Breaking news

Pride Scotia – the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gender communities' annual celebration of sexual diversity – kicks off on Saturday 26 June.

Last month we aired Blandfield resident Mark Sheffield's misgivings over City of Edinburgh Council's withdrawal of the one-free-special-uplift-per-household-per-year service. He suspected it would prove counter-productive by encouraging far more fly-tipping on local streets and alleys (Breaking news 5.5.10). He wrote to local councillors voicing his doubts.

Antony Gormely's 6 Times was formally launched this morning at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

The renowned sculptor answered questions and posed for photographers with the first of his six human figures, this one buried up to its middle outside one of the gates on Belford Road.

Sources at the National Galleries of Scotland have declared themselves delighted at pre-launch publicity for Antony Gormley's 6 Times Horizon (which is officially unveiled tomorrow).

Through gritted teeth they have resolutely looked on the bright side as locals first dressed the Stockbridge figure in a pink bikini, and then misinterpreted the Bonnington one as a corpse.

They were, they affirmed, heartened by the public's interaction with the works.

At 4am tomorrow morning, 8 S6 students and 3 members of staff from Drummond Community High School will be on their way to Kenya.

Since February 2008 (Issue 155) Spurtle has been covering Drummond's partnership with the Muthambi Boys and Girls High Schools at the foot of Mount Kenya. Now they've raised enough money to open this latest chapter, had the jabs, worked out what they want to achieve and are ready to go.

Planned activities include:

Spurtle launched this website in October 2009, and after 9 months staff will meet soon to review it in detail.

We're not uncritical of ourselves, but would certainly welcome objective criticism from readers. Tell us what you like and what you don't like, which bits of the site you find useful and which are just plain irritating.

Above all, please tell us where you have spotted any failed links or other glitches we've overlooked.

If you have ideas for additional information or features, we'll gladly consider all suggestions.

Thanks for your help!

Berlitz Language Centre in Frederick Street requires accommodation for its international students.

Director Stephen Penman contacted Spurtle to tell us these students are usually professionals aged between 25 and 55 who have been sent by their companies to study English in Edinburgh.

They are, apparently, 'polite, mature and interesting people who would like to get a taste of British life in a welcoming household with good standards'.

Leith Central Community Council meets on Monday evening at 7.30pm in the Nelson Hall at McDonald Road Library.

The draft agenda is available in Extras, as are the minutes of last month's AGM and ordinary business meeting.

Planners at City of Edinburgh Council are circulating a draft of revised planning guidelines on Building Heights and Roofscapes.

You can download a pdf of this draft by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page. The revised passages are highlighted. For purposes of comparison, the current Guidelines (adopted in 1999) are also available below.

Here at the Spurtle we are pro-bicycles, but the behaviour of those cyclists who insist on using the pavement is becoming a pain.

Not only are they a hazard, but they give the rest of the bicycling community a bad name.

Spurtle is monitoring the problem for future coverage, but we can't be everywhere all the time – we need readers to tell us where the problems are and when.

Please send your reports to: spurtle@hotmail.co.uk.