Breaking news

No sooner does one May leave Scotland than in comes another – this time bringing with it a new Spurtle.

Issue 262 carries word of welcome support for our beloved Council, a spring in the step for St Stephen’s, and the last word in definitive schedules for Leith Walk improvements.

There’s good news for Drummond students, and possibly bad news for Canonmills.

We cover a yawning gulf and try not to fall in. We cover McDonald Road upgrades and try not to fall asleep yawning.

Is there no end to it?

 LOCAL LANDMARK DISAPPEARING FAST 

It never was Broughton’s most beautiful building, but it was certainly one of the more unusual.

Now, the incongruous-looking training ‘ship’ behind the fire station at 93 McDonald Road is vanishing before our eyes. Demolition began on 18 April and is scheduled to last 4 weeks.

However, at the current rate of progress, we'd be surprised if it takes more than a few days.

 SWEEPING CHANGES NEEDED TO IMPROVE PLANNING SYSTEM 

As was evident at last week’s Heritage Hustings (19.4.17), there are currently widespread calls for thoroughgoing reform to Scotland’s Planning system. 

Can any reader explain this?

We think the bouncing bather with biceps began appearing on Broughton lampposts about a month ago (this example is in King George V Park), but now he seems to be everywhere. 

Sometimes he is coloured blue, but – annoyingly – there is never an explanation or clear sense of purpose. 

How widely is he distributed? Is the design on his belly a stylised Y or a YP?  Is he some kind of terrifying gang rival to the Young Leith Team? 

EDINBURGH THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS 

Last night, Edinburgh World Heritage and Built Environment Forum Scotland staged their inaugural ‘Heritage Hustings’.

This was a wholly welcome initiative which we hope will develop into a powerful lever on elected representatives in future.

Over 200 people attended. Unfortunately, a vocal minority among them were unmanageably self-important.

They couldn’t be bothered with microphones and felt under no obligation to respect the Chair.

Overflowing city-centre bins, missed collections, unreliable recycling experiments and a noticeable increase in fly-tipping are common and vexatious features of Edinburgh life.  

Politicians – particularly in the run-up to an election – suspect that there are votes to be had in promising to tackle these issues. And so they should. Shouldn't they? Well … up to a point. 

How and when to intervene 

Edinburgh World Heritage and the Built Environment Forum Scotland will hold a ‘Heritage Hustings’ tomorrow evening (see poster below). 

The event will take place in St Stephen’s Church from 6pm–8pm, and include on the panel two local candidates in the 4 May election: Jo Mowat (Con, City Centre) and Nigel Bagshaw (Grn, Inverleith). 

‘EXPECTANT OF BELLEVUE’ EXAMINES THE ENTRAILS 

Cannibalistic seagulls, AK47s, belly dancing and the Napoleonic Wars are the last things you’d expect to hear about at a Council election hustings. None of these terms appeared in one audience member’s Leith Walk bingo card but there’s certainly potential for next time. 

When it comes to the positive health effects of alcohol consumption, and the likely advice one is likely to receive on the subject from members of the medical profession, Bacco Wine has a distinctly glass-half-full approach. 

The Dundas Street emporium’s current A-board displays eight ‘Doctor’s Prescriptions’. 

None of them, we suspect, matches current BMA best-practice guidelines, or would stand up (without wobbling) to any other kind of rigorous scientific scrutiny.

More a case of wishful drinking. 

The gradual evolution of 2 Hart Street Lane continues, with minor variations to an already consented revamp of the northern elevation being approved (Ref. 15/05345/FUL).