Location, Location, Location

I've just spotted that on Thursday last week - whilst I was woefully failing in my quest to catch a fish from the River Orchy - Edinburgh was awarded "the best place to live in the UK" award by the Channel 4 programme "Location, Location, Location".

I was astounded, but pleased, to see the Council Leader gushing positively about the wonderful merits of the city of Edinburgh in the official Council News Release - full text here:

“This result is great news for the city and confirms what we all know – Edinburgh is a great place to live, work, invest and visit. The city truly has the best of everything; stunning architecture, fantastic employment opportunities, a vibrant leisure and retail offering, abundant green space, outstanding schools and universities…the list goes on.

“This is the latest in a series of positive and independent accolades, continuing the well-deserved recognition for the businesses and communities that make Edinburgh an outstanding city. The results echo loud and clear the conclusions of a recent MORI Poll of Edinburgh citizens which showed record levels of satisfaction with the city. We are rightly proud of our excellent quality of life and I am delighted that Edinburgh has topped the poll.”

Well said indeed!

The official Council News Release then goes on to list some of Edinburgh's positive attributes:

• Edinburgh is a wonderfully green city, with approximately 40% of the urban area being green space including 147 parks, gardens and woodland areas
• In the last 9 years, 300 acres of new parks have been created in Edinburgh, and the new Parks and Gardens Strategy carries a £5 million investment
• Edinburgh is the jewel in the crown of the Scottish tourism economy providing a gateway to the rest of the country. Attracting 1.3million international visitors annually – 45% of all overseas tourists to Scotland.
• Visitors spend around £1.7billion in the city annually.
• We have some of the country’s most iconic tourism attractions including the Castle, Edinburgh Zoo, Holyrood Palace and the Scottish Parliament
• We have a growing population at 453,670 - a clear sign that people want to live in the city.
• With just 1.9% unemployment amongst our work-age citizens – well below the national average.
• Free personal and nursing care was introduced in July 2002 for people aged 65 and over. The number of people in Edinburgh currently receiving Free Personal or Nursing Care is 4,315
• Edinburgh was the first local authority to put in place an older people’s strategy – A City for All Ages. This strategy is now entering its second stage and has received extensive praise particularly around the meaningful involvement of older people themselves. It has also been nominated for a Eurocities Award in the innovation category.
• The City was awarded UNESCO World Heritage status in 1995 and is the world’s first City of Literature.
• Edinburgh is the UK’s place to visit for the perfect night out, according to an Amstel/Virgin Radio poll – thanks to the rich diversity and vibrancy of its venues.
  Edinburgh has also been voted European City of the Year at the 2006 Urbanism Awards.
• The city was praised by the judges for being an “attractive, safe and enticing place for people to play, visit and enjoy”.
• Edinburgh's unique ‘Get up and Go’ programme offers a one stop shop of hundreds of social, educational and sporting opportunities to people over the age of 50, and particularly at those who normally find it difficult to get involved in activities.
• Crime rates have dropped by 2% in the last year with Edinburgh having the lowest crime rate amongst all Scottish cities.
• The city also offers a wealth of sporting opportunities for all ages and has proudly staged a wide variety of national and international events. Next year sees the arrival of the World Cross Country Championships in March and the annual return of urban adventure racing in the form of the Rat Race.
• The latest addition, the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena at Ratho, is home to the world's largest indoor climbing arena and has 10,000 visitors each month.

Not one mention of that previous crowd who, some claim, ran the city so appallingly for the last 23 years and had supposedly left Edinburgh on the verge of meltdown??

What with the research for the above Award having been done in May and June 2007, I'd have thought the Liberals could have claimed they'd turned the city around in lightning-quick time and rescued it from a further 23 years of hell-and-servitude ...

... on reflection, not even they have the brass-neck for that one.