Breaking news

To everyone's relief, the sun shone on this afternoon's Pedal on Parliament. 

Thousands gathered in the Meadows at lunchtime, before cycling along streets closed to vehicles and strangely quiet but for the tinkling of bells and the clatter of fillings juddering out of their teeth and onto the capital's innumerable setts.

The massed bicyclists of Edinburgh (and from as far afield as Elgin) reconvened outside Holyrood, where politicians mingled with each other and members of the public were encouraged to ask them awkward questions.

One topic which arises frequently in correspondence with locals is how the Council decides how many bins to put in any particular street, writes Fred Street of the New Town Clean Streets Campaign. 

Here is a brief tutorial. 

Today, we received official notification of St Mary's Music School's interest in the old Royal High School.

The press release confirms what we exclusively reported in Breaking news (15.3.15).

The most immediately important point to emerge is that a new process of formal consultation with the Council has definitely begun.

Also of interest are previously unannounced individuals in the enabling Royal High School Preservation Trust. 

A new business looks set to fill the space at 46 Howe Street formerly occupied by News Corner (Ref. 15/00928/ADV) 

Pad Lifestyle Ltd have received consent to cover the  glass with ‘opaque window manifestations’, repaint  some of the woodwork ‘Downpipe’ grey, and install a modest copper-clad projecting sign which they will illuminate with mini-spotlights.

TOTEMS AND THE TRIBE: DAVID HILL ON CUMBERLAND STREET, GREAT KING STREET AND DRUMMOND PLACE  

Shadows cast by terrains long ago trodden can sometimes be long enough that they darken paths we now tread in different settings. They shape the way we map, understand, see current locations.

Edinburgh is, for me, a city to be negotiated in this manner. For here, I'm often reminded of the other places I have known.

When it comes to the shows, what appeals most to me about them is their discomfiting collisions. 

I love that unnerving interface of noise and glare, contrived illumination, dark, reward and vertigo, illusion, bravado, sweet, salt, nausea, potential sex and violence, gilt-edged fakery. 

Perhaps that explains my collection of ASBOs. It certainly explains my choice of four favourite works from this month's joint exhibition at the Union Gallery: All the Fun of the Fair.

Last night’s General Election hustings event was a well-attended, quiet and rather bloodless affair. 

Around 150 people filled St Mary’s Parish Church on Bellevue Crescent to hear seven candidates answer un-preselected questions by constituency voters from the floor. 

For the most part they answered without difficulty or personal rancour, and within heartbeats of their allotted 90-second spans. We gained few insights into what they might be like under pressure.

A new, funded scheme for the old Royal High School (RHS) on Regent Road is waiting in the wings.

Sources in the know tell us that St Mary’s Music School (SMMS), which has sought to expand for some time, will come forward with proposals soon. 

In outline, their idea is to set up a trust to buy the property, which would then lease it back to SMMS for educational purposes.

We’ve all heard of guerrilla gardeners. 

Now, though, there’s a new unorthodox horticulturalist in town: the vigilante devegetator. 

Spurtle has received photos of signs now adorning the Goldenacre Path between the Water of Leith and Five Ways Junction. 

They point out the devastating effect on native invertebrates of invasive species, and point the finger in particular at Himalayan Balsam. 

John Lewis seeks planning permission for changes that will allow the shop to keep trading while the St James Quarter is developed around and below it (Ref. 15/01659/FUL). 

The proposals are for: