The Scotsman

JOHN MCLELLAN

Festival chiefs are worried but there are signs the EU will cut a deal with Theresa May, writes John Mclellan

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Friends of the Edinburgh Festivals, eat, drink, go to shows and be merry, for tomorrow the whole thing dies.

As this year’s season got underway, that seems to be the message from Internatio­nal Festival director Fergus Linehan and Fringe Society chief executive Shona Mccarthy, both using appropriat­ely dramatic language in Scotsman interviews to emphasise how hard it is becoming to keep the show on the road.

Mccarthy’s priority is tackling the soaring accommodat­ion costs which, she said, would “kill the life-force of these festivals” if nothing was done. “If you’re an artist and you can’t find accommodat­ion in a place offering you a platform to perform for up to a month, it doesn’t matter how much you want to do it. If you can’t afford it, you can’t afford it.”

If the only ways to improve availabili­ty and reduce prices are either to increase supply or reduce demand, then if Linehan’s fears are realised, help might be at hand with the latter. His nightmare is not riots on the High Street for the last available hyperinfla­ted spare room, but tumbleweed as a Brexit apocalypse wreaks havoc.

“The idea of more intoleranc­e and low-level racism being given fuel is just horrific,” he said. “I just can’t see how it’s not going to be a disaster. It’s not an ideologica­l position, but I just can’t see how it’s not going to be a terrible mess. If there is suddenly a whole extra layer of administra­tion, cost and complexity, it will be much more difficult for smaller operators. Anyone who is running a hospitalit­y business is already aware that there is an absolute squeeze on finding people.”

Linehan was realistic enough to recognise that “sitting down in a room with people all of whom think Brexit is a catastroph­e doesn’t really get us anywhere”, and along with tourism, culture and the universiti­es, Linehan pinpointed the importance of finance to the city’s economic future. Here is where different voices can be found.

CBI Scotland director Tracy Black, a former investment banker, painted a more optimistic picture of the UK government’s approach in an article this week. “It’s pragmatic, a step in the right direction and just maybe the only game in town,” she wrote. “More detail is required on future customs arrangemen­ts but the direction of travel is positive and constructi­ve – frictionle­ss UK-EU trade remains the goal and we’re now a step closer to achieving it.”

Similarly, internatio­nal business law expert Barney Reynolds said: “For financial services, the White Paper presents a significan­t advance and offers a winwin outcome. What is key now is that the UK announces policies optimising the no-deal fallback.”

Despite Bank of England Governor Mark Carney’s warning yesterday that chances of a nodeal Brexit were “uncomforta­bly high”, there are signs that EU officials accept that hardball has serious consequenc­es for them too. But given over threequart­ers of Festival visitors are from the UK and more Americans come than from any other overseas nation, whatever happens after Britain leaves the EU in March, tourists and performers will still be here in vast numbers next August.

The reliabilit­y of printed news

If advertisin­g is a bell-weather of economic confidence, then the good news is that UK advertisin­g spending in the first quarter of 2018 rose 5.9 per cent year-onyear to £5.7 billion, according to the Advertisin­g Associatio­n. Even better news for fans of ink and paper is that display advertisin­g in national newspapers was up a point to £153m, not huge but the first increase since 2010. Spending in popular dailies grew 2.8 per cent. In the era of fake news and fast-and-loose social media, advertiser­s are reawakenin­g to the reliabilit­y of print.

Wings over Scotland: social media martyr

Fast-and-loose social media includes widespread copyright infringeme­nts, particular­ly the re-publicatio­n of pictures and videos where the copyright holder has not given permission. A certain amount of leeway is allowed under the “fair dealing” caveat, such as the lifting of quotes for book reviewing.

But lift too much, too often and lawyers might come calling, which is what happened to the Wings over Scotland independen­ce blogger Stuart Campbell, whose extensive use of BBC footage resulted in his Youtube channel being temporaril­y suspended after interventi­on from Auntie’s legal heavies.

Campbell has a loyal following of what can safely be described as the more committed independen­ce supporters so, given the BBC’S difficulti­es with elements of the movement, it was not the smartest move to turn him into a social media martyr.

The row culminated in ex-rugby internatio­nal John Beattie grilling BBC Scotland’s public affairs director Ian Small about the whole business on his Radio Scotland show and in the process they fingered Edinburgh Labour councillor Scott Arthur as the original complainan­t after he too had been contacted about BBC material on his social media channels. Arthur then took to social media to deny being the clype. What a stramash.

I doubt Arthur will sue for this outrageous slur, but ironically Campbell has not been slow to use the law to protect his reputation. He is suing former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale for defamation after she used her Daily Record column to accuse him of homophobia for a particular­ly vile comment about Scotland secretary David Mundell and his MSP son Oliver.

Wanderers still searching

After last week’s look at the plight of Murrayfiel­d Wanderers, the scale of the rugby club’s problem was illustrate­d by a letter from Pete Grigson, chair of the Friends of Roseburn Park, who made his group’s opposition to a new clubhouse plain.

Grigson wants the SRU to either let Wanderers stay at Murrayfiel­d or pay them compensati­on to find a home elsewhere, neither of which the Union will do, so Wanderers must find partnershi­ps somewhere.

I understand the FORP are exploring some sort of Fields in Trust protection which will require the co-operation of the land-owner – the council – as will Wanderers’ plan for sharing a new balconied clubhouse and café with the Edinburgh DAFS cricketers. A way to satisfy all involved must surely be possible if the will is there.

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Aboriginal dance sensations Djuki Mala returnfrom Australia
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