Edinburgh Christmas events that won't now happen sound ghastly – John McLellan

We mere mortals – aka Council Tax payers – are not permitted to know how Edinburgh Council got itself into an almighty fankle over Christmas events supposed to deliver £5.5 million over five years.

A zip-line like this one in Paris will not be coming to Edinburgh's George Street this Christmas (Picture: Eric Feferberg/AFP via Getty Images)

Under the cloak of commercial confidentiality, councillors quizzed officers about the collapse of the deal with Angel Event Experience (AEE) behind closed doors on Monday, but enough was revealed in open session to get an insight.

In particular, it appears at least one significant element of the programme was, according to Conservative councillor Phil Doggart, obviously impractical but was not included in details approved by councillors in June.

AEE promised an array of attractions beyond Princes Street Gardens which would stretch most organisations, and will now not happen, including a Scottish makers market on the High Street, a Spiegeltent on the Grassmarket, and a “Munich” tent on George Street which presumably was all about steins of lager, not political putsches.

How buses would cope with a zip wire on George Street is anyone’s guess and they also promised a ghastly sounding Christmas-themed circus on Festival Square. It all sounds like a lucky escape.

AEE must have over-pitched and quickly under-delivered, given the arrangement collapsed in less than four months and if so, why did council officers fall for it, especially as other bidders were rejected because of concerns about quality?

All the officers’ babble on Monday of difficult circumstances in a dynamic situation sounds like a long way of saying they bought a pig in a poke.