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BROKEN NEWS

Submitted by Editor on

Yesterday, about noon, a journeyman wright, said to be much intoxicated with liquor, tumbled down from the walk on the west side of the Calton-hill, to the bottom. He was carried to the Royal Infirmary, but as both his arms were broke, had received a fracture in his skull, and was otherwise miserably bruised, there are but little hopes of his recovery. 

Taken from the Caledonian Mercury, 25 September 1780. [Image: Flikr Commons.]

ARTWORK OF THE MONTH

Submitted by Editor on

A LONELY ENIGMA AT THE HEART OF THE BOTANICS 

This month sees the welcome return of Reg Butler’s bronze sculpture 'Girl' to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE). 

The work has been reinstated at its original location as a feature of the pond outside Inverleith House. 

'Girl' was one of the earliest and most prominently sited acquisitions made by the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (SNGMA), and was on loan here between 1960 and 1984. 

ALL CHANGE AT NO. 8

Submitted by Editor on

HARD TIMES IN AUSTERITY EDINBURGH 

G-Star Raw at 8 Multrees Walk is no more.

The luxury men’s and women’s denim retail franchise has left, clenching its chic yet casually sculpted buttocks behind it.

This time last year, Drapers magazine blamed high rents for a string of similar closures in Gateshead, Derby, Cardiff, Leicester, London and Bristol. Profit margins, like the jeans, are tight.

YORK PLACE DELAY INCREASES

Submitted by Editor on

New research suggests that waiting times at city-centre pedestrian crossings are not improving, despite efforts to address the problem. 

On 2 September, we featured painstaking research by reader 'Paul at Fountainbridge' (PF) into crossing times. In most cases, it required the patience of a saint not to ignore the red man and traverse at peril.

HAVE-A-GO HERO TAKES ON GUNMEN

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If British legislation restricting the possession and use of firearms is among the strictest of its kind in the world, it is only partly out of a wish to keep such weapons out of the hands of bank robbers.

In the past, gun legislation in Scotland was aimed principally at Jacobites, vagrants, poachers and potential Bolsheviks.

Armed drunk young men tended – until the late 19th century – to slip through a legal loophole.

FEARS GROW FOR ALFIE

Submitted by Editor on

This little fella is Alfie, and he’s been missing from his home on Bellevue Place since Sunday 6 September. 

A local resident saw the body of a dead cat being removed near here by a Council employee in a white van on that day, but CEC staff say they have no record of it. (It's their standard practice to log such events and check for a microchip.) 

Local animal shelters report no recent arrivals matching Alfie’s description. 

All of which leaves the owner in a horrible state of doubt and apprehension.

SNP AND LABOUR WIN WARD 12

Submitted by Editor on

The Scottish National Party and Labour won in yesterday’s City of Edinburgh Council Leith Walk (Ward 12) by-election. 

As expected, it resolved into a three-horse race between Lewis Ritchie (SNP), 2,290 votes; Marion Donaldson (Lab.) 1,623 votes; and Susan Rae (Grn) 1,381 votes. 

The turnout was only 25.1 per cent. So much for re-energised Scottish politics. 

 

GAP IN THE PORTAL OVER HOLES IN THE WALL

Submitted by Editor on

Kingsford Developments Ltd have applied to create two new gates in the existing stone boundary wall and cast-iron railings of the former school at 154 McDonald Road (Ref. 15/03993/LBC).  

One is on the McDonald Road side itself (see below-right). The other (pictured here) is adjacent to Broughton Primary School’s top playground facing Broughton Road. It would entail the removal of a tree.