Talk of the Town: Congested roads get no help from trams

IT WILL come as no surprise to motorists that the Capital's roads are among the most congested in Europe, according to a new survey.

In a most-congested list of 59 European cities, Edinburgh ranked in fifth place. Taking the title as Europe's most congested city was Brussels, followed by the Polish cities of Warsaw and Wroclaw.

The rankings were based on how fast cars can travel on a city's road network as measured by anonymous speed data TomTom collects every day from drivers who use its devices.

And what of the hopes that traffic problems will get slightly better once the trams finally arrive? Unfortunately, the four cities with worse congestion have already got their own tram systems.

Phrase has global appeal

IT'S always nice to know that local phrases are so enduring they can spread well beyond these shores and around the world.

The New York Times decided to resurrect a few well known tongue-twisters in tribute to the unpronounceable Eyjafjallajokull volcano, including a local favourite from our own shores.

The paper recounted that: "The police in Leith, when testing whether people were sober enough to release on their own recognisance, would simply ask them to say: 'The Leith police dismisseth us'."

Cross-party unity on show

IT CAN'T be easy for councillors that are running for election but still having to put in the hours for their City Chambers "day job".

And the city's licensing board contains two councillors currently vying for seats at Westminster; Liberal Democrat Tim McKay and Labour's Cammy Day.

So at yesterday's meeting, there was a rare glimpse of cross-party unity on the campaign trail.

Cllr McKay, who has already missed much of the election campaigning due to a trip to Australia, did make it into the Chambers for the 9am start.

But, just 75 minutes later, he was saved from writing off another day's campaigning to help him unseat the Chancellor when Cllr Day, himself fighting it out for Edinburgh West, gave him the 'tag' and took his seat on the board. Now that's teamwork.

Pope to get angelic visit

SHE was hailed as a "hairy angel" after her first appearance on Britain's Got Talent, so it is perhaps only fitting that Susan Boyle has been invited to perform for the Pope when he visits Scotland later this year.

And while Subo will no doubt be delighted to perform for the pontiff, it wasn't entirely clear whether her appearance had all been arranged.

Some church figures described it as "a done deal" but others said only that Subo was "top of our wish list".