By Christine Lavelle A FRINGE festival comedienne has booked out a restaurant in Edinburgh on Sunday night, in her quest to find a ‘quality’ one-night-stand. Gemma Goggin, 30, star of show Get Laid or Die Trying, has been telling her sell-out audiences about the trials and tribulations of finding sex as a single girl. She [...]
By Shaun Milne SCOTLAND’S flagship passenger ferry service to Europe is to be scrapped. The three weekly sailings of the Scottish Viking, which was launched in a blaze of publicity in May last year by First Minister Alex Salmond, will cease operations in time for Christmas. Passengers who have already booked trips for after then [...]
By Martin Graham ECO protesters held a demonstration disco inside the revolving doors of the Royal Bank of Scotland’s headquarters in Edinburgh today. The party saw around 100 activists dancing their way around the Gogarburn building accompanied by a sound system mounted on a bike. They waved banners and invited RBS employees to join them [...]
By Cara Sulieman FILMING for the new season of popular show Skins is underway in Bristol as the new generation of fun-loving teens get to know each other. And one of the cast is a lucky Edinburgh lass who got the part after turning up at open auditions held by programme makers Channel 4. Freya [...]
By Christine Lavelle SCOTS singer Susan Boyle is to become the star attraction at Blackpool’s new Madame Tussauds museum – as a waxwork model. Susan, 49, will secure her place amongst the rich and famous when her replica goes on display later this year, at Britain’s second Madame Tussauds. The West Lothian songstress, who recently [...]
By Christine Lavelle ONE of the Royal Navy Fleet’s most important ‘floating hospital’ ships has docked in Scotland’s capital, allowing its crew to soak up the festival atmosphere. Royal Fleet Auxiliary Argus – fondly nicknamed ‘BUPA Baghdad’ – acts as an accident and emergency unit for troops deployed to conflict zones all over the world.
By Martin Graham MISS SCOTLAND Nicola Mimnagh got on her bike in Edinburgh today to support children’s charity Children 1st, and didn’t even remove her high heels. Nicola was helping to launch the 4 Abbeys Cycle Challenge, a fundraising event set to take place in the Scottish Borders on Sunday 26 September. The event starts in [...]
By Michael MacLeod SCOTLAND’S literary giants have led the tributes to the nation’s Poet Laureate Edwin Morgan, who passed away this morning aged 90. The Glasgow-born writer was widely regarded worldwide as one of the most progressive poets of modern times, described in tributes today as “a gentle genius.” Although he was ill for some [...]
By Christine Lavelle EX-ATOMIC Kitten star Liz McClarnon stunned diners at an Edinburgh restaurant, when she dropped in to grab a bite to eat. The 29-year-old singer has been in Scotland filming for her BBC Three show Hotter Than My Daughter, and decided to visit Illegal Jacks on Lothian Road. The Mexican restaurant was tipped [...]
By Christine Lavelle THE funeral of a mum who died tragically on a family holiday is to be held tomorrow (Fri), in her hometown of Dunfermline. Karen McArthur, 40, passed away a day into her Corfu holiday, after battling severe kidney problems for her whole life. The day she died was coincidentally 20 years to [...]
By Christine Lavelle AN Italian restaurant in Edinburgh is gearing up to celebrate its one millionth customer – they just have to wait for them to walk through the door. Staff at La Piazza, in the west end of the city are keeping a tally of how many customers enter the restaurant and plan to [...]
By Martin Graham, Christine Lavelle and Michael MacLeod ECO protestors stormed the grounds surrounding the Royal Bank of Scotland HQ in Edinburgh today. They also launched other climate change protests in the city centre as police made a small number of arrests. Around 150 activists – going under the name Climate Group – pitched 30 [...]
By Cara Sulieman A FIVE year old boy killed when he was hit by a lorry while cycling just yards from his house died “doing his favourite thing in the world” his parents said tonight (wed). Jonathan and Michaela Dunbar, from Muirfield Drive in Gullane, East Lothian, said this had been his first summer of [...]
By Christine Lavelle A SERIES of short films are to be posted on youtube to help prepare children facing cancer treatment in hospital. The six two-minute videos have been designed with children and parents in mind, and each addresses a different theme – going to the operating theatre, placing central lines, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and nutrition. [...]
By Christine Lavelle A CAREERS advisor from Edinburgh could be headed for stardom after making it into this year’s X Factor final. Mark McGregor, 21, received four yes’s from the celebrity panel of judges: Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Cheryl Cole, and guest Geri Halliwell, who stood in for Dannii Minogue during the latter part of [...]
By Christine Lavelle SCIENTISTS say they have discovered a way to make cars run on whisky. Two years in the making, the new fuel has finally been developed from the by-products of Scotland’s national drink. Researchers at Edinburgh Napier University’s Biofuel Research Centre have been devising the plan to produce the next generation of biofuel [...]
By Michael MacLeod A BLUNDERING learner driver caused dozens of residents from a street called PARK Terrace to be evacuated – when she drove into the side of a house during a botched three-point turn sparking a gas alert. The woman driver’s prang burst a water pipe, flooding the street, and caused a gas pipe [...]
By Shaun Milne COUNCIL chiefs in Edinburgh have drawn up plans to axe at least 300 jobs as part of a £16m cost-saving plan. City of Edinburgh Council bosses say it will be mainly management posts and backroom jobs in the firing line. But insiders warned “nothing can be ruled in or out at this [...]
By Martin Graham A FILM shot in Scotland starring some of the biggest names in Bollywood has become embroiled in a bitter row over alleged unpaid wages. Production staff who worked on ‘Mausam’ while it was shooting in locations including Edinburgh claim they are yet to be paid for work on the movie which saw [...]
By Christine Lavelle A FIVE year old boy has been killed after being struck by a lorry while out playing on his bicycle this afternoon (tues). Archie Dunbar had been cycling on Muirfield Drive in Gullane, East Lothian, when police say he was knocked down at around 2pm. Lothian & Borders Police said the tragic tot [...]