Retail expansion - 'Investment is a big vote of confidence'

It won't help with this year's present hunt, of course, but the proposed 30 million investment promises to make the already thriving retail park a significantly bigger draw.

The fact that the new stores and restaurants would employ up to 500 staff - increasing the number employed at the Fort by almost 40 per cent - gives a clear idea of the scale of the expansion involved.

And replacing the pedestrian crossing between the two parts of the complex with something more pedestrian friendly, plus a children's play area, will make the complex a lot more family-friendly.

There will be inevitable questions about the impact that this might have on the city centre and there is no doubt it has the potential to pull people away from Princes Street.

But that argument is academic, and not just because the park's owners already hold planning permission to expand its shopping units. This scale of investment is a big vote of confidence in the city and its future prosperity and will provide facilities that people want to use.

The Fort Kinnaird proposals set the bar which Princes Street will have to meet, both before and after the redevelopment of the St James Quarter.

Keep fares down

wHEN Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson took up his post he signalled his commitment to the environment by promising to ditch his official car and walk as often as possible.

Three years later, his laudable initiative has had no discernable impact on civil servants, who continue to spend 300,000 a year on taxi bills, including thousands of pounds spent on journeys between St Andrew's House and Victoria Quay - a journey covered by the number 22 bus.

Perhaps Alex Salmond should take up George Foulkes' idea of travelling by bus. A few symbolic trips would not only send his staff a powerful message about saving the planet and the public purse, but also lend his support to the Lothian Buses drivers who fear their services will be wrecked by the botched trams project.