Edinburgh gets the Bank Holiday blues
Plus: Gym rush boosts Edinburgh Leisure and city scientists in $trillion semi-conductor industry breakthrough
Edinburgh among first to torpedo World Cup holiday plan
Good news. The King has declared there will be an extra Bank Holiday on 15 June to celebrate Scotland’s first match at a men’s World Cup finals in 28 years.
Bad news. There’s a fair chance that you are not getting the day off unless you are a civil servant working for the Scottish Government.
The city council - which employs around 19,000 people from teachers to street cleaners - has been one of the first to say it will not be giving its staff the day off.
First Minister John Swinney says he is “encouraging employers nationwide to put in place arrangements”, but there is no obligation on private employers to give staff the day off or allow them paid leave.
The one thing that is clear at this stage is that observation of the Bank Holiday is going to be patchy in the Capital and dependent on individual employers.
Why 15 June? Scotland’s men play Haiti in the early hours of Sunday 14 June, with kick-off at 2am, in their first game at the World Cup finals since 1998. There is an expectation that many bars and clubs will stay open into the early hours to allow fans to watch the match together on big screens.
Why is the king involved? Like most Royal duties, King Charles’ involvement is purely ceremonial. The idea has been introduced by the SNP government at Holyrood to mark the team’s achievement and help hard-pressed pubs and clubs make the most of the opportunity.
A political football? With Scottish Parliament elections in May, First Minister John Swinney has been accused of delivering a “pre-election gimmick”. Labour-led Edinburgh won’t observe it, but SNP-led Glasgow council says it probably will. However, one of the first to declare it won’t give staff an extra day off was SNP-led Falkirk Council, so the response has not been split entirely on party lines. The cost of giving thousands of staff extra holiday and the need to change already established plans for school calendars will have been a major consideration for cash-strapped councils.
Is anyone getting the day off? Civil servants working for the Scottish Government, at Leith’s Victoria Quay and elsewhere, will. And, erm, council workers in Glasgow too. That’s about all we know so far.
What about hospitals and other councils? It is up to individual health boards and NHS Lothian is yet to make a decision. Like most councils across the country, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian are also as yet undecided. Fife, Falkirk and Scottish Borders have joined Edinburgh in saying no.
Even football fans can’t agree: Hamish Husband of the Tartan Army supporters club is delighted, and, dare we say it, getting a little carried away: “It is a fitting gesture. I am optimistic that another one may be required when Scotland return from a successful World Cup and even a winner’s medal.”
However, Andy Smith, chair of the Scottish Football Union, is less impressed: “Self-employed fans have to miss a day’s earnings and fund anyone who works for them. It’s asking hard-working independent business people to fund a pre-election wheeze.”
YOUR EDINBURGH BRIEFING
GYM RUSH: Growing numbers of people signing up for the gym and fitness classes has helped Edinburgh Leisure improve its finances. The charity which runs the city’s public leisure centres has seen more than 30,000 people sign up for membership passes for the first time, while attracting a total of more than 4.5 million visits, a 6% increase. That success helped deliver a £500,000 budget surplus at the end of the year, raising hopes there will be no repeat of concerns of cutbacks and closures seen in some previous years.
FRINGE ‘SNUBBED’: Fringe chief executive Tony Lankester has suggested the Fringe Society could walk away from organising street entertainment on the Royal Mile in a dispute over its funding. Lankester told The Herald that the Fringe Society, which has organised the street entertainment zone since the 1990s, should not have to cover the full £250,000 cost on its own. Expressing disappointment at a lack of support for the Fringe in the council’s Visitor Levy spending plans, he said: “We run the risk of hundreds of street artists arriving in Edinburgh without anywhere to perform. That’s not a problem the council wants to deal with. If the Fringe Society makes the decision not to bankroll the street events in the absence any other committed funding and we have to walk away it won’t make the problem go away.”
TICKET DROP: The number of visitors to Edinburgh’s summer festivals dropped by 40,000 last year after warnings about the soaring costs of accommodation. The Festivals were more reliant on visits by city residents (up 10%) and Scotland as a whole (up 22%) as overall numbers fell by 1% to 3.85 million. Festival organisers and venues have warned of high accommodation costs putting off performers and leading to visitors spending less on shows to help keep their holiday budgets under control.
BONFIRE NIGHT RIOTER: A teenager has pleaded guilty to being part of a masked gang that attacked police during Bonfire Night violence in Edinburgh. Finlay Burns, 19, launched rockets and missiles at officers in Gracemount and smashed up an unmarked police car on 5 November 2024. He pleaded guilty to charges of mobbing and rioting and culpable and reckless conduct to the danger of life when he appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court. Sentence has been deferred for social workers’ reports on Burns.
SWIFT’S ALL-STARS: Lewis Capaldi has made a surprise appearance, playing the part of a photographer, in Taylor Swift’s latest video, Opalite. Cillian Murphy, Graham Norton, Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith join the singer from Whitburn, West Lothian, in the all-star cast of the video which was directed by Swift.
DOG FALL RESCUE: A dog, its owner and a passer-by who went to their aid were all rescued from the sea near North Berwick after the pet fell four metres into the water. The three-year-old Weimaraner slipped from the harbour wall at Seacliff. The coastguard braved 2.5 metre waves and a 3 metre swell to rescue all three on Saturday afternoon.
TOURIST WAREHOUSE: An empty warehouse off 254 Leith Walk is set to be demolished to make way for an aparthotel. The city council has granted permission for the new development featuring 29 studio rooms in a block behind the street front.
JOBS DEAL: The Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal has created or supported almost 30,000 jobs – halfway through its 15-year delivery timeline. The deal, supported by both the Scottish and UK Governments, has already contributed £3.6 billion in economic growth, and engaged with more than 5000 businesses.
HIT-AND-RUN: Police are investigating the attempted murder of a man following a hit-and-run in Lochend. The 36-year-old was taken to hospital after being hit by the driver of a car which failed to stop on Lochend Drive, shortly before 10pm last Tuesday.
PARLIAMENTARY PUB: The closest pub to the Scottish Parliament is changing its name to The Parliament Arms following a £170,000 refurbishment. The Kilderkin on the Canongate was formerly known for decades as Jenny Ha’s.
Pic of the week
THE BUSINESS
Edinburgh team leads breakthrough in $1 trillion dollar industry
A major scientific breakthrough achieved by a pan-European research collaboration headed by the University of Edinburgh could help reshape the global semiconductor industry – projected to reach a value of $1 trillion within the next few years.
The creation of a new material described as “until now thought near-impossible to make” can make electronic devices work much faster while using far less energy.
It opens the door to a new class of semiconductors. The Edinburgh leader on the project, Dr George Serghiou, of the University’s School of Engineering, said: “This work opens up fertile avenues for new materials design … demonstrated here towards addressing the growing power demand of electronic devices and data centres that need innovative paths to new materials that could boost energy efficiency by using light.”
Researchers working as part of a European collaboration successfully developed a stable germanium–tin (GeSn) alloy suitable for advanced semiconductor applications—a milestone that has eluded scientists for decades.
What, exactly, is the breakthrough?
Semiconductors are vital to modern life, the processing brains in everything from smartphones and electric vehicles to data centres and artificial intelligence systems. Most recent figures show the sector’s value as approaching $800 million and growing fast, projected to hit $1 trillion by 2030.
Existing semiconductors use electronics. Demand for ever-faster, more energy-efficient computing is accelerating, driven by the development of AI amongst other things. So the search for something higher performing than silicon, the material that has dominated chip manufacturing for more than 50 years, has become pressing.
Previous research had suggested that the germanium-tin alloy could in theory act as an effective semiconductor for converting light to and from electrical energy much more effectively than commonly-used semiconductors made of silicon. Making the material sufficiently stable for high performance use had proven very challenging, in part because the elements do not chemically react with each other under normal conditions.
How did the team solve the problem?
The team said: “The approach involves heating mixtures of germanium and tin to more than 1200 degrees Celsius, while applying pressures of up to 10 gigapascals – around 100 times greater than the pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest point in the ocean.”
The work involved researchers from Edinburgh University’s Schools of Engineering and Geosciences, the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam, the University of Lille, Grenoble Alpes University, the University of Bayreuth and the European Synchrotron facility, Grenoble.
How will it help?
Semiconductors are vital to modern life, powering everything from smartphones and electric vehicles to data centres and artificial intelligence systems. Think also of the bigger picture - their essential role in our societal infrastructure like transportation, healthcare, energy, and communications. Demand for ever-faster, more energy efficient computing is accelerating, driven by the development of AI amongst other things. The search for something higher performing than silicon, the material that has dominated chip manufacturing for more than 50 years, has become pressing. A stable germanium-tin alloy harnesses light speed potential.
The commercial potential of GeSn extends into sensing, imaging, and communications. For example the material is thought to be ideal for environmental monitoring, medical diagnostics, industrial inspection, and autonomous vehicles – markets which are already expanding rapidly, and GeSn‑based devices could offer higher performance at lower cost than current technologies.
It may also be a game-changer in data centres and AI – both areas in which governments have identified as driving future economic growth for Edinburgh and the Lothians. However, as demonstrated by the city council’s planning refusal for a new “green data centre” at South Gyle last week, there are serious concerns around environmental impact, particularly because of the enormous energy these centres require. The new technology would greatly reduce energy use and create less heat, and emissions, and require less cooling.
CAPITAL DEAL: Edinburgh-based commercial property consultancy Williams Young McKaig and its rating division WYM Rating has been acquired by Texas-based global tax services and software provider Ryan, boosting its UK presence. All staff will continue serving clients from Edinburgh as part of Ryan’s growing UK property tax practice.
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT
OH CALCUTTA: The romance of rugby’s oldest international rivalry returns to Murrayfield on Valentine’s Day. Scotland will be hoping to restore some pride following their surprise defeat to Italy, when they take on England in the Calcutta Cup. Kick-off is 4.40pm. Pubs are sure to be packed with fans (of one side) drowning their sorrows afterwards.
STRIPPED BACK: The queen of burlesque Dita Von Teese returns to the UK stage with a new show inspire by 19th century magicians. Nocturnelle comes to the Playhouse on Friday and Saturday nights.
WHO ARE YOU? Actor Peter Capaldi is touring his music with his band for the first time. Catch the star of Dr Who and The Thick of It at La Belle Angele on Friday, 27 February.
QUICK BITES
TOP BREW: Edinburgh barista Klementyna Grabowska reached the finals of the 2026 Costa Coffee UK and Ireland Barista of the Year competition, representing the chain’s South Bridge store. She has worked at Costa Coffee for over 1 year and earned her spot after competing against hundreds of colleagues.
BEEFY MOVE: A new steakhouse restaurant has opened in Slateford. Prime Steakhouse is located on Moat Place, having opened its doors at the weekend.