Latest news with #EdSmith
BBC News
7 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Sporting intelligence heads to join London Spirit
Derby County's joint heads of sporting intelligence Mo Bobat and Ed Smith are both set to join Hundred franchise London Spirit from 1 pair have been in the roles since June 2024."Mo and Ed have played an important role in establishing the club's sports intelligence function," a Derby County spokesman told BBC Radio Derby."As part of the evolution of that unit, the club will be appointing a head of sports intelligence on a full-time basis."Mo and Ed continue to assist the club in an advisory capacity."
Scotsman
17-07-2025
- Scotsman
Scottish photographer to capture River Spey life 30 years after childhood canoe trip with father
The project will see the photographer travel through the catchment area in different seasons. Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... An award-winning photographer is to begin a year-long project documenting life on the River Spey by canoeing it from source to mouth - a trip he did 30 years ago with his father. Ed Smith, 39, will film the landscape and interview the people he meets along the way on the 10-day adventure on the water. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Ed Smith, documentary photographer, sets out on a year long project to document the environment, culture and economy of the River Spey. | Ed Smith The river trip is the first of a multi-stage project which will then see Mr Smith embark on an autumnal bike ride along the Spey, followed by a winter canoe descent of the river in January next year. The project will end with a final bike ride in the opposite direction, from sea to source, in April 2026. The river Spey rises in the Monadhliath Mountains to the west of Laggan in the Highlands and flows east and northeast into Moray where it joins the sea at Spey Bay. It has a catchment area of 3367 sq. km and on its route to the Moray Firth, it passes the towns of Newtonmore, Kingussie, Aviemore, Grantown-on-Spey, Charlestown of Aberlour, Craigellachie, Rothes and Fochabers. It runs through an area - Speyside - celebrated, internationally, for its fishing and being home to more than 50 distilleries, the highest number of any of Scotland's whisky regions. It is also where the Spey cast, a technique used in fly fishing on fast-flowing rivers, originated after the river was developed in the 19th Century. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Mr Smith left the Spey Dam on Sunday loaded with camera kit, camping gear, and food. The photographer last completed the 100-mile trip down the Spey aged 10 with his father. 'More than just photography' Before setting off, the Kingussie-based photographer said: 'This is more than just a photography trip. 'The River Spey is a vital artery through the Highlands, rich with history, industry and community. While it's renowned for fishing and watersports, its deeper value lies in the way it has influenced local economies and shaped generations of communities.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Mr Smith said he hopes to meet a range of people on his adventure, from whisky distillery owners, hoteliers and conservationists to school pupils and local families. He said he wants to explore some of the big conversations shaping the region today through his project, including recent species reintroductions and possible future industrial changes to the area. 'There are major conversations happening right now around the future of the Spey, from the recent re-introduction of beavers to a proposed hydrogen plant, environmental debates and rural development,' Mr Smith said. 'I want to tap into those, not just to document them, but to encourage wider engagement with the combination of both understanding and questions they raise.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Mr Smith owns Eleven41 Gallery in Kingussie, and has exhibited numerous documentary projects alongside fine art prints. He published his first book in 2023, a 'personal and unique' perspective of the Northern Cairngorms. The photography book captures a collection of almost 70 wilderness, mountain and environmental images depicting the six years that Mr Smith has lived and worked in the area, many taken during winter.
Scotsman
06-07-2025
- Scotsman
Scottish photographer to capture River Spey life 30 years after childhood canoe trip with father
The project will see the photographer travel through the catchment area in different seasons. Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... An award-winning photographer is to begin a year-long project documenting life on the River Spey by canoeing it from source to mouth - a trip he did 30 years ago with his father. Ed Smith, 39, will film the landscape and interview the people he meets along the way on the 10-day adventure on the water. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Ed Smith, documentary photographer, sets out on a year long project to document the environment, culture and economy of the River Spey. | Ed Smith The river trip is the first of a multi-stage project which will then see Mr Smith embark on an autumnal bike ride along the Spey, followed by a winter canoe descent of the river in January next year. The project will end with a final bike ride in the opposite direction, from sea to source, in April 2026. The river Spey rises in the Monadhliath Mountains to the west of Laggan in the Highlands and flows east and northeast into Moray where it joins the sea at Spey Bay. It has a catchment area of 3367 sq. km and on its route to the Moray Firth, it passes the towns of Newtonmore, Kingussie, Aviemore, Grantown-on-Spey, Charlestown of Aberlour, Craigellachie, Rothes and Fochabers. It runs through an area - Speyside - celebrated, internationally, for its fishing and being home to more than 50 distilleries, the highest number of any of Scotland's whisky regions. It is also where the Spey cast, a technique used in fly fishing on fast-flowing rivers, originated after the river was developed in the 19th Century. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Mr Smith left the Spey Dam on Sunday loaded with camera kit, camping gear, and food. The photographer last completed the 100-mile trip down the Spey aged 10 with his father. 'More than just photography' Before setting off, the Kingussie-based photographer said: 'This is more than just a photography trip. 'The River Spey is a vital artery through the Highlands, rich with history, industry and community. While it's renowned for fishing and watersports, its deeper value lies in the way it has influenced local economies and shaped generations of communities.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Mr Smith said he hopes to meet a range of people on his adventure, from whisky distillery owners, hoteliers and conservationists to school pupils and local families. He said he wants to explore some of the big conversations shaping the region today through his project, including recent species reintroductions and possible future industrial changes to the area. 'There are major conversations happening right now around the future of the Spey, from the recent re-introduction of beavers to a proposed hydrogen plant, environmental debates and rural development,' Mr Smith said. 'I want to tap into those, not just to document them, but to encourage wider engagement with the combination of both understanding and questions they raise.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Mr Smith owns Eleven41 Gallery in Kingussie, and has exhibited numerous documentary projects alongside fine art prints. He published his first book in 2023, a 'personal and unique' perspective of the Northern Cairngorms. The photography book captures a collection of almost 70 wilderness, mountain and environmental images depicting the six years that Mr Smith has lived and worked in the area, many taken during winter.
BBC News
06-07-2025
- BBC News
Photographer to recreate childhood River Spey trip in dad's canoe
A documentary photographer is to spend a year exploring the Spey using a canoe he travelled down the river in with his dad almost 30 years Smith was 10 when he made his first full descent of the 98-mile (158km) river from its source in Highlands' Monadhliath mountains to where it meets the sea at Spey Bay in 39-year-old will photograph and film the Spey and the surrounding landscape, and interview people he meets along the Mr Smith said: "I aim to capture a snapshot of what the Spey Valley looks like now." When he was a boy, Mr Smith made frequent trips to the Spey and Cairngorms with his family and also his high school in North said: "I made my first full descent of the Spey with my dad David and some of his friends."I can't remember how many days we took, but I have vivid memories of certain rapids and features on the river which I am going to be looking for."He added: "Now the river is very much my home. It's only a stone's throw away from my house and my gallery." The Spey is famous for its connections to whisky and has more than 50 distilleries, the highest number of any of Scotland's whisky Spey cast, a technique used in fly fishing on fast-flowing rivers, is named after the river and was developed in the 19th Smith said he would be documenting the industrial and leisure activities on as well as its less well-known said shipbuilding once thrived at Garmouth, a small community near the mouth of the Spey."I think the river has a bit of mystique to it," he added."It is also quite an unusual river in that it doesn't meander that much for quite a big river." He said the Spey Valley had changed since his first descent almost 30 years ago, with communities such as Aviemore, Grantown-on-Spey and Kingussie growing in 2023, beavers were reintroduced to locations near the Smith added: "There are also areas of rewilding, such as at Glenfeshie."The documentary photographer will make a summer descent of the Spey this month, and a winter one in January for his year-long Smith will also circumnavigate on a bike the Spey Basin, the river's 1,158 sq mile (3,000 sq km) catchment area, and cycle upstream from Spey Bay on the Moray Firth coast to river's source at Loch Spey."It's a very personal project, I'm very passionate about it," he said.
Times
23-06-2025
- Business
- Times
Assura-PHP merger looks in good health
As health checks for the UK's shrinking stock market go, it's hard to beat the bid battle for Assura: the real estate investment trust (Reit) whose 603 buildings house GP surgeries and private hospitals. So, this is just what the doctor ordered: an overdue admission from the board, chaired by Ed Smith, that there's plenty of listed life in the patient yet. Having been leant on by a bunch of Assura investors, it's switched its recommendation to the £1.79 billion cash-and-shares offer from Assura's main quoted rival, Primary Health Properties. And, yes, it took a tiny boost to the dose of about 2 per cent to convince Smith & co to do it. PHP is now offering 0.3865 new shares, up from 0.3769, for each of Assura's, plus an extra 0.84p special dividend to go with the same-again 12.5p-a-share cash: a figure totting up to 53.3p a share, at least before the merger arbs sent PHP shares down 4 per cent to 99.2p. Yet, while that cut the premium to the 'best and final' 50.42p cash bid from the infrastructure duo of KKR and Stonepeak to just 2.5 per cent, the choice for long-term investors has been clear for weeks. All KKR and Stonepeak are offering is a cash exit at Assura's net asset value of 50.4p a share at a cyclical low in the property market: scant reward for 22 years building its portfolio. It never looked enough to cash out. • NHS landlord Assura backs £1.7bn merger with rival PHP By contrast, PHP is offering a 48 per cent stake, plus a share in £9 million of synergies, in a bigger quoted healthcare Reit: one whose prospects are now being enhanced by lower interest rates and a spending review bringing an extra £29 billion a year for the NHS. Shareholders with about 15 per cent, including Schroders, Quilter Cheviot, Columbia Threadneedle, Aberdeen, Allianz and Baillie Gifford, have said they'll back PHP's bid: a point they've made clear to Smith and the senior independent director Jonathan Davies. Indeed, the bigger puzzler is why the board sided for so long with KKR and Stonepeak. Yes, Assura shares were at a big discount to NAV, but the board still batted away four efforts from KKR, banging on about 'the long-term prospects of the company' — only to roll over in March at the fifth attempt for a pittance more. And, then, when PHP provided a long-term alternative at a higher price, the board trashed it, parroting stuff from KKR and its adviser Jefferies. In fact, it's miraculous how 2 per cent extra can make all the board's concerns about 'elevated leverage', 'refinancing obligations', 'asset disposals' and 'integration risks' simply go away. Still, it got there in the end, with Smith saying PHP had 'addressed some of the potential risks that Assura had previously raised'. He'd argue, too, that, by banking a final offer from the cash bidders at a 39 per cent premium, he squeezed a bit more out of PHP. • PHP adds £27m dividend to its bid to merge with Assura Whatever, with Assura shares standing at 49¾p, PHP's chairman Harry Hyman and the former Wolverhampton Wanderers professional footballer turned chief executive, Mark Davies, will know this game isn't yet won. Assura's recommendation is key to landing passive investors, holding about 20 per cent, who typically take their cue from the board. But merger arbs hold 15 per cent more, while KKR and Stonepeak have bought 5 per cent of the shares. And, while both bids are structured as offers needing only majority support, PHP's is vulnerable to market shocks, not least over Iran. All the same, at least the right bidder is now in front. It was in his warm-up act as business secretary that the ex-chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng scrapped Britain's 'industrial strategy'. He declared it a 'pudding without a theme' — unlike his famous mini-budget, of course, which turned out to be a pudding with an unexploded bomb inside it. Still, in 14 years in power, Kwarteng was not really an outlier. None of the Tories' ten business secretaries delivered anything resembling a joined-up industrial strategy. Is Labour off to a better start? Well, there's always a danger in politicians trying to pick winners. And it's chosen eight sectors: defence, advanced manufacturing, clean energy, life sciences, technology, the creative industries and professional and financial services. Yet, at least, it's homed in on a key issue: if we don't cut our electricity costs for energy-intensive businesses, which last year 'paid twice the European average', we won't have any industry left. • Keir Starmer unveils 'targeted, long-term' industrial strategy Hence a plan to reduce electricity bills by up to 25 per cent by 2027 for 7,000-plus businesses, spanning the chemicals, aerospace and steel industries, while also speeding up their connections to the grid. How will the government cut their costs by £35 to £40 per megawatt hour? Mainly by letting them off green levies and via more alignment with the EU carbon market, at a cost of about £2 billion over four years. Still, it does beg a key question. If we're letting some of the most polluting businesses off the green charges, what about everyone else? And how long before the government brings in those long-awaited reforms to the system that will stop electricity prices being set by the marginal price of gas? It's time there was a strategy for that. A triple whammy so far this month for KKR: pulling the plug on Thames Water, behind in the battle for Assura, and now outranked by Advent in the £3.8 billion bid for Spectris: an agreed deal whose 84.6 per cent premium tells you all you need to know about UK market mispricing. KKR says it's 'actively engaged' in a potential counterbid for Spectris — and the shares closed at £37.98, above the £37.63 offer price. But fail to deliver and KKR could be looking at a quick UK hat-trick of lost deals.
