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Broughton Street cannot claim to have inspired it, but it did at least stimulate the creation of a new production which will show in Edinburgh tomorrow for the first time.

Mara Menzies – a Kenyan-Scottish playwright, storyteller and performer – spent long hours writing and rewriting her script for Tyi Wara in this part of town's numerous coffee havens.

'My muse was most often lifted in Artisan Roast',' recalls Mara, 'but I would go to others to find another perspective for my characters.'

Last year, with the help of the  51st Scottish Brigade, Drummond Community High School was able to ship 5,500 books out to its partner schools in Kenya, writes school Librarian Annie Scanlon.

Squeakily clean Spurtle staff have again not been summoned to give evidence at the Leveson Inquiry, leaving us ample time to continue deleting emails and finish a new pure-as-the-driven-slush edition of Broughton's only free, independent stirrer.

Issue 204 will lead with news of a campaign triumph, impending chaos, a sad departure, financial woes, and the ornithological musings of an optimist.

Newbie professor and Broughton resident Hazel Hall officially takes up her chair at Edinburgh Napier University with her inaugural lecture ‘What’s so Social about Informatics?’ on 15 March, writes Ella Taylor-Smith.

People who meet Hazel through her social informatics work are surprised she is a small ginger lady; people who meet her at parties are surprised she is a professor. Many are wondering what social informatics is.

What is it about the cats of Canonmills? No sooner does one show up (Breaking news, 20.2.12) than another goes missing.

The absent friend this time is called Dylan, and he's been missing since Saturday 18 February. He is a friendly, 18-month-old tom, semi-long haired, with a very bushy, stripey tail.

There have been several sightings, most recently today in the Henderson Row/Perth Street area.

If you spot him, please call Jacq on: Mob. 0771 73635222.

Whisky Kiss – the Broughton-based ceilidh band with knobs on – are midway through a relentless, euphoric tour of Shanghai, New York, Kuala Lumpur and, of course, the Voodoo Rooms in West Register Street.