Breaking news

The B&Q at 13 Warriston Road will shut on 3 September as part of parent company Kingfisher plc’s national rationalisation (closure of 60 branches). Large discounts are expected from August onwards.

Are you aged 13–18, full of bright ideas, and with a bit of time on your hands this summer?  

If so, why not have a crack at the Merchant Company’s ‘Turn a Tenner’ Prize? 

The organisers ask entrants to make a £10 investment and see what they can make of it.

The competition is designed ‘to find young people who can put good ideas into practice. It could be a commercial venture, charity venture, an environmental sphere or in the arts … the sky’s the limit’.

Back in May, tenement dwellers in Broughton and beyond received a letter from City of Edinburgh Council regarding its decision to pass to property-owners the legal responsibility for maintaining and repairing their stair lighting (Issue 251).

The New Town Clean Streets Campaign has made enquiries since then to establish what options are open to home-owners, and their findings are presented below.

David Sterratt, Chair of Drummond Community High School Parent Coucncil, writes:

Both new and old head teachers were present at Drummond Community High School's latest Celebration of Achievement and Prize Giving Ceremony.

For as long as most people can remember, this has been the view of the City Observatory on Calton Hill.

A blank wall and the promise of something more interesting just out of sight.

Now, though, a new installation has changed all that, providing a view into the overgrown and run-down world inside and beyond, and some novel perspectives on more familiar landmarks outside.

On Wednesday 13 November 1940, the Scottish National Party’s secretary John M‘Cormick addressed a meeting of the party's Stirling branch in the County Hotel. 

His theme was Scotland’s place in the new world and European order which would emerge after the war. 

The Stirling Observer duly reported his words, and we extract some of them here without comment as a point of historical interest. 

A CONFEDERATION OF EUROPE

Pride Edinburgh returns to the streets of the capital tomorrow for the 21st time. 

With an inclusive message that ‘Love is love’, the event is open to all regardless of gender, sexuality, colour, creed or class ‘with total acceptance and a warm welcome to all’.

It starts with speeches outside the City Chambers at 1.15pm, and moves off at 1.45pm before arriving at Greenside Row via Holyrood, Abbeyhill and London Road.

For full details, see the Pride Guide attached at the foot of this page.

In? Out? Shaken all about? Exhausted? 

Why not drag yourself from the house, pick up the latest issue of the Spurtle, and then drag yourself home again to read it? 

Issue 253 is 100 per cent free of EU Referendum coverage, apart from that section at the foot of page 3 which is all about the EU Referendum.

Elsewhere you’ll find glimmers of good news about St Andrew Square, mixed views on George Street, and short shrift from Edinburgh World Heritage on the soon-to-be-revealed plans for Royal Bank of Scotland’s site on Dundas Street and surrounds.

City of Edinburgh Council’s ‘Planning and Building Standards Portal’ has been unavailable since Friday, and there’s currently no firm indication of when it will be fixed. 

A CEC spokesperson told Spurtle today that solving the unspecified technical problem had been given the highest profile. 

CGI – the Council’s ICT providers – are working 24 hours a day on the issue, and ‘hope’ to have the portal up and running again by tomorrow. 

Only a few months have passed since the new pavement in front of Ziggurat’s student accommodation in Shrubhill Place was opened to pedestrians, writes Maria Hart.

But already, dozens of the slabs in that section are badly broken. [Spurtle today counted 176.]

Row upon row of them are cracked, some horizontally and others vertically.

Even one of the bike racks has come loose after the slab to which it is attached broke off completely [see photo above].