrete. Thanks to @edinburghcouncil.bsky.social for supplying the Trust with a graffiti removal kit.

The Trust have now learnt that the March & Rally on 28 March will not be on the indestructible hard-standing car park, but instead on the destructible grass behind the National Monument. We are concerned. About 5,000 people are expected. We hope for dry weather!

The Lords is still a home for cronies and donors. Removing the Hereditary Peers isn’t the end, it’s just the start. Demand a fair, elected second chamber now - sign @electoralreform.bsky.social's call to demand change. It takes 30 seconds action.electoral-reform.org.uk/page/174863/...

The complete text of the motion that was passed is posted on our website: caltonhilltrust.org/defibrillato...

A petition calling for a public inquiry into pro-Israel influence on politics and democracy in the UK has gathered more than 100,000 signatures and will now be considered for debate in the House of Commons

Petition: Call a public inquiry into pro-Israel influence on politics & democracy petition.parliament.uk/petitions/75...

Trump has about as much respect for The People's House as he does for the people.

@believeinscotland.bsky.social‬ The Trust have received no information about this from @edinburghcouncil.bsky.social. Will the rally be on hard standing/car park? Grassed areas on the hill are easily damaged. An erosion emergency was declared last year. 300 sq. metres are fenced off. Please advise.

"A clip of MANDELSON over which you could wonder absentmindedly, “Is this honestly the first time he’s been arrested? I must be having a deja vu because it hasn’t happened before, yet it feels so weirdly familiar. For whatever reason.” MARINA HYDE @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Thank you to all who came to the ARCHAEOLOGY WALKOVER on Calton Hill led by Jessica Lowther of Headland Archaeology yesterday (21 Feb 26). The group in the photo are standing where a building was indicated on early 19th century maps.

Borrowed from AUOB in FB. Worth reading through to the end:

I ditto every word if this👇 #ScottishIndependenceNow

One of the greats and he made Hutton’s work decipherable, which was more than Hutton could manage. Hutton’s discovery of how rock formations formed and behaved was in many ways more insightful than Darwin’s work on evolution, and that was genius.

John Playfair was buried in an unmarked grave in the Old Calton Burial Ground, however a plaque was erected to him there in 2011. It would be fitting to celebrate him with a walk from the plaque to the Playfair Monument on the top of the hill. web.archive.org/web/20130829...

JOHN PLAYFAIR? Does anyone remember John Playfair? Is anyone interested in John Playfair (1748–1819)? He was a major scientist, mathematician, and professor of natural philosophy and he has his own monument on Calton Hill. The anniversary of his birth is on 10 March.

GEORGE STREET: "Essential Edinburgh ... expressed its disappointment, saying there is a “dire need (for) major public sector investment” with the alternative being “more years of deterioration and sub-standard public realm in the key city centre.” 1/ open.substack.com/pub/edinburg...

FYI re planning application 26/00217/ADV @collective-edin.bsky.social @edinburghwh.bsky.social @thecockburn.bsky.social @ntbcc.bsky.social @theahss.bsky.social @edinburghminute.com @edinreporter.bsky.social @spurtle.bsky.social @edinburghcouncil.bsky.social

Collective Gallery SIGNAGE planning application: The Trust are asking for the words CALTON HILL to be added to 7 proposed signs on and around the hill to avoid visitors being confused about where they are — especially as the road by the main entrance is also called 'Calton Hill'. 1/

*The VAP*: 'ALL WRAPPING PAPER AND NO PRESSIE'. Thank you SPURTLE for covering our disappointment with the Council Culture & Communities hijack of report on a proposed tiny grant for parks groups with a large top-down VAP (Volunteer Action Plan) allocation to bureaucracy. @spurtle.bsky.social

We have now written a formal deputation to the CITY of EDINBURGH COUNCIL meeting on 5 February in support of 'DEFIBRILLATORS: SAVING LIVES'.

GEORGE STREET “While our group has many concerns ... we believe it would be folly to scrap the project at this stage ... George Street ... is very nearly ready to go, the same cannot be said for Princes Street." Cllr K K O’Neill (Greens) 1/ edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/edinbur...

Many thanks to the industrious & fashionable DIRTY WEEKENDERS volunteers (from the university) who have been digging out the old stone rainwater runoff channels (gutters) on Calton Hill today (8 Feb 2026).

Jane Hyslop/INTELLIGENCE of the FLOWERS/ from Maurice Maeterlinck's essay www.fruitmarket.co.uk/event/talk-j... 1/

Delighted the DEFIBRILLATOR motion passed with cross-party support (+ helpful amendments). Special thanks to Cllr Mowat @cllrjomo.bsky.social for highlighting the struggles of the Trust to get a 24/7 unit installed and to everybody for recognising the importance of a fast response in an emergency.

#Authoritarianism is one of the aspects of #fascism. #Edinburgh #FreeSpeech

PALESTINE:"...protestors criminalised and arrested for peacefully holding pieces of paper, and now ELECTED MEMBERS of Scotland’s capital city are PREVENTED from even DISCUSSING a motion highlighting important issues of HUMAN RIGHTS." Cllr A Mumford 1/ www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/edinbur...

DEFIBRILLATORS: "The BHF says an extra 1,500 PADs spread across the country will boost the nation's coverage by 50%, in turn saving more lives. The report says there are 3,800 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs) each year, with just one in 10 survivors." www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinbur...

My OH was involved in an accident where the door locks continuously operated on and off and it was impossible to get out of the car. Fortunately it was a car with a sunroof which was mechanically operated and they got out. All cars should have an exit which can always be mechanically opened.

happening this morning in Minneapolis -- ICE agents drawing guns on observers. I reiterate again that it is only a matter of time before DHS kills more innocent people in Minnesota. Congress needs to shut this shit down right now.

Do not vote for this clown in Scotland or Wales.

FYI @edinburghminute.com @edinreporter.bsky.social @scotsman.com @scotnational.bsky.social @spurtle.bsky.social @thatstvofficial.bsky.social @finlaymcf.bsky.social @cllrjomo.bsky.social @cllrcmiller.bsky.social @leftwing66.bsky.social @jackrmcaldwell.bsky.social @ntbcc.bsky.social

VOLUNTEER EDINBURGH: "...effective immediately, we can no longer action new referrals for assistance from our Community Taskforce Volunteers. We have strived through 2025 to maintain this vital service and find that without additional funding..." 1/ www.volunteeredinburgh.org.uk/projects/com...

The shocking #IPPscandal was highlighted on BBCNewsnight this week. It’s one of the most cruel, inhumane and monumental injustices of the past half-century. Watch this latest update. This cruel injustice cannot be allowed to continue