Talk of the Town: Like a knife to the heart for performer

THEY say it's a gift to be able to see yourself as others see you, but that probably depends on exactly what the others see.

One street entertainer on the Royal Mile had his own idea of what life is like in modern Edinburgh. Brandishing a handful of wicked-looking machetes with 12-inch blades ahead of his risky juggling act, he mused: "The problem with performing in Scotland these days is that no-one is impressed by these any more".

Folk singer Eliza has her audience on a string

FOLK music has changed. Once upon a time it was all songs about fair maidens being wooed by men from over yonder.

Not any more, at least not if you're a fan of Eliza Carthy. Introducing one of her songs at the Queen's Hall on Friday night, she told the audience: "This is about the time my drink got spiked at the opening night of Jerry Springer the Opera".

Festival books Mandelson

HE'S undergone several guises in his tumultuous relationship with the British press: Mandy, The Prince of Darkness, and more recently The Dark Lord.

More famed for backroom dealings and spin-doctoring than public appearances, Lord Peter Mandelson is to grace the Edinburgh International Book Festival to discuss his memoir The Third Man: Life At The Heart of New Labour - his first on-stage address about the tome.

Quite a coup for book festival organisers for a memoir which is billed as a frank examination of the inner workings of New Labour, and the Prime Ministerships of Blair and Brown.

City students hard at it

IT may seem a strikingly unfair contradiction, but a Royal Bank of Scotland survey shows that Edinburgh has both the most studious and lowest-paid students in Scotland.

The bank's Student Living Index, an annual report on university cost-of-living, shows that out of the 25 university cities surveyed, Edinburgh was the 17th most cost-effective place to study, falling from 10th place in 2009.

The research suggests that Edinburgh students are by far the lowest earners in the land, earning only 94.33 per week.

At just over an hour's drive away, students in Dundee are bringing in 125.84 per week. This is likely because Edinburgh students are Scotland's most studious, spending 27.5 hours studying, over five hours a week more than the UK average.

With the amount of time spent studying, little time is left for earning money, requiring the Bank of Mum and Dad to contribute.