Big screen TV - 'The sensible thing would be to admit defeat'

the time has come to pull the plug on the folly that is Edinburgh's giant television screen.

There is no doubting that it has proved an expensive turn-off in its current home in Festival Square, attracting "one man and his dog" audiences even for major sporting events.

The sensible thing would be to admit defeat after spending an astonishing 100,000 on this white elephant in two years - a sum that must leave schools, council staff and community groups who are facing spending cuts dumbstruck.

But instead council chiefs are now looking at moving it to St Andrew Square, or failing that to The Mound or Castle Street, in the hope of attracting more viewers.

The "big telly" may have been a damp squib beside Lothian Road, but it would be an absolute eyesore plonked in the middle of the Georgian splendour of the New Town. It makes you wonder what they will dream up next - a giant screen on the Castle Esplanade or in the Queen's courtyard at Holyrood House?

There is a place for these giant screens. They work well, for instance, in Waverley Station, and could prove a success within the revamped St James shopping quarter, although preferably not at public expense.

But the Festival Square giant screen and any thoughts of shifting it to the New Town should be switched off now.

Green for no-go

Selling off green space in the heart of the city for development is always going to prove controversial.

And in the case of the council depot on the edge of Inverleith Park debate even rages over whether it actually counts as green space.

But there is no denying the proposal to build within the wider boundary of one of our most beautiful parks is highly contentious, with 8000 people signing a protest petition.

This newspaper has been sympathetic to previous proposals to build on park land, notably during the recent controversy over the new Portobello High School.

But it is difficult to see the justification in this instance - other than a desire to raise money to ease the public spending crisis.

There is no shortage of flats available in Edinburgh right now at the sorts of prices these would be likely to command. There may be no public money to do anything else with the plot right now, but that will change. Once the flats are built, there will be no turning back. This may not rank as selling off the city's best silver, but it is still selling us short.