Talk of the Town: Tram opponents are in Norway unique ..

"The trams are against the will of the people!" screamed one banner. "No joy for the population and the taxpayers," exclaimed another.

No, it's not Edinburgh – it's the Norwegian city of Bergen.

Queen Sonja of Norway saw the first tram in Bergen since 1965 take to the rails last week , with city council leader Monica Maeland hailing "a proud day for Bergen".

As the banners indicated, the Bergen Light Rail was not without its detractors, with one opposition politician being moved on from Tuesday's celebrations by police for orchestrating a very vocal protest.

Bergen's trams were delivered on budget at a cost of 2.2 billion kroner (226m], considerably less than Edinburgh's trams. However, at 10km long, it's almost half the length of our own proposed line – provided it ever makes it past York Place.

Site fit for a future king

CRITICS often say that the Royal Family are relics of a bygone age – which perhaps explains why Prince Charles is keen to see a little corner of Georgian Edinburgh erected in Chelsea.

In his controversial letter to the Qatari royal family, the prince urged them to scrap their "brutish" plans for their Chelsea Barracks site in favour of something more timeless "like Bath or 18th-century Edinburgh".

Given that his dad is the Duke of Edinburgh, could we also add nepotist as well as nimby to his list of less desirable traits?

Taking a shine to bling

AMONG the many questions most people never think to ask is this: just where, in a league table of "bling", do the ladies of Edinburgh stand?

Fear not, though, for now the truth can at last be revealed – the Capital's glamour queens are apparently the seventh most blingy in the UK.

Yes, it seems diamonds are certainly an Edinburgh girl's best friend, with almost a fifth of local ladies buying diamond rings of more than two carats – twice the national average.

Seventeen per cent also admitted to copying the look of their favourite WAGs!

Council meets its makar

EVERY month, a guest speaker is invited to meetings of the full council. At this month's final meeting before the summer, councillors were treated to Edinburgh's makar, Ron Butlin.

However, it seems Mr Butlin knows that such meetings cause some councillors' minds to drift elsewhere.

He told them that, when he's introducing poetry to children in schools, he gets them almost to fall asleep while he reads.

"I'm sure that does not happen in council meetings," he said, with more than a hint of sarcasm.