Opinion

NOTHING beats a day at the races, especially when the sun is out and the fizz is flowing. At Musselburgh Racecourse last Saturday, that thought flitted through my mind as I arrived at the East Lothian venue’s newest addition to their annual calender, The Edinburgh Gin Scottish Sprint Raceday.

So, while I was away in Italy last week I missed the Fringe launch. Well, more importantly I missed a party or two which mark the lead up to the biggest arts festival in the world. I do love Edinburgh in August.

There are plenty of people who will be sad to see the main stand at Meadowbank Stadium go.

2 Para, the lads who yomped across the Falklands in ’83 have the proud motto “Ready for Anything”. The SAS, the chaps who abseiled down the front of the Iranian Embassy in 1980 without so much as a single box of Milk Tray between them, sport “Who Dares Wins” on their cap badges. Stirring stuff.

The starting pistol has sounded and cities the length and breadth of the UK are gearing up for a gay old time. In case you didn’t know, Pride season is upon us.

Much deserved backslapping this week at the latest Ernst & Young attractiveness survey which showed Scotland was outpacing the UK for foreign investment, a 7 per cent increase in the number of projects in 2017-18 compared to 6 percent for the UK as a whole.

Today a pop star, a politician and people with lived experience of homelessness and the issues which can lead to homelessness will gather at Queen Margaret University for a very special reason: to mark the 50th anniversary of the work of Cyrenians; 50 years of working to stop homelessness and supporting people.

For a city plagued by drivers who think hazard warning lights are also Star Trek-style cloaking devices which render their vehicles invisible, the legislation announced this week to make double parking and pavement obstruction illegal can’t come soon enough.

There we were, the city’s Housing & Economy committee, all set to hear from the EICC’s chief executive about his vision for a hotel and hospitality school to develop his business, but where was he? Marshall Dallas was on the list of deputations circulated the previous evening, but was nowhere to be seen.

Another weekend over – and what a weekend it was if you were in Edinburgh!

It is a wonder of engineering, a beautiful testimony to the blend of function and aesthetics and a fitting addition to the bridges from the 19th and 20th centuries. I write, of course about the Queensferry Crossing, that marvellous tribute to worldwide ­co-operation by private commerce and ­government planning.

Fresh from my weekend as duty officer for the city, I was reminded of the unique nature of working in Edinburgh.

Despite what you might have heard from the SNP conference over the weekend, independence isn’t going to happen. There. I’ve said it.

WHO’D have thought it? A new poll claims Scots are more optimistic than people in the rest of the UK. It may go against the national stereotype - where “not too bad” is as enthusiastic as it gets and an observation about glorious sunshine is met with the response “we’ll pay for it” – but the figures in the BBC survey were stark.

LAST week I met Jen Hardy, a mother from Edinburgh, above. She has incurable secondary breast cancer.

What a wonderful spectacle Processions was. Women wearing green, white and violet marched the streets of Cardiff, Belfast, ­London and Edinburgh to mark the ­centenary of some women receiving the vote for the first time.

Gathering for the Bells at the Tron Kirk with a hip flask. First footing the neighbours with a lump of coal.

WITH the World Cup kicking off on Thursday, companies are trying to flog us giant 4K TV screens, half-time pizzas and reclining sofas so we can watch the matches in the comfort of our homes.

Other businesses, including airports, could contribute to a levy, says Edinburgh Airport chief executive Gordon Dewar.