A SINGLE mum is facing a “nightmare” daily drive through rush-hour traffic to three different schools – after her son was refused a place at the same primary attended by his brothers.

Mum-of-six Kathryn Murray, 36, will spend nearly three hours a day driving between St Cuthbert’s Primary, East Craigs Primary, and St Augustine’s High after education officials ruled there was no space for five-year-old Jayden at St Cuthbert’s.

The decision means the unemployed full-time mum will be forced to rise at 7am every day to embark on a madcap school run taking in some of the city’s worst traffic blackspots – sending her fuel bill for her tiny Fiat Seicento soaring from £40 to £60 and eating into her household budget.

She faces being unable to drop Jayden off at nearby East Craigs because school doesn’t start until 8.50am and she can’t leave him unaccompanied. So, to avoid making her other kids late, she’ll have to race to St Augustine’s to meet its early 8.35am start and St Cuthbert’s, which begins its school day at 8.55am.

Ms Murray has slammed the ruling – which she claims means at least one of her children will be half an hour late each day for school – and is filing an appeal at the Sheriff Court to fight it.

She said: “It will be virtually impossible to take my five-year-old to another school every day – I am a single parent and I have to do that run by myself.”

Ms Murray sent sons Devan and Andrew, now aged eight and 11, to St Cuthbert’s when they were living in Slateford.

But she was forced to make an out-of-catchment placing request this session because the family were made temporarily homeless six years ago and had to leave the area.

They moved to a housing association-owned home in East Craigs – as it was the only property large enough – and the only one suitable for Ms Murray’s 14-year-old son, Neil, who has cerebral palsy and attends St Augustine’s High.

“I don’t feel the council are being fair,” she said. “I don’t think they realise what that journey actually involves and I don’t think anybody has thought about this situation properly. I would absolutely refuse to send my children to East Craigs Primary. They have 60 P1s there so what kind of education is my son going to get?”

Education officials insisted Ms Murray’s appeal had been considered carefully.

A Council spokesman said: “Every year we run a campaign advising parents to visit their local school to find out the benefits of sending their child there. We also highlight the risks associated with making out of catchment requests and that many may not be met. All appeals are carefully considered. If parents are unsuccessful then they are entitled to go to the Edinburgh Sheriff Court for a further appeal.”

A MARKETING guru who helped launch T in the Park and was the commercial brains behind Glasgow 2014 has been appointed to spearhead the publicity firm promoting Edinburgh across the world.

Renowned marketeer John Donnelly, who dreamt up a ground-breaking Coca-Cola promotion that appeared on 400 million cans, has been charged with injecting a little fizz into Marketing Edinburgh (ME).

The 49-year-old will fill a seven-month void in the chief executive’s chair sparked by the departure of his predecessor, Lucy Bird, following last year’s much derided “Incredinburgh” Winter Festival campaign.

The former chief executive fell on her sword after the Christmas TV advert flopped and ME’s loyalty to the 
tagline – which spawned the wordplay “paint the town redinburgh” and “shop here instedinburgh” – was described by one city source as “one very long suicide note”.

Battle lines were drawn over the £300,000 advertising campaign after deputy council leader Steve Cardownie allegedly stormed out of a slogan briefing and then ignited a public spat with Irn-Bru ad executive Gerry Farrell, who masterminded the branding.

The top Scottish ad man branded the unhappy councillor “hissing Steve” on Twitter and accused him of sabotaging the marketing drive. He was later suspended from his post at The Leith Agency for two weeks.

But six months on, the new appointment is being hailed a “coup” by industry figures who point to his stellar CV and proven track record creating award-winning campaigns.

Sitting open-necked at his new Charlotte Square headquarters, Mr Donnelly is loathe to comment on past squabbles and stretches only so far to describe the doomed campaign as “bold”.

His one-year contract, he says, is sufficient to produce a three-year route map aimed at ramping up investment into the city, wooing the private sector and building solid foundations for a lucrative future.

So with a glittering resume and his own budding marketing firm to grow, why did Mr Donnelly – who devised Coca-Cola’s successful “Win a Player” competition that converted fans’ votes into a £250,000 windfall for their favourite football team – want to head up a body that is only now picking itself off the canvas.

“It’s a very good question and one I’ve asked a few times even going through the process,” he said. “There’s a number of parallels to what I did recently in Glasgow and what I’ve done in previous existences which is run marketing and advertising agencies.

“The idea of taking the brand and product of the city of Edinburgh and taking it to the private sector is a big challenge.”

Mr Donnelly insists one of his first actions will be to revamp the Marketing Edinburgh “website” – an uninspiring landing page with only the organisation’s contact details to view.

“It’s not a website and that is the first thing I’m going to change,” he said. “We are also going to examine digital opportunities to see where we can monetise it. We are looking at things like banners you can click and derive revenue.

“My focus is going to be principally about how do we make money for the city . . . to take heat off the council.”

Mr Donnelly’s appointment follows the addition of Nick Hudson, who was named as head of marketing following an illustrious career working with brands such as Heineken and Kellogg’s, and director of operations Sue Stuart, who has more than 20 years of experience in business tourism.

Lessons will be learned from cities such as Stockholm and Copenhagen that excel in self promotion, he said. But perhaps there is a role model closer to home.

Just along the M8, Glasgow’s marketing drives have been hitting the right notes for years. Its “Glasgow’s Miles Better” slogan is still roundly trumpeted while the new “People Make Glasgow” has been warmly embraced by the population.

Why then does Edinburgh struggle to coin a snappy slogan to which people can identify?

Mr Donnelly said: “The one thing Glasgow did was talk to people. If you ask any Glaswegians what makes the city they will say the people. I have been in Edinburgh for 21 years and not seen a real city campaign.

“From a marketeer’s perspective, what seems to have played out is very much tactical campaigns around a winter message theme as opposed to nailing down an ‘I am Amsterdam’, a ‘Visit Stockholm’ or the holy grail ‘I Love New York’.

“Incredinburgh was not a long-term city campaign.”

So what of the controversial Incredinburgh slogan – Marketing Edinburgh’s first big promotional push – that ignited a slow-burning fuse under his predecessor’s prospects at the firm.

“I thought it was a very bold campaign, I genuinely do,” he said. “I didn’t see it in its entirety and I’m not sure many people did. All we saw was a 340-second piece of work. It’s unfair to judge a campaign based on that.”

The way Edinburgh is sold internationally will change but the new chief executive was tight-lipped about forthcoming plans, although winter promotions will be extended.

He said: “Once Hogmanay is over the world falls off a cliff in January.

“We want to bring it forward to November and run it through to January, and that requires a different creative approach to how we are going to do this, so you will see a tangible difference there.”

It is understood future campaigns will be ruthlessly picked apart by beefed-up focus groups – and more of them. Previously, as was the case with Incredinburgh, there was just one test panel comprising a council official alongside private sector stakeholders and representatives from the universities.

But after 21 years in the Capital, John said he was looking forward to eulogising the city he loves.

He said: “I’ve lived in lots of different places but, for me, Edinburgh is by far top of the list. This is my home and I love it.

“Spreading the word about how fantastic this place is – its quality of life, the culture, the sense of history wherever you go – is something I’ve already been doing for years. It’s just that I can now do it in a professional capacity!”

THE RIGHT CREDENTIALS

BORN in Glasgow, John Donnelly graduated from Strathclyde University with a joint honours degree in accountancy and marketing.

With a flair for the latter, he moved to London to work for KLP where he rose to the position of managing director and managed large clients including Tennent’s and Clydesdale Bank. He helped launch T in the Park and the firm scooped Agency of the Year at a top industry awards bash.

He has managed several large agencies including The Marketing Store Worldwide, and is most proud of his “Win a Player” campaign for Coca-Cola. He recently set up his own firm having left his commercial director position at Glasgow 2014.

A music enthusiast, he enjoys everything from Motown to Primal Scream. He is married and lives in Stockbridge with his three children.

Conference calls

Marketing Edinburgh is the official destination marketing organisation dedicated to promoting Edinburgh to the world.

It encompasses business tourism and conferencing, overseas investment and selling the city as a film-making location. One of its most successful branches is boosting the Capital’s appeal as a convention destination having attracted 55,000 delegates worth £85m to the city in 12 months since April last year – a £10m increase on 2011-12.

Director of operations Sue Stuart hopes that figure will increase by five per cent to £88m next year, with the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) ranking Edinburgh as one of the world’s top conference destinations.

Marketing Edinburgh recently helped to win three world-class conferences, set to bring a combined benefit of £8.2m to Edinburgh. The International Paediatric Endosurgery Group Meeting and Autism Europe will both take place in 2014, whilst the International Congress on Cleft Palate & Related Craniofacial Anomalies will come to the city in June 2021.

It has also facilitated film and TV productions such as Sunshine on Leith and Case Histories. In May, it set up a new body to help attract film and TV productions.

A CITY stationer claims to be just weeks from going bust – due to long-running statutory repair works outside his shop.

Saj Hussain’s family has run the Newington Stationers on the corner of South Clerk Street and Bernard Terrace for the past 35 years but trade has been hit hard over the last 12 months as a result of unsightly scaffolding outside the premises.

The 39-year-old’s fears for his business have now been further increased after the council-appointed stonemasons firm who were carrying out the work entered liquidation.

Capital Stone Company Ltd was liquidated on June 1 leaving the council to take over the scaffolding contract and set about appointing a new contractor.

Saj said: “This latest delay could add months to the job while we could be out of business in weeks. I’m just hoping we make it through until August when the students return.

“From start to finish the whole thing has been a nightmare. The scaffolding has been up a year but hardly any work has been completed.

“I’ve suffered a serious drop in trade while at the same time I’m still having to pay all my service charges. Two different businesses approached me inquiring about our neighbouring premises and our basement but both felt that they wouldn’t have a chance of attracting customers with the scaffolding up.”

Saj also faces a £30,000 bill for the works to stabilise the building’s stone facade.

He added: “When I complained to the council officer that I couldn’t pay, she told me that if I couldn’t afford to pay then I should hand my keys in at the council offices.

“There’s been no timescale for the works and the first I knew of the stonemason going bust was when he came and packed up all his gear. I then heard nothing for weeks until one day I spotted a council officer walking past and he finally told me what had happened.

“Our hands are tied in relation to these works and we have to just wait for the council to sort it.

“My father started this business in 1978 and as a family we’ve contributed to Newington ever since but this has left us at breaking point.”

Local councillor and Tory group leader Cameron Rose is sympathetic to Saj’s predicament and has urged council officers to be quick in completing the works. He said: “There have been delays in obtaining materials, weather delays and the manner of keeping local businesses in touch has been poor.”

A city council spokesman said: “We intervened to ensure necessary work was carried out when the owners couldn’t agree how to take it forward once the disrepair had been brought to their attention. Of course we’re sorry for the continued 
inconvenience to all of the property owners in that block. This was due to the original contractor going into liquidation and these are still difficult times for many businesses.

“There is a process we must go through before appointing a new contractor but it’s in all our interests for that to happen as quickly as possible.”

A report released in May by auditor Deloitte pointed towards “serious and wide-ranging management failure” that led to the local authority being £30 million in debt. Unbilled work has since been reduced to about £22m.

Corruption allegations included that staff received gifts and hospitality from building contractors and had work done on their own homes for below market value.

As a result of an internal investigation, 11 people were sacked and six suspended.

IT was there when we took our first breath, just as it will be when we breathe our last.

We rely on it when we welcome our own children into the world, when we see loved ones pass away and as we enter our own twilight years.

And tomorrow, the National Health Service will become a pensioner itself, on the 65th anniversary of the birth of the organisation which promised care from the cradle to the grave.

It may not be perfect, as a series of recent scandals has proven, but as the NHS prepares to collect its bus pass, it remains the nation’s most 
treasured institution.

Stunning advances in medicine as well as seismic societal and economic changes mean that the services on offer today are unrecognisable from those that opened up to millions on the morning of July 5, 1948.

But custodians of what has been described as one of the greatest achievements in the social history of the human race are clear that its founding principles – healthcare free at the point of use for all – remain the same 65 years on.

Few of us will remember anything else, and in Scotland at least, any government that would steer away from those ideals could expect to be briskly booted out of Holyrood.

But less than a lifetime ago, working class women were having healthy teeth pulled out and replaced with dentures as they knew they would not be able to afford dental treatment in later life, those with poor eyesight would live in a blurred world without glasses, and hernias were strapped up by homemade devices.

Dr Morrice McCrae began his training at medical school on almost the same day that the NHS came into being and went on to work in hospitals across Scotland, including a stint as a consultant paediatrician at the Sick Kids hospital in the Capital.

Now 81, he retired 21 years ago, completed a PhD in history and is now a historian with the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

He said: “I thought the story about the old Scottish custom of women having their teeth pulled out was a joke, but I asked my own dentist and he said it was true. It was often given to a wife as a wedding present from the husband’s parents.”

The NHS was the first system in the world that saw completely free healthcare made available on the basis of citizenship rather than the payment of fees or insurance. While its introduction was a huge advancement, Dr McCrae said in Scotland it was the pinnacle of an evolutionary process, rather than a revolution.

The Highlands and Islands Medical Service, formally set up in 1913, saw state resources directed to hiring doctors and nurses for the remote communities, as medical jobs were unsustainable otherwise. It came two years after the National Insurance Act, which provided compulsory health insurance for workers earning under £160 per year.

The Cathcart report, commissioned by the Secretary of State for Scotland in 1933, set out a radical vision and said “health education should be placed in the forefront of national health policy,” years before the Beveridge Report and the post-war Labour landslide of 1945 that saw Nye Bevan become Minister for Health.

Dr McCrae said: “We had voluntary hospitals, these were run by charities and did not charge at all. The working population also had access to voluntary schemes and clubs so they could get doctors paid for. Some people thought the National Insurance Act was a retrograde step as it mainly only covered the husbands instead of the whole families.

“GPs and consultants would often give their services for nothing. Doctors never retired before the NHS as there were no pensions, they had to soldier on into their 70s. They often did not live on cash but bread, fish or whatever patients gave them. Money would often not be mentioned, and a family would show appreciation by sending a dozen eggs and chickens to a dentist. It was said that some doctors would go to a house and then wait until they saw a half-crown on the mantelpiece, but fees were very low.”

Despite having charity and national insurance schemes in place, the NHS in Scotland was almost universally welcomed, unlike in England where the idea encountered more opposition. Scotland was also to benefit from the Emergency Hospital Service, which during the Second World War saw an unprecedented number of hospitals built in the country, with the north seen as the likely refuge for British resistance if Hitler had invaded the southern English coast.

“There’s a cultural difference between England and Scotland,” Dr McCrae added. “English people have always been more willing to pay for healthcare. The big medical schools were Scottish and we produced far more doctors, which affected their market value. There was no 
resistance to the NHS here.”

A huge surge in demand followed, with 500,000 Scots – one tenth of the population – handed glasses within four months. Half a million free sets of dentures were handed out in 12 months, while conditions tolerated for years were promptly treated.

“All of the important consultants had been in the Army and Navy during the war, when they came out they were delighted to be part of the service. People worked their socks off at that time and were happy to do so. Since then it’s just multiplied and multiplied in terms of what they can do and the people in the profession.”

The NHS in Lothian was run by South Eastern Regional Hospital Board, one of five in Scotland, before The Lothian Health Board was 
established in 1974. It was overhauled several times before the creation of NHS Lothian, in 2001. The region has led the way in medical developments throughout the last 65 years, including seeing the first ever kidney transplant.

The NHS across Scotland continues to evolve, with responsibility devolved to Holyrood in 1999.

Prescription charges were introduced in 1952 along with fees for dentures and glasses after the NHS cost 40 per cent more than predicted. The policy of charging for prescriptions was abolished in 2011.

But despite life expectancy and infant mortality rates improving dramatically throughout the life of the NHS, Dr McCrae said it had not always changed for the better.

“When I was first on the wards in Edinburgh, the hospital secretary would come to you for advice,” he said. “Now, hospital administrators are God almighty and doctors have very little say in policy. Until the 1970s we had medical committees to decide what to do. Now that’s been taken over and there’s the idea that everything should be administered from the centre.

“The principle of the NHS is the same but the execution can be dreadful. There used to be a matron and sister and everybody doing what they were supposed to. I think standards are not what they used to be, largely because nurses are trained in universities and not on the job. A&Es are full because GPs don’t see patients at evenings and weekends. When I was a junior I would have to phone the consultant at home to explain how his patients were. If you were caring for a patient you were on call for that patient. That’s pretty well gone.”

THE Scottish Gamekeepers Association has expelled four of the organisation’s members for wildlife offences, it was revealed today.

The organisation, which represents all gamekeepers, stalkers, ghillies, wildlife managers and rangers in Scotland, has taken the ultimate sanction against the four unidentified members in recent weeks.

And today Alex Hogg, the chairman of the SGA, called for “responsible game managers” to be given a greater role in eagle conservation in Scotland.

Mr Hogg said it would be wrong for government agencies to overlook the contribution conservation-minded gamekeepers already make to protecting iconic birds of prey like the golden eagle and other raptors.

And he revealed that the organisation had completed a survey of members in the keepered grouse areas of East and Central Scotland which has identified at least 55 active eagle nests which were still in place since the last census was taken in 2003.

Earlier this week the Scottish Government announced plans for a fresh offensive against the wildlife criminals who are continuing to persecute iconic birds of prey including the golden eagle and the sea eagle.

The raft of new measures include proposals to restrict the use of licences to trap and shoot wild birds on land where raptors are suspected to have been poisoned or illegally trapped or shot. And a special task group is also to be formed to review whether the current penalties available for wildlife crime are adequate in acting as a deterrent

Mr Hogg said he believed that responsible game managers, as well as conservationists, had the knowledge to benefit golden eagles. And he declared: “The conservation work done by many of our members in this area is forgotten because of the actions of a few. As an organisation we, along with the other members of PAW (Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime) continue to address this issue.

“As well as educating, we have expelled members found to commit wrong-doing and where conflicts arise, as they will, we advocate lawful solutions.

“That said, many responsible game managers have had eagles on their land for many, many years now. They are willing to assist wider eagle conservation and have skills to be an asset.

“Management for grouse provides the abundant small prey eagles need to feed chicks, even if many moors don’t have the crags or trees eagles prefer for nesting”

He continued: “Legal heather burning produces a rich food source for red grouse and hares which eagles eat and, despite the ever increasing chance of unintentional disturbance from recreational access, there are still a significant proportion of Scotland’s eagles in grouse areas. This is all paid for through private investment by landowners.

”Conservationists can take elements of the game management model, for example, to assist in the west where increased forestry plantations and windfarms could cause problems for eagle conservation going forward. They key constraint which has been identified in the west is the lack of small prey.”

Mr Hogg pointed out that in deer stalking areas, gamekeepers leave the grallochs (entrails) of culled deer on the hills, away from public access, to help sustain eagles. Studies had acknowledged the initiative’s contribution to eagle survival, particularly during winter.

And he continued: “For the sake of the golden eagle, all countryside stakeholders can work together to address the many issues affecting eagles.

An SGA spokesman said: “Scotland’s golden eagle population has recovered from historic lows of 190 pairs in the early 1950s and 300 pairs in 1968 to 442 pairs in the summer of 2003. This makes the Scottish eagle population one of the largest in the world per land mass.

“The population has been stable for 20 years although targets to define ‘favourable status’ were set at 450-500 breeding pairs in 2008. There are virtually no golden eagles left in England, making Scotland’s population ecologically important.”

The SGA spokesman added: “One of the expelled members was convicted for poaching and the three other members were convicted for raptor persecution.”

RICHARD Lochhead, the Scottish Environment Minister, today announced plans for afresh offensive against the mountain of litter blighting Scotland’ communities and coastlines at clean up cost of almost £100 million a year.

He revealed that new research showed that more than half the population admit dropping litter which costs £53 million to tackle in direct clean up costs and a further £25 million through its effect on a range of related issues including crime, health and reduced property values.

The global issue of marine litter also threaten Scotland’s coastlines and wildlife and cost over £16 million a year to tackle.

Mr Lochhead said the Scottish Government planned to go out to consultation on a new action plan to tackle the problem of land and marine litter head on.

The new “Towards a Litter Free Scotland” draft strategy includes proposals to strengthen the effectiveness of the enforcement system, including increasing fixed penalty fines from £50 to £80 for litter, and £200 for fly tipping, and introducing prompt payment incentives.

The Government is also proposing improved education and communications to help prevent littering , and to increase recycling opportunities in public places

Mr Lochhead said: “Litter is a blight on Scotland’s communities and coastlines, tarnishing our beautiful landscapes and harming our wildlife and natural assets. For the first time we’re able to put a price on the real cost of littering and with more than 250 million items of litter and over 60,000 flytipping incidents a year, we must all do more to tackle this problem.

“Much of this litter ends up on Scotland’s coastline which is extremely damaging to our precious marine environment and harmful to our wildlife. It is also a major eyesore, with waste often visible on our beaches and in our waters.”

He continued: “Binning waste is very easy to do but still half the population admits to littering and that’s something we must tackle head on. We are making recycling easier and encouraging people and business to take more care and responsibility.

“In this Year of Natural Scotland and as we approach 2014 when we welcome the world to Scotland, it’s important that we show our country at its best. If everyone gets involved we can create a country where littering is no longer acceptable.”

Iain Gulland, director of Zero Waste Scotland, welcomed the proposed crackdown. He said: “We welcome this consultation bringing a renewed impetus to efforts to tackle litter and flytipping. We particularly welcome the focus on litter prevention given the cost of clean-up to the public purse.

“Littered materials could be worth more than £1 million to Scotland if they were recycled instead. We need to stop thinking of the things we discard as waste and instead treat them as resources which could benefit our economy and this can bring a new perspective to the litter debate.”

Anne Saunders, Scottish Projects Officer from the Marine Conservation Society also backed the initiative. She said: “A strategy is essential for the coordination of effort to tackle this ever-increasing problem of marine litter which affects the environment, wildlife, industry and tourism, and to meet international commitments. We are very pleased that the Scottish Government has taken this bold step toward litter-free seas, setting a good example to the rest of the UK. We want to see a robust strategy that results in the halving of litter on Scotland’s beaches by 2020.”

A Government spokesman explained: “Towards a Litter Free Scotland’ consultation runs until September 27, 2013 and the Scottish Government intends to bring forward a final National Litter Strategy – the first since devolution - early in 2014.”

Litter and fly tipping key facts:

• £53 million of public money is spent tackling litter and fly tipping each year

• Indirect costs, such as impacts on crime and house values are at least another £25 million

• Over half the population of Scotland admits to having dropped litter

• 250 million individual items of litter are cleared up each year

• Half of these items could have been recycled. They include valuable materials like plastic bottles and aluminium cans. Recycled, these would be worth £1.2 million through sales of materials.

• 26,000 tonnes of waste is also dumped illegally in fly tipping activity

IT may have opened and closed with films which generated mixed responses from critics and cinema-goers, but the 67th Edinburgh International Film Festival contained a number of titles which were worth talking about.

Breathe In and Not Another Happy Ending saw the festival in and out respectively, but neither were the EIFF’s finest moments in 2013, with the former a predictable bore and the latter pretty but vacant.

Recent years have seen the number of high profile EIFF films falling away in favour of low budget titles, meaning fewer celebrities on the red carpet and more chances being taken by punters on the still bulging programme.

Taking a chance is something most film festivals recommend their customers do as much as possible, and with the EIFF it’s hard not to. There may have been Jurassic Park 3D and Monsters University but the more populist titles were few and far between.

Instead, documentaries such as Fire in the Night, Battle of the Sexes, Desert Runners and Wikileaks: We Steal Secrets generated much interest and won some of the top awards.

Scripted features such as Noah Baumbach’s Frances Ha topped many critics’ polls, though I found it painfully contrived and too quirky for its own good.

Scottish dramas, For Those in Peril and Blackbird, also generated interest, hopefully pointing to the emergance of some exciting new voices.

The EIFF’s artistic director, Chris Fujiwara has warned that without more funding the festival can’t attract bigger names.

With bigger names and films they can sell more tickets and encourage a few punters into other, smaller, films. The EIFF has a lot of life left in it, it just needs a bit of help to bring the best films from around the globe to the city in 2014 and beyond.

49 Visit www.reelscotland.com for more film discussion

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GEORGE Street will become the “antidote” to a frantic Festival whirlwind this August as plans are agreed to halve traffic along the thoroughfare and create a high-brow entertainment quarter.

A blanket of pavement cafes will replace vehicles along swathes of the city’s most prestigious shopping district, although traffic will continue to flow westwards along the southern side – from Frederick Street – and eastwards on the northern side from Hanover Street.

The shake-up is set to double the amount of pedestrian space, encouraging bars and restaurants to spill out into the street, while the returning Spiegel Terrace will form a central magnet for revellers.

On-street entertainment including music and exhibits is expected to be provided through the book and arts festivals.

It is thought the radical changes to George Street – running from August 1 to 25 – will be used as a trial run for a permanent traffic overhaul as the Capital seeks to achieve its vision of a “living city centre”.

Andy Neal, chief executive of Essential Edinburgh, which proposed almost identical plans earlier this year, said George Street could become a standard bearer for a new “continental-style approach to alfresco dining” in Scotland and a haven from the Festival madness.

He said: “It will get to be that people won’t have done the Festival unless they have done George Street. To get the full experience you can do the rough and ready stuff of the Fringe in the Southside and enjoy the more sophisticated and chilled side in George Street.

“You will be able to sit in George Street with a glass of wine, maybe have a string quartet playing and view some of the arts exhibits and enjoy a different tone and angle on the Festival.”

He claimed it would be an “antidote” to the “frantic and brash” Royal Mile.

“It’s designed to be somewhere you stroll down and enjoy something on each block.”

A controversial snag in earlier bids to boost pedestrian space was the inevitable loss of parking bays, which vocal traders said must be avoided.

Josh Miller, chairman of the George Street Association, has warmed to the new proposals despite his previous opposition.

He said: “The key is bringing more people into the area and keeping the parking. George Street, from a traffic point of view, is a destination not a thoroughfare – you don’t use it to go anywhere else.

“The Spiegel Terrace was successful as an event for itself last year, but it was too big and detrimental to other traders in the street. This will help redress the balance.

“It will bring different activities to the area, attract people in and keep them in. It will create wider pavements which will allow cafes and restaurants more outdoor space, which people are looking for.”

Festivals champion Councillor Steve Cardownie said the plan would bring back the “fantastic Festival vibe to the New Town” while easing pressure around the Royal Mile.

He said: “It’s a very welcome step towards the continental cafe culture that we’ve all been looking for in the Capital.”

LABOUR still has a long way to go before it can expect to be voted back into power in Scotland – but Johann Lamont’s shake-up of her shadow cabinet allows people to begin to see what an alternative government might look like.

The dramatic reshuffle, unveiled the day after Holyrood stopped for the summer recess, promotes several MSPs who first entered the Scottish Parliament at the 2011 election and brings former leader Iain Gray back to the frontbench.

In marked contrast to some previous Labour line-ups which leant heavily to the west of Scotland, the three top jobs are now held by Lothian MSPs – Mr Gray as finance spokesman, Kezia Dugdale at education and Neil Findlay at health. Sarah Boyack retains the local government brief.

As well as Ms Dugdale and Mr Findlay, those from the 2011 intake now taking up key roles are former senior policeman Graeme Pearson as justice spokesman, Drew Smith who will speak on the constitution, and Jenny Marra, who takes over the youth employment remit and will also 
deputise for Mr Gray at finance.

One MSP hails the appointments as showing “real boldness and sense of direction” and sees them as pointing the way beyond next year’s independence referendum to the 2016 Holyrood contest. “This is Johann saying these are the people she wants to take Labour into the next election and she is putting them in place now so they get to know their briefs.”

Labour’s defeat at the 2011 elections was massive – the party won just 15 constituency MSPs, compared with 53 in 1999, and relied on the top-up list to bring it up to its total of 37 against the SNP’s 69. Some of the most familiar faces – former ministers and many who assumed their seats were safe – found themselves unceremoniously dumped by the electorate, leaving Labour with big holes in its Holyrood team.

Ironically, some of those now chosen to help lead the party’s charge into the 2016 elections were never expected to become MSPs at all because if Labour had not collapsed in such spectacular style their places on the list would not have allowed them to get to Holyrood.

However, Ms Lamont has now put her faith in the new generation of rising stars and hopes that by 2016, Labour’s new faces will prove more attractive than the SNP’s frontbench.

One insider says: “They have proved themselves to be impressive and effective politicians and talented in lots of different areas. Johann deserves credit for making these appointments based on ability and putting good people in all the 
important positions.”

Former finance spokesman Ken Macintosh, who stood against Ms Lamont for the leadership when Mr Gray stood down after the 2011 defeat, is now out of the shadow cabinet. He issued a statement saying he was disappointed not to have the opportunity to finish the work he and his team had been doing and referring to “disagreements on the direction the party is headed” but promising to be “a constructive and loyal backbencher”.

It is said one of those disagreements was his lack of enthusiasm for more tax-raising powers for Holyrood. Another senior MSP says: “If he has doubts about devolving more tax powers, it’s difficult to see how he could carry on in that role.”

Differences on such a crucial issue at the top of the party are not helpful and may reflect one of Labour’s continuing problems – a lack of clarity on further devolution. But in the reshuffle, Ms Lamont has signalled her seriousness about renewing the party ready for power.

THEY waited two hours after the march ended to start fighting.

Just long enough perhaps for the organisers of Saturday’s County Grand Lodge of the East Parade to be able to say that the “Royal Mile Rammy” had nothing whatsoever to do with their event, but not long enough for 
anyone to believe that.

Had you even been aware that an Orange march was planned for the centre of town at the weekend? Or did you, like me, naively think that such recessive events had either long been banned by the local authority on account of their divisiveness and general hatred and prejudice – you know, the same kind of reasons the Scottish Defence League are banned from marching – or because the police had public safety concerns about the potential for violence such 
parades attract?

Well apparently not. So on Saturday the Lodge marched. And it passed off with no trouble at all, mostly because of a heavy police presence.

However, whether the Lodges like it or not, their public displays attract the most unsavoury elements in a Scottish society which is finally attempting to lance the boil of bigotry – at least in sports stadia.

While the Grand Poobahs like to paint their organisations as charitable institutes who do good works – like a kind of Rotary Club but with added flutes and drums – and their parades as “cultural events”, they still have hangers-on who, for some reason, think that flying the Union Jack means burning the Irish Tricolour. That of course raises the ire of those of an Irish Republican sympathy.

Throw in an afternoon of drinking and the post-parade atmosphere was ripe for a little old-fashioned fighting on the High Street. Especially as barmaid Erin Hennessey so eloquently put it, her pub was full of “radges” who had been watching the Orange march.

So you might have thought that it would be a given that the police would be on a Defcon alert for trouble, before, during and after Saturday’s match. There were certainly plenty of them around during the march. Questions have to be asked about where they were and why their common sense and intelligence was so singularly lacking they couldn’t prevent the battle of Niddry Street (as it will no doubt henceforth be known in football casual circles) 
before it even began?

The police must have known that an Orange march would attract the more extreme elements of Hearts fans. They must have known that Glasgow Rangers football casuals were heading through to support the march and have a “meet up” with their counterparts.

It doesn’t take a genius to realise that with them in town, similarly 
extreme Hibs casuals might come calling.

Could it be that the police are quite happy with such violence following Orange marches as it means they can object to future marches on public safety grounds? Or could it be that they just didn’t want to pay out any more overtime for the extra officers needed?

While I’d like to see such marches gone for good and feel ashamed that people in Edinburgh, in Scotland, want to associate themselves with the ancient bigotry of another country, I realise that as a supporter of free speech I have to accept their right to parade.

I just hope they will wither and die through education and common sense. In the meantime, I’d like the police to make sure street fights like Saturday’s don’t happen again.

Glasgow slogan raises the bar

AS much as it pains me to say it, the new slogan for our neighbours in the West “People Make Glasgow” is pretty good.

If there’s one thing the city prides itself on it’s the idea that Glaswegians are, in the main, pretty friendly. It could be a myth, but it’s a good one to hang a marketing campaign on, and is far superior to the ill-fated Incredinburgh idea.

There’ll be plenty of people to test it out soon too, with the Commonwealth Games next year and potentially the Youth Olympics in 2018.

Glasgow certainly seems to be flourishing at the moment. Perhaps our great city could do with being a tad more gallus – especially if it wants to get the new National Performance Centre for Sport.

Legal fees will quash number of claims

EDINBURGH law firm, Fox & Co has asked for a judicial review of the Government’s plans to introduce fees within the Employment Tribunal system.

While it is obviously concerned about its business, its point is valid. If it costs people £250 to lodge an unfair dismissal case and then £950 before it can go to a hearing, case numbers will drop.

For workers chasing unpaid holidays or failure to pay minimum wage, the fees will likely outweight the potential award. And it will make women less likely to lodge an equal pay claim.

Not everything worth reviving

THE council wants to return Saughton Park to its historic former glory, which is great news – especially if it involves the giant helter skelter of the 1908 Scottish National Exhibition. Though I think Senegalese natives in mud huts might be considered rather un-PC nowadays.

Dog fouling is understandably high on people’s list of pet hates and is one of the council’s top priorities. In fact, it was highlighted as a major concern across various parts of the city by residents who took part in the most recent Edinburgh People’s Survey.

It’s not only antisocial, but it’s also against the law and we can fine people for not cleaning up. We do a lot of work to tackle this problem, but we’re also supporting a “green dog walker’s scheme”, starting in the south of the city.

What it asks people to do is be ambassadors for responsible dog ownership. Obviously, that starts with them picking up after their own dogs but we want them to help others too, by carrying extra poo bags and being happy to be approached by someone who needs one so they can clean up. To help identify these ambassadors, they’ll be provided with an armband for themselves and a collar for their dog.

There is more to it than this, including awareness-raising activity, but essentially it’s about a positive and supportive approach to cleaning up our parks and streets of dog mess.

There’s certainly no expectation that people should approach anyone who hasn’t cleaned up and challenge them. If dog walkers see other owners who aren’t being responsible then we’d encourage them to report that to the Dish the Dirt hotline on 0300 456 3476.

The way the scheme is rolled out is important, too. It is led by community groups, supported by their local environmental warden. This is to help ensure that it’s both a grassroots initiative and that dog lovers can be properly briefed on what’s expected of them before they sign a pledge making a commitment to be part of the scheme.

Every area is different, but we know from Falkirk Council, where it was developed, that the benefits can include better cleanliness results, fewer complaints about dog fouling, and positive feedback from the public.

Any community groups interested should contact their local environmental wardens through their neighbourhood office – the details of which are available on our website.

In the meantime, we continue to work with the Evening News and others to help ensure that we promote action against dog fouling, and to appreciate the efforts of those who are responsible and clean up after their pets.

• Councillor Cammy Day is the community safety leader for Edinburgh City Council

Call our hotline to report dog fouling: 0300 4563476

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THERE is always a buzz in the Capital at Festival time, but this year promises to be something special.

As ever, there will be the usual mix of the weird and the wonderful to entertain us. But the prospect of George Street being transformed into the Festival Mile – with cafes, bars and restaurants spilling out on to a traffic-free street – is certainly an exciting one.

The broad streets of the New Town are wide enough to accommodate street entertainers and temporary stages just like the Royal Mile – without having to reproduce the infamous High Street crush.

It won’t, of course, simply be a carbon copy of what happens on the Royal Mile. All new Festival “hubs” develop their own distinctive identity, and watching George Street find its own will be one of the joys of this summer’s Festival.

Heck, the sun might even shine, so that we really do get a taste of that elusive open-air cafe culture in Edinburgh.

Of course, the big fear about all previous plans like this has been that creating an attractive pedestrian environment would inevitably mean putting off visiting motorists. Many of the businesses that operate there all year round rely on people parking up and popping in, and fear that pedestrianisation will put off more customers than it attracts.

Today’s plans appear to strike a sensible compromise, allowing cars continued access and protecing parking on the doorstep of the shops, at the same time as creating an unprecedented pedestrian zone in the heart of the New Town. All those involved deserve credit for working together to bring this about.

Who knows, as councillor Lesley Hinds suggests, this plan might just provide a blueprint for making the most of George Street in years to come. It is going to be fascinating watching how it works in practice – and fun soaking up the Festival atmosphere in one of our greatest streets.

Today . . .

Boyling Point

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The FTSE 100 index shot up by nearly 200 points in afternoon trading after new Bank of England (BoE) governor Mark Carney said the markets had been too quick to price-in a rise in interest rates.

The BoE’s monetary policy committee kept interest rates on hold today at an historically-low 0.5 per cent and, in a break with tradition, issued guidance suggesting that the UK economy is still too weak to increase rates.

Craig Erlam, a market analyst at Alpari, said: “In the statement, the BoE floated the possibility of using forward guidance at the next meeting in August, and out of nowhere, ‘Carney carnage’ erupted in the markets.

“If today’s meeting is anything to go by, the BoE rate decisions are about to get a lot more interesting.”

Sterling dropped on the currency markets, as did the yield on UK government bonds, or gilts, while equities rose.

A MAN had been arrested and charged in connection with a road collision where an 81-year-old woman was knocked down and killed.

• Arrest made in connection with death of 81-year-old woman]

• Mary Dawson was knocked down by a car outside Western General Hospital last year

Mary Dawson was struck by a Skoda Superb car outside the Anne Ferguson Building at the Western General Hospital at around 4pm on December 4 last year.

A 31-year-old man has been arrested and charged, and will appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court at a later date.

The pensioner, from Argyle Park Terrace in Marchmont, was treated at the scene but died as a result of her injuries.

Police continue to appeal for anyone who was in the area at the time and witnessed the incident to contact Police Scotland on 101.

THE search for missing Russian student Yulia Solodyankina has seen inquiries carried out in the north of Scotland, after police said they believe she may have travelled there.

• Missing stduent Yulia Solodyankina may have taken a bus to the north of Scotland, police believe

• Edinburgh University student was last seen on Friday, June 7 at Glasgow’s Buchanan Street bus station

The 22-year-old was last seen on CCTV at the concourse of Buchanan Street bus station in Glasgow around 4.55pm on Friday, June 7.

Officers believe that she boarded a bus following this sighting, with the most likely destinations being either Fort William or Inverness, where police have been carrying out local inquiries in order to trace her.

Inquiries have also been made in other areas she may have travelled to by bus, including Largs, Campbeltown, Ardrishaig and Oban.

Yulia, who speaks fluent English with a Russian accent, is described as being of medium build, with long dark brown hair.

She is around 5ft 6ins tall, and has a small mole on her left cheek.

When last seen on CCTV she was wearing a dark coat with belt, dark shoulder bag, a red and orange coloured scarf, grey trousers, and brown shoes with white laces.

Chief Inspector Mark Patterson, from Police Scotland, said: “Yulia was last seen on CCTV at Buchanan Street bus station, and from there we think she may have travelled either to the Highlands, or to Argyll and Bute.

“Our belief is based on previous visits that Yulia made to some of these areas, along with the destinations of buses that left from Buchanan Street station around the time she arrived there from Edinburgh on Friday, June 7.

“It is now almost a month since Yulia was last seen, and we remain keen to speak to anyone who may have seen or heard from her since she went missing.

“In particular we want to speak to anyone in the areas where Yulia may have travelled to by bus from Glasgow, who thinks that they may have seen her.”

Anyone with information should contact Police Scotland on 101, Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, or the charity Missing People, where information can be passed by calling, emailing, or sending a text to 116 000.

The service is free, 24 hour, and confidential.

SEE ALSO

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CONTROVERSIAL plans were lodged today for a massive 213 turbine offshore windfarm in the Firth of Tay within ten miles of the Angus coastline.

Inch Cape Offshore Limited (ICOL), a joint venture company formed by Spanish energy giants Repsol Nuevas Energias and EDP Renováveis, has submitted an application to develop the huge windfarm to Marine Scotland as part of The Crown Estate’s Scottish Territorial Waters licensing programme.

The Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm site could generate as much as three gigawatts of power - enough to power 680,000 homes - and lead to 1,600 jobs boost during construction.

The turbines, up to 215 metres high, will be spread across an area of up top 150 square kilometres between ten and 13 miles from the Angus coast.

Ronnie Bonnar, Managing Director of Repsol UK, said: “The submission of the consent application is an important milestone for the Inch Cape project. It represents another major step towards development of offshore wind power project.

“It represents another major step towards development of offshore wind power in the outer Firth of Tay, delivering opportunities for communities in the surrounding area to benefit from the investment which is expected to deliver around 1,600 Scottish jobs during construction.”

He added: “We look forward to working with the relevant stakeholders to ensure a positive outcome for the application. Offshore wind energy will be critical to delivering the UK’s energy needs in the coming decades and Repsol is committed to being at the heart of this emerging industry.’’

Dan Finch, Managing Director of EDPR UK, said: “This represents another significant milestone in the delivery of a new industry which will make a significant contribution to improving national energy security, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and protecting consumers from the long-term volatility of the global hydrocarbon markets.”

A consortium spokesman explained: “The application represents the culmination of three years of development work, data gathering, extensive environmental studies and broad consultation. A full Environmental Impact Assessment has been undertaken, with the results presented in an Environmental Statement, which is available for public vewing at locations around East Lothian, Fife and Angus.“

Lindsay Leask, Senior Policy Manager for Scottish Renewables, welcomed the announcement and said: “This announcement is a landmark moment in Scotland’s progress towards unleashing its offshore energy potential as today’s news means that all the of the current offshore wind projects on the east coast of Scotland have now formally submitted planning applications.

“With a quarter of Europe’s offshore wind resources, and a world-renowned expertise in the offshore sector already, Scotland has a huge opportunity to benefit from offshore wind development in Scotland and beyond.

“Now that so many Scottish offshore wind projects are at different stages in the planning process, it is increasingly important for the offshore wind industry to receive clarity from the UK Government on the levels of future support available, and what the contractual risk will be, under Electricity Market Reform.”

West Bromwich East MP Tom Watson has resigned as Labour’s general election co-ordinator amid a row over the party’s Falkirk selection process.

The MP said he was stepping aside to safeguard “the unity of the party”, and called for an internal report into the controversy to be published.

In a letter to Labour leader Ed Miliband, Mr Watson wrote: “As you know, I offered my resignation on Tuesday and you asked me to reconsider.

“I’ve thought about it and still feel it is better for you and the future unity of the party that I go now.”

David Cameron launched a furious attack on Mr Miliband over alleged Unite influence in the Falkirk selection process when the two men faced off in the Commons.

The Labour leader had been under pressure to axe Mr Watson as deputy chairman and election co-ordinator due to his strong union links, and the fact that his assistant was a potential candidate in the constituency.

However, Mr Miliband had seemed determined to stick with the combative MP. Crib notes for his PMQs appearance - found in a Westminster toilet - suggested he would have told Mr Cameron if challenged on the issue: “I’ll take Tom Watson over Andy Coulson any day.”

In his resignation letter, Mr Watson hit out at colleagues for briefing against him and suggested that some had never forgiven him for quitting government to force the departure of Tony Blair seven years ago.

“There are some who have not forgiven me for resigning in 2006. I fully accept the consequences of that decision and genuinely hope my departure allows the party to move on,” he wrote.

“Yet it’s not the unattributed shadow cabinet briefings around the mess in Falkirk that has convinced me that the arrangement has run its course (though they don’t help).

“I believe that the report should be published - in full - and the whole truth told as soon as possible so that the record can be made clear. I’ve still not seen the report but believe there are an awful lot of spurious suppositions being written.”

Mr Watson insisted he was still a “loyal servant” of the Labour leader, saying he could be an “outstanding prime minister”.

“Having resigned a couple of times before, I know how puckish lobby hacks might choose to misconstrue the departure,” he wrote.

“So, to make it harder for them, let me say this: I’m proud of your Buddha-like qualities of patience, deep thought, compassion and resolve. I remain your loyal servant. I’ll always be on hand to help you if you need me. I just don’t think you need me in the Shadow Cabinet any more.

“After nearly 30 years of this, I feel like I’ve seen the merry-go-round turn too many times, whereas the Shadow Cabinet’s for people who still want to get dizzy.”

Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps said: “This is a clear vote of no confidence in Ed Miliband’s weak leadership from the man he brought in to run his campaign.

“But this still doesn’t change the fact that Len McCluskey’s Unite union is taking over the Labour Party.

“Ed Miliband is not in control of his party. He’s too weak to stand up to Len McCluskey, too weak to stand up for hardworking people and too weak to run the country.”

Smokers who cut down rather than quit are unlikely to extend their lifespan, a study shows.

• Smokers who reduce the number of cigarettes they smoke are unlikely to live longer, according to a study by Glasgow and Stirling universities

• Sample of around 5,200 people from the central belt were involved in study and records kept about their smoking habits over four decades

• People who quit smoking altogether had lower mortality rates than those who carried on

Reducing the number of cigarettes smoked does not reduce that person’s risk of early death, according to researchers drawing on more than four decades of mortality rates.

Around 5,200 people from the central belt were recruited to two smoking studies in the early 1970s. They were questioned several years later about whether they quit, reduced, maintained or increased their smoking.

A record was then kept of those who died between the 1970s and 2010.

People who quit smoking had lower mortality rates compared with those who carried on, a team from the universities of Glasgow and Stirling found.

But there was no significant difference found between those who reduced their intake and those who did not.

Professor Linda Bauld, one of the report’s authors from Stirling University, said: “Our results support the view that reducing the number of cigarettes you smoke is not a reliable way of improving your health in the long term. However, what we do now know is that it may have a valuable role as a step toward giving up altogether, through cutting down to quit, an approach that has been recommended in recent guidance in the UK.”

The findings, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, differ from those of a similar long-term study in Israel which found that cutting back appeared to reduce mortality rates but fit with larger studies of shorter duration in Denmark and Norway in which it did not, researchers say.

SEE ALSO

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BRITAIN’S relationship with the United States would suffer a “mortal blow” if the Trident nuclear deterrent is not renewed, former shadow defence secretary Bernard Jenkin said.

The “symbiotic” UK-US relationship is vital for the country’s security in the world and gives Britain leverage over American policy.

The Tory MP for Harwich and North Essex said European partners such as France would find it hard to justify keeping a deterrent in times of austerity and public pressure if Britain scrapped Trident.

If European nuclear power was diminished, the US would not remain as committed to Nato as they would have to shoulder too much of the burden for a European nuclear deterrent, he said.

“Don’t imagine for a moment that it would be easy for a French government equally afflicted by austerity and public pressures for them to sustain their deterrent if we were going to wind down ours,” Mr Jenkin said.

“Don’t believe for a second that the United States would remain as committed to Nato and the transatlantic alliance if it became apparent that the European powers were no longer prepared to shoulder their burden of nuclear responsibility in the defence of our own continent.

“And don’t believe for a minute that the UK’s relationship with the US could stay the same if we threw the gift of the Trident nuclear deterrent back in their faces after they have gone to such lengths to share the costs, to share the development, to share the risks of the same system that we deploy that they use themselves.”

He went on: “The Americans can only do so much less unless they have international support and we are always their first port of call for international support.

“It’s our influence over American policy, that’s what gives us our leverage over American policy, that’s why the first person the American president always calls in a really big international crisis - not the French, not the Germans, not the Japanese, not the Indians, not the Chinese - it’s always the British Prime Minister that the American president calls.

“This is burden sharing in the real sense of the word and were we not to sustain contingency deterrents, it would be a mortal blow to the US-UK relationship, it would be a mortal blow to our security in the world, the ability for us to contribute to global security, it would be a mortal blow for Nato.”