So here we are at the end of another week. Scotland is firmly in the focus of the world’s media and our First Minister is deftly coping with the attention. He has told the world that Scotland’s Ministers will not be travelling to the US for the Senate hearing next week to discuss the release of the Lockerbie Bomber. Although The Caledonian Mercury thinks they are missing a golden opportunity by not going…

The erstwhile Home Secretary, Jack Straw, took all day to consider his invitation before rejecting it too. Meanwhile, one George Galloway was telling everybody who would listen that the Scottish Ministers should jump at the chance of defending their decision before a US Senate hearing – look at how well he did when he was accused of taking bribes from Saddam Hussein.

In case you missed it here it is in some of its glory.

We leave you to make your own minds up about this.

However we are sure that there cannot be too many people who would disagree with us when we tell you that mindless vandals have been at work in the Water of Leith. Two of Antony Gormley’s figures have been pushed over so that they are now under the water. OOPS Sorry!  Not mindless vandals Phew!  The weather is the culprit here.  The huge rains of recent days have couped the figures into the river. According to the BBC there was a month’s rainfall in just a matter of hours so it is not really surprising is it? Well of course we have to turn to The Broughton Spurtle for the real story – it was all in the design…..

Cameron Rose tells us of real vandalism to The Innocent Railway tunnel on his blog. The padlock on the gate was apparently broken which would have allowed cars access through here. The Reporter would be very scared indeed to meet an oncoming car in the Tunnel! It is a favoured place of many city cyclists and is usually a very safe environment. What a pity then that a few spoil it for the many.

Finally for today – is this The Scotsman’s attempt at a local roundup of news? Or just a mixture of press releases thrown together….. We are very thin on the ground here at The Reporter and attribute our unashamed use of press releases to that very fact. But do The Scotsman need to do that too? Anyway the shop they are talking about first has a very nice dress in the window. Here it is!

Wedding dress...