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The final push
Just picked up my ticket for the Live8 concert Edinburgh stylee that's happening tonight at Murrayfield Stadium so I'm very excited! The 'Edinburgh 50,000 - The Final Push' gig will be hosted by Lenny Henry and Peter Kay. The event will include Annie Lennox, Snow Patrol, Travis, The Sugababes, Ronan Keating, Texas, Youssou N'Dour, McFly, Midge Ure and African artists from Peter Gabriel's WOMAD plus a line up of very special speakers. It's time for the G8 leaders to decide if they are going to MAKE POVERTY HISTORY!
I'm heading back to Oxford tomorrow after an unforgettable week. It's been hard work but brilliant, and I have really felt like I have been part of something special. I've met some amazing people who have shown their passion for the cause by being here in Edinburgh through whatever means possible - driving through the night, mammoth bus trips, cycling the length of the country and even by rickshaw! Lets hope the G8 listen to us.
Bye for now... will let you know how the concert is!
posted at 4:05 PM
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Edinburgh city centre: 3pm, Saturday 2 July
 Credit: Christian BraggJust been sent some great photos of the rally, all of them taken by a brilliant photographer called Christian Bragg who was with campaigners from Oxfam. This pic is of the moment on Saturday when Make Poverty History supporters formed a human white band around the city of Edinburgh.
posted at 4:19 PM
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Barbara and the dragon!
 Just a quick picture from the rally on Saturday - our very own Oxfam Director, Barbara Stocking (in full Make Poverty History kit), with the Oxfam Cymru dragon!
posted at 12:20 PM
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trouble in the camp
It seems I spoke too soon yesterday. After the peaceful march on Saturday, today we have seen riots in parts of Edinburgh with roads closed, shops shut up and sirens blazing for most of the day. These were not the lovely MPH campaigners, but a minority of anti-G8 protesters using the G8 summit events to pursue their own agenda.
Despite this the vibe in the city is still a positive one. A group of us have been out and about today taking photos of people holding up MPH messages which will contribute to a gallery of hundreds, possibly thousands of similar pictures that are going to be displayed along Princes Street and projected around the city, including on the rocks below Edinburgh castle - should be impressive! (and available for you to see on the Oxfam website soon!)
We were taking photos at the national museum until they closed that up too - although we did get to see Dolly the first cloned sheep in all her glory, as well as some other strange stuffed animals - random!
posted at 5:45 PM
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lazy sunday
today has definitely been a day of rest for me. after the madness of yesterday it's been nice to relax and indulge in some retail therapy! the final build up to the g8 summit starts tomorrow so loads going on. the city seems to be preparing for action, shops have barricaded themselves under chipboard and are unrecognisable from the outside-although i think just 2 arrests at the rally from a 225000 strong crowd shows mph is a peaceful campaign! piccies coming soon.. ps who spotted the big heads on tv?!
over here tony............!
posted at 11:45 PM
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all over but its only just begun
i'm finally sat down after one of the most mad crazy hectic but brilliant days ever. in the end over 225000 people marched for mph around edinburgh making too much noise for the g8 to ignore. now we're in an edinburgh pub watching live 8 and singing along with the scots to robbie williams angels! the atmosphere has been amazing all day and the city has been completely rammed, restaurants have closed because they've run out of food. bye for now..i'll be getting back to my wine..well deserved after today!
posted at 11:04 PM
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Billy Bragg closing the Gener8ion Zone......
posted at 3:30 PM
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History in the making
Over 120,000 people are here, the biggest demonstration ever in Scotland! We are just about to start the march surrounded by people, placards and lots of noise! It's amazing to see so many people, young and old coming together for Make Poverty History in such a positive way. Two minutes to go until the mass moment...
posted at 2:58 PM
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Live from Edinburgh!
Wow what a brilliant day! This is the first chance I've had to sit down, so many people, such a amazing atmosphere, Edinburgh is buzzing! The march has just started and you can hear the noise of the crowds all over the meadows. the unfair football has just kicked off and our Make Poverty History t-shirts have been flying off the shelves! Oxfam director Barbara Stocking (see pic) has been over to Gener8ion to say hello and was impressed with all that is going on! More updates and photos coming soon from sunny Edinburgh...
posted at 12:49 PM
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nearly there....
hello from the lake district! the journey's going well on our oxfam coach convoy, only 4 hours to go! everyone's really excited and can't wait to get there. we've just bumped into tom and some of his mates from shrewsbury at the services, they've just finished their exams and are bussing it up to edinburgh for the rally (note the crutches - marching with an injury - commitment to the cause!). tom was looking fab sporting one of our very own generation why t shirts bye for now, speak to you later.
posted at 4:29 PM
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All packed up and ready to go!
 Well, we've loaded up the van with t-shirts, banners, footballs, fabric pens, posters, music, postcards and loads besides, and now we're set for the big drive up to Edinburgh from Oxford. It seems that everything this year has been leading up to this weekend, it's hard to believe we're finally here! It's going to be such an amazing weekend - so many people are going up to Edinburgh the G8 leaders can't fail to listen to us. I'll be going up with the Oxfam gang on Friday, and setting up the Gener8ion Zone on Saturday morning. Then I'll be up in Edinburgh for the rest of the week, including the big Final Push concert on Wednesday 6 July, on the eve of the G8 summit. If you're not going up to Edinburgh, I'll be writing messages in this diary as we go - so stay tuned!
posted at 4:14 PM
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