No. 1 City: Edinburgh

Just finished watching Location, Location, Location where, based on local authority boundaries and statistics looking at safety, education, culture, nightlife etc. Edinburgh is voted the UK's Number 1 place to live with the best economy outside London.

I feel proud and I think the 20 years of Labour rule in the city (in which I am very pleased to have played a big part) is vindicated. The challenge is now thrown to the new administration. They can't take any credit for this accolade ...but they have to match and better it: so far they've given a damned good impression of ducking every difficult decision and screwing up our progress. Decisions being taken now have a 5 years lead in time: thumbs down to the zoo: thumbs down to new school investment: thumbs down to nursery education and support for the working family: thumbs down to city centre licenses: it doesn't look good, does it?

That leaves the tram: with a £40 million deficit for line b, critical to the waterfront (and the city's next major growth) development, the challenge is to make sure the money is there to build it. Let's see what they're made of now.