Talk of the town

Freya's camping up her performanceSTAR of TV's Skins Freya Mavor has been speaking about her first sex scene and it doesn't sound as much fun as you'd think.

The 17-year-old had to perform the steamy scene with co-star Sean Teele but the show's makers kept a rubber camping mat between the pair because of their tender ages.

As if that wasn't embarrassing enough the Mary Erskine School pupil also revealed that her dad got to vet the script before it was filmed. Little wonder the whole scenario reduced her to tears.

Swinney left red-faced after banks omission

IT looked for a moment as if the Scottish Government had downgraded the importance of Edinburgh's finance sector.

At a press conference yesterday on how the government was helping economic recovery, Finance Secretary John Swinney reeled off the key areas of the Scottish economy, mentioning renewable energy, life sciences, food and drink and tourism.

No mention of banking? Mr Swinney quickly put his omission right: "Financial services is one of the key sectors in the Scottish economy," he said. "Perhaps inadvertently I didn't include it in the full list. It remains a major sector in the economy and a sector which has great potential."

Anticipating a day in the pub

THE wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton - and whether we should get a day off work to celebrate it - is always going to be an emotive subject, especially among those with political opinions on the monarchy.

So it proved at the latest meeting of the city council's policy and strategy committee, where councillors were asked to decide whether to spend up to 320,000 of taxpayers' money on giving staff a day off on April 29.

Looking back to his memories of the public holiday when Prince Charles wed Princess Diana, SNP group leader Steve Cardownie recollected a whole day spent in the Ormelie bar on Joppa Road, without the television on. "It was a fantastic day and I will look forward to spending a day in a similar way, albeit possibly a different establishment," he said.

Radio relies on pedal power

PLENTY of folk like listening to the radio as they keep fit.

But members of the Edinburgh University's Fresh Air Student Radio are going one better with a bicycle-powered, remotely broadcast radio show.

Today they will be using strong-thighed volunteers to generate power to put the weekly Music Team Show on air.