Breaking news

For one awful moment, locals were afraid there'd been a murder. Or – worse – that somehow reality was mirroring BBC trailers and East Enders's Sharon Rickman was descending upon Picardy Place.

The pipe should have given it away.

This morning saw the long-awaited and welcome return of Broughton's Sherlock Holmes, removed in July 2009 as a precaution before the 'imminent' start of work on the Leith Walk section of the tramline.

Have you seen (or heard) the new artwork in Hillside Crescent Garden?

It's been in position since June, but if you haven't noticed it don't worry: you're not alone. Seen from the east, it resembles nothing so much as a severed trunk ... one more arboreal victim of last January's gales.

But from the west, its surface is a wonderful, tactile undulation of concentric rings framing a steel-grey rotating disc (see below).

Edinburgh trading standards officers yesterday warned parents about the dangers of substandard 'baby bling' products.

Home-workers are believed to be using imitation gems to customise babies' and toddlers' 'dummies, dummy clips, bottles, feeding equipment, and even shoes and sunglasses'.

Whilst such accessories may confer a certain Billericay glamour on these infants, they also expose them to the risk of swallowing or inhaling poorly attached components.

Toxic glue may also soften during sterilisation and be ingested.

That Leith Walk will not be getting the trams is old news, writes Liz Ballantyne. However, this area is still being inconvenienced by tramworks.
 
I live in the Shaw Colonies, and about 3 years ago I received neighbourhood notification that Shrub Place (behind the old Council Social Work Department) was to be used over two years as a carpark for approximately 50 vehicles.

Is your dog unconventionally attractive, a mongrel, ill-mannered, disobedient or a bit of an odd shape?

If you can answer yes to any of these questions, a forthcoming local event may be just up your street.

Barklife: Scruffs – billed as an alternative Crufts – will be a community outdoor dog show in Dalmeny Street Park, from 2–4pm on Sun. 26 August.

An Edinburgh householder has launched an online petition calling for government incentives to repair Scotland's tenements and preserve the country's traditional inner-city housing stock for generations to come.

Florance Kennedy created it after her owners association organised repairs costing £200,000 and then realised that VAT alone would add £40,000 to the cost.

Batleys Ltd – trading as the Bellevue Cash & Carry at 30 McDonald Place – seeks retrospective planning permission to extend its trading hours to 7am–8pm, Mon.–Sat. and 8.30am–12pm, Sun. (Ref. 12/02594/FUL).

Present managers have until recently been ‘unaware’ that a Class 3 condition consented in 1988 was very much more restrictive: 8am–10pm, Mon.–Fri.; 8am–12pm, Sat.; and no trading on Suns.

Bellevue photographer Alicia Bruce (right) is having a busy Festival, with pictures in exhibitions at Out of the Blue and the College of Art’s Tent Gallery, as well as sharing her skills with children in the Portrait Gallery and young people in Wester Hailes.

Following its emergency meeting with councillors and officials on 6 August (see Breaking news, 8.8.12), the New Town and Broughton Community Council has issued a list summarising areas of agreement.
 
We list the 14 action points, unedited, below:

'My pictures have no hidden meaning. To understand, all you have to do is look.'

So writes John McLean in the disarmingly clear, five-sentence catalogue description of his paintings at the Union Gallery this month.