Talk of the Town: Vlad wings it with the city's stags and hens

COULD Vladimir Romanov's influence be creeping beyond Tynecastle? How else to explain the creation of the first direct flight to Lithuania from the Capital.

Maybe Lithuanian citizen Vlad wants to cut costs in jetting back to Vilnius to oversee his multi-million pound business empire by taking advantage of new budget airline fares which start at 25.

So long as he's happy to keep company with the hordes of stag and hen parties which will no doubt be using the flights to get to the up and coming party destination.

Perhaps the new flights will help Edinburgh export more stag and hen parties than it currently imports.

Councillors relish a heated debate after cold spell

THE Evening News reported on the concern of councillors at the December meeting of full council.

Councillors sported hats and scarves and even brought out rugs as temperatures plummeted with no sign of the heating being turned on during a marathon meeting that lasted until nearly 11pm.

It was so bad that Tory councillor Kate McKenzie believes the temperature may have dropped below the level required by health and safety guide lines. This month, she wanted to make sure it didn't happen again, so brought in a thermometer to keep a check on temperatures.

"76 degrees," she reported during the meeting. "Nice and warm."

Winter warmers

IS THE NHS suggesting too many couples in Scotland have a quiet winter social diary? NHS Scotland has released a study showing more babies are born in the summertime than at any other time of year.

It links the upturn in productivity to Scotland's long, dark nights. The campaign statement begins: "Statistics show that Scotland's long dark nights are followed by a summer baby boom."

Between 2005 and 2009 an average of 450 more babies were born in the third quarter (July-September) compared to the next highest quarter for births. Well if there's nothing else to do . . .

Judy's Li Na period

SO, ANDY Murray crashed and burned at the Australian Open and for his followers those nervous stints peering out behind the sofa while he plays are over.

What will also be missed is mum Judy's blog for Tennis Scotland without which we wouldn't know that Belgian women's star Justine Henin speaks to her dog, Deuce, every evening from Melbourne by skype; that one Oz paper has termed a veteran's event, rather unkindly, "the are they not dead yet doubles" and a rising Chinese player is losing weight. After all, she's called Li Na (gettit?). To be fair, Judy claims she was sent that last one in a text from her brother.