John Gibson: White van man parked up there

That rockpile we call Edinburgh Castle has been voted a leading UK attraction for the second successive year. Winner top heritage attraction at the British Travel Awards in London.

Wow! Golly gee whiz! Tell us something we didn’t already know about the city we live in! We collar the awards despite the white van (does it do chips or ice cream?) that’s blighted the Castle’s skyline since . . . before the One o’Clock Gun fired its first shot.

It’s hung in there with the ramparts, seen from Princes Street.

We sent somebody down to London to collect the award, possibly a couple of jobsworths and, of course, first-class travel. Cash that could have been better squandered on digging more holes for the trams.

Walk on by

If you see her walking down the street, let her walk on by. Dionne Warwick, sources tell me, is not the chanteuse she was. All of 72 next month. What do you expect? Shirley Temple?

In London to pick up a long-service award, she told me: “I’ve lost a lot of people close to me this year . . Hal David, my cousin Whitney (Houston) but I’m happy their legacy remains and their music lives on.”

Partners Hal David and Burt Bacharach wrote Walk On By and I Say a Little Prayer.