Calls have been made to tighten up rules around anti-Semitism at Edinburgh venues after several Fringe acts were cancelled this summer. During this year’s Fringe, comedians Rachel Creeger and Philip Simon said that their shows had been cancelled on the basis of being Jewish. In response, Conservative councillor Neil Cuthbert has asked that the council officers review with Fringe venues what anti-discrimination provisions they have in place.

West Lothian taxi fares are to rise before Christmas after the hike confirmed and agreed by councillors. The largest proposed rise of 9.5%, could see the cost of a Tariff 3 journey of 10 miles rise by more than £4 over the Christmas and New Year holidays. Other fees, including clean-up costs for soiled cabs, look set to be pegged at the existing £40 charge, despite calls by some taxi operators for a hefty increase.

The level of poverty in the Capital has been slammed as an ‘absolute disgrace’ by the city’s council leader as she detailed plans to open new neighbourhood centres to fight the crisis. It comes as around 80,000 people in Edinburgh – including one in five children – face relative poverty. Under plans set out by the council, five new ‘neighbourhood partnership centres’ will be built in parts of the city facing hardship.

The new canopied £850,000 Padel courts at Sighthill will be officially opened later this month with a community party. There will be free intro to Padel sessions for anyone who wants to come along, a social tournament and a Beat the Pro challenge with prizes to be won, food and drink and a DJ. Powerleague runs the Edinburgh Sighthill Club with 5-a-side and 7-a-side pitches already in use by hundreds of people every week.

The owners of an East Lothian flat were refused the right to rent it out for six weeks of the year by planners after an objector said it would “erode the community in the building”. East Lothian planners rejected an application to change the use of the flat in Vert Court, Haddington, into a mixed use residential and short term let property describing it as “incompatible” and “harmful to” the amenity of other residents.

Concerns have been raised that the public won’t have enough time to respond to a consultation on West Lothian Council cuts of £23 million. The council will publish its proposals to kick start the consultation this Thursday, just a day before the October school holidays. The consultation is expected ti run for just four weeks – prompting fears from both Lib Dem councillor Sally Pattle and the SNP group that the tight timescale might affect answers to crucial questions on the savings plan.

Library fines for overdue books are set to become a thing of the past in East Lothian after they were described as being ‘out of date’. Just under 2,000 users of the county’s libraries currently have their membership suspended because of late book returns or unpaid fines but a report into the service says more books would come back if the fines were scrapped.

As their business has been nominated in two categories, Tommy and Steven Wallace from Pettycur Bay Holiday Park in Kinghorn were invited to attend a pre-awards drinks reception ahead of the awards dinner on 24 October. The evening was styled as a networking event allowing everyone to mingle with others on the shortlist. The awards scheme has recognised companies of all sizes, including sole traders, established firms, family businesses and first-time entrepreneurs in the last decade.

Fife Flyers bosses have urged fans to stay positive despite back-to-back weekend defeats which carried a scoreline of 13 goals against and only two for. Max Birbraer, the club’s president and general manager, made the plea ahead of the Elite League club’s home clash with Nottingham Panthers at The Fife Ice Arena tonight (WED 19.30). The former Israel international admitted it was “a disappointing weekend” with a 7-2 home defeat to Guildford Flames in the league on Saturday and a 6-0 reverse on the road at Belfast Giants 24-hours later in the Challenge Cup.

Planning matters The new planning weekly list will be published later today but meantime council officers have issued the reports to be considered on 22 October at the Development Management Sub-Committee. One relates to the Crosswinds development at Meadowfield Farm on Turnhouse Road where planners recommend approval of a mixed use development including shops, offices, restaurants, cafés, hotels, public houses, non-residential institutions including a primary school, houses and flats with car parking and landscaping.

A collection of unique whiskies created by some of Scotland's best known distilleries has raised more than £2.3 million for a charity benefiting disadvantaged young people in Scotland. Bidders flew in from around the world on Friday for the Distillers One of One auction, the world's largest charity auction of rare Scotch. A total of 39 one-off lots created by leading distilleries went under the hammer without reserve at historic Hopetoun House near Edinburgh, in collaboration with auctioneers Sotheby’s.

In 2025, 24 participants have taken part in The Postal Exchange. Matched at random, each pair exchanged art materials through the post over several months. The goal was to spark new creative practices, shake up existing working methods, and encourage playful collaboration. The resulting work -comprising collage, photography, and mixed media - will be exhibited this week in The Postal Exchange exhibition at Leith Makers, from 15 October to 26 October 2025.

A prep school in Barnton has won a national award. Cargilfield School, in Edinburgh, has been named the 'Best Prep School in the UK' at the prestigious Tatler Schools' Awards 2026. The award recognises outstanding commitment to providing a nurturing, vibrant, and academically rigorous environment for students.  It follows results from the School's Education Scotland inspection in 2023, when Cargilfield achieved top-tier ratings across all four categories.

A family at war. A country at war. A world at war. A horse at war. One million horses travelled from Britain to France in the Great War, just 62,000 returned. Based on Michael Morpurgo’s novel of the same name, War Horse is the tale of one of them – Joey. It was in 2012 that Joey charged from his then West End stable, the New London Theatre (now the Gillian Lynne), to gallop across the UK for the first national tour of War Horse.

Edinburgh's Jacob Fearnley stood on the brink of arguably the best straight sets win of his professional tennis career today ... and then a 'phone went off. Serving for victory at 6-3, 5-3 against world No 27 and fifth seed Tallon Griekspoor of The Netherlands in the first round of the Nordic Open in Stockholm the 24-year-old had to pause and try to re-group in the face of the disruption by a person in the crowd before sending down a faulty second serve.

Parade organisers have been warned after Union Jacks were flown from lamp posts in Musselburgh during an event in the town over the weekend. East Lothian Council said concerned residents of the county’s biggest town contacted them after spotting the flags flying along the High Street on Saturday, however they had already been removed before workers arrived on the scene.

A petition to make all food at council events and meetings plant-based is set to be considered by councillors. In 2023, the council voted to sign a ‘plant-based treaty’, which supports moving towards plant-based food and ‘awareness raising’ around the climate impact of meat. But campaigners say that it does not go far enough, and that the council should move to plant-based meals entirely in some areas.

Edinburgh council staff are facing “shocking levels of violence and threat” as they try to manage the city’s housing allocations freeze, councillors have been warned. A report set to be seen by councillors next Tuesday references the violence, which it says was not solely targeted at council staff working in housing. And it also revealed there had been a rise in rough sleeping which was ” evident to anyone walking around the city centre” and said it was “clearly being driven by the failure to accommodate people presenting as homeless.”

West Lothian Council will have to cut £23m from its budgets over the next two years. Cuts may come across the board and could touch the lives of almost everyone, in services from transport, to rubbish collection, parks and recreation and community support projects. Leading services such as the Advice Shops, which have helped thousands, could also face cuts as a non-statutory provision.

An appeal has been launched over twice-rejected plans to build 20 holiday chalets on the fringe of the Pentlands. The latest plans for open countryside south of Kirknewton went before councillors in June. Lawyer Ewan MacLeod of Shepherd and Wedderburn, acting on behalf of a concerned neighbour to the site, had urged the Development Management Committee (DMC) to refuse to consider the plans, claiming they had not substantially changed from the one that was refused in 2024.

A home owner faces being ordered to tear down their garden fence after moving it out to enclose public land along the side of their house. Midlothian planners rejected a retrospective planning application to change the use of the 21-metre long strip of land, which is just under 4 metres wide, to private garden space and enclose it with a 6ft fence.

St George’s School is reports that cricket is now their fastest growing sport, with 150 girls taking part in its cricket clubs. The news comes at the end of a week-long programme of sports, workshops and talks as part of the nationwide Women and Girls in Sport Week while the women's world cup, currently taking place in the sub-continent, has given added profile to the bat and ball game.

Jupiter Artland will remain open year-round for the first time, with autumn and winter hours running Thursday to Sunday from November 2025 through February 2026. Three major exhibitions have just opened with works by Tai Shani, Georg Wilson, and Florence Peake drawing upon the earth, folklore, mythology, and humanity and nature around us. London-based artist Georg Wilson presents her largest exhibition to date in the Jupiter Ballroom, featuring new wall-based works exploring urban and rural themes and mythical creatures.

The Vennie Youth Club in Livingston invited Gregor Poynton to be the first politician to take part in the club's new podcast, Make Your Message Matter. Mr Poynton discussed his experiences of school with young people who offered their own perspectives on the challenges and opportunities in today's education system. The podcast is led by young people living in Knightsridge and will be launched later this month.