The Edinburgh Reporter interviewed Edinburgh Council Leader Cllr Cammy Day last month as elected representatives tackled setting the city’s next budget (‘Watching the pennies’, 1.2.24).

Day made no bones about the potential difficulties of the task, but there was at least one glimmer of light on his horizon: the Scottish Govt’s determination to allow local authorities to raise a ‘Visitor Levy’ on tourist accommodation spend.

As you read this, advance copies of the March Spurtle are already spreading across Broughton like fresh mildew on the shower curtain of civilisation.

Page 1 begins with the strain of river management and other bits we’d rather not think about. We have all the latest news on a lack of progress, a growing to-do list, making motorists fume, and the joys of spring.

Food – a lot of it – features on Page 2, along with a possible end to downhill misadventures, a headless mystery, unhinged waste management, confusing corners, and potentially problematic pongs in the offing.

Searching for a bridge I was vaguely aware of, I found myself standing on it without knowing, writes Charlie Ellis.

The ghost of Christmas.

No. 31 in an occasional photo series celebrating Spurtleshire street-name signs.

#Edinburgh

#dhyperlocal

#news

From the Edinburgh Evening News, 19 January 1904.

SIR HERBERT MAXWELL'S ADVICE ON READING. 

The new East branch of the Edinburgh Public Library, situated at the corner of M'Donald Road and Leith Walk, was opened last night, when Sir Herbert Maxwell delivered an address to a large gathering in the reading-room.

As you read this, advance copies of the February Spurtle are already spreading across Broughton like spilt potnoodles on a Bellevue pavement.

Page 1 is concerned with ups and downs and how to prevent them, and a way to make Edinburgh more of a level playing field.

Page 2 marks an important anniversary linking hyperlocal journalism with international pop stardom. It continues with unsurprising crocodiles, foul-smelling silt, and the ongoing hazards of city-centre cycling. Trees, tactiles and tiny buses also feature.

Police Scotland issued a press release this morning which we reproduce below unedited and in full.

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