Breaking news

Zsuzsa and Jerry Farrell were at the Croall Place police box this morning, drumming up support for a new initiative by local people. 

Leithers Don’t Litter (LDL) aims to beautify Leith by encouraging its inhabitants to tackle mess head on. They have a three-point action plan when it comes to the problem:

Initial reactions to new plans for the old Royal High School have been mixed (Breaking news, 2.9.15).

Adam Wilkinson, Director of the Edinburgh World Heritage Trust, is robustly disappointed:

Throughout our engagement with the development team over the last few months, we have been clear that development to the west of the building will be difficult in terms of the outstanding universal value of the World Heritage Site.

New luxury-hotel plans have been unveiled for the old Royal High School building on Regent Road, and a planning application has been submitted. 

Architect Gareth Hoskins says they represent a considered response to the reception which greeted plans at the public consultation stage earlier this year. 

The existing Hamilton building would be restored and entirely given over to the public areas of a new hotel, managed by Rosewood Hotels and Resorts. 

Spurtle reader 'Paul at Fountainbridge' is concerned by the low priority given to pedestrians at road crossings around the city centre.

He says they are ranked bottom after first trams and then other traffic.

To get some idea of the problem, he has been filming many of the crossings in action, and noting down how long it can take to get from one side to the other.

A descendant is seeking planning permission to erect a blue plaque at 1 Pilrig Street in memory of the medical pioneer Professor John Barlow (1815–56).

An eminent Quaker scientist, and Professor of Anatomy at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in Edinburgh, Barlow settled in Pilrig Street upon his marriage, and lived here for the last five years of his short life.

It was an informative, entertaining and often lively evening at the Leith Walk by-election hustings in St Mary’s Parish Church on Thursday, writes the Bellevue Observer.

There were two dramatic late-arrivals, heckling, laughter and applause. There was occasional outrage and almost an ejection. Perhaps Spurtle should have charged on the way in.

This beautifully solid and disintegrating vessel (right) is by Paul Kennedy, an Edinburgh College of Art graduate now exhibiting at Bon Papillon until the middle of September. 

Kennedy is very interested in the sense of lost history and place in parts of Glasgow, where his studio is situated.

But the work on show here focuses on a parallel passion for coastal landscapes, birds, boats, and people. The touching scene below is titled 'Love Story'.

As you read this, September’s Spurtle (Issue 244) is clattering off the press like a trainload of young Spanish language students disembarking at Waverley Station.  

It contains no end of exciting news delivered at high speed and great volume in every direction all at once, concerning the totality of existence as currently experienced in Broughton. More or less.

What's it all about?

A brief wander about the streets of Edinburgh this morning afforded the perfect antidote to an otherwise delightful summer’s day in the capital.

First to Calton Hill, and the slow trudge to the summit, ankle-deep in the detritus of last night’s lovemaking, booze, narcotics and clumsily spilt sausage suppers. And, inexplicably, an abundance of Cheesy Wotsits.

In a bricked-up doorway separating the private Regent Terrace Gardens on the other side from the heaving hoi polloi on this, we encountered ‘PIPSQUEAK WAS HERE!!!’

On display at McNaughtan’s Bookshop & Gallery from Tuesday next week will be work by the Edinburgh-based illustrator Camillia Seddon. 

Seddon studied art at Manchester and history of art in Edinburgh before working as a textiles and interiors buyer/designer.

Now back in the capital, she has a studio in Summerhall where she works on subjects ranging from food and architecture, to wildlife and historic costume.