Policing costs - 'Capital being punished for its success'

Whether or not there is a single police force covering Scotland in future, or four or five, the question of how to ensure the Capital gets its fair share of the resources available will continue to rankle.

Today we reveal the huge financial strain that has been placed on the Lothian and Borders force by some of the major national events of recent months.

The Pope's visit, the Tommy Sheridan perjury investigation and last summer's climate change protests together ran up costs of more than 2.3 million - at a time when police forces across the country are braced for savage cuts.

Yet, in the Sheridan case, for instance, no-one involved even lived locally and the key events - apart from the Court of Session hearings - took place elsewhere.

With no established rules for funding such special events the fear is that Lothian and Borders will be left to shoulder all or most of the costs once again.

Our police do an excellent job in often trying circumstances for which they are rarely given all the credit they deserve.

But by putting such pressure on their budget we are in danger of asking them to keep doing this with one hand tied behind their backs.

What makes this worse is that it is part of a wider pattern.

Don't forget, a third of the business rates raised in the city are taken to pay for local services elsewhere, and the success of our tourism industry continues to nourish that in other parts of the country.

There is an imbalance in the way the Capital is treated which smacks of being punished for our success, and whichever party forms the next government after May must address this problem.

Right direction

it is not just stranded motorists now who need to thank US military chiefs for giving GPS to the world.

Seventeen-year-old schoolboy Craig Nibloe is getting to his special school on his own for the first time thanks to the global satellite positioning technology.

At a cost of just 25 a month per kit there seems to be no reason why many more youngsters across the Capital cannot soon enjoy the same freedom.

Congratulations to all those involved in this pioneering project. And good luck to Craig who is now looking forward to navigating a college course.