Leader: Recipe for a successful Edinburgh festival

FIRST, assemble tents and erect them in the middle of Charlotte Square in the middle of August. Secondly, stir in the biggest range of human experience you can find. Find a bullfighter, a Scottish Premier League centre forward recovering from cancer.

The man in charge of the British Army in Afghanistan and the man who is Britain's most decorated living war hero. The woman who ran MI5 and the woman who was campaigning to be her country's president when she was kidnapped and held as a hostage for six years.

Next, add the people with the biggest imaginations you can find. Most of them will be writers. They may look a bit strange on the outside, like organic fruit, but don't be put off: it's the taste of their minds that counts.

Take your time selecting them and be prepared to spend money searching out the best ingredients. Into this mix, pour liberally an intelligent audience. Season with plenty of enlightenment, usually for 55 minutes at Brain Mark 5.

It's simple when you know how and the Edinburgh International Book Festival knows how. But when you've lost the hang of cooking, and you're skimping on ingredients, and your cooker breaks down, it can be embarrassing. The Edinburgh International Film Festival looks like it needs a new recipe book at least.