The Beeb reports that plans - dating from 1945 - for a second rail bridge over the Firth of Forth have been recently uncovered in a Glasgow office. Their provenance remains a mystery and Network Rail is asking for help.
But it shouldn't be described as a 'fourth Forth' bridge - given it dates from a time 18 years before the second one opened.
The ever excellent Liberal England - possibly overstretching his geographical remit - dug out some excellent footage of disused railways in Edinburgh, including footage of Balgreen Halt on the Corstophine branch line.
But Balgreen Halt is not really disused anymore with a tramstop of the same name on the increasingly successful Edinburgh tramline. And my visit to Edinburgh last week wouldn't have been complete without a ride on the tram coincidently to Balgreen:
With the sad news of the death of Margo MacDonald earlier today many tributes have been made about her many achievements on the Scottish political scene. But what is probably less well known is that Margo was a season ticket holder at Easter Road, leading to this tribute from the club this afternoon.
One interesting consequences of her death is that she has no replacement on the list as she stood by herself. And unless the Parliament makes provision for a list by-election (which I don't think it does) then her replacement will come from another list - which may mean the Lib Dems gain her seat.
Edit 11.40pm - apparently according to section 10(2) of the Scotland Act her seat will remain vacant until the next Scottish general election.
The Jawbone arch on Edinburgh's Meadows is being removed having been found to be structurally unsound. It is being removed by the council to be dried out and apparently restored - but no timescale has been made available according to this STV report.
Given the council's record of delivering projects on time (the trams are years late) it is no wonder an appeal has been set up for its restoration.
In a bizarre twist in the saga of Hearts bankruptcy, Labour peer, George Foulkes, has criticised Edinburgh Council for selling former school buildings which Hearts had been using part of as a car park. The site had been costing the council £80,000 a year to maintain and Hearts paid a nominal sum for its use on matchdays.
Foulkes told the Edinburgh Evening News "It really is very strange the council should take this attitude. Fans will be disappointed and annoyed" and called on the council to "bend over backwards"to help the club - presumably by continuing to subsidise the club, not selling off redundant property and making service cuts elsewhere.
Foulkes however is no stranger to extravagent spending - in 2008 he claimed £45,000 parliamentary expenses for a flat he inherited and a whopping £54,000 expenses from the House of Lords in a single year. Known to like a refreshment, Foulkes was convicted of being drunk and disorderly in 1993 after a scotch whisky reception in the Commons. After he knocked over a pensioner (who happened to be then Lib Dem MP, David Rendel's mum) he was apprehended by a passing rozzer to whom Foulkes took violent exception.
Just for the record - and in case Foulkes has forgotten - Hearts owe
the City of Edinburgh Council more than £93,000 in unpaid rates and
charges (presumably including unpaid rent for the car park) and the
government, in the form of HMRC, more than £1.8 million in unpaid tax.
The Beeb reports that the po-faced keepers of the Spartist flame at Edinburgh University have banned a song because it apparently violates their 'safe space policy' among others.
So here is Robin Thicke with 'Blurred Lines' - just in case you are the one person in the world who hasn't yet been exposed to it:
In memory of Edinburgh bluesman Stevey Hay who died unexpectedly this week. Here's he is perfoming with his band 'Shades of Blue' late last year at Edinburgh's Voodoo Rooms.
Well if you believe the media it is disenchated Tories demanding the sort of nonsense announced in the 'alternative Queen's speech' by Peter 'Sven' Bone.
Well the Liberton and Gilmerton by-election last night in Edinburgh for once provides some hard facts about the nature of their (albeit still small) support north of border. Thanks to the Lib Dems introduction of STV for local council elections we can see how votes transfer between parties - rather than just speculate. So here's how real UKIP votes transferred:
The table doesn't show parties - but their votes transferred as follows:
Con = 67
Lab = 35
SNP = 31
Green = 31
Lib Dem = 9
While it being just one small sample what this suggests to me is that clearly the Tories are currently losing most from UKIP's surge (as the mainstream view suggests) but not as much as we are being told to expect.
Instead, what I find significant is the derisory UKIP - Lib Dem transfer. What this says is the Lib Dems have completely lost the radical 'none of the above' vote, from those who have been disillusioned long term by the political system. This is a direct result of the political 'strategy' adopted by the party since 2010 influenced by the world's worst political strategist - Richard Reeves - and still implicit in the current strategy which although sharpens the messaging still believes there's votes to be gained by proving you've become a 'serious party of government' (whatever that is).
It's pretty clear one of the world's oldest football clubs - Heart of Midlothian - is about to be liquidated as their Romanov empire collapses around them.
Now as a Hibs fan it would be easy to gloat - and there would be plenty of songs that I could choose for a Friday favourite that would reflect that. But it isn't that simple.
Hearts, like Hibs, have mainly been rubbish for most of their existence - dominated by the pseudo religious and deeply sectarian (but money making) institutions of the 'old firm'.
For most of their existences Hearts and Hibs have been city rivals with keenly fought derby games and local bragging of the kind that many similar teams share.
But in 1989 something changed. Hearts chairman (and major Scottish Tory player) Wallace Mercer launched a hostile takeover bid of then floundering Hibs aimed at creating a 'third force' in Scottish football to take on the old firm. Hibs fans organised a major campaign against the takeover and fought off Mercer with the last minute intervention of Leith businessman Tom Farmer (owner of Kwik Fit).
But the 'third force' mantra unfortunately stuck with Hearts and for the last 25+ years Hearts have been operating under delusions of grandeur. They have consistently spent more than they took in in trying to prove Mercer's boast. By 2003/4 they were £25 million in debt and were about to sell their Tynecastle ground to property developers when a red knight hoved into view - one Vladimir Romanov - a Russian born ex-KGB spiv operating out of Lithuania - who ratched up the third force delusions using Soviet style propaganda.
As a result the arrogance of many Hearts fans increased and the already unneccesarily bitter relations increased further as did Hearts debts and spending on players they couldn't afford - culminating in last year's Scottish cup final thrashing of Hibs.
Well all Hearts' chickens have come home to roost and their chances of surviving the summer look very grim indeed. And unsurprisingly many Hibs fans are rubbing it in for all it's worth.
The 'new Hearts' are about to get all they deserve - but this Friday's favourite is about the old Hearts - in the time when Edinburgh football fans were just as likely to go to Easter Road one week and Tynecastle the next.
In 1916 Hearts were top of the league and questions were being asked why professional football was continuing while young men were dying on the western front. So George McCrae recruited a 'sporting battalion' which included 16 Hearts players along with many others from in and around Edinburgh (including Hibs). Needless to say they were mown down on the Somme.
Hearts will survive their insolvency - but it will be hard work and they'll need to rediscover their old spirit and friendly rivals. So as a reminder here is Craig Herbertson - the brother of a mate of mine with 'Hearts of Glory' about McCrae's battalion.
Yesterday Nigel Farage took refuge in an Edinburgh pub having been barracked by some malingering trots from Edinburgh University.
The Beeb reports that in response to accusations from Student Association vice president, Max Crema, that UKIP was a racist party, Farage replied wonderfully: "If you believe that then you are less intelligent than you look, dear boy."
That the woosterish Farage is clearly happy to take on all comers in places that are traditionally resistant to such characters is a sign of his confidence that UKIP isn't going to go away. And why should it?
The attractions of both Labour and Tory parties in the UK has declined massively - from 97% of the vote in the 1950s to barely 65% in 2010. And with the implosion of the Lib Dems, UKIP are clearly going to remain a non-racist but populist 'none of the above' choice - led by a man who is the consummate anti-politician politician.
...that Hibs last won the Scottish Cup. On April 26th 1902 they beat Celtic 1-0 with the goal scored by McGeechan. Bizarrely the Scottish football authorities in an early example of bias toward the old firm insisted the game shoud be played at Celtic Park.
Next month Hibs play Celtic in their tenth attempt since then to win the trophy again. The Edinburgh Reporter has more information about their last successful attempt.
News that Edinburgh Zoo has artificially inseminated panda Tian Tian with the aim of producing some offspring at the end of the summer, means a rewrite for the Scottish Tories/panda joke. No more will we be able to say there are twice as many pandas in Scotland as Tory MPs...
Yesterday, south east of Edinburgh, workers started construction on the reopening of the Waverley rail line - or Borders Rail as it is now called.
The closure of the Waverley route mainline was probably the biggest mistake of the Beeching years - cutting off the Scottish borders from the rail network causing long term damage to its industry and agriculture sectors and even making a radical of its then MP - David Steel - who spent a night in the nick for his involvement in the protests against closure.
But this is a victory for a long term campaign by Borders (and Midlothian) residents - who will hopefully now see the whole line reinstated all the way to Carlisle. Anyway here's some footage of the northern part of the route which shows quite how well preseved most of the route is.
This week it is Old Reekie's finest stonemason, blues artist and jobbing actor - Tam White. One of his claims to fame is to be the first person to sing live on Top of the Pops. He also attended Darroch secondary - better known in my day as James Gillespies Annexe. Here he is performing live in his home town in the year before his untimely death in 2010.
Donald Gorrie was a giant of Edinburgh politics. He was first elected to the corporation in the early 70's - and had been on the scene ever since - in various roles. This Beeb piece while boringly accurate doesn't do him justice.
There are a huge number of things to say about Donald Gorrie - and lots of them will come out over the next few days and weeks.
But let's be clear Donald was absolutely clear the Scottish Lib Dems made a strategic mistake in refusing to deal with Alex Salmond in 2007 (and before). And events since then have proved him right...
