Fringe needs the big guns and to encourage the anarchists

The shelving, at the eleventh hour, of plans for a 'one stop shop' ticket outlet for Edinburgh's festivals is a significant setback for the organisations which, collectively, are striving to maintain the capital's place as one of the world's leading cultural destinations.

The idea of creating the first unified box office for all major events in the capital, six years in the making, was a sound one as there is an increasing cross-over between customers for the different festivals in Edinburgh over the next month and being able to buy tickets for the International Festival, the Fringe or the Tattoo at one website was a long overdue innovation.

It is to be hoped, therefore, this is only a setback and the new online ticket "portal", named Clicket, will be up and running soon - the delay cannot be allowed to develop into the kind of mess which engulfed the Fringe in an embarrassing and costly crisis in 2008 and which tarnished the Capital's reputation.

However, as the Festival season proper gets under way, it would be wrong to concentrate on this setback to the exclusion of all else, a point which finds an echo in the comments we report today from the Fringe's chief executive Kath Mainland who, rightly, is extolling the virtues of the variety of performance her organisation brings to Edinburgh.

Ms Mainland's point, that the Fringe is an open event driven by the performers and venue operators, is welcome as it is in tune with the founding principles of what is now the largest of the festivals - that it is diverse, is not selective and, through a kind of organised anarchy, presents a wide variety of art of all kinds.

It is also refreshing Ms Mainland is not afraid to address the current debate over whether the Fringe has become too commercial, too dominated by big television stars and too expensive; a combination which some argue reduces the chances of unknown artists making a break through.

There is, it must be said, something in this argument as if major 'celebrity' acts, mainly comedians, take up space in many of the increasingly professional, and therefore profit driven, venues, there is a danger that the smaller voices will find it more difficult to be heard.

But Ms Mainland's argument more than holds water in that big names attract audiences and their presence here demonstrates that in August the entertainment world still heads for Edinburgh. After the collapse of the Scottish banks, heaven knows Scotland needs all the positive international reputation it can get.

However, it is essential the Fringe remains the place for emerging talent, experimentation and, yes, anarchy. Ms Mainland accepts the challenge is to ensure the benefits of hosting the big guns do trickle down to the unknowns, those who are the stars of the future.

Edinburgh and the festivals could have done without the ticket setback, but they have endured other crises and emerged the stronger. We are sure they will do so again. Let the show or, more accurately, the shows begin.