Breaking news

On 20 December, City of Edinburgh Council granted an application by Tesco for an alcohol offsales licence at its soon-to-open Express store on Picardy Place (currently under development).

The decision will dismay local traders keen to restrict the impending supermarket's impact on general footfall and sales of like products in neighbouring Broughton Street and Leith Walk.

It will also annoy locals already disturbed by alcohol-fuelled disruption starting in Greenside/Picardy Place and later trickling down through Broughton streets, particularly at weekends in the small hours.

At the end of last week we urged the Council to clear snow and ice from pavements which have no grit-bins (Breaking news, 17.12.10).

This now appears to be happening. For example, the slippery hill from the top of Broughton Street down to the Water of Leith at Canonmills was efficiently cleared yesterday, with through routes off – for example London, East London and East Claremont Streets – receiving the same attention by mid-afternoon.

The Broughton Spurtle's Annual General Meeting – postponed earlier this month owing to a combination of inclement weather and the wrong sort of plague – has been rescheduled for 2011.

It will now take place in Broughton St Mary's Church, Bellevue Crescent, at 7:30pm on Wednesday 12 January.

All are welcome, particularly those interested in joining the team as writers, artists, news gatherers, idea generators, advertising executives or distributors. No previous experience necessary.

Campaigns running this Christmas and New Year reflect an Edinburgh reality many of us would prefer not to think about.

For the second year running, the Edinburgh Safety Community Partnership – involving the Council, voluntary sector and Lothian and Borders Police (LBP) – are targeting pubs, clubs and night-time premises to publicise the fact that race and ethnicity-related hate crime is not tolerated by the authorities and should be reported.

Hate crime offences are now punishable by prison terms of up to seven years and fines of up to £10,000.

The Spurtle now has a definitive list of the City of Edinburgh Council's grit-bins. You can download it by clicking on the link at the foot of this page.

The database – which CEC officials assured us last week did not exist, could not be produced and would not be easily understood by members of the public even if it were (Breaking news 10.12.10) – was quickly supplied following a request from Leith Walk Councillor Louise Lang.

You may have heard of clootie trees.

City of Edinburgh Council's 'Modernising Waste Team' seek your opinions on how to handle rubbish collection and recycling in the city.

Inevitably, at the heart of the survey are questions concerning wheelie-bins and their alternatives in the World Heritage Site.

Sanguinary New Year disorder occurred on the night of 31 December 1811 and the early morning of 1 January 1812.

The Daily Mail may view recent student disorder as a first sign of civilisation's imminent collapse south of the border, but the Spurtle is more sanguine north.

Riotous assembly here in Edinburgh has a long history, so long indeed that in some ways it seems more the norm than the exception.

Perhaps City of Edinburgh Council should now acknowledge occasional mob rule as a charming folk tradition, take steps to promote it, and commence an aggressive PR campaign marketing unruliness as an international year-round tourist attraction.

LCCC meets tonight at 7:30pm in McDonald Rd Library. Subjects for discussion will include the Pilmeny Youth Group, Leith Decides, and election results for the Association of Scottish Community Councils.

For an agenda and minutes of November's meeting, see Extras 13.12.10.