VAN THE BAN
Hollywood star forced to cancel her birthday celebrations in Edinburgh
Hollywood star Vanessa Hudgens has been forced to cancel her birthday party in Scotland due to coronavirus restrictions.
The former Disney actress, 32, is in Edinburgh to film a new Netflix movie.
But her bash was unable to go ahead after the capital was placed in Tier 3 of the country’s Covid safety measures.
Last week First Minister Ni cola Sturgeon said the city would remain under tighter restrictions after cases rose “sharply”.
A source said: “Vanessa planned
a party forf hher bbirthdayhd llast week k but was told it couldn’t go ahead due to Covid. She’d hoped to be able to celebrate her big day here but understands the restrictions and why they’re in place.”
Hudgens, who shot to fame as
Gabriella Gab Montez in High School Musical, Mu jetted into Scotland from California Cal earlier this month to appear app in the third movie in The Princess Pri Switch franchise.
TheTh movie sees The Grease Live singer sin play a talented baker who swaps sw lives with a duchess who looks loo just like her.
It follows The Princess Switch: Switched Sw Again, which was released rele on Netflix in November.
LastL year, the actress celebrated her 31st birthday in Edinburgh’s CC Blooms during f ilming for second Princess movie alongside British actors Sam Palladio and Nick Sagar. Scenes were shot at Glasgow Cathedral, Edinburgh Gateway train station and in Leith.
Hudgens later revealed she was
“obsessed” with Scotland but finds Edinburgh hard to pronounce.
She said: “It looks like Edin-burg, but you can’t say Edin-burg, so I was like Edin-brah. That’s where I landed.”
The source added: “Vanessa loves how Scots love a drink, a dance and a laugh. Last year, she developed a taste of Tennent’s and was hoping she’d be able to enjoy a tipple again.
“It’s a shame that Edinburgh is still under such strict restrictions but no doubt Vanessa will be back to sample to pubs and clubs again after the Covid crisis is over.”
Filming for the third instalment of the big-budget movie is expected to last until January. Scenes will be shot in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Switzerland have. If Sturgeon shows true leadership and takes that health- led approach, she wi l l succeed where the Westminster Government continues to fail – remember, England and Wales had record drug deaths too.
“Pressure will build and build on Downing Street to follow her lead. And one day, instead of campaigners, treatment groups and fami lies criticising the Scottish Government’s record on drugs, we may well end up praising and thanking her for saving the lives of vulnerable people across the UK too.”
Successive home secretaries, along with PM Boris Johnson, have summarily dismissed plans for such facilities – which are thriving and saving lives in many other countries – by saying there is “no legal framework” in the UK to allow them. That edict has come under increasing scrutiny recent l y, w i th se vera l voices questioning what offences might be commi t ted by those running facilities for people who are going to take drugs in any case, often with very high risk of overdose.
Police Scotland has already been instructed to turn a blind eye to many low- level drug offences by Scotland’s Lord
Advocate as it would not be in the public interest to pursue them.
Legal opinions from top QCs are being sought, which could nudge the argument along and provide detai l on how an authorised OPC could operate within the law.
Krykant has been running his converted mini-bus in Glasgow for more than three months, allowing injecting heroin and cocaine addicts to use his clean faci l ity instead of ding y alleyways. On Friday, volunteers in the van found a man in a nearby al leyway who was unconscious after taking an overdose. He was brought round by a shot of naloxone and rushed to hospital.
He w a s the second person to be saved by Krykant’s volunteers.
The van, parked at Parnie Street, had its busiest day on Friday, logging 18 injections from clients who have become familiar with the service.
The Scottish Government said: “We can’t say anything specific on the meeting at the moment.”
Since starting the overdose prevention site, we’ve saved two lives already