RULE CHANGE MAY BROADEN MEMBERSHIP OF MORAY’S ‘FAVOURED FEW’
March 2024. A pleasant spring afternoon in Moray Place. A hint of peat smoke in the air. The vaguest scent of sewage drifting from the Water of Leith below.
I wait outwith a southern entrance to the central garden to meet a man I know only as ‘The Convenor’. He is an office bearer in one of Edinburgh’s oldest and most exclusive private discutentative associations: the Quinquaginta Club.
ISSUE 338 – OUT SOON!
As you read this, advance copies of the April Spurtle are already appearing across Broughton like sparrow droppings on the first washing line of spring.
On Page 1 we cover retirement with crystal clarity, put an end to speculation over a slow start, detail the limited appeal of too much in too little and report on Pot Noodles.
An EV gone rogue, unruly youths and gum-sucking forebodings feature on Page 2, as do construction sites, questionable design and a possible Festival quagmire.
THE LEVY AS LEVERAGE – MIXED RESPONSE
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.