(7 April 1934–31 October 2025)

Ian Brown, who died last year aged 91, was a retired eye surgeon and an engagingly eccentric figure who was held in great affection in the neighbourhood of Dublin Street and Queen Street Gardens and beyond. 

Instantly recognisable striding out in his cap and brick-red trousers, with his warm greeting and (sometimes puzzling) jokes, he was known to a remarkably wide range of people, from publicans and Stockbridge market stallholders to local celebrities and grandees.

As you read this, advance copies of the February Spurtle are already spreading across Broughton like tears down the cheeks of a sair-hertit Livingston fan.

Page 1 wastes no time before dealing with three own goals and a stifled response to laughable performance. At one point, we advise reading between the lines. It continues with glee and even more appalling behaviour.

We cover a new approach to domestic independence on Page 2, along with new bricks on the block and a bid to clarify progress through the turbid waters of Planning. 

Whole greater than parts

This is a puzzle. 

Each clue links to both a place and, with one exception, a named individual. 

There are 12 places and 11 individuals and something else to name.

Confusingly, as well as the 12 places mentioned above, all the clues are linked to a single, different place.

The Calton Hill Conservation Trust has arranged a series of events for locals looking at the archaeological potential of the area.

The project will be run by the Edinburgh branch of Headland Archaeology (HA). It will look into the human history of the Hill, about which little is known before building of the old observatory house in 1776.

A photogrammetric survey from the air took place using a drone on 15 January. 

David Howie Scott, director of the popular Howie’s restaurants, wants to put a bronze plaque commemorating the 19th-century anti-slavery campaigner Frederick Douglass outside premises at 29A Waterloo Place (26/00212/LBC). 

Proposed wording for the 330mm x 500ml memorial is: