Clear-up rates - 'Edinburgh is by and large a safe city '

There will be widespread concern about the fact that Lothian and Borders Police now have the worst crime clear-up rate in Scotland.

That does not mean we now live in a violent and crime-ridden society. In fact, this newspaper has repeatedly pointed out in the past that Edinburgh is by and large a safe city - and that remains true today.

Yet the stark truth is that if you fall victim to a crime of dishonesty in the Capital then you have just a one in three chance of seeing your tormentor brought to book, while victims of vandalism and fire- raising have a one in four chance.

The clear-up rates, thankfully, jump dramatically when it comes to the most serious cases, such as sex offences and crimes of violence. The force understandably will concentrate its greatest resources on the most serious offenders.

But it is worrying to see the performance of police in the Capital fall behind that of their counterparts in Strathclyde, a traditional benchmark for achievement in Edinburgh. City police chiefs will no doubt be asking themselves what is being done in Glasgow that we are not doing in Edinburgh? Any lessons that can be learned from recent improvement in the west must be taken on board in the Capital as soon as possible.

Who's on track?

The eyes of all city politicians will be on Liberton/Gilmerton tomorrow night for what will be an intriguing test of how far-reaching the fall-out from Edinburgh's trams debacle might be. The by-election there, the first in the city for two years, offers voters their first chance to deliver a verdict on local politicians since the project first ran into serious trouble.

When the Evening News tested opinion across the Capital in June, the results suggested that most city residents had changed their view of the biggest political parties as a result of the troubled scheme. Our poll suggested that Labour looked like suffering the most at the ballot box, but with the Lib Dems and anti-tram SNP not far behind in feeling the public's wrath.

That could give a lift to the campaign of hard-working independent candidate Mev Brown, who has been pounding the streets voicing his opposition to the trams. Whatever the result tomorrow, there could be interesting times ahead for many at the City Chambers.