Opinion
Susan Morrison: No world domination or killing prey for my boy’s birthday
WE passed a milestone this week. My son reached his 13th birthday.
Brian Monteith: Nanny State’s failed a jobless generation
Full marks to Arnold Clark bosses. It was a brave thing to say that some 80 per cent of the young people that apply for an apprenticeship with the company are unfit for work.
‘A ban runs the risk of making martyrs of them’
MANY will be dismayed at the court decision which overturned the city council’s ban on the Scottish Defence League’s march in Edinburgh.
Evening News Caption Competition 25/05/2012
Is the Chelsea Flower Show amusing the Queen?
13 comments
Leader comment
‘The health board is right to up the ante’
The latest twist in the saga over the building of Edinburgh’s new Sick Kids Hospital is deeply worrying.
‘Help for young people must be a top priority’
THE news that the number of young people in Edinburgh who have been out of work for more than 12 months has quadrupled in the past year is deeply concerning.
‘We may find it a hard tablet to swallow’
Our revelation today that 58 city councillors and 25 senior officials are to be issued with free Apple iPads will jar with many readers.
‘Hearts fans couldn’t have asked for more’
Football, as the saying goes, is a game of two halves. And never was it illustrated more starkly than this weekend.
Scottish Cup final: ‘It’s possible we’ll never see it again’
BY NOW the butterflies have well and truly kicked in. Every fan is now wondering “can we really do it?” But they are also thinking how terrible it would be to lose to their city rivals. The burden of history and the fear of failure hang in the air.
Analysis
Ian Swanson: Battle-lines are drawn as independence campaign begins
The starting gun is about to be fired in the independence referendum drive, political editor Ian Swanson reports
14 commentsShould there be prayers at council meetings-?
An unholy row is brewing over whether to scrap prayers at the start of council meetings in Edinburgh. Officials fear the city is open to legal challenge following a High Court ruling in England which said the practice was not lawful as part of a formal meeting. Here we give two very different views in the debate
6 commentsGina Davidson: Flower power can save the bee
Ahead of a fresh bid to halt the decline in bee numbers, Gina Davidson discovers gardening is the buzz-word
Helen Martin: I’m too common to talk a book to death
ACCORDING to the wonderfully-titled Middle Class Handbook website, it is necessary for any woman who wants to earn her upwardly mobile stripes to be a member of a book club. Apparently it’s “an essential marker of social status”.
1 commentMark Greenaway: Let’s show world that all Scottish food isn’t deep fried
As ambassador of our nation’s cooking, Mark Greenaway says we need to promote our quality produce and excellent culinary skills
1 comment
Margo MacDonald
Margo MacDonald: More than one way to face EU uncertainty
Readers who watch really scary programmes on TV, like First Minister’s Questions, and news bulletins on who else ate all the pies, may have heard the Presiding Officer gently nudging me into line after I’d asked my question at FMQs last week. Fair do. I deployed the parliamentary custom of chancing my arm.
1 commentMargo MacDonald: Blame euro for plight of Greece
Why do you think Greece has ended up in such an unholy mess? Did the Greeks go beyond the limit with their credit cards? Did they buy big boys’ toys, like aircraft carriers, to prove that they were still a force in the world? So how come the UK has got away with it but not poor old Greece?
Margo MacDonald: French revolution is not greatest concern
Were the “sans culottes” and petit bourgeois who thronged the streets of Paris when the results of the French presidential run-off were known demonstrating their unbounded joy that socialist candidate Francois Hollande had been elected, or that the right-winger formerly known as President Sarkozy had been voted out of office?
Margo MacDonald: Thinking out of the box for vote
I’ve an idea about the future for the redundant police boxes. And just maybe I’ve hit on something that chimes with the present-day attitude to politics.
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Brian Monteith
Brian Monteith: Give the Queen a proper speech
Her Majesty the Queen celebrates 60 years on the throne this year, her Diamond Jubilee. What a shame the Queen’s speech could not have been a more rousing, flag-waving, inspiring affair.
Brian Monteith: I’m hung up on Alex’s odd call
The close and secretive relationship that Alex Salmond enjoys with Rupert Murdoch continues to dog the First Minister – and it is going to hang around like a bad smell for quite a time yet.
4 commentsBrian Monteith: Alex’s Scotland is easily bought
There was a time, not that long ago, when Scots could not be bought easily if the price involved loss of face. An obvious example is when the trade unions told Ford motor company where it could stuff its non- unionised engine assembly plant, and it wasn’t going to be Dundee. It was instead built in Cardiff.
19 comments
Martin Hannan
Martin Hannan: No end in sight for Lockerbie
The death of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was always going to produce mixed reactions. The only man yet to be convicted of the Lockerbie bombing endured a long and painful death and if you believe in divine retribution, he got some of his share here on Earth.
4 commentsMartin Hannan: Pledges are good start to joint rule
Timing is everything in life. There I was last Tuesday morning having already penned my column for last week, and still fretting over the low turnout more than anything.
Martin Hannan: Our democracy is biggest loser
So how was it for you? Did you get your revenge for the trams by spoiling your ballot paper? Did you let the big parties know what you thought of them by voting for the Greens or Professor Pongoo?
3 commentsMartin Hannan: No Trump card in rivals’ hands
For some time now I have been contending that this week’s council elections will be decided in the main not on local matters, but on the voters’ views of politics at a national level.
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Gina Davidson
Gina Davidson: Luck’s deserted this generation
LUCK goes a long way when it comes to the world of work. You could be lucky enough to know what you want to do for a living from an early age, being able to focus on the exams you’ll need to get into the university which offers the best course to get the degree that will open employers’ doors on graduation.
Gina Davidson: It’s time we saw bus lane sense
SITTING in the back of a police van, the seconds ticking away all I could concentrate on was the fact that this unscheduled hold-up was going to make me late for the evening nursery pick up.
Gina Davidson: More kapower to unlikely lads
WELL I tried. Honestly, for your sake and mine, I did try. Ever since the council election result was announced and all the candidates had gone home to drown their sorrows, toast their successes or attempt a leadership coup, I have thought of little else. But I have failed to find something else to write about.
Gina Davidson: Keep promises to win our vote
TODAY is the day that politicians – and political journalists – long for. The day when X finds a politician’s E spot.
Gina Davidson: Toffs give posh a bad name
IT’S not often I can say this, and to be honest it’s unlikely to happen again, but I feel David Cameron’s pain. More than that, I can empathise with George Osborne. It’s not nice being decried as posh. Or should that be Posh with a capital P as Lionel Jeffries once sang?
Ian Swanson
Ian Swanson: Battle-lines are drawn as independence campaign begins
The starting gun is about to be fired in the independence referendum drive, political editor Ian Swanson reports
14 commentsIan Swanson: Familiar faces leaving City Chambers after election
With a host of familiar faces quitting the council, Ian Swanson examines the impact of their departures
1 comment
Helen Martin
Helen Martin: I’m too common to talk a book to death
ACCORDING to the wonderfully-titled Middle Class Handbook website, it is necessary for any woman who wants to earn her upwardly mobile stripes to be a member of a book club. Apparently it’s “an essential marker of social status”.
1 commentHelen Martin: Primitive bosses cry wolf over baby leave
STORMS in teacups are part and parcel of politics. Whatever one party suggests is automatically going to be rubbished by another.
Helen Martin: I am learning to like teachers
WHILE defined benefit or final salary pension schemes in the private sector are predicted to all but collapse by 2020, Scotland’s teachers have no intention of rolling over to accept the same fate.
1 commentHelen Martin: Parents need to resist Wonkas
THERE was one childhood excuse for bad behaviour that never worked for my generation. When the angry parent or teacher asked “Why did you do that naughty thing?”, woe betide the child that painted themselves into idiot corner by saying by way of defence: “So-and-so told me to do it.”
Susan Morrison
Susan Morrison: Well, sorry I spoke as humble bumbling sets off grumbling
Scots travellers beware . . free eyes may breed resentment in fellow citizens of the world
Susan Morrison: Mr Darcy creates a splash all over again
Lordy, lordy, much a- twittering in the female bosom of this city. Why, anyone would have thought a regiment of light dragoons had arrived to whirl the ladies round the Assembly Rooms, cutting a dash in the candlelight, epaulettes a-gleaming and red jackets a-glowing.
Susan Morrison: Halcyon days of rail travel have truly hit the buffers
Once, people who travelled on trains were known as passengers. They got off at stations with proper names, such as Waverley, Falkirk Grahamston, Glasgow Central. On the train there was a guard who kept the peace and collected the tickets.
Susan Morrison: I’m pouring my energy into backing green power plans
Off-shore wind farms look like a Good Thing on paper. They generate power from the wind, something we have a lot of in Scotland, and so therefore it would seem that it makes sense to have farms harnessing this abundant natural resource.
John Gibson
John Gibson: Are they taking their medication?
It’s not easy putting the lid on the laughter. You just can’t stifle a hoot when you see what the Scottish Government plan to do next. Teach five-year-olds a foreign language in P1, and learn another in P5.
John Gibson: Bear with me and it’s at your risk
Bear Grylls for thrills? I’m not so sure, ever since he was embroiled in a bit of jiggery pokery in one of his television “adventures”.
John Gibson: It’s enough to give you the creeps
Be aware, they’re telling me. National Insect Week is coming up next month. Creepy Crawlie Week. I have to pay attention to their instructions, they’ve come out of the woodwork to tell me. I now know how to “create a natural habitat for bugs, bees and butterflies in my own garden”.
John Gibson: Do hang on to that old hurdy-gurdy
True to type, I was last to switch off the lights when we flitted from North Bridge down the road to Holyrood.
John Gibson: She’s back, dicing with the demons
Loves to see herself in the papers. The woman can’t help it. Or help herself. Gail Porter’s now telling us she’s going to write a book about mental health problems, of which she’s had a few.
Talk of the Town
Talk of the Town: Royal approval not to be sniffed at
GIVEN the trillions of fans across the solar system, it’s no surprise to learn the Queen enjoys tucking into a bit Harry Potter every now and then.
Talk of the Town: We could’ve sworn he was famous
THERE was a ripple of excitement among fans of The Thick of It when we heard that this weekend’s inaugural Edinburgh Whisky Stramash was to feature Peter Capaldi as the star of a murder mystery.
Talk of the Town: Nicole learns who the real stars are
SHE is one of Hollywood’s screen goddesses but now she has been well and truly snubbed at a major city attraction.
Talk of the Town: Rebus not up for cup, says Rankin
LAST week, this column revealed how Talk of the Town regular Ian Rankin was in danger of missing Saturday’s historic Scottish Cup final after agreeing to be interviewed at the same time as the game.
Talk of the Town: Hole-y wishful thinking Batman!
THERE are icons and then there are, well, holes in the ground.
Letters
Letters: Let’s Guarantee no repeat of history for young people
THE Evening News is to be congratulated for giving such prominence to the blight of unemployment among young people (May 23). We have been here before.
8 comments
Letters: Lower the kerbs and raise mobility for scooter users
Having been recently reduced to getting out and about Edinburgh via an electric powered mobility scooter (through bad health and old age), I see the world in an entirely different light.
1 commentLetters: Families are being asked to splash out a lot for a swim
Having a young family, we were disappointed when Leith Waterworld closed its doors earlier this year.
1 comment
Letters: Families are being asked to splash out a lot for a swim
Having a young family, we were disappointed when Leith Waterworld closed its doors earlier this year.
4 comments
Lothians in Pictures: Salisbury Crags
Gerry Parker climbed up Salisbury Crags to take this picture of the city skyline resplendent in the sunshine
- Rangers takeover: Duff & Phelps threaten legal action against BBC
- Family mourn death of Glasgow ‘fight’ schoolboy
- Today’s youth not fit to be employed, says car firm Arnold Clark
- Rangers administration: Fans fear Duff & Phelps claims could scare off Green
- Rangers takeover: triple penalty punishment enough, says Johnston
- Alistair Darling leads ‘No to independence’ fight over tea and biscuits
- Scottish independence: SNP flip-flops over Nato
- Scottish Independence: SNP ‘won’t be Yes campaign’s only voice’
- Today’s youth not fit to be employed, says car firm Arnold Clark
- Scottish independence: ‘People here are best qualified to run Scotland’
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Weather for Edinburgh
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North east
