Talk of the Town: China hit Boyle-ing point in excitement

IT was a case of so near yet so far for Far-Eastern fans of Susan Boyle. First, news broke that the West Lothian singing sensation was heading for a special Hogmanay in China.

A Chinese TV station reported she had agreed to headline a New Year's Eve concert in Nanjing, eastern China.

SuBo, 49, was even said to be planning to wear an elegant Suzie Wong-style cheongsam dress, slit to the hip at either side.

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The TV company is reported to have released a photo purporting to show her signature on a contract agreeing to perform.

But alas just a few hours later, a spokesman for SyCo Entertainment, Simon Cowell's management company at Sony Music, was reported as saying: "Susan is not performing in China."

If you're still short of a festive stocking filler . .

MORE news from the Port o' Leith lost property box.

Back in September, Talk of the Town reported on the peculiar list of items the legendary Leith pub was trying to return to its owners, including the mysterious "Ricardo's pyjamas", which were "worn once and looking for a lovely home".

Ricardo, whoever he is, must be shivering this winter, because the Constitution Street boozer has now posted news of its Christmas raffle on Facebook, offering "Your chance to win 'Ricardo's Famous Pyjamas' (as mentioned in the Evening News)".

Don't all rush at once . . .

Cards are stamped out

IT'S one festive chore that technology may have licked.

The time-honoured tradition of Christmas card-giving could be on the wane thanks to humanity's preoccupation with mobile phones.

It seems almost half of residents in the Capital will send their festive greetings digitally - with a quarter opting for texts.

Now, if only we could programme the microwave to cook the perfect turkey, we'd have Christmas all wrapped up.

Someone watching over you?

JUST when you thought the world of unreliable surveys couldn't get any more peculiar we receive news of a suitably seasonal study carried out for the Bible Society and Christian Research.

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Apparently only 16 per cent of people in Edinburgh believe they have a guardian angel watching over them, compared with 40 per cent of people in London. The researchers are also keen, for some reason, to point out that they based their Edinburgh research on a sample of just 39 people.

Perhaps everyone else was steered away from the clipboard-wielding researcher by their guardian angel.