Oil barons attempt to buy up Princes Street

City leaders disclosed this week that Middle Eastern oil barons are interested in buying up every building on Princes Street.

They claim that a state-owned hedge fund has opened talks with an eye to buy up the entire street, a move the council sees as integral to its plans to renew and reinvigorate the flagship shopping precinct.

Councillor Tom Brown said: There are people talking to us with access to sovereign funds. They have large amounts of wealth and they could invest these kinds of funds in Edinburgh.”

However Alasdair Humphery, director of capital markets at Jones Lang LaSalle Edinburgh, said: “I find it hard to believe we will ever have a day that Princes Street or Buchanan Street will ever be owned by one sovereign fund.”

 

Parking wardens: hated by everyone and shit at their jobs

Edinburgh parking attendants handed out 20,000 fewer parking tickets than promised last year, denting the council’s coffers.

Wardens handed out a mere 222,169 tickets, an average of 609 per day, during 2007. NCP, the contractor hired to police the city’s streets, promised the council 243,000 tickets.

The city council earns around £7 million from parking fines in the city, a figure expected to increase over the coming years as the council extends the controlled parking zones towards the city’s outskirts.

A city council spokeswoman said: "The drop in the number of tickets being issued may be a sign that more drivers have been complying with the rules, which is excellent news."

 

160,000 voters to boycott next election

The election fiasco of May 2007 has put a huge number of voters off Scottish democracy according to researchers from Strathclyde University.

The impact of the scandal, in which 140,000 ballot papers were spoiled, has resulted in over half of Scots believing the result of the vote was “unfair.”

5% of those who voted in the election say that they are less likely to do so next time around in 2011, while 3% claim it to be “much less likely”. This could lead to an all-time low turnout of just 44%.

Additionally, the 43% of voters who stayed away last time are even less likely to vote in the future.

 

With friends like these…

An Edinburgh man last week pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of a friend while on bail for three separate offences.

Martin Torres stabbed drinking buddy Ian Thompson with a kitchen knife after an argument in a hostel.

Torres, who has a history of convictions for violence and petty crimes, attacked Thompson at the Thorntree Street hostel for chronic alcoholics. The attack took place on 23 October last year.

In court, the judge said: “This is a very serious offence whatever may be said about the circumstances. And frankly, all that has really been said is that Mr Torres was drunk.”

Sentencing has been deferred until next month.

 

Replica guns seized from city tartan shop

Police have seized a number of replica firearms during a raid on one of the city’s largest tourist shops.

The fake guns were found at the Gold Brothers’ store on South Bridge, which sells a range of replica weaponry and tartan souvenirs.

Galab Singh, the store’s owner, claimed that the police visit was part of a “routine inspection” but refused to answer further questions.

The manufacture and sale of imitation firearms is illegal under the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006.

 

Brown visits city in attempt to raise party moral

Prime Minister Gordon Brown visited Edinburgh last Friday to rally the Scottish Labour party after months of troubles north of the border.

The event was designed as a show of support for the embattled Scottish Labour leader, Wendy Alexander and also as a stage for Brown to discuss plans for a new constitutional committee to look into the devolution settlement.

The meeting, which was attended by less than half of Labour’s MSPs, was described by the SNP as “a failing attempt to get back on track.”

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told the Scotsman: “It is precisely because Labour in Scotland are under London's thumb – and completely clueless about how to form a functioning opposition in Scotland – that they are performing so badly.”

 

Cabaret Voltaire celebrates third birthday

Popular city centre nightclub Cabaret Voltaire is to celebrate its third birthday on Friday 29 February with a massive party.

The sold out event is hosted in partnership with Sugar Beat and will feature DJ sets from Erol Alkan, Herve and Sinden with a rare appearance from Scottish DJ Richard H Kirk in addition to the usual house performers.

Scott free, just

Scotland rugby international Scott Macleod has escaped serious punishment for failing a doping test.

Mr Macleod tested positive for the drug Terbutaline, present in his asthma inhaler.

However, the error was deemed to be mainly a bureaucratic one, as the player was not aware that a separate legal exemption on medical grounds was needed for each separate substance which is present in medication.

Mr Macleod had an exemption for a different substance found in an earlier inhaler.

He was nonetheless issued with a formal warning; he therefore faces an automatic two-year ban for a second transgression.

Millionaire fails to pay the bills

Players from Scottish Premier League strugglers Gretna had more to worry about last week as they found out their wages would not be paid.

Millionaire club owner Brooks Mileson has bankrolled the club's meteoric rise from the foot of the professional leagues to the greatest stage in Scottish football, but was unable to send out the players' cheques for February as he was laid low by a mystery illness.

Mr Mileson has been taken to Newcastle for testing, and remains in hospital.