‘We ignore the subject at our peril’

You only have to mention the word politics and you can be sure that lots of people will switch off immediately.

It is easy to understand why. All our main parties tend to be overly partisan and all too often promise much yet deliver little.

But we ignore the subject at our peril.

Although you would not know it walking around the city, where there are precious few political posters on display, we are a week away from crucial local council elections.

With the council vote taking place separately from national elections there are serious fears of an extremely low turnout at the polls.

All this week, we have been publishing details of the main parties’ manifestos, as well as interviews with the city’s political party leaders.

We realise some readers will have simply flipped over the pages without giving them a second glance, but we printed them all the same because we firmly believe that choosing the people who will run our city for the next five years is vitally important.

Don’t forget, whoever gets elected next Thursday will decide on the priorities for our children’s schools, social services, fixing the potholed roads, collecting our bins and, yes, managing the trams.

If you haven’t already, please take the time to read through our potted versions of each of the parties’ manifestos. If you have missed any of them, they are still available on our website at www.edinburghnews.com.

Then make sure you cast your vote next Thursday. If you don’t, then you lose the right to complain about what the council does for the next five years.

Star quality

Firth in Forth. Mr Darcy heads for North Berwick. And Nicole Kidman might be coming too. What a headline.

The Royal Burgh of North Berwick might never be the same again.

Famous for beaches, birds and birdies, the ancient East Lothian town is now on the A-list of film locations. Never mind Brad Pitt in Glasgow’s George Square or Scarlett Johansson in Glencoe: Colin Firth is coming to town. And he’s proper cinematic royalty, especially after playing George VI in the King’s Speech.

But Firth should relax. He can expect a better class of film fan when he hits North Berwick. The type who will hand him a Mont Blanc pen to sign his autograph. Good times.