Skip to main content

Breaking news

An item of "Breaking News". Will appear on the Breaking News page and the front page.

PEDESTRIANS BORED SILLY AT CROSSINGS

Submitted by Editor on

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.

PIONEER VET RECALLED ON PILRIG STREET

Submitted by Editor on

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.

HOW THEY FARED AT THE HUSTINGS

Submitted by Editor on

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.

BOATS, BIRDS AND BIRD-WOMEN

Submitted by Editor on

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'.

ISSUE 244 WILL BE OUT SOON!

Submitted by Editor on

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?

BEWARE OF THE BOBBLE HAT

Submitted by Editor on

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!!!’

FLOCKING TO HADDINGTON PLACE

Submitted by Editor on

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.

POLL CARD BLUNDER DISAPPOINTS YOUNG VOTERS

Submitted by Editor on

An as yet undisclosed number of young people who had hoped to vote in next month’s Ward 12 (Leith Walk) by-election will not be able to do so.

The news emerged today in a letter posted from the Electoral Registration Officer to all those affected.

Ms Joan H. Hewton FRCS explained that poll cards/postal letters had been mistakenly issued to some under-18-year olds in Ward 12.

KINGSFORD WITHDRAW PLAYGROUND SUBSTATION PLAN

Submitted by Editor on

Kingsford Developments Ltd’s plans to build a new electricity substation and ‘summer house’ outside 154 McDonald Road have been withdrawn today (Ref. 15/03183LBC).

The proposal, first reported here on 14 July, immediately drew opposition from those who thought it would ruin the Category B-listed building’s north elevation facing Broughton Road.

NEWS JUST IN AND A BIT LATE

Submitted by Editor on

With a new story simmering on the back burner at Spurtle HQ, and a Ward 12 by-election hustings to prepare for this evening, we have no time to bring you today's news today. 

Instead, here is some local information which is ever so past its sell-by date. It first appeared in the Caledonian Mercury on 16 January 1765, and its first sentence is 199 words long. Unusual by today's journalistic standards.