Breaking news

The clocks have changed, the squirrels are thinking of going into hibernation, and the 14th annual British Sausage Week has begun, all of which can only mean one thing – November is upon us.
 
You’re doubtless already celebrating the wide range of exciting sausages currently available in Britain by camping outside Crombie's (97 Broughton Street) every morning for your daily fix, but what other cultural delights await the residents of Spurtlopolis this month?
 

Spurtle's 200th issue hits the streets of Broughton and beyond today.

We have acres of news featuring items on bins, bloomers and Drambuie, primary school registration, endless piles of dog pooh, historical researches, new restaurants, a very fluffy cat – lost and found, and the forthcoming Christmas market.

And – because this is a special occasion – we bring you too a colour insert featuring representative front pages through the ages. (You can read the newly downloaded copies – dating back to February 1994 – in our Back issues section.)

A 1.5-litre Jaguar Mark IV paused outside the Mansfield Traquair Centre on wedding duty last Saturday, its fluid lines and polished depths breathtaking.

This particular example dates from 1948, and so was one of the last of 10,980 made between 1935 and 1949 (with a break in manufacture during the war years).

In its prime, it would have had a theoretical top speed of 70mph and was reportedly 'sweeter running' than a larger-engined 2.5-litre sibling produced about the same time.

This Jaguar is unlikely to exceed 40mph nowadays, but such constraints are irrelevant:

This chalk-stencilled design appeared outside Drummond Community High School last week, and is a visible reminder of an important campaign playing out across the capital.

Originally launched in 2009, No Knives Better Lives aims to get across the dangers of carrying a knife, and has regional focuses in Clackmannanshire, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverclyde, Renfrewshire and West Dunbartonshire.

Here, it is a partnership between Lothian and Borders Police, City of Edinburgh Council, local schools and a variety of voluntary organisations.

The Scottish Government's Minister for Gaelic, Alasdair Allan (right), has welcomed the decision by City of Edinburgh Council to create a dedicated new Gaelic primary school at Bonnington.

The vacant and now ruinously vandalised former primary school on Bonnington Road will be renovated largely thanks to Holyrood funding of £1.8m.

Sainsbury is mounting a charm offensive while it redraws plans to open a shop at 28 Howe Street.

As reported in Breaking news (15.9.11; 28.9.11), the supermarket giant was initially rebuffed by City of Edinburgh Council Planners unimpressed by the proposed treatment of a listed building in the Edinburgh World Heritage site.

The street-artist responsible for an urban anti-hero on McDonald Road has struck again, this time at the other end of the city on the outermost borders of Greater Spurtleshire.

Now that trams are no longer in prospect for Leith Walk, work to restore the thoroughfare to normality – or even to improve it – could begin as early as June 2012.

City of Edinburgh Council's Transport, Infrastructure and Environment Committee will convene on 29 November and consider proposals to:

Staff at Drummond CHS staff have enlisted the help of volunteers in the first step to revive a multi-purpose vegetable garden at the back of the school.

By last spring, the raised beds behind the gym block had become overgrown and very weedy, so science technician Audrey Finlayson and Food & Consumer Technology (FCT) assistant Elaine Brackenridge decided to seize the nettles.

National Schools Film Week kicks off across Scotland tomorrow and will continue until 4 November.

Run by the charity Film Education, it links free screenings of carefully selected movies to the school curriculum via online resources.