Helicopters in Edinburgh cause a stir on Twitter

Dozens of Twitterers near Edinburgh, Scotland, were all atwitter today about multiple helicopters hovering in and around the city for at least 45 minutes.

The incident was similar to the Twitter buzz in another city, Melbourne, Australia, where helicopters circled on March 19. That case ended up being anti-terrorism training.

The reason the Edinburgh helicopters were in the sky was still unknown at the time of this post, but speculation was rampant:

1. 
   andrewghayes (Edinburgh) Hmmm - the royals must be in Edinburgh. A whole entourage of helicopters doing some 'maneuvering' over at the palace. 02 May 2009 from TweetDeck
2. 
   queens_hall (Edinburgh) #edinburgh Helicopter over Edinburgh could be scoping for tomorrow's 10K TV coverage? 02 May 2009 from Nambu
3. 
   blip2 (Edinburgh) @breakingtweets Helicopters over Edinburgh owned by PLM DOLLAR GROUP LTD -> http://tinyurl.com/cp3uzv -> http://twitpic.com/4f1x5 02 May 2009 from web in reply to breakingtweets
4. 
   14zombies (Edinburgh) Adding to the list of tweets about the mysterious helicopters over Edinburgh, escaped con? Govt conspiracy? aliens in disguise? I hope all 3 02 May 2009 from web

The helicopters puzzled and even agitated some Twitterers.

1. 
   gonzo_rosco (Edinburgh) What's with all the helicopters hovering overhead? It's like apocalypse now outside 02 May 2009 from txt
2. 
   flickitten (Edinburgh) I can still hear those sinister helicopters... Why are they here? What do they want?! Edinburgh is not the sort of place you see this! 02 May 2009 from TwitKit
3. 
   maniacyak (Edinburgh) 3 helicopters hovering in the vicinity of my flat. Beginning to get paranoid. 02 May 2009 from Tweetie
4. 
   thatscottisheng (Edinburgh) Though royals are in edinburgh - these helicopters aren't hovering over the same bits of town - over medows now 02 May 2009 from twidroid
5. 
   flickitten (Edinburgh) why are the helicopters STILL HERE?! 02 May 2009 from web
6. 
   chrisdonia (Edinburgh) Helicopters circling overhead and slowly lowering themselves is a surefire route to paranoia. 02 May 2009 from twidroid
7. 
   iamloes (Edinburgh) Wondering why there's 3 helicopters hovering above Edinburgh... 02 May 2009 from TwitterFon
8. 
   alitheg (Edinburgh) #Helicopters have left #edinburgh now, so it seems. As well as a camera, one seemed to have a bright light underneath 02 May 2009 from web
9. 
   dnwood (Edinburgh) Watched the helicopters with Alistair up on the Crags until they left... that was very nearly 45 minutes of hovering. Bizarre. 02 May 2009 from web

If you have information on why the incident occurred, please contact us @breakingtweets or leave a comment.

Helicopters in Edinburgh cause a stir on Twitter

Booze nation: Scotland's drinking crack-down

Per The Scotsman, the Scottish Government has unveiled a new range of proposals to cut down on the problems of alcohol binge drinking in Scotland. The BBC Scotland website reports that measures include minimum prices for alcohol, stopping special offers such as "two for one" on booze, and also raising the minimum age for buying alcohol in liquor stores to 21.

Twitter users have been pouring a drink and sitting down in front of the computer to express their thoughts on the subject:

@bidderb0y (United Kingdom) im wondering, if scotland are goig to set a minimum price per unit alcohol will we see scots booze cruising to england?



@neilcochrane (Glasgow, Scotland) raising the alcohol age to 21 is Scotland? the world's busiest Tesco, coming soon to Carlisle



@savescottishpub (Scotland) There may be progress in stamping down on cheap supermarket alcohol deals - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/




@kbuk (England) Return to find the Government now wishes to control the price of a drink in Scotland and up the age of consent. Prohibition anyone?

@kbuk Sadly, our liberties continue to be curtailed, even where the government is the cause of the Scots hiding in drink.

@fabulosity1 (London, England) Is impressed that they are taking minimum pricing of alcohol seriously in Scotland! Finally..



@Robie2002 (London, England) what was it we said about freedom & rights at the introduction of the smoking ban http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/



@finlays (Edinburgh, Scotland) It really is time I left the People's Republic of Scotland. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/



@MatthewEley (London) If minimum pricing goes ahead in Scotland does that mean it is inevitable in the rest of the country? http://is.gd/lpjc



Fitness magazine Men's Health UK tweets about a Scottish Government plan to use a puppet to teach eight and nine-year-olds about the dangers of alcohol abuse.

@MensHealthUK Rory the puppet is going to save Scotland's kids from the evils of booze. I'll drink to that.



Scottish Psychiatrist David Christmas also notes some other recent statistics on Scotland's drink culture:

@dchristmas (Dundee, Scotland) Cost of alcohol misuse (£2.25 billion per year) is more than 25% of all money spent on the NHS in Scotland. tinyurl.com/c9zku3

@dchristmas More alcohol woes in Scotland - alcohol-related hospital discharges up 20% in five years. tinyurl.com/c9zku3



And just to paint a more cheerful picture of life in Scotland, here's a great photograph by new Twitter user @ejbluefolds (Glenlivet, Scotland)

Booze nation: Scotland's drinking crack-down

Broke bank chief in pension stand-off

Per BBC Scotland, the former chief of the Royal Bank of Scotland Sir Fred Goodwin is refusing to give up his £16 million ($22.6 million) pension, despite his company posting record losses of £24 billion ($34 billion) and receiving a multi-billion dollar bailout from the British Government.

The story is headline news at all the Scottish newspaper websites. Edinburgh's The Scotsman reports that the former bank boss is "defiant" about giving up any of his pension. Meanwhile The Glasgow Herald uses video interviews to tell the story and Aberdeen's Press & Journal claims that Sir Fred is "furious" details of his pension plan have been leaked to the media.

Here's what Twitter users have to say on the subject - including news that Sir Fred Goodwin might himself be on Twitter:

@handlewithcare (Shoreditch, London) Surprised that Fred Goodwin's £16m pension makes the front page when the govt's £300bn bet on RBS gets shunted to page 6




@DavidTurner1 (Yorkshire, UK) Hands up who expected RBS's Fred Goodwin to give up his pension? He's a banker - if they gave a damn, they'd be social workers.




@LesArmitage (Rufford, England) Hey I bank at the RBS too. Will they dump my toxic debt with theirs :)




@Jimble1 (Swindon, England) Can you believe Sir Fred Goodwin is unwilling to give up any of his pension even though he has manged to lead RBS to failure




@GillyLiz (London, England) I think they should give the RBS boss a big chinese burn until he coughs up his pension




@foshjedi2004 (Swansea, Wales) thinks a 600k pension to the RBS guy is wrong - he should be forced to have a state pension! Its not as if he isn't already a millionaire..




@ryanajarrett (Kent, England) Apparently ex-RBS boss Fred Goodwin is on Twitter - is this for real? Either way, I wonder how much abuse he'll get! http://bit.ly/yqUtJ


However, the @sirfredgoodwin account does not appear to be authentic. Its first updates only came hours ago, and as a breaking news story develops, that is often a red flag for an impostor.

Broke bank chief in pension stand-off