Breaking news

Spotted at 4.30pm today: Broughton Street OPEN TO TRAFFIC IN BOTH DIRECTIONS.

McDonald Road Library
Friday 2 April: CLOSED
Saturday 3 April: Open 9am–5pm
Sunday 4 April: Open 1pm–5pm
Monday 5 April: CLOSED

Stockbridge Library
Friday 2 April: CLOSED
Saturday 3 April: Open 9am–1pm
Sunday 4 April: CLOSED
Monday 5 April: CLOSED

Concern about the new Picardy Place Tesco Express, and its effect on existing shops locally, is not confined to the Spurtle.

The Guardian's Edinburgh Beatblogger Tom Allan recently toured Broughton Street with Fay Young, gathering opinion from local shopkeepers such as Richard and Elizabeth Bee at Something Fishy (pictured).

Read the blog and listen to the podcast for 30 March at www.guardian.co.uk/edinburgh.

[Photo courtesy of Tom Allan.]

A Broughton pensioner has been robbed in broad daylight whilst inspecting refurbishment work at Glenogle Baths on 31 March.

Una Kwiecień (75), pictured exclusively by Spurtle in the seconds before the incident, was chatting to 'mystery bathers' brought in by Council officials to test new Winter Spa facilities prior to re-opening.

'One minute everything was grand,' said Mrs Kwiecień, 'the next minute my bag was lifted.'

A banana skin, half-sucked pandrops, and empty packet of roasted cashew nuts belonging to the victim were later recovered from the scene.

Nearby residents appear broadly in favour of pre-planning application proposals for the former Martin & Frost site at 130 McDonald Rd (see 'Breaking news', 23.3.10).

They see Foremost Properties' plans for a mixed commercia/residential development as a great improvement on those of Unite in 2008–09 (Issues 155–7, 164, 168–9, 172), not least because they meet local expectations regarding sustainable/environmental issues and proposed materials.

Anyone who has lived as an adult in close proximity to a group of students will know only too well what tremendous fun it can be.

However, the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) has reservations about the situation. It argues that purpose-built student accommodation has failed to keep pace with increased student numbers, resulting in more and more studious citizens seeking digs in centrally located, tenemental HMOs. This in turn results in more and more HMOs, less stable communities, rapid turnover of population, and properties left empty during the summer holidays.

Six candidates have so far stepped forward as candidates for the Edinburgh North and Leith constituency in the forthcoming General Election.

They are: Ian Gill (Scottish Conservatives), Kate Joester (Scottish Green Party), Mark Lazarowicz (Scottish Labour Party), Kevin Lang (Scottish Liberal-Democrats), Calum Cashley (Scottish Nationalist Party), and Willie Black (Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition).

Since Spurtle broke the news that Tesco has won planning permission for a supermarket on Picardy Place (Issue 180), we have not been idle.

We've commissioned a review of the situation by influential Broughton journalist, activist and blogger Fay Young. And we've gathered the opinions of local traders on Broughton Street and beyond.

We're establishing the position, its likely effects, and what can still be done.

The results will be published in print and online tomorrow (1 April).

Plain-clothed policemen have been hiding behind wheelie bins on McDonald Rd to catch speeding motorists, reported a local newspaper on 30 March.

The officers trained speed guns on vehicles outside Broughton Primary School before alerting colleagues further up the street who stopped and warned offenders.

Former Scotland rugby international Donnie Mcfadyen is now designing men's vintage clothing, and selling it through Threadbare on Broughton St.

He told Spurtle's Scott Richards how a recent chance encounter with organisers resulted in his creations being exhibited at February's prestigious St Andrew's University Charity Show along with top international brands such as Jaeger.

Seeing his clothes on the catwalk was an experience he describes as different to but no less emotional and inspirational than standing on the pitch at Murrayfield singing ‘Flower of Scotland’.