Leader comment: Best wishes to those bedding down to Sleep in the Park

To all those braving what are expected to be bitterly cold temperatures at the Sleep in the Park event in Edinburgh to raise money to help homeless people, The Scotsman would like to extend its best wishes.

Josh Littlejohn, head of Social Bite, prepares for the Sleep in the Park (Picture: Scott Louden)

The charitable event, which will see thousands of people spend their Saturday night out in the open, has already raised more than £2.8 million, a significant sum which will provide much-needed help to those who spend their lives on the streets.

The resulting publicity will raise the profile of an issue often too far down the political agenda and should focus the minds of us all on the need to do more for fellow citizens who have fallen on hard times. No one in Scotland, one of the richest places in the world, should be without a home.

Social Bite, which organises the sleepout, began as a charitable sandwich shop helping homeless people get enough to eat, but now plans to build homes at its own village in Granton. Their transformation shows what can be done with determination and good intentions.

But it also begs the question: how much more could we do as a nation to end the scourge of homelessness?