Talk of the Town: Will they be telling porkies to the kids?

MANY city children will have enjoyed seeing the piglets up close on family outings to Gorgie City Farm. Sadly for one of those little pigs however, time is running out.

One of the farm's porkers is about to become the guest of honour at a city restaurant's 'Slow Food' butchery demonstration.

The Gorgie pig will be slaughtered in the Borders then carved up by Atrium's head chef Neil Forbes next Saturday, 1 May, before various parts are cooked up for a no doubt delicious two-course lunch.

Hopefully the kids won't notice one of the pigs is missing.

OK, you can have him

AS A proud Scottish sporting hero, Andy Murray has never been shy of making sure broadcasters in other parts of the world were aware of his nationality.

You might think, then, that the BBC would be all too aware of exactly where Murray hails from, but it appears it still needs some help.

In the graphics for a recent match, Murray was shown as "A. Murray (ENG)". Perhaps it was just because he was playing against a German that the Beeb felt it necessary to stoke some nationalistic fervour, although once again the Scots had the last laugh – the "English" Murray lost 6-2, 6-1.

Island life on canvas

IT MAY be "a sombre patchwork of "greys, reds and browns" but three huge canvases on display in the Capital are already being hailed as one of the present century's artistic masterpieces.

Tattooed artist Sean Scully, a double Turner Prize nominee, painted the work, entitled Iona, after a single visit to the island. His work has been compared to the abstract expressionist Mark Rothko and described as "one of the great paintings of the early 21st century". Intrigued art lovers can make up their own minds at the Ingleby Gallery in Calton Road.

This one will run and run

THE effects of the Icelandic ash cloud are continuing to spread, with the Edinburgh Marathon the latest event to get involved.

Organisers of the marathon have extended the deadline for entry until Thursday, 22 April, to try to accommodate disappointed runners who have missed out on other events across Europe.

Marketing director Damien O'Looney said: "After training for six months or more it is absolutely gutting not to be able to run. Hundreds of runners have put in months and months of training for their chosen marathon only to be stopped at the final hurdle by events outside of their control. We hope by extending the entry deadline that we can bring a smile to some of these runners' faces."

It seems even an ash cloud can have a silver lining.