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BATLEYS BATTLE ON

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Batleys Limited cash and carry are seeking a review of City of Edinburgh Council’s refusal to grant them a temporary extension of trading hours.

As mostly recently reported online here, the McDonald Place wholesaler had originally sought to trade on Sundays during the Festival from 2 August to 8 September (Ref. 15/02378/FUL). But CEC said local residents should continue to enjoy one day a week’s relief from ‘unacceptable noise and disturbance’.

PSYCHOGEOGRAPHIES 12

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GAYFIELD SQUARE  

From East London Street, a setted prelude sweeps south through the ghost of the Estate. I meander up past whitewashed creation. Opposite, beyond finialled railings and letterbox fanlights, attic windows extrude like pop-up flashes.

Thrawn at the apex by black cat glare: a sunny sinecure interrupted. A creature of the New Town steppes, viridescent eyes containing complex knowledge of adjacent nature.

EDINBURGH ART FESTIVAL

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RHYS FULLERTON PREVIEWS SOME LOCAL HIGHLIGHTS ...  

The Edinburgh Art festival has been running since 2004 and this year’s programme has plenty to offer.  

Here are s a few of Broughton’s potential highlights. Not all our local galleries are exhibiting under the EAF umbrella, but here are some of the top picks out of those which are.  

The Scottish Gallery

LIB DEMS GO FOR MO

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The Scottish Liberal Democrats (SLD) have now announced their candidate for the Leith Walk (Ward 12) by-election on 10 September.

He is Mo Hussain, and says: 

Having grown up here, I now run my own business. Because of this I am very aware of what business owners and working people in Leith Walk need from Edinburgh Council, and how they can best be supported.

I feel I am the best candidate to represent the diverse and vibrant community in Leith Walk ward.

Hussain’s campaign literature stresses three main concerns:

ISSUE 243 IS OUT FROM TODAY!

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Ushering in hayfevery August a full 24 hours early, Spurtle’s Issue 243 arrives in outlets the length and breadth of the barony and beyond from today.

Poilitics, planning, questionably spent pennies and a primal scream dominate Page 1. Further in we have fires, food, fairies, flats, France and the latest eclipse.

Look out also for news of bins supplied and dins avoided, repeated arrivals and departures once in a blue moon, tennis, golf, amazing regulations, two kinds of outraged parents, murder, and mysterious disappearing advertisements.

STRANGE CHANGES, ODD NOTES, DISCONCERTING LOGICS

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Just started at the Collective Gallery on Calton Hill is Beatrice Gibson’s oddly compelling Crippled Symmetries.

The exhibition comprises two short films, both of about 15 minutes’ duration, and both inspired by JR, the 1975 modernist novel by US writer William Gaddis.

‘Solo for Rich Man’ begins with an 11-year-old boy being invited by a middle-aged man (the ‘Composer’) to count money. To the rustle of notes and the jangle of tumbling change, the scene becomes more and more frenetic.

CAMPAIGNERS BUY TIME FOR CANONMILLS BRIDGE

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City of Edinburgh councillors today neither turned down nor consented an application to demolish the quaint 1830s building at 1–6 Canonmills Bridge (Ref. 15/01786/CON).

Instead, they voted for a hearing to be held at the next meeting of the Development Management Sub-committee on 26 August.

Officials had earlier submitted a report in favour of demolition to councillors. It read:

THINKING OUT OF THE BOX

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Dalkeith-based Cipher Games Ltd has applied for permission to convert office space at the Category C-listed 3 Queen Street into an ‘Entertainment facility’ (Ref. 15/03421/LBC). 

The nature of the entertainment is not clear, but plans reveal three Game Zones of three rooms each on the ground and basement floors.

RESPECT, EXPECTATIONS, AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS

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There are many good reasons to respect a war memorial.

For example, to pay tribute to those who have lost their lives in the service of a high ideal. Or to mark the tragedy of war, and the failure of civilised discussion and compromise as a way to resolve differences.

Similarly, there are occasionally reasons not to respect war memorials. When, for example they appear to celebrate rather than abhor conflict. Or when they stand more as monuments to the vanity of leaders than to the suffering of citizens.

HIGH TIMES AT HERIOT ROW 'HENLEY'

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The Central Edinburgh New Town Association held its 'Annual Garden Party & Big Picnic' in Queen Street Gardens West this afternoon. Spurtle ventured along, hoping to witness something a bit out of the ordinary. 

'Think Ascot,' the event's organisers had advised, 'but think hats rather than horses. Think Henley, heavenly without all that water!'