Comment: Raising £100k a year seems optimistic

Who wouldn’t want their own Keep Calm and Carry On Paying poster? Or how about a Kiss Me Quick, Build Me Slowly hat? And there could be a whole range of beer advert-inspired Edinburgh Trams mugs, with slogans including Probably the Most Expensive in the World and Reassuringly Expensive.

If the council can see a profit in any of these ideas, then we will gladly donate them to the cause.

In the circumstances, anything that is going to bring in some extra income has got to be a good thing. Other tram services elsewhere in the world make money from selling souvenirs, so why not Edinburgh? There is very little to be lost in testing out a limited run to see if there is an appetite for them.

The idea of raising £100,000 a year from selling tram memorabilia certainly seems optimistic to the untrained eye, but we’d be  delighted to be proved wrong.

It is easier to see how money can be made from selling memorabilia connected to two of the city’s other assets, the Scott Monument and Greyfriars Bobby. Indeed, the only surprise is that steps have not yet been taken to maximise the council’s income from them.

It just goes to show how far the council has still to go before it can match the private sector for commercial nous.

Power of good

A new life for Cockenzie Power Station as a “Tate of the north”? Sounds unlikely but how fantastic would it be if Richard Demarco’s idea actually got off the ground?

Preserving the iconic structure as an art gallery would not be easy and certainly would not be cheap.

But the world needs dreamers and just sometimes these dreams can become reality.

Today is the spark of an idea which we hope will be developed. More power to Richard and his supporters in their plans to save Cockenzie before it goes up in smoke for good.