Skip to main content

Breaking news

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

ELM ROW BIN AND THE ART OF WAR

Submitted by Editor on

An intriguing little battle of wills is being fought out on Elm Row.

Staff at local bar Jeremiah’s Taproom appear to be tired of their expensively hired commercial bins being filled with the rubbish of private neighbours.

They have therefore attached signs like this one (right), politely spelling out exactly whose what should go where.

Somebody has this morning responded by placing their own black bin bag not inside JT’s wheelie-bin but directly on top of it.

TOUGH TIMES FOR TIGGY-WINKLES

Submitted by Editor on

This amusing whimsy outside the Broughton Delicatessen on Barony Street has set us thinking. 

Spurtle does not recall ever having seen a hedgehog in the capital. 

This may owe something to the height and solidity of the stone walls criss-crossing Edinburgh’s back-greens. Hedgehogs lack the Royal Marine skills necessary to scale such obstacles and invade new areas. 

WOMAN SEXUALLY ASSAULTED ON EYRE PLACE

Submitted by Editor on

A woman was subjected to a serious sexual assault on Eyre Place early this morning near Smithie’s Bar. 

The street is currently closed (2.50pm) between Canon Street and Rodney Street as police investigate the scene. 

The 21-year-old victim was attacked at around 4.00am by a man described as Asian, aged 20–30 and with short dark hair.

He wore a blazer and was smartly dressed. He may have left the area in a silver-coloured car.

ALISON AULDJO: 'LIFELINES'

Submitted by Editor on

REVIEWED BY RHYS FULLERTON 

For many contemporary artists, getting their work exhibited can often by the hardest part of the process. Owning your own art gallery should make it easier, but for Alison Auldjo, owner of the Union Gallery, this is her first exhibition in three years. Auldjo is an artist in her own right, but running a thriving contemporary art gallery in central Edinburgh can be time-consuming and leave little opportunity to paint. Lifelines is well worth the wait. 

COUNCIL PARKING UP THE WRONG TREE

Submitted by Editor on

Much to the annoyance of some locals, other locals have been parking in front of the new communal bins on Hart Street between 9.50pm and 7.50am.

On several occasions, this practice (always by the same three drivers, it seems) has blocked the bins from the road and prevented them being emptied.

COLD CALLS IN THE DARK

Submitted by Editor on

Its 3.00am. The baby monitor starts to beep and I wake up. 

The battery is exceptionally low and I presume that I forgot to switch the charger on. I attempt to turn my lamp on so I can check, but it doesn’t work. I get out of bed and try the main bedroom light but that’s not working either.

Then it hits me: there is no power and I know why. Mrs Left-Handed Tea Drinker wakes up and it’s time for me to confess everything …

One week earlier

The landline phone rings.

LHTD: ‘Hello.’

ROAR TALENT AND OMINOUS MARK

Submitted by Editor on

Two works by contrasting painters in closely situated galleries caught the eye on Dundas Street this afternoon. 

The first (‘The Interpreter’, right) is part of a solo exhibition by Roar Kjaernstad in the Sutton Gallery which continues until 25 October.

Kjaernstad was born in Norway in 1975 and studied art first in Lillehammer and then Antwerp. He is currently the artist-in-residence at Durham University. 

SEW COLOURFUL ON BELLEVUE STREET

Submitted by Editor on

The rather modest exterior of 4 Bellevue Street doesn’t scream ‘Look at me!’, but it’s certainly worth a visit. Inside is a remarkably light and airy space filled with radiant colour. 

Since 20 August, this has been the home of Edinburgh Patchwork, a new business specialising in all things quilting.

BIRDS, BEES AND SPEWGS

Submitted by Editor on

Despite a catastrophic recent drop in population (numbers may have declined by as much as 71 per cent between 1977 and 2008), the RSPB estimates that 5,300,000 breeding pairs of house sparrows remain in the United Kingdom.  

Judging by the noise, Spurtle estimates that 5,299,998 of them are currently hard at it in a hedge on the corner of Bellevue Place and Melgund Terrace.