Karen Koren: The good Sheppard tends his Assembly

So, I was shouted at by Tommy Sheppard in a letter to the Evening News the other day. He wasn’t happy with my comments about his new venture in last week’s column.

For the record, it was not his organisational abilities I was remarking on, more the difficulties of setting up the newly refurbished Assembly Rooms and all that the area brings with it - road closures and Princes Street upheaval. I would have taken on the venue in a heartbeat had I been given the opportunity. However, that was not to be and I have no doubt that although running the Assembly Rooms as a Fringe venue will be difficult to pull off, it will ultimately be successful.

Over the weekend, the Diamond Jubilee celebrations were brilliant - not that there was much going on in Edinburgh. Personally, I think of it as a much more English thing, though my grandchildren loved all the pomp and ceremony and proceeded to draw and colour flags for most of Saturday and Sunday - the front door got a Union Flag, a diamond and the message, ‘Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee’ stuck on it.

The television coverage has been marvellous, which is great, unless you have no interest in the royals, as there was not much else on. I was drawn in by the choir singing their hearts out in the rain on Sunday, very admirable. Then I couldn’t stop watching. I kept trying to watch some crime drama or other but was drawn back by the sight of a stand-up comic I knew from their early years, people like Miranda Hart, Lee Mack, Jimmy Carr and Peter Kay.

I was crossing my fingers they didn’t make any inappropriate statements. Having said that, it was Lenny Henry who made a few gaffes telling Rolf Harris to stop singing and continuously asking the crowd to shout ‘Yeah!’ was all a bit cringe worthy!