Category: Events

December 2016 meeting: Andy Wightman on Land, Democracy and the Economy

For our final meeting of 2016 on Mon 5 December, we are delighted to have Green MSP, Andy Wightman, to speak on the extremely topical subjects of Land, Democracy and the Economy. A few days ago on Wed 30 Nov 2016 in the Scottish Parliament, Andy proposed the following motion on local democracy (with splendidly plain wording)
ld-amend1
The Final Report from the Commission on strengthening local democracy was published in August 2014 and can be downloaded from their website. At the time it was widely endorsed by political parties including the SNP and the Conservatives. However both these parties put forward “wrecking” amendments to Andy’s motion on Wednesday. Continue reading “December 2016 meeting: Andy Wightman on Land, Democracy and the Economy”

A national anthem for Scotland – Bob Murray gets us all thinking

On the 28 November 2016 we gathered at the Clermiston Inn to enjoy a special performance of Bob Murray’s one-man show: A National Anthem for Scotland, in which Bob performs a selection of potential anthems for Scotland and examines the pros and cons of each one alongside discussion of more general issues around national anthems.

For instance what makes a good anthem? Can it be sung easily by amateurs with average vocal range? How will it sound in different settings, e.g. pipe band, small ensemble, a crowd at a stadium, orchestra? How will we choose our anthem? By committee, referendum, TV show? Is copyright an issue? Once you start pondering these questions, the whole concept opens up into a very thought-provoking area. Continue reading “A national anthem for Scotland – Bob Murray gets us all thinking”

Livestream: United Nations vote to begin negotiations on a global nuclear weapons ban: Janet Fenton Nov 2016

At our November 2016 monthly meeting, we welcomed Janet Fenton, Secretary at Scottish CND and the parliamentary liaison for the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). Janet spoke about the United Nations resolution vote she attended in New York in October 2016 and put this into a context of what Scotland’s contribution can be towards a global ban on nuclear weapons. You can watch Janet’s presentation here.

AGM 2016 minutes

Yes Edinburgh West AGM meeting minutes
Clermiston Inn
7.30pm Mon 3 October 2016

  1. 30 people attended.
  2. Apologies: Ian Grant, Ann Rayner, Andy Fraser, Fergus Henderson

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  3. AGM: Anne Donohoe chaired
    1. 2016 progress: We’ve made good progress since being re-convened (constitution, office-bearers, bank, social media, monthly meetings, Currency group). It was agreed to amend the Constitution to define Membership as “those who have given us their email details (as opposed to those who are on the email list). We have already had a request to join via the NYR Indy app – Bob Glen has responded, and will circulate a draft welcome letter for use in future.BG

      2. Continue reading “AGM 2016 minutes”

Our Annual General Meeting (AGM) preceded by a film screening – Mon 3 Oct 2016

The first AGM of the formally constituted Yes Edinburgh West group will take place next Monday (3 Oct 2016) upstairs at the Clermiston Inn, Rannoch Road, Edinburgh, EH4 7EG. Before the AGM business, we will be showing a rare screening of the recently crowd-funded documentary “London Calling”, with the film-make, Alan Knight, in attendance to engage in discussion after the film. The running time of the documentary is 70mins. Please begin arriving from 7pm for a prompt 7.30pm start.

Agenda for the AGM

  1. 2016 progress (constitution, committee, bank, social media, meetings)
  2. Treasurer’s report
  3. Election of office-bearers
  4. Vision for next year
  5. Suggestions for future events/speakers
  6. Venue for meetings

Robin McAlpine to talk strategy at our September 2016 meeting

On Monday 5 September 2016, Robin McAlpine will speak about Strategies for Independence and then answer your questions. All welcome! 5 Sept 19.30, Clermiston Inn function room (round the back, upstairs), 9 Rannoch Rd, Edinburgh, EH4 7EG. RSVP on our Facebook event page.

Robin has written regularly in Common Space that we need to target our independence campaigning very cleverly because we won’t persuade everyone. He also cautioned about putting too much store in the Brexit effect and this school of thought seems to be borne out by recent polling. For instance a recent YouGov poll found that although 12% of NO voters currently would vote YES in an indyref2, 13% of YES voters would actually vote NO! Continue reading “Robin McAlpine to talk strategy at our September 2016 meeting”