Talk of the Town: Bacon beats The Smiths hands down

ON top of his many accolades like top author, disability champion and music buff, Ian Rankin can now add (half-hearted) animal lover. Commenting on the 25th anniversary of The Smith's Meat is Murder, the Rebus author admitted the album turned him vegetarian . . . for three days.

Explaining his lack of dedication, Mr Rankin added: "Bacon's siren call is ten times stronger than Morrissey's."

'Male Pill' trials open doors for the legal vultures

TWENTY couples in the Capital are taking part in clinical trials of a new "male Pill" being developed by Edinburgh University. With two jags a month, the male volunteers will effectively trick their bodies into stopping producing sperm.

Scientists believe it could prove as effective as the Pill. But legal vultures may be circling, with the suggestion that a woman could sue a partner if he failed to get his jags and she fell pregnant.

Claims on Scotland

IF only Scotland had got the two points from their "extra' conversion in Cardiff on Saturday an agonising late defeat might have been staved off.

Spotted wearing a kilt was Nigel Brown despite being an Irishman. Then again, Nigel's son, Kelly, was one of the stars of the Scottish side, having been born here in Edinburgh, so "honorary nationality" is easily conferred, surely?

On the subject of tartan, a little bit of the Cardiff pitch was forever Scotland; how could it be otherwise when one of the Millennium Stadium ground-staff sported a kilt as he replaced divots?

Football talk best left to pros

POLITICIANS often like to gain some street cred by talking about football. But Edinburgh Pentlands Tory MSP and genuine Hearts fan David McLetchie must have cringed when his colleagues messed it up during a chat session he was compering at the Tories' conference in Perth last week.

The last question to be put to the panel was whether they would be supporting England in the World Cup. Annabel Goldie said her only awareness of football was Scotland coach Craig LEVINE and Shadow Scottish Secretary David Mundell referred to England manager Fabio CAPELLA.

It's a small world

ALISTAIR Darling has to fly to some faraway places on his mission to help tackle the global recession. A couple of weekends ago he was in a remote part of northern Canada for the G7 finance ministers meeting – but he discovered he wasn't so far from home after all.

"When I stepped off the plane on Baffin Island – between the Hudson Bay and Greenland – the first Canadian official I met at the airport was a man from Prestonpans."