The demise of Newsflash Edinburgh (cont)

Brass necks aren’t all that hard to come by - indeed they can usually be found on anyone with a thick skin, few social graces, a lack of self awareness or the ability to demand favours they’ve never earned.

But credit to Frank Gilbride for having the shiniest and most heavily polished brass neck I’ve heard about in a very long time.

On Friday he dropped the bombshell on staff that he was shutting down the Newsflash operation in Edinburgh with immediate effect. Which I gather came as a particular shock to two of his longest-standing and most loyal staffers, Jenny Morrison and photographer Callum Moffat.

There doesn’t seem to be any pay-offs on the table to sweeten the sudden job losses. As I understand it there was no prior consultation and no advance warning. Just a summons to the office to hear the news that Monday would be a New Dawn on the jobs front (ie, you huvnae got one).

So when Saturday came and a whole - woo - 12 hours had passed, Frank was understandably put out by a phone call to his Central Scotland mansion advising him that the alarm was sounding in his now deserted Edinburgh offices, with an urgent request for the keyholder to attend and switch it off.

His first thought wasn’t to rouse himself and make the long drive into Edinburgh. Nope. Insteade he phoned both Jenny and Callum and aksed if either of them could take care of it. Presumably he figured that without jobs to go to, his formere loyal apparatchicks would be glad of something to occupy their leisure time. On a Saturday. Just half a day after being broken the bitter news.

Now that’s a brass neck with a large sprinkling of extra front. So sing along with me -  Shee-ine up your buttons with Brasso … (ad infinatum).