Breaking news

Broughton Road will be closed to through traffic for between 8 and 12 weeks starting this morning.

Replacement of Scottish Gas mains between Logie Green Road and Beaverhall Road will start at 9:30am today, and may last until 17 June.

Temporary traffic lights have been installed at Bellevue, but as soon as school resumes after the Easter break it seems inevitable that there will be delays.

The Nos 13 and 36 bus services will divert via East Claremont Street in both directions, and will not stop by Tesco.

Thursday saw Whisky Kiss perform at two packed events in lower Manhattan for Scotland on Stone Street, a very cool part of New York down in the Financial district near Wall Street. Anyone who is a fan of metaphors and irony would have enjoyed the afternoon gig in particular. We were performing outdoors by Wall Street, in the very shadow of the great banking houses of America, when there was a power cut right after we'd finished our set. Greed may be good, we mused, but does anyone have a spare nickel and dime for the meter?

Gastronomes across Edinburgh are rejoicing at news that the café kiosk outside the St James Centre has been granted permission to carry on for another three years (Ref. 11/00268/FUL). Over the two years in which it has operated so far, no complaints about odour or noise have been received, and its continuation is not considered likely to jeopardise redevelopment proposals for the adjacent shopping mall.

Day 2 of Tartan Week for Whisky Kiss had a lot to live up to. Day 1 had seen us jamming with Keifer Sutherland (a surprisingly good guitarist and vocalist, pictured right, sneaking into the photo), mingling with the Trumps, and sharing the bill with Paolo Nutini at Dressed to Kilt.

Alarm bells rang when we read the opening headline 'Shirley-Anne Somerville – A Strong Voice for Leith & North Edinburgh'. We thought the SNP's unsolicited colour newsletter was already repeating recent Lib-Dem muddles over a local constituency name (Breaking news 11.3.11). However, the copywriters put the issue beyond doubt on page 2 with an unambiguously accurate reference to Edinburgh Northern and Leith.

Broughton-based 'ceilidh-vs-DJ band' Whisky Kiss are playing in New York (Breaking news 7.3.11) this month. Bassist Iain McPhail (second from left) gives us the inside news.

A reader informs us that the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act came into force in February, putting responsibility for control on owners and adult supervisors in both public and private places. Beware! Threatening dogs need not bite for sanctions to apply.

Spurtle's regular cartoonist MF predicts unintended consequences.

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Those attending the hustings on 23 March may be forgiven for thinking there was something wrong with the church's central heating. However, the strange noises at the back of the sanctuary in fact emanated from 'Jaundiced of Claremont' – Spurtle's splenetic and impartial correspondent – who was alternately chewing his knuckles and banging his head off the wall.

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The superb painting above is currently on show at the Gallery on the Corner (34 Northumberland Street). It is called Swanning Around (oil and acrylic on canvas) and is one of Claire Brown’s six works in an exhilarating and thought-provoking Spring exhibition.

Claire writes: ‘From an early age I have been a keen artist. I would say my initial love of drawing cartoon characters on paper progressed to my colourful creations on canvas.

April's issue of the Spurtle will be published online on 4 April, and distributed in classic paper and print throughout Broughton's barbers and hair salons, pubs, clubs, galleries, newsagents, libraries, and retailers of gifts, vegetables, fish, beans, books, chocolate and personal requisites. Subscribers' copies will arrive by super-fit messengers in Spandex bearing umbrellas.