Talk of the Town: Sir John warned to beware of Foulkes

FORMER permanent secretary Sir John Elvidge must be looking forward to appearing before the Scottish Parliament's audit committee after the summer recess to answer questions on The Gathering. The last time he was there he was accused of delivering "a huge amount of b*******".

One of his inquisitors will be Lothians Labour MSP George Foulkes who recently grilled another top civil servant, Dr Kevin Woods, head of the NHS in Scotland, about so-called efficiency savings.

Lord Foulkes told him: "Your own job might become redundant — I think that you are one of the three top-paid people in the Scottish Executive, judging from what I saw the other day. That would be a huge saving, would it not?"

Just as well Sir John has already retired.

In this city, sometimes there's smoke without fire

THERE probably aren't many places where the sight of men in full make up, powder wigs and period dress fails to raise even an eyebrow.

But that was the case on the Royal Mile yesterday during the filming of the BBC's Garrow's Law, a legal drama inspired by the life of pioneering 18th century barrister William Garrow.

At one point, a smoke machine used to help create the pea soup ambience of Georgian London set off a smoke alarm, sending both dandies and damsels out on to the Canongate

Don't sweat it

IT MAY come as no surprise but almost half of the people in the Capital think sweaty armpits are a turn-off. According to the latest research to come into the News many consider pongy pits the ultimate body crime.

The no-no topped the list of bad body etiquette ahead of yellow teeth (15 per cent), greasy hair (8 per cent) and even smelly feet (4 per cent) in the national study.

Porty predicts the future

ONE Portobello resident recently demonstrated just how easily information can get a bit skewed if you listen to Chinese whispers.

Chatting on the local community forum - Talk Porty - the resident revealed that he had heard Portobello's community council was enlisting the help of "two professional mediums" to help with official matters.

Slightly confused, he said: "It seems a tad unconventional to be, almost incredulous."

Later down the discussion it transpired that "mediators" would in fact be helping the city council.

But not before one forum user looked into his crystal ball and predicted Portobello will be hosting the European Jet Ski Championships.