To Trevor, the caught gesturer

A ONE fingered salute, the bird or just flicking the finger - whatever you call it, when touchy Trevor Davies raised his hand to gesticulate to a group of protesting carol singers the other evening, it's fair to assume he wasn't wishing them a merry Christmas.

Stung by their inventive adaptation of a traditional song (Weel May the Keel Row), the city's planning convener decided to take matters into his own hands - or middle finger to be precise.

"Trevor is a planner/But he's not got a banner," sang the Save Our Old Town campaigners, gathered to protest against plans for the 200m Caltongate development. "He's selling off the Old Toon/To build a big hotel . . ."

It might not exactly have been in the same league as Dylan's anthem The Times They Are a-Changin', but for Trevor, the lyrics - belted out as he rather inadvisedly attended a Christmas party junket thrown by the Canongate site's developers - were just as stinging.

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