Edinburgh’s New Year’s Eve celebrations will go ahead in style on Wednesday (Jane Barlow/PA)
Thousands of revelers are expected to welcome the New Year with the end of Edinburgh’s famous Hogmanay celebrations.
People were left disappointed last year after the festival was cancelled, but forecasters are expecting dry conditions in the Scottish capital on New Year’s Eve this year.
Temperatures will reach around minus 2C in the city, but festival-goers will avoid weather warnings about snow and ice expected to hit parts of Scotland from 6am on New Year’s Day.
Airspace restrictions are in force for unmanned aircraft to fly below 2,000 feet above sea level within a one nautical mile radius of Edinburgh Castle, from 6 p.m. Wednesday to 2 a.m. Thursday.
Elsewhere, the Stonehaven Fireball Ceremony will take place in Aberdeenshire and the annual Biggar Bonfire will take place in South Lanarkshire, while ceilidhs and other cultural events will take place across the country.
Before the new year, Prime Minister John Swinney quoted Robert Burns’ Auld Lang Syne to urge people to do small acts of kindness in 2026.
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Part of the park has been cordoned off with sturdy stockades and temporary fencing, while other parts only have temporary fencing to keep potential spectators out.
Fence surrounding Primrose Hill which was installed around the park ahead of the New Year celebrations.
Photo: Alamy
Residents living near Primrose Hill have spoken of their anger after an opaque green sign was installed around the park, an “unprecedented” move aimed at preventing revelers from entering to watch New Year’s Eve fireworks.
Camden Park offers panoramic views of the capital, and in 2024 around 30,000 people celebrated New Year’s Eve there – but this year it is closed, with the gates locked from 8pm on Tuesday to 6am on New Year’s Day.
Part of the park has been cordoned off with sturdy stockades and temporary fencing, while other parts only have temporary fencing to keep potential spectators out.
Amy McKeown, a local resident, said she left the area on Monday to celebrate New Year’s Eve with family elsewhere.
“I left the area,” she told the Press Association. “It’s too grotesque to see.”
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Camden Park offers panoramic views of the capital, and in 2024 around 30,000 people celebrated New Year’s Eve there.
Photo: Alamy
Ms McKeown, who is part of the Primrose Hill Keepers volunteer group, added: “The park has never been closed like this.
“This is completely unprecedented.
“This is a public park where people should be able to come and watch the fireworks. That’s exactly what we should be encouraging people to do.”
The Metropolitan Police announced in November that it would disband the Royal Parks Police, which has helped respond to serious crime in green spaces including Hyde Park and Primrose Hill, as it attempts to plug a £260m funding gap.
This year Primrose Hill will be closed on New Year’s Eve ⛔There will be a fence, security measures and a police presence to prevent access.
If you were planning to travel there to view the Central London fireworks, please make alternative arrangements. pic.twitter.com/J5NWX0H7Xz
But a force spokesperson said: “The decision to close Primrose Hill on New Year’s Eve is made by Royal Parks, not the police.
“It is not accurate to suggest that the decision was necessary due to the disbandment of the Royal Parks Policing Team.
“The officers on this team represented only 15 of the more than 145 officers deployed to Primrose Hill on New Year’s Eve last year. This is similar to the makeup of previous years’ deployments.”
The Royal Parks charity, which manages Primrose Hill, previously said the ability to manage crowds of the size that usually attend fireworks displays would be “severely diminished”, partly due to the closure of the Metropolitan Police’s Royal Parks operational command unit.
A spokesperson for the association said on Monday: “The decision to close Primrose Hill on New Year’s Eve was not taken lightly. Last year around 30,000 people visited Primrose Hill to watch the Mayor of London’s New Year’s Eve fireworks display.
A sign on the fence surrounding Primrose Hill.
Photo: Alamy
“This was not an event with an event organizer but a gathering in an open park and we have limited controls that we can deploy to ensure public safety. Therefore, we have decided that Primrose Hill will be closed and locked from 8pm on December 30 until January 1.
“We have worked closely with the Metropolitan Police in encouraging anyone who does not have a ticket for the Mayor of London’s New Year’s Eve fireworks to make alternative arrangements.”
Catherine Usiskin, who has lived in Primrose Hill for more than 40 years, said the fence around the park was “an overreaction”.
“It’s just ridiculous,” she said.
“It’s such an overreaction. We can’t shut down society.”
Ms Usiskin said Primrose Hill, part of which is in Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s constituency, had become much more populated since she started living there.
“I understand it’s harder to control,” she said. “But since the pandemic there has been hysteria around Primrose Hill.”
She said the closure would be detrimental to restaurants and pubs in the area, but she believes people will still try to gather in the park by climbing the fence.
Ms McKeown said the hoarding is similar to barriers used at Glastonbury.
“The year 2024 was successfully monitored and passed without incident,” she added.
“We went from an open event to a huge amount of resources being used to keep people out of the park.”
Commander Nick John, Met Police lead for New Year’s Eve, said: “Royal Parks is urging people not to try to gather in Primrose Hill this year and we will echo these calls.
“Please make alternative plans. Anyone trying to access the park will find that this is not possible.”
Scotland Yard confirmed there would be a police presence at Primrose Hill to “respond to crime” but added that preventing access to the park was not its responsibility.
Royal Parks declined to comment further.
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#Outrage #grotesque #fences #London #park #stop #Year #festivities
According to the forecaster, 1 to 2 cm of snow could fall in most areas, but some areas could see up to 5 cm of fall.
The Met Office has issued snow and ice warnings for much of the UK.(Image: Wales Online/Rob Browne)
The Met Office has revealed all the areas of England that could receive 5cm of snow within a few hours.
The forecaster has issued several ‘snow and ice’ warnings for parts of the UK from tomorrow (January 1) until Sunday (January 4).
Parts of northern Scotland received warnings every day from Thursday to Sunday.
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However, on Friday 2 January, large areas of England and Wales will be under a yellow ‘snow and ice’ alert, including Birmingham and the West Midlands.
The Met Office says an “area of snow sleet” is expected to move south-east across England and Wales that day.
The arrival of winter should see around 1 to 2 cm of snow fall in most regions.
However, some areas could see up to 5cm of snow falling, including those in north-west England and north Wales.
A Met Office spokesperson said: “An area of sleet and snow is expected to move south-east across parts of England and Wales, lasting around two to three hours in one location.
“Where snow falls, 1 or 2cm is likely for some and perhaps up to 5cm of snow possible in a few places, particularly on the higher ground in North Wales and North West England.
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“Patches of ice will also develop quickly as the sleet and sleet dissipates.”
Palestinian family left homeless after settler seizes cave in Masafer Yatta #Palestinian #family #left #homeless #settler #seizes #cave #Masafer #Yatta
In the village of Sarura in the Masafer Yatta area, south of Hebron, the struggle to remain on the land and resist occupation and settler expansion is a daily battle. For Palestinian residents, survival, resilience and attachment to their land are not slogans but lived realities shaped by repeated settler attacks, land seizures and displacement.
Tilal Al-Amour sits with several members of his family in a makeshift shelter with no roof, its walls built from worn-out car tyres to shield them from the winter cold. At night, they gather around an open fire for warmth, keeping watch against potential settler assaults carried out under the protection of Israeli soldiers. Their ordeal began after a settler seized the cave where the family had lived, leaving them homeless.
According to Al-Amour, the settler took advantage of the family’s absence while they were attending a wedding. He arrived with his wife, occupied the cave and prevented the family from returning or living there.
With a few words, Al-Amour sums up his family’s tragedy: “They took the land and the people. Nothing is left — no trees, no stones. People are forced to live outside under trees. They beat the elderly and spared no one.”
Al-Amour said he was shocked to find the settler inside his cave when he returned 14 days ago. “He stood there with his wife and stopped us from coming close, saying the cave was now his,” Al-Amour said. For nearly 16 days, the family has been living in the open after Israeli soldiers demolished a tent he had erected and confiscated the family’s belongings, telling them they were not allowed to remain in the area under what he described as false security claims.
During the day, the family stays outdoors, sitting beneath trees. At night, they return to the tyre-walled shelter, lighting fires to keep warm. They divide themselves into shifts, with some sleeping while others stay awake to protect the family from settler attacks.
Al-Amour compared their current situation with life in the cave, where everything they needed was available. “We had a water well, electricity and trees. Everything was there. We cooked on fire and lived together — my father, his wife, my wife and my children,” he said. Some of his children attend school, while others are university students. “Now we are exposed to the open air, and the army prevents us from even putting up a tent. The moment we placed two wooden poles; Israeli soldiers came and removed them.”
He questioned how the army could prevent his family from erecting a tent while allowing a settler to seize their cave. “We own this cave and have documents proving it,” he said.
Sarura and other villages and hamlets in Masafer Yatta have faced an intensified campaign since the 1980s, led by settlers under Israeli military protection, aimed at forcing residents to leave their land to expand settlements and establish new outposts. In 2022, Israeli forces demolished Palestinian homes and forcibly displaced residents under security pretexts.
In the summer of 2025, Israeli forces evacuated the nearby hamlet of Khallat Al-Dabaa after demolishing all homes and caves and expelling its residents in favour of settlers and colonial interests, declaring the area a closed military zone. Hundreds of farmers were also denied access to grazing lands and crops, stripping many of their right to live with dignity, safety and security.
This story was produced as part of the Qarib projest, implemented by the French Media Development Agency (CFI) in partnership with and funded by the French Development Agency (AFD).
