Talk of the Town: Rankin riddle surely a case for Grant Stott

IT'S not difficult to imagine what gruff literary detective Inspector John Rebus might make of the current shambles of the city's tram project.

But should he ever come out of retirement, it seems unlikely he will use said light rail system as his transport of choice after creator Ian Rankin criticised council officials for using his image to help promote the scheme without asking permission .

Rankin used Twitter to express his disappointment at images depicting his "mugshot" on the side of one of the city's trams.

With anticipated difficulties getting the likes of JK Rowling on board, it seems the idea of getting some of Edinburgh's famous faces on the trams may have come off track. Although we hear Grant Stott's free . . .

The vintage 'old codgers'

SOME on the city council have joked that full council meetings have something of a Last of the Summer Wine feel about them.

Sitting up in front of the main chamber are chief executive Tom Aitchison, finance director Donald McGougan, corporate services director Jim Inch – each of whom are either in their sixties or just approaching them. With Lord Provost George Grubb chairing the meeting, you almost expect to hear the sitcom's theme tune playing over the speakers.

And it seems some of the longer-serving council members are not afraid to joke about the age of the senior management team.

As he discussed plans for himself and the other two council directors to retire within the next year, Mr Aitchison joked that deputy council leader Steve Cardownie refers to the three of them as "the old codgers".

Dizzee's no dope

FOLLOWING Canongate Books' great success with Barrack Obama's book The Audacity of Hope, it has of course signed up rapper Dizzee Rascal to write his autobiography. There is, however, no truth to the rumour that it will be called The Audacity of Dope.

All at sea with rations

THE crew of the city's round-the-world yacht Edinburgh Inspiring Capital have had to be nimble on their feet to survive the Pacific storms en route to San Francisco from China.

Skipper Matt Pike describes "dancing" below deck as the sailors manoeuvre from one handhold to another in their cramped quarters.

"A small nod and you let go, reaching out for the next grab handle, passing close, taking the handhold you need and freeing up the one you have just left. Choreographed by the ships motion and as elegant as any ballet we glide around our boat," he says. "Unless, of course, you're carrying a bowl of food in which case you slide and stumble looking for a perch. If you are lucky it works, if not you end up flat on your back and your supper over somebody else."

Now it's beginning to sound like Leith Walk on a Saturday night.