Talk of the town: An oasis of calm after Noel storm

YOU’LL remember the furore when our long-suffering music writer Gary Flockhart was banned from covering Noel Gallagher’s solo gig at the Usher Hall after a less than favourable review of his album.

Now the great man himself has waded into the row by insisting he would never order such a “ludicrous” edict . . . and adding that he is not “an avid reader of the local Edinburgh News” anyway.

His loss, we say. However, we at Talk of the Town are not ones to look back in anger. For the record, we suspected all along the ban was engineered by his PR machine and, had he known, Noel would never have rolled with it.

Prince gets a headache

IT wasn’t the £500 magnums of Champagne nor the countless bottles of exotic beer which proved a good night was had by all.

When Prince Albert of Monaco hit the town with ten chums earlier this week he ran up a bar bill of £1350 in George Street nightclub Lulu.

But it was the next morning, following a stay in the city’s Balmoral Hotel, where the real sign of a wild night became evident.

From the hotel bar, he ordered ten bottles of water to help his group fight the hangover achieved from the night before.

Where’s the party?

IT appears Edinburgh has been “out-partied” by Glasgow.

Travel website Trip Advisor’s survey of Britain’s best nightlife destinations – according to travellers themselves – saw Edinburgh just scrape into the chart in tenth place.

Meanwhile, our friends in the west came in a respectable fourth place, and it was Liverpool which scooped the title of Britain’s best nightlife destination.

It would appear being home to one of the world’s biggest Hogmanay celebrations and an internationally-renowned arts festival just doesn’t cut it for some people.

All comrades together

THE biggest obstacle facing Glasgow Labour MP Tom Harris in his bid to become leader of the Scottish party seems to be the fact he is not currently in the Scottish Parliament – though he hopes to become an MSP at the next elections in 2016.

But on his way through to Edinburgh for his official campaign launch yesterday he decided he would like to get into Holyrood just for the day, to watch First Minister’s Questions.

The first person to respond with an offer of a couple of tickets for the public gallery? Leadership rival Ken Macintosh MSP.