An item of "Breaking News". Will appear on the Breaking News page and the front page.
These were the inclement conditions in Holyrood Park this afternoon, where Spurtle's Chief Athletics Correspondent unexpectedly found himself competing in some charity fun-run or other over eight gruelling kilometres.
Spurtle's representative, let us just call him Mr Fit, looked supremely confident at the outset and quickly established a commanding lead.
He was even able to take a few photographs over his right shoulder (see below).
Paper-party-hats-off to City of Edinburgh Council, whose kerbside Christmas tree recycling scheme appears to have run with clockwork-like efficiency this year!
And paper-party-hats-off to all those residents who successfully dragged their festive evergreens out into the cold, leaving behind a million needles on common stairs and pavements which we shall all still be scrunching into each other's carpets come Easter at least!
DEADLINE LOOMS FOR COMMENTS ON MUSIC-SCHOOL PLANS
Anyone wishing to comment on plans to rehome St Mary’s Music School in a refurbished and extended old Royal High School complex may do so online here (Ref. 15/05662/FUL) and here (Ref. 15/05665/LBC).
ARE TROLLEYBUSES A SERIOUS OPTION FOR EDINBURGH'S PUBLIC TRANSPORT NEEDS?
David Sterratt reflects on what could have been – and perhaps still can be.
Lest I be called a dog-in-a-manger, I love Edinburgh’s trams. I love travelling on them. Seeing them snake smoothly around the corner of St Andrew Square and York Place sends a shiver down my spine. They have the ambience of a proper metro system and the bell’s 'glong' fills me with civic pride.
Zonal Retail Data Systems have applied to demolish their semi-derelict building at 14–16 Union Street, formerly a printworks and photography workshop (Ref. 15/05808/CON). The site is in a Conservation Area.
This is the twelfth and final brace of spot-the-location puzzles. There will be a cash prize at the end for the person with the greatest number of correct answers.
All the places are in or adjacent to Broughton.
Participants now have until noon on Sunday 10 January to e-mail solutions to us at: spurtle@hotmail.co.uk. Please use 'Competition' in the subject heading.
A spike in the number of Edinburgh burglaries made headlines last summer.
Police Scotland's Sir Stephen House pinned much of the blame on unsporting East Europeans who leave the country before they can be arrested, and on young people going on crime sprees whilst awaiting punishment for other misdemeanours.
'It's not that we are not making the arrests,' said the Chief Constable. 'Often we know who is doing it, and they will continue to do it if they are still out on the streets.'
This is the penultimate, daily, spot-the-location puzzle. There will be a cash prize at the end for the person with the greatest number of correct answers.
All the places are in or adjacent to Broughton.
Keep your solutions quiet for now. You may wish to trade them later, depending on how everyone else is doing.
All will become clear in due course.
PHOTO 21: HIDDEN STACHE
ARTHUR MELVILLE: ADVENTURES IN COLOUR
—REVIEWED BY RHYS FULLERTON
Arthur Melville lived an adventurous life. Not many artists could claim to have been twice attacked by bandits, robbed and left for dead or arrested on suspicion of espionage. It sounds more like the synopsis of an Indiana Jones film.
This is the tenth of 12 daily spot-the-location puzzles. There will be a cash prize at the end for the person with the greatest number of correct answers.
All the places are in or adjacent to Broughton.
Keep your solutions quiet for now. You may wish to trade them later, depending on how everyone else is doing.
All will become clear in due course.
PHOTO 19: SOTTO VOCE