Last year, 3000 people – young and old – pedalled on the Scottish Parliament to call for safer roads for everyone.

SEX will be top of the agenda again at the Church of 
Scotland’s General Assembly, which opens on Saturday. Four years after its first debate on whether or not to accept gay ministers, the question still dominates the Kirk’s deliberations.

Sick and disabled people are being subjected to enormous and avoidable suffering as a consequence of the UK 
Government’s draconian welfare reforms.

Edinburgh citizens who are horrified by the trams and property conservation debacles, mistaken school closures and the Mortonhall ashes scandal must be wondering if there is any end to the bad news about the council.

IT may not have the same ring about it as St Andrew’s Day or Burns Night, but today is Europe Day – and in its own way it could prove just as significant in next year’s independence referendum.

A year ago today, council leader Andrew Burns and deputy Steve Cardownie forged a Labour-SNP coalition to run the Capital. Here, they reflect on what they have achieved in the past 12 months.

My dress was red and printed with big white daisies, sleeveless and sat just above my chubby eight-year-old knees. It was one of my favourites.

It was with extreme disappointment that I learnt of the closure of the Portobello Indoor Bowling Centre on Friday, April 26. This decision was made without any dialogue between Edinburgh Leisure and Portobello Indoor Bowling Club, the centre’s biggest customer.

Next week sees the pomp and ceremony of the Queen’s Speech. Signifying the commencement of a new parliamentary session, the Queen will outline the Government’s legislative programme for the year ahead.

The next few years will see huge changes with more of us living longer and living on our own. So making sure we have high quality health and social care is ­rising up the ­political agenda.

The Scottish Government’s decision to build a centre from which Scotland’s sporting success can grow is to be welcomed and the benefits it will bring for the next generation of
national sporting stars are undeniable.

Time and time again, I’ve heard parents affected by the baby ashes scandal at Mortonhall say to me: “If we’d wanted our baby buried, we’d never have organised a cremation”. Such a simple and basic point and one which seems to have by-passed the authorities over not just years, but decades.

It’s a constant struggle to highlight the issue of air pollution because it’s a problem that’s hard to see, yet it kills as many people in Britain each year as obesity and road accidents combined.

As anger mounts among traders about the proposed George Street traffic revamp, David Welch is calling for the plans to be revisited

FOODBANKS are sprouting all over the place. Edinburgh already has two, with another three due to open soon. And First Minister Alex Salmond, on a visit to the one in Clermiston, pledged to help find premises for a central distribution hub for the city.

As the PFI-built Edinburgh Royal Infirmary staggers from one health crisis to another, Jim Eadie demands action from parliament

The Auld Alliance now extends to food, says Stephen Jardine, with a new-found enthusiasm for quality Scottish produce

Newtongrange Library is set to close, and Julie Read warns that its loss is threatening damage to prospects of a younger generation

Stressed, exhausted and overworked NHS staff are no good for patient care, and Theresa Fyffe says this has got to change

A CAMPAIGN to change the law so motorists would be blamed for any accident with a cyclist unless they could prove they were not in the wrong has sparked impassioned responses from both sides. But the issue has been mired in confusion, says Brenda Mitchell, who offers this myth-busting guide