Breaking news

Debate about the future of the old Royal High School (RHS) on Regent Road has entered an interesting new phase.

Proponents of the new luxury hotel scheme have collated the results of their public consultations in March and are now moving towards a formal planning application.

Advocates of a new home here for St Mary’s Music School (SMMS) have embarked on a pre-application notification process of their own and are talking to all relevant parties who will listen.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? as Broughton's juvenal delinquents never tire of mouthing up at the CCTV camera on Mansfield Place.

Who watches the watchmen?

In the case of the flowering oasis at the corner of Bellevue Place, security now seems to have been handed over to an unlikely couple of aliens.

The bespectacled pair discreetly observe the scene from behind foliage, all but invisible save for their bright yellow skin and powder-blue trousers.

Planning permission is now being sought for the complete demolition of 1 Canonmills (Ref. 15/01786/CON). But don't expect to see the wrecking ball anytime soon

Fouin+Bell Architects  Ltd have put in the application on behalf of Glovart Holdings, based in Canon House at 20 Canonmills.

REVIEW: JANET MELROSE'S 'MAKING TRACKS' AT THE UNION GALLERY 

Nothing remains the same. Life moves on. 

And yet, through the eyes of Janet Melrose RSW, time is temporarily slowed.

Her work begins in careful observation of the natural world. She traces its passage, delights in its colours and contours and in the rare moments of experience shared between human and other beings.

By the time you’re reading this the country may have descended into chaos, or further chaos depending on how you view things. 

Post-election, the markets may have crashed. The power may have been switched off. Everything may remain the same. Who knows what’s going to happen?  

One thing's for certain though: this weekend I will brave the unpredictable weather and the car park of doom on a trip to Tesco’s on Broughton Road. 

Deidre Brock has won the Edinburgh North and Leith constituency for the SNP. 

She defeated Labour's Mark Lazarowicz by 23,742 votes (40.9%, +31.3% on 2010) to 18,145 votes (31.3%, -6.2%). 

Iain McGill (Conservative) came third with 9,378 votes (16.2%, +1.2%), Sarah Beattie-Smith (Green) secured 3,140 votes (5.4%,+3.2%),  and Martin Veart (Liberal-Democrat)  got 2,634 (4.5%, -29.3%).

Alan Melville (UKIP) received 847 votes (1.5%, +1.5%) and Bruce Whitehead (Left Unity) 122 votes (0.2%).

Most hypothermic activists reported brisk voting this morning at the seven Broughton polling places within Edinburgh North and Leith. We were not so sure.

The disappointing trickle in Broughton Primary School's gym had been replaced by a steady patter of feet, thanks to the lack of rain. Along the road, though, at Bellevue Chapel, things were very quiet. Nobody seems sure who votes here or where they come from. Adding to the mystery, this was the only polling place today at which we saw Liberal-Democrat publicity of any sort.

RHYS FULLERTON REVIEWS DERRICK GUILD'S MOTHER FIGURES

A diamond-encrusted parsnip. Subliminal messages within a still life. A leaf wearing earrings.

These are just some of the peculiar artworks by Scottish artist Derrick Guild, on offer at The Scottish Gallery this month. 

Trade waste containers for licensed premises, shops  and restaurants have been multiplying over the past few years, writes local resident John MacDonald, but most of them could soon be consigned to the dustbin of history.

Apart from the unsightly appearance of several brightly coloured bins clustered together, I have found from personal experience that their owners sometimes overfill them and subsequently ignore and fail to clean up any spill-over litter scattered about the area by scavengers.

Following on from the Spurtle's hustings event last month, the BBC is holding tonight's Scotland Leaders’ election debate in the Mansfield Traquair Centre.

Ruth Davidson (Con.), Jim Murphy (Lab.), Willie Rennie (Lib-Dem.) and Nicola Sturgeon (SNP) will be slugging it out from 7.30pm on BBC 1, with Glenn Campbell chairing.