John Gibson: He must talk to the birds and the bees

Published on Thursday 5 November 2009 08:14

COLIN Chandler has been here before. Up from Suffolk a couple of times. Twice with his paintings of birds and animals. Both times showing them off at fine arts broker Alex Meddowes' gallery.

Chandler has a way with his subjects. Giraffes, for example. A youngster of the species was snapped up at 2,000 at the private preview this week at Royal Terrace.

A hedgehog found a buyer at 650 and two bee-eaters (so that's what happened to the bees this summer) was a snip for somebody at 850.

Said Chandler, whose exhibition runs 10am to 8pm daily until 27 November: "London galleries hang my paintings, Alex sells them. That's the difference. He works tirelessly. No other gallery does that for me."

Chandler's secret, perhaps, is that he talks to the animals, the birds and the bees. That apart, he chills out playing guitar, with a hankering for the blues and rock.

Who's to blame?

Tell us again. Who were the individuals who rubber-stamped the construction of the Scottish parliament building? Not the designer, he's dead, unable to appear before a judge and jury.

No, we should be calling for the heads of the perpetrators of the Holyrood disaster, having just had its repair bill rocket to 4 million a year. The despicable pile cost 440m to build, ten times over budget.

What we, the people, should be doing – because, sure as hell, the trams are going to prove a similar folly – is take the names and pictures of the balloons who approved and encouraged this whole sorry caboodle.

All hail Mark Wallace, campaign director for the Taxpayers' Alliance. Stay on their backs, Mark.

I told you so

You were wrong, Louis, when you said it's a wonderful world. It ain't. A lot of us have nothing to sing about. Big trouble ahead. No, not the trams. Immigration. Well, I told you so.

We've now got Home Secretary Alan Johnson, all sheepish, admitting Labour got it drastically wrong on immigration. Two thirds of the population in the UK are worried about immigration.

"Some parts of Britain have been disproportionately affected," he's saying. Where, I keep wondering, does Edinburgh stand in this climate?