Talk of the Town: Mad concert dash is against all odds

AS far as double booking your gigs on a single night goes, it's not quite Phil Collins and his Live Aid transatlantic dash.

But one West Lothian band will trek between Edinburgh and Sunderland on April 24.

Dead Sea Souls were keen not to disappoint new fans south of the Border and will make the trip to perform twice in one day.

It might not quite top the London to New York journey the former Genesis star undertook back in 1985, but the band reckon the mad dash with be a first for them.

Fat's the way to do it as chunky pets cut the flab

THEY are a pair of porky pets ordered to cut the flab.

Now, halfway through their diet plan, the duo are certainly shedding the puppy fat.

Fat cat Badger is excelling in the PDSA Pet Fit Club having dropped 0.7kg from his starting weight of 8kg.

Meanwhile, round hound Ellie, who tipped the scales at 23.6kg at the start of the process, has now dropped down to a slimmer 21kg.

Badger and Ellie are two of the 11 pets chosen by the veterinary charity to take part in its annual pet slimming competition, a six-month diet and fitness challenge.

Harvie gets Green light

THE Scottish Greens' top man, Patrick Harvie, has finally been allowed to share a platform with the other four Scottish party leaders thanks to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).

After being excluded from STV and BBC leaders' debates, Mr Harvie took centre stage at the FSB hustings at Our Dynamic Earth on Tuesday night.

He told the audience that small businesses made a crucial contribution to Scotland's economy and added: "I'm glad the FSB recognises that small political parties have a contribution to make as well."

Hungry for more

STRUGGLING Capital mothers probably have enough to worry about with Easter coming up.

But to add to their woes, a new survey has suggested mums need to do more to get out of a "food rut" which sees them use a limited number of recipes again and again.

This is depriving their youngsters of a properly varied diet, with 75 per cent of mums apparently using fewer than six recipes in their culinary repertoire, even though half said nutrition was their top priority when it came to cooking.

If only there was a company producing canned fish, juice, meat, vegetables and fruit that could help out. Of course, there is - the people behind the helpful survey.