Welcome to your midweek edition of The Inquirer.
Today, we return to the Royal Observatory on Blackford Hill. It is one of the city’s most treasured institutions, but few of us understand much of what goes on beneath its roof. We highly recommend one of its open days by the way to get an insight into the work of its staff, it is mind-blowing.
You may recall we reported earlier in the year about a threat to the work of the Royal Observatory from changes in UK research funding. We wanted to know the upshot, so Sarah McArthur went back to find out.
There is good news (including a significant NASA contract) and there are glimpses of the most fascinating work imaginable (including the search for alien life). However, there is also concern about significant research work being curtailed and a warning about the future of some of the world’s leading research, currently being carried out in Edinburgh, in the department where Nobel Prize-winner Professor Peter Higgs worked.
More on that below, but first your regular midweek news roundup and your cultural highlights for the week ahead.
Meanwhile, The Herald is reporting union fears that an announcement of extensive course and programme closures by Edinburgh University is imminent.
Your Edinburgh Briefing
SURFING RATHO WAY: The Lost Shore Surf Resort at Ratho has won a global award for the impact of its community work at Europe’s biggest inland surf pool. The Surf Park Community Impact Award, presented in Virginia Beach, in the United States, recognises its work in surf therapy. It works with charities including the Wave Project to use surfing and one-to-one volunteer mentoring to support children and young people experiencing mental health challenges, helping them build confidence, resilience and self-esteem. (You can read more about this incredible work in Dave Lyons’ long read: Riding high in Ratho on Europe’s biggest wave pool)
DATA CENTRE DATE: Decisions on the two huge data centres proposed for Edinburgh - at South Gyle and near Riccarton - are likely to be taken in the New Year. MSPs voted against a moratorium on approving such plans yesterday after the Scottish Government confirmed it would ensure environmenal assessments were carried out on all the large-scale centres. The government said planning consent was “highly unlikely” to be granted in the next three months while more guidance on what constitutes a ‘green data centre’ is prepared.
GRANTON ‘NOT HEARD’: Deprived communities of north Edinburgh ”have not been heard” in the decision to pause development of the city centre to Granton section of the proposed new North-South tram extension. While councillors approved the strategic business case for the entire route, the decision was taken to press ahead with the southern section while carrying out further work on the northern half following vocal opposition to the proposed route, and in particular the use of the Roseburn Path which is popular with cyclists and walkers. Granton and District Community Council chair Fred Marinello said politics played “too big a part” and added the local community, who had strongly supported the plans were “now effectively locked out for probably another 20 years”.
FLY ARRESTS: A 12-year-old boy is among eight people arrested after youths tried to break into the popular Fly dance music festival in Princes Street Gardens. Police said they tried to climb over the perimeter fencing and cross the railway line to get into the festival without tickets.
INVESTMENT IN HOMES: A built to rent development of around 370 family homes are set to go on the market in 2028, at the former Edmondstone Estate, near the Royal Infirmary, following the announcement of an almost £20 million investment by The Scottish National Investment Bank. Investment Director Danny Mallin said accessible housing was key to the future development of the nearby Edinburgh BioQuarter, Little France Park and major employers. The taxpayer funded investment bank is working in partnership with two local companies, Hunter REIM and Ediston Real Estate, to develop 241 private rental homes and 129 affordable homes.
TELL US A STORY: The Scottish International Storytelling Festival has announced its programme as its prepares to return to the Storytelling Centre on the Roya Mile on 21–31 October. We can look forward to 10 days of myths, folklore and stories from Scotland and beyond, all inspired by this year’s theme of “bird and beast” .
HISTORIC SALE: The Gillis Centre in Edinburgh, administration campus for the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh, has been formally placed on the market. The archdiocese announced earlier this year that the 2.5 acre site in the Grange area, founded in 1834, would be sold due to rising maintenance costs and changing needs. The A-listed chapel dedicated to St Margaret of Scotland on the site was designed by James Gillespie Graham, who also designed the Glenfinnan Monument, and St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral in Edinburgh.
Your Pick of the (Cultural) Pops
Now the city council has officially signed off on the £2bn tram extension, we can settle in for years of passionate local angst between now and whenever spades might actually break ground south of the city centre. Meanwhile, if you listen very carefully as you stroll past the King’s Theatre, you might just catch faint refrains of “He’s behind you!” drifting through the autumn air. There’s no rest for the wicked (stepmothers), as Scotland’s stages look towards the most wonderful, and commercially important, time of the year.
Before the glitter and slapstick take over, however, autumn has plenty of first-rate culture to offer. This week’s countdown brings you moving solo drama, masterclass stand-up whimsy, an almighty symphonic clash under the Usher Hall dome, Broadway optimism, and the historic reopening of a legendary Tollcross playhouse.
Let’s count them down...
Honourable Mentions: Gilbert O’Sullivan, Six - The Musical, Jacob Collier, NT Live & Lammermuir Festival
Bubbling just outside the main chart, there’s plenty of quality to explore across the capital and beyond. Over at The Queen’s Hall (September 25th), veteran Gilbert O’Sullivan arrives in town; at 79, he can still sing up a storm and seems as fond of his hit-strewn songbook as ever—though at 79, it’s wise not to assume too many more chances to catch him live on stage! On Nicolson Street, Six - The Musical continues its smash-hit residency at the Festival Theatre (until September 26th), remixing five centuries of Tudor heartbreak into an unstoppable 80-minute pop showdown. Multi-instrumentalist prodigy Jacob Collier brings his dizzying, audience-harmonising solo show to The Queen’s Hall on Sunday. Sliding into the honourables as its cinema run begins, NT Live: Les Liaisons Dangereuses lands at The Cameo from tonight, delivering Christopher Hampton’s cynical, biting games of aristocratic seduction starring Lesley Manville and Aidan Turner. Finally, last week’s chart-topper Lammermuir Festival enters its final few days across East Lothian (until Sunday), offering a last chance to hear Thomas Dunford with Ensemble Jupiter, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, and The English Concert filling historic stone churches in Haddington and Whitekirk before packing away until next year. Don’t miss ‘em!
Moving to Number 5 is... Private Peaceful (Royal Lyceum Theatre, until Saturday)
Sliding down a notch to round out this week’s top five, Simon Reade’s solo adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s novel opens tonight on Grindlay Street for a brief three-night run. Morpurgo was indisputably my literary hero growing up, and there is something uniquely rewarding about seeing his storytelling celebrated on stage beyond the mammoth West End machinery of War Horse. Here, we spend a harrowing, tender night in the trenches alongside young Private Tommo Peaceful as he counts down the final hours until dawn, revisiting the sunlit memories of his rural Devon boyhood, his first sweetheart, and the fierce loyalty he shared with his brother Charlie. Colleagues in critical circles have rightly championed this as an intensely intimate, masterfully focused hour that pulls no punches about the cruel reality of wartime military executions.
New in at Number 4 is... Alasdair Beckett-King: The King of Crumbs (The Stand Comedy Club, September 22nd)
Taking fourth place is one of the most delightfully inventive minds on the UK circuit, bringing his touring show to York Place for a single evening. Reviewing The King of Crumbs at the Fringe for The Quinntessential Review, I declared that “If it’s whimsy you’re after, then Alasdair Beckett-King is the master you’ve been seeking.” With his ginger locks sweeping over corduroy shoulders, ABK holds court on absurdities ranging from the branding habits of birds and oat milk marketing to the quiet socialist solidarity of Christmas tree lights. Armed with his trusty projection screen, surreal animations, and an obstinate rotary phone, there is an effortless, charming cadence to his delivery that disarms the room with piquant callbacks when you least expect them. Tell him I sent you!
Staying at Number 3 is... RSNO & SCO Season Openers (Usher Hall, September 18th & 23rd)
We have a glorious symphonic deadlock at number three this week, with both of Scotland’s premier national ensembles launching their flagship seasons under the Usher Hall dome over the coming days!
First out of the blocks tomorrow, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Music Director Thomas Søndergård tackle Gustav Mahler’s colossal Sixth Symphony - the “Tragic”. If you’ve never felt the physical shockwave of those catastrophic wooden hammer blows landing in the finale, prepare yourself: they rattle the venue right down to its foundations. Joining the fray is pianist Alexander Malofeev for Rachmaninov’s brooding Fourth Piano Concerto. A dazzling child prodigy who turned heads worldwide at 13, Malofeev is also an artist of exceptional principle who openly denounced the invasion of Ukraine at real peril to his career. Pairing his fiery virtuosity with Søndergård’s orchestral muscle is sure to shake off the post-Fringe cobwebs.
Not to be outdone, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra storms into action on Wednesday 23rd with an all-Berlioz opening night under the baton of Maxim Emelyanychev. Alongside the wild, hallucinatory fever dream of the Symphonie fantastique, the concert features Harold in Italy, starring viola virtuoso Timothy Ridout. The Quinntessential Review’s resident classical authority Lindsay McMurdo rates Ridout exceptionally highly, making this an unmissable date for local classical enthusiasts.
Staying in at Number 2 is... Annie (Edinburgh Playhouse, until Sunday)
Holding its ground in the runner-up spot as it enters its final weekend at the Playhouse, this lavish West End tour proves that some musical jewels simply never tarnish. Half a century on from its humble tryout at Connecticut’s Goodspeed Opera House back in 1976, Annie continues to pack cavernous auditoriums to the rafters. That kind of enduring commercial magnetism comes down to sheer craft: the sparkling alchemy of Charles Strouse’s melodies, Martin Charnin’s crisp lyricism, and Thomas Meehan’s airtight book. Following our resilient red-headed heroine as she navigates Depression-era Manhattan and outwits the boozy tyrant Miss Hannigan, Nikolai Foster’s production delivers showstoppers like “Tomorrow” and “It’s the Hard Knock Life” with unflagging vigour. Catch it before the company packs up its trunks on Sunday. By the time you read this I’ll have reviewed the show, so do stop by the Quinntessential Review to catch my verdict!
Straight in at Number 1 is... Lullaby (King’s Theatre, September 24th – 26th)
Taking the crown this week is a landmark moment for the capital’s cultural scene: the magnificent King’s Theatre officially reopens as a full-time, working producing house after being road-tested by the International Festival in August. And who better to showcase the venue’s upgraded technical muscle and capacity for international dance than Jasmin Vardimon MBE?
An Associate Artist at Sadler’s Wells and one of contemporary physical theatre’s true trailblazers, Vardimon presents an expanded, reimagined production of Lullaby—the award-winning 2003 masterpiece that first cemented her international reputation. Framing the drama within the sterile confines of a hospital ward, the piece grapples with human vulnerability, illness, and resilience, drawing on Susan Sontag’s famous reflection on our “dual citizenship” in the kingdoms of the well and the sick. Blending dark, quirky humour with astonishing, floor-shaking athleticism, seeing a work of this stature inhabit the reborn Old Lady of Leven Street is going to be a moment to savour. Brilliant stuff! Yes, indeed! Not ‘arf!
And that’s your Top 5 for this week!
Whether you’re heading down to Tollcross to celebrate the rebirth of the Old Lady, diving into the deep end of the Usher Hall’s opening symphonies, or escaping into some high-calibre stand-up, get those seats booked before the “sold out” signs start appearing. Tell me what you’re planning to catch in the comments, or let me know what flew under my radar this week.
Until next time: Stay bright!
We need your support to produce the Edinburgh Inquirer. Only our paying members make all our high-quality journalism possible. Joining costs just £1.54 a week when you sign up for a full year. It is the only way to access all our writing, and your money goes directly to paying our professional journalists and supporting their work.
Scientists warn of risk to Edinburgh’s world-leading physics and astronomy research
Astronomer Royal for Scotland says funding being diverted away from science “that answers big questions”
by Sarah McArthur
The Royal Observatory is a classic feature of our historic architectural skyline. Calton Hill has the National and Nelson monuments, Corstorphine has the Clermiston Tower, and Blackford has the beautiful Victorian dome of the Royal Observatory. However, the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh is far more than a historic monument.
Home to multiple science institutes including the UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UKATC) and the University of Edinburgh’s Institute for Astronomy, the Royal Observatory is at the cutting edge of modern science. The Observatory team built parts of the James Webb telescope, and has recently completed the Multi-Object Optical and Near-infrared Spectrograph (MOONS), a tool with over 1000 robotic eyes, which will allow scientists to study the early formation of galaxies.
This scientific prowess in Edinburgh is at risk of eroding as UK government funding for curiosity-based science stagnates in favour of industry research and innovative businesses.
Concerns were raised for the Observatory’s future earlier this year when United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) - the umbrella body which delivers UK government funding for research - announced that funding would be reorganised. The Labour government awarded a record sum to UKRI in the most recent spending review - £9.2 billion per year over four years, compared with an average of £8.38 billion over the three previous years.
However this funding uplift is going mainly to “government priorities” and “innovative companies”- with real-term cuts facing “curiosity-driven research”, although this category still receives over 50% of UKRI funding. The funding council which leads Astronomy, Particle Physics and Nuclear Physics, will receive flat cash until 2030, and therefore will have to make significant cuts in real terms. While the damage has been worse elsewhere - Jodrell Bank Telescope near Manchester will completely shut down - the UKATC in Edinburgh has been handed a 20% overall budget cut.
No jobs lost at the Observatory
The Royal Observatory is the workplace of Professor Catherine Heymans, Astronomer Royal for Scotland, researcher of dark matter and dark energy. She spoke to The Inquirer about the impact of the cuts on her place of work and her field in general.
Heymans explained that the UKATC has been able to secure a significant NASA grant to build a new space-based instrument, called the Habitable Worlds Observatory (that’s right, looking for aliens) - which will fill the 20% funding gap in the medium term. This grant, combined with an already slimmed down team after an 18-month hiring freeze, means that no jobs will be lost on Blackford Hill.
However, the cuts from UKRI mean that the work of the Observatory is also being significantly reconfigured - the team which analyses data from the huge Vera Rubin telescope (that one spots killer asteroids, but is making a ten year hyper-detailed stop-motion film of the night sky in the process) is being cut by 20%. Plans to build parts of the “Extremely Large Telescope” (which will be a whopping 39 metres wide) at the Observatory have been cancelled.
