Friday, October 2, 2026 — Edition No. 93 — The Cornmill Intelligencer

← Past Editions · Edition No. 93 · Friday, October 2, 2026

Today’s outlook: Sunny with a chance of puppies

News Glasgow

Glasgow leads £1.5m project to banish the 'blandemic' from Britain's buildings

University of Glasgow researchers join Thomas Heatherwick's Humanise campaign and UKRI to test how the look and feel of our streets shapes health, pride and belonging.

By Henry Davenport

A UK-wide effort to make Britain's buildings kinder to the people who walk past them is being led from Glasgow.

The University of Glasgow has joined forces with designer Thomas Heatherwick's Humanise campaign and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) on a £1.5 million research partnership called Delivering Humanised Places. The university announced the project on 1 October.

Its target is what the partners call the "blandemic" of "dull, soulless development". In plain terms, that means new buildings and streets with so little character that they leave people cold.

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Health

Why Arthritis Pain Can Linger Even When Inflammation Is Under Control

Researchers in Budapest, writing with a Glasgow professor, say pain that outlasts inflammation may be a reason to look at the wider picture rather than automatically add more medication.

By Henry Davenport

The blood tests look better. The swelling has eased. By every measure on the clinic chart, the treatment is working. And yet the pain and the tiredness are still there.

If you live with rheumatoid arthritis and that sounds familiar, researchers at Semmelweis University in Budapest have a message worth hearing: symptoms that linger may not always be driven by inflammation alone.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease, meaning the immune system mistakenly attacks the joints, causing pain, swelling and stiffness. Most people respond well to treatment.

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What's On Glasgow

Shawlands Farmers Market Returns This Saturday, 3 October, With Free Entry

The twice-monthly market outside Langside Halls is back this weekend, with free entry, samples and a regular line-up of local producers

What's On Glasgow

Citizens Theatre unveils full cast for festive Cinderella

Molly Geddes takes the title role and Claire Dargo plays the scheming stepmother as the Citz promises magic, mischief and music from 28 November.

By Damien Day

Glasgow's Citizens Theatre has revealed the full cast for this year's festive family show, with Molly Geddes taking the title role in a brand-new Cinderella.

Written by Stuart Paterson and directed by Joanna Bowman, the production runs in the Main Theatre from 28 November to 31 December 2026. The theatre describes it as a fun twist on the much-loved fairytale, promising magic, mischief and family fun.

Geddes is a Royal Conservatoire of Scotland graduate whose busy 2025 included Sally Reid's Water Colour and two Wonder Fools productions, Alright Sunshine and Tether. Her screen credits include The Bombing of Pan Am 103 and Dinosaur.

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AI News

AI clinical assistants rarely invent patient facts but often leave them out, 'living benchmark' study finds

A Stanford team tested nine leading AI models on real patient records. The tools rarely invented facts, but often left important ones out, especially when the answer was spread across several notes and visits.

By Damien Day

When a doctor admits someone to hospital, one of the first jobs is piecing together that patient's history from what can be years of notes. A new generation of AI assistants promises to do much of that reading for them.

A new study suggests those tools are good at not making things up, but still too prone to leaving things out.

Researchers at Stanford University tested nine leading AI language models on questions about real, anonymised patient records. They report that the systems "frequently omit clinically important information", particularly when an answer has to be assembled from several documents and hospital visits.

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What's On Glasgow

Stitch a memory: free AIDS Quilt panel workshop at Tramway this Sunday

No sewing experience is needed for a free, ticketed session on Sunday 4 October, where Glaswegians can begin a memorial panel for someone lost to HIV and AIDS.

By Henry Davenport

Anyone who wants to remember someone lost to HIV and AIDS is invited to Tramway this Sunday to begin making a memorial quilt panel of their own. You do not need to have threaded a needle before.

Making a Quilt Panel takes place on Sunday 4 October, from 1pm to 4pm, at Tramway on Albert Drive in Glasgow's south side. It is free, but a ticket is required. Book through the Tramway website or call the box office on 0141 276 0950.

The workshop is presented by Kate Saner of the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt Partnership. According to the Tramway listing, it will be co-facilitated by original panel makers and artists, and by Govanhill Baths, who are providing sewing machines and equipment for the session.

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News Scotland

Rolls-Royce to put £43m into Glasgow-area site as chancellor pitches jobs over benefits

Part of a £300m UK-wide investment highlighted in John Healey's conference speech, which also promised thousands more apprenticeships in England ahead of next month's Budget

By Helen Cooper

Rolls-Royce is to invest £43 million at its Inchinnan site, near Glasgow, as part of a £300 million UK-wide programme that Chancellor John Healey highlighted in his conference speech on 28 September.

The money will pay for machinery that will allow new engine components to be manufactured at the site, according to Rolls-Royce's announcement. It is one of five UK sites in the programme, which the company says is aimed at growing its civil aerospace and defence businesses.

Neither Rolls-Royce nor the government has said how many jobs the Inchinnan investment will support. In the company's statement, chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic said the wider investment would support "thousands of highly skilled jobs both directly and through our supply chain".

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AI News

AI Team-Up Makes Headway on Five Open Maths Problems, Researchers Say

A Google Research preprint describes a team of AI agents that draft proofs and then cross-examine each other's work. The paper has not yet been peer reviewed, and independent assessment is still to come.

By Damien Day

Imagine a study group facing a fiendish problem. Several students try different approaches at once, a few famously picky classmates go through each attempt hunting for mistakes, and only the steps that survive get written in ink in a shared notebook for everyone to build on.

That, roughly, is the idea behind Cogentic, an AI system described in a new paper by seven researchers at Google Research. They say it produced new results on five open research problems, meaning questions that specialists had posed but not yet answered.

A note of caution first. The paper was posted on 30 September to arXiv, a site where researchers share work before formal publication. It has not been peer reviewed, so what follows is what the authors report, not settled fact.

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What's On Glasgow

Sonica Glasgow's final weekend at Tramway: your day-by-day guide

UK premieres, Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians and Suzanne Ciani's Scottish debut close the festival from Friday to Sunday

By Helen Cooper

Sonica Glasgow's final weekend at Tramway is packed: UK premieres on Friday, a Steve Reich birthday performance on Saturday, and electronic music pioneer Suzanne Ciani making her Scottish debut on Sunday. The festival's Bowie Symphony concert with the RSNO took place on Thursday, but there is plenty still to catch before Sonica closes on 4 October.

AIR, 7pm to 7.45pm. Tickets are £12, or £7 concession. Roberto Maqueda plays a set of drum machines without touching them, triggering each one with air through custom valves, while visuals by new media studio Structurals turn every beat into webs of light.

LES EMPIRES and Hymnal, 8.15pm. Tickets are £25, or £13 concession. This double bill opens with the UK premiere of LES EMPIRES: Guillaume Coutu Dumont's retrofuturist music, where electro synths meet house piano, set against Line Katcho's visuals, which the listing calls "a breakneck tour through impossible empires". Then Alif Hilal (formerly Lyra Pramuk) performs Hymnal, drawing on church choirs and Berlin club culture, with visuals by Lucy Beech. Allow 135 minutes including an interval.

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