Five things you need to know today
S/S Hestmanden in Leith from today and open to visitors
Change Mental Health town hall meeting tonight
This meeting is oversubscribed, and organisers are expecting the Augustine United Church to be completely full. If you are affected by the proposed cuts to care for mental health in the city which is proposed by the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board (EIJB) then join the waitlist. Read more here.
S/S Hestmanden in town until Wednesday
The Norwegian War Sailor Museum arrived in Leith on Saturday and will open to the public on Monday morning.
Stian Lunde, Museum Mediator, S/S Hestmanden, and a team of volunteers will show people round the ship. One story is of a young teenager who joined the ship for two weeks, but meantime Germany invaded Norway, and the young man did not return home for six years. There are many stories of sailors who were exiled from their homeland, and much to see on board the vessel which is travelling to a number of ports.
The steamer, first coal-fired and now equipped with diesel engines may be seen from Ocean Terminal and is lying in front of Britannia. The Norwegian War Sailor Museum, is the last surviving vessel from Nortraship's extensive fleet.
Hestmanden is one of about 1,000 Norwegian merchant ships that supplied food, medicine, fuel and arms to the Allies throughout the Second World War.
Cramond Boardwalk
Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust have completed the new boardwalk at Cramond. But the eagle eyed active travellers have spotted that it is shorter than it looks on the plans and also deviates from the design, as it is not a level access - there are steps.
It is supposed to be 110 metres long from the promenade to the beach, and the intention is to reduce erosion of the protected habitat. There is an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) which covers the area. The environmental body is also carrying out planting to improve the biodiversity creating more habitats for creatures and plants to thrive. There are also two seating areas included in the design.
ELGT said: "This will also improve access making it easier and safer for people to get to the beach." But it seems you need two working legs as there are several steps up to the boardwalk - where there could have been a ramp.
ELGT have been asked for comment.
May's Multi Genre Salon
The next Edinburgh Literary Salon will be held on 27 May at 7pm in an upstairs room at The Outhouse. This is a Speculative Salon and the director and founder of CYMERA, Ann Landmann, will be a guest with news of the festival of science fiction, fantasy and horror writing which runs from 6 to 8 June.
Donations are invited, and anyone may join in person or "in the zoom-room".
At the Library of Mistakes
The Ransoming Business: Ordering Trades with the Underworld, 6:30 p.m. on 3 June at the Library of Mistakes,33A Melville Street Lane, Edinburgh, EH3 7QB.
Extortive crimes such as kidnap for ransom, art-napping, and ransomware require legal entities to negotiate a price with and make payments to anonymous extra-legal organisations in the expectation that they will recover a lost asset. Why do these tricky illicit trades succeed as often as they do? This talk explores the shadowy ecosystems that create the trust and expertise to facilitate illicit exchanges, focusing on the rule of insurance in governing criminal markets.
Anja Shortland is a Professor in Political Economy at King’s College London. She studied Engineering Science at Oxford and for her MSc in Political Economy and PhD in International Relations at LSE. Anja specialises in institutional economics and the economics of crime. She is fascinated by private ordering in the world’s trickiest markets: hostages, hijacked ships, stolen art, looted antiquities and ransomware. Her research focuses on trades between legal and illegal enterprises, protection theory, and insurance as governance in criminal markets.
The event will take place at 18:30 UK time on 3 June at the Library of Mistakes, 33A Melville Street Lane, Edinburgh, EH3 7QB. Drinks, kindly provided by Kennox Asset Management, will be served from 18:00 and after the event.
Tickets available here.