Alex Salmond will be nervously keeping an eye on his front door after thieves stole a brass name plate from a neighbouring building.
Bute House, the First Minister’s official residence, has two such plaques displayed prominently either side of the front door.
Thieves targeted an office building opposite the residence over the weekend – making off with a name plate worth around £250.
Filed under All pieces, Serious pieces
NHS staff were stopped from working at hospitals nearer their home during the worst winter weather in 40 years due to red tape, it has emerged.
NHS Lothian staff living in Fife and the Borders who were unable to get to Edinburgh because of snow walked or drove to their nearest NHS base only to be turned away because of concerns over insurance cover and liability.
Health chiefs in Edinburgh were astounded that their employees’ quick thinking, dedication and determination was snubbed by neighbouring health boards, and vowed to address the problem.
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THE driver of the train which plunged into the Tay when the Tay Bridge collapsed is to have his grave marked more than 130 years after the event.
David Mitchell was one of 75 souls to die in the Tay Bridge Disaster in 1879.
His body was one of the few recovered after the accident and he was laid to rest in an unmarked grave in Leslie,Fife.
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BARMY council chiefs are set to open a new visitor centre on the site of a new waste facility.
Edinburgh and Midlothian councils have submitted plans for the attraction at their new food and residual waste treatment facility at Millerhill inMidlothian.
The visitor centre will allow school pupils and community groups to tour the plant and see how waste is sorted and treated.
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Sir Fred Goodwin’s new broadband connection has upset his new neighbours after apparently being laid without their permission.
The cable has been laid from a junction box in upmarket Laverockdale Park, Edinburgh, where homes cost in the region of £400,000, to Sir Fred’s lavish mansion, in the Colinton area of the city.
A neighbour claims that the land surrounding the estate is part-owned by the property owners and is included in their title deeds. He says cable owners Virgin Media did not seek permission from the homeowners to dig up the grassed area at the entrance to the estate.
The homeowner, who did not wish to be identified, said: “I don’t think Fred Goodwin has moved in yet. He can’t be far off though because they’ve just put in a broadband cable.
It’s a source of contention because that land is supposed to be owned by us.
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The number of councillors in Edinburghcould rise by 12 – at a cost of £250,000 per year.
The news comes just over a month after the council passing a motion to cut public spending by £32 million next year.
The body which advises Scottish government on councillor numbers and local authority ward boundaries is due to update the number of elected members in each area.
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A fire in a hotel near Edinburgh is being treated as suspicious by police.
Guests at the Tranmare Hotel in Tranent were evacuated at around 5am today (Tues) after a fire broke out in the bar.
Police cordoned off the site and closed roads in the area while firefighters tackled the blaze.
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The nephew of former Rangers Boss David Murray is offering a “substantial reward” after thieves took off with £4000 of tools.
Ian Murray’s firm, SI Construction (Scotland) Ltd, was renovating a property in Heriot Row in the city’s New Town area when thieves forced open a downstairs window and made off with the equipment.
Sub-contractor David Tait, who was working at the £900,000 flat for Mr Murray, has been left out of pocket by the theft as the tools were uninsured. Mr Tait said it was impossible to get insurance for the type of tools that were taken.
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LESBIANS are more than twice as likely to split from their civil partners than gay men, new figures on gay divorce show.
Statistics show that since Civil Partnership was made legal in 2004, more than 50 couples have gone on to formally split up, with female couples two and a half times more likely to ‘divorce’ than male ones.
The most recent figures show that for around every 117 male couples who have tied the knot since civil partnerships became legal there is one relationship which has been dissolved, while one in every 45 partnerships between women has ended in a split.
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A devastated cat-owner has hit out after her pet was killed by a snare just a week after MSPs voted not to ban the traps.
Julie Renton’s four-year-old cat, Tom, had previously escaped a snare before being found dead on a farm in Haddington near Edinburgh at the weekend.
Mrs Renton said: “I am absolutely heartbroken as he was my boy – I have two daughters so he was treated like a family member.
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