This year the Radstats conference will be held in Edinburgh - the first 
time in Scotland! The conference will be held at the new Out of the Blue 
<http://www.outoftheblue.org.uk/index.htm> arts and community space in 
Leith 
<http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/edinburgh/leith/index.html>, on 
Saturday 1st March. Come on Friday and spend your extra leap year day in 
Edinburgh <http://www.edinburgh.org/>.

Edinburgh has been called both the /Athens of the north/ and /auld 
reekie/; the truth is probably somewhere in between. Contemporary 
literature is thriving - Ian Rankin, JK Rowling and Alexander McCall 
Smith all share the same postcode. The city gets in a stushie (and 
hoachin) <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/dsl/> in the summer with all the 
festivals <http://www.edinburghfestivals.co.uk/>, but March is free from 
all this. There is plenty to do though with countless great (and small) 
eateries, pubs, museums & galleries or opportunities to go ghost 
hunting, castle crawling and even rickshaw-rides past Eric Miralles' 
stunning Scottish parliament at the foot of the volcanic landscape of 
Arthurs Seat! There is something for everyone here in the ancient & 
revived capital of Scotland.

The programme <http://www.radstats.org.uk/conf2008/programme.html> 
covers subjects as diverse as national identity, attitudes to 
devolution, historical voting patterns, poverty, wealth and place, 
attitudes to social care, migration, measurement of wellbeing, a data 
strategy for Scotland and the Barnett formula. The theme is A Decade of 
Devolution: How Does it Measure Up?

The conference venue is in Leith, a port town with plenty of radical 
history <http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=6802>, now part of 
Edinburgh. Regeneration here has increased wealth inequality, and waves 
of immigrants have claimed the area as their own. The venue is a short 
walk from the new SYHA flagship '5 star' hostel 
<http://www.edinburghcentral.org/> on Leith Walk.

Social events will include a pub gathering Friday evening, a dinner at a 
local restaurant Saturday night, and a walk along the Water of Leith 
Sunday morning.

Further information including travel and accommodation links is 
available at http://www.radstats.org.uk/conf2008/
The programme may be viewed at 
http://www.radstats.org.uk/conf2008/programme.htm

The booking form will be available soon.

As of this morning, there are train tickets available from London to 
Edinburgh Waverly station from £37.50 (single) and Easyjet from London 
airports to Edinburgh for 20-25 pounds (single). Train tickets are 
usually cheaper when bought as singles. Consider flying up in time for 
the pub gathering Friday night and take a scenic train journey back 
Sunday afternoon.

We hope you will make the journey to Scotland for this interesting 
conference.

Conference Organisers: Joan Corbett, Russell Ecob, Robin Rice 
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