Alexander McCall Smith, one of the world’s most popular writers and beloved Edinburgh writer of the endearing 44 Scotland Street series introduces his latest children’s book, Precious and the Mystery of Meerkat Hill. He briefly introduces his young audience to the heroine, Precious Ramotswe, the young detective, before opening up some entertaining discussion on the origin and characteristics of meerkats. I certainly learnt a lot about the creature. It is neither a cat nor a mere and  should you meet one they will immediately climb onto your head as they instinctively move to the highest point of their surroundings on the look out for predators!  

Becoming infamous for his remarks on corporal punishment following last year's August riots, MP for Tottenham David Lammy's summarised his views on the unrest in his new book Out of the Ashes: Britain after the Riots. His lecture yesterday at the Edinburgh International Book Festival explains all the key factors which Lammy attributes to the cause of the riots. Now call me a plebeian, but having just stepped off an exhausting ten hour coach ride from London, I was a little worried that I'd not quite be able to concentrate on the heavy-sounding speech. Fortunately however, Lammy turned out to be a compelling and exciting public speaker.