Opinion

BRITISH soldiers are being sent on a mission to Malawi to help stop and catch poachers illegally killing elephants, rhinos and other threatened wildlife.

Many people assume that an accessible toilet caters for everyone who has a disability that means they cannot use a standard toilet. However, people with profound and multiple learning disabilities, as well people with other physical disabilities such as spinal injuries, MND, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis often need extra equipment and space to allow them to use the toilets safely and comfortably. These needs are met by Changing Places toilets.

MANY people will be glad that anyone, even Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley, was ­prepared to buy House of Fraser at the last minute rather than just let the iconic Scottish department store business collapse and disappear.

Edinburgh hasn’t been short on controversy recently and this week was no exception with the now they’re up, now they’re down, now they’re up sometimes and a bit lower black boards blocking views of Princes Street Gardens and the Castle.

DID a press trip to Tenerife once. Must be nearly 15 years ago now. The Canary Islands Tourist Board had dreamed it up as a way of showcasing the more refined character of a holiday destination better known to many as nothing more than a ‘Little Britain in the sun,’ full of British pubs, fry-up breakfasts and tat shops selling all the usual football strips.

Misdirected anger in Edinburgh is a microcosm of the wider debate over injustice in our world, writes Joyce McMillan.

Pedestrians may be wary of drivers, but cyclists can pose them a bigger menace.

Who would have thought this time last week that pop concerts in Edinburgh would become such a hot topic of debate?

I’m just back in from an ­afternoon at the David Lloyd gym down in Newhaven and no, I wasn’t doing a class – at seven months pregnant the heaviest thing I lift just now is cake.

Every day during the Fringe I’m sharing a stage with a great lady of Barnton, Jojo Sutherland. We are a pair of right fannies, the show is at five, so the show is called Fanny’s @ Five.

How’s your festival going? Are you thrilled to bits at the world’s largest arts festival being on your doorstep? Are you overdosing on culture in one of the 200-plus festival venues? Or do you spend ­August grimacing as it takes twice as long to get anywhere and the city centre is taken over by hordes of impossibly ­enthusiastic young people.

As we reach the midpoint of the 2018 Fringe, and a fair chunk of our artists squeeze in a merciful day off, it feels like a good time for reflection.

Two consultation events about the Meadowbank redevelopment take place next week but demolition work is already visible, with fascias removed from the main stand.

Some readers may remember a public information film in which a family led by a dad in a fetching tank top successfully prevent a flood from a burst pipe. As they sit around the kitchen table looking smug, their smiles are wiped away by the voice-over saying “Shame it had to happen in the first place.”

There is cross-party agreement on many reforms to education, such as ditching P1 tests, writes Ruth Davidson.

An emotional charity show, which raised thousands of pounds for The Brain Tumour Charity, heard of the bravery and positive attitude of Alfie, the six-year-old son of Underbelly’s Ed Bartlam, who was diagnosed with a brain tumour at the age of just four.

In last week’s column, I wrote about the invitation extended by the company CGI, which provides the city council’s IT requirements, to two councillors and three officials to visit their enterprises in San Diego, Los Angeles and Montreal.

It really is a minor miracle that there are not more road traffic accidents in Edinburgh in August.