Woolly talk won’t get the economy moving – John McLellan

It’s the time of year when it’s traditional to compare Edinburgh with Venice, but not the kind of similarities experienced on Tuesday night when the deluge turned the streets into canals.

Social distancing sign outside a shop on the pavement in Princes Street (Picture: Jane Barlow/PA Wire)

No festivals, no crowds and little business being done, the success of the Edinburgh Tourism Action Group’s “Forever Edinburgh” campaign to encourage people to spend time and money exploring the city will be essential for the survival of so many jobs into the dark months of winter. With the schools already back it’s probably too late, not helped by an avoidable delay in the council’s SNP-Labour coalition committing its support.

There is much talk – and it’s all talk – about not going back to where the city was, woolly phrases like “giving the city back to the people” but the priority should be to get back to levels of economic activity which supported a record number of jobs.

Who’s behind the wheel at Lothian Buses?

The £30m losses incurred by Lothian Buses as a result of the Covid lockdown are just the first instalment of a financial bill which will take years to repay.

Who knows when the company can return to a position when the city council can demand over £12m in dividends to fund its spending programme, as it did at the end of last year. Only the bus company itself really understands how best to run the public transport network and at this point the dabbling of amateurs will only make that recovery much more difficult.

The professionals running the bus company need to be in the driving seat of Edinburgh’s transport changes, not passengers