The Howff

The Howff Cemetery sits in the City Centre in a square surrounded by four streets. Two of the streets' buildings back onto the cemetery whilst the other two provide a view into the cemetery. The Howff is no Pere Lachaise. It is tiny in comparison and it cannot boast the likes of Jim Morrison or Edith Piaf amongst its residents. However the Howff holds its own as the only remaining inner city cemetery left in Dundee and is locally immortalised in history as the place where the 7 incorporated trades held their meetings in the middle ages.

These have long ceased. The 18th and 19th century gravestones stand in varying degrees of opulence and disrepair. Earlier gravestones have long since shed their identities. They stand in solitude alongside the delightful trees, bushes and flowers that are tended by our local parks department.

The Howff represents an oasis in the heart of the City. Sitting on one of the benches I am able to forget that I am in Dundee. You do not feel that you are in the City Centre. On a sunny day I could be anywhere - Edinburgh, York, Bath, Paris. It is the calm beauty that permeates and takes one away into another world.

2011 - The Planking Year

A bit of fun, but risks of planking craze should not be taken lying down. A surreal internet craze that led to the death of a man in Australia this month is sweeping across Dundee. Planking involves a person lying face down in front of, or on, an unusual object or public place and then uploading a picture of the scene to the internet.

A Facebook group called Planking Dundee had nearly 2700 followers this morning. Although many of the photographs are intended to be humorous — such as a squad of painters and decorators all planking over pasting tables — others pose on dangerous, difficult-to-reach locations.

The Planking Dundee page also contains photos of people planking on a pillar outside Dundee Sheriff Court, on car roofs, post boxes and even on top of wheelie bins. Others have opted to plank on landmarks such as the statue on Riverside Drive. However, some people have risked serious injury or even their lives by posing for photos on third-storey windowsills, on roofs and even on top of chimneys.

Safety campaigners issued warnings about the risks of the fad earlier this week after pictures appeared online of a Sunderland man planking on the Wear Bridge. This month Australian Acton Beale died after falling from a seventh-floor balcony in Brisbane after trying to plank on its railings. The accident even prompted Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to call for a ban on planking. A spokesman for the Scottish Ambulance Service said nobody should risk their life for a fad.

"We would always have concerns if people are putting themselves in harm's way, especially for a craze," he said. "We would have to deal with any incident but if people are putting themselves at risk then we would be concerned about the potential increase in ambulance calls."

Extreme Weather Continues

Scotland continues to have its fair share of extreme weather. Following on from the worst winter snow for many a year we were transfixed as a tree in the Howff Cemetery threatened to topple. Elsewhere gale force winds of up to 100 mph left commuters stranded as power cables and trees blocked roads and overhead cables on the rail network were interrupted due to falling debris. The Tay and Forth Road Bridges were closed as were major tourist attractions including Edinburgh Zoo, Stirling Castle and the Falkrik Wheel.

The winds, which reached nearly 80mph, caused damage across the city. Several people watched in horror as trees were uprooted and crashed against their homes or on to vehicles. The Tay Road Bridge was closed while several other main routes around the city, including parts of the Kingsway, had to be closed temporarily due to fallen trees and branches. Police said they received dozens of calls within half an hour as the winds peaked shortly after 2pm.

Part of the roof of the Bay View Bar in Earn Crescent, Menzieshill, blew off after 5pm, striking a woman who was walking in the area. She was taken to Ninewells Hospital with neck and back injuries. Her condition was not known last night but when taken into the ambulance she was breathing and conscious.

The storm blew a piece of metal railing from a building on to a taxi in Meadowside, narrowly missing a pedestrian. The three-foot L-shaped corner section plunged on to the vehicle, causing significant damage.

Part of High Street in Dundee was cordoned off as a precaution as the wind blew sections of roofing from several buildings. Perth Road at Seafield Road was also closed last night after a chimney pot fell from the roof of a tenement building on to a bus shelter. Firefighters raced to the scene and removed other chimney pots that were loose and in danger of falling.

In Albany Terrace an 80-foot tree was uprooted completely, blocking the road and causing extensive damage to two cars parked on the opposite side of the road. Trevor White's Fiat Punto was badly damaged by the fallen tree and he said it was lucky nobody had been killed." I was working at home in the back of the house when I heard the crash. I originally thought something had fallen at the back but couldn't see anything then somebody came to the door to tell me that my car was damaged," he said. Another large tree blocked Constitution Road after being blown over there.

Elsewhere in Dundee, Graeme Paul had a lucky escape as he dodged out of the way of a falling 50ft tree with just seconds to spare. The Broughty Ferry Road resident had gone to warn his neighbours Helen and Mike Lukas that a tree near their house was in danger of toppling. However, as he was ringing the doorbell, the tree fell on to the house. Luckily, Mr Paul was able to scramble out of the way and escape injury. He said, "They've been quite lucky it hasn't damaged the house more. Last year a tree came down and blocked the road but these are the worst winds we've had since we moved here eight years ago." Although the tree fell against the side of the house, it does not appear to have caused any major damage. Mrs Lukas said, "Obviously some of the slates have come off and the rhones are damaged but all the windows are secure. We were both at home. It happened very quickly and it was quite a crash — I've never heard such a loud noise."

Shabana Yaqub (22), of Lammerton Terrace, saw her Peugeot crushed by another falling tree. "I was about to go to work when I saw the tree had fallen. I knew I had parked my car there and I hoped it would have missed but it hadn't. Luckily, it doesn't seem too badly damaged but the car across the road has been."

Sheila Morely, from Dawson Road, returned home to a nasty surprise. "I got home about 2pm and found a tree from the college and blown over and demolished the car port," she said. "It's resting on top of the garage roof but we don't how much damage has been done."

Menzieshill residents Francis Quinn (70) and Irene Gray (65) escaped serious injury after a 40ft tree plunged into their Dickson Avenue home. The couple's patio doors were smashed and a garden wall was knocked down. Mr Quinn, who is retired, said he initially thought the deafening crash was a loud boom of thunder. "I was just in the kitchen and my partner was sitting in the living room watching the television when the tree came crashing down," he said. "It has broken my patio windows, and the wall has been knocked down and all the stuff on the patio has been damaged. I heard the crash and I really thought it was thunder but then I heard my partner shouting and screaming."

The Met Office recorder at Glenogil in Angus saw wind speeds of 79mph and winds are expected to reach 40 to 50mph today. A spokesman for the Met Office said, "There were severe gales across the area, reaching speeds of up to 70mph and even more on the Tay Bridge. Winds will be fresh and strong on Tuesday but nothing like as bad."

Osama Bin Laden Jokes

Such is the speed with which we can communicate using today's technology, it is never long before major events circulate the globe and their accompanying jokes do likewise.

The death of Osama bin Laden was met by a predictably rapid barrage of online jokes. Within hours, and as details of the attack were still emerging, there was frenzied comment on Twitter, Facebook and other social media.

Versions of "Osama dead: Donald Trump demands the death certificate" were quickly tweeted, retweeted and posted. Sikipedia, meanwhile, was swiftly adding to "the world's best collection of sick jokes". Posts included "So, Osama Bin Laden is dead. Shall we have another bank holiday?"

On Twitter, Prodnose – aka the comedian Danny Baker – was getting in on the act. "Taliban say Bin Laden death a 'setback' but won't give up on dream of world domination until 'mathematically impossible'.

Dave Gorman added: "Now would be a good time to release bad news. If only everyone who had bad news to get out of the way hadn't released it on Friday."

And DanaArikane wrote: "They should have captured Bin Laden alive and made him continually go through airport security for the rest of his life."

Paul-Arthur on Quora wrote: "Bin Laden must have had his contact info in his PSN [PlayStation] account" (there were myriad variations on this theme involving iPhone apps and Facebook) and "RIP Osama bin Laden, World Hide and Go Seek Champion (2001-2011)".

On Yahoo one user offered: "What did al-Qaida learn from Osama bin Laden's death? Location, location, location." Alaskanyakdessert was on Youtube within an hour of the end of Obama's address saying: "At least he got to see the royal wedding before he went out." And: "This is good news for the other guys on the top 10 wanted list – finally they get to move up in the rankings."

The shelf-life of such Bin Laden "jokes" may be rather short. Soon after the initial burst of comment, Twitter users were expressing gag fatigue. By 10.13am amyplusbaby tweeted: "Oh I am so over hearing Osama jokes/hearing about him at all. Bore OFF."

Election Apathy in Lochee

Well I played my part in the democratic process last night working as a Presiding Officer at Dundee Housing Office Community Lounge in Dundee. It was a strange experience - three ballot papers - one for the Dundee West MSP, one for the regional list and one for the referendum on alternative voting which few people seemed to understand. A well intentioned effort to make things easier for voters by colour coding the ballot papers with the ballot boxes fell foul of the choice of colours - lilac, peach and grey, but in shades that were so light they were not that distinguishable in the light of the polling place. Give us neon colours next time!

But more importantly, with a voting list of 650 voters and a turnout of under 200, the active interest could be described as apathetic. No doubt those same people will be the first to complain when it suits them.

The White House Backtracks on Bin Laden

By Mark Mardell, BBC Editor for North America

The White House has had to correct its facts about the killing of Bin Laden, and for some that has diminished the glow of success that has surrounded all those involved in the operation. Bin Laden wasn't armed when he was shot. It raises suspicions that this was indeed a deliberate shoot-to-kill operation. Here are the inaccuracies in the first version. The woman killed was not his wife. No woman was used as a human shield. And he was not armed. The president's press secretary Jay Carney suggested this was the result of trying to provide a great deal of information in a great deal of haste.

I can largely accept that. There is no mileage in misleading people and then correcting yourself. But the president's assistant national security advisor John Brennan had used the facts he was giving out to add a moral message - this was the sort of man Bin Laden was, cowering behind his wife, using her as a shield. Nice narrative. Not true. In fact, according to Carney this unarmed woman tried to attack the heavily armed Navy Seal. In another circumstance that might even be described as brave.

Jay Carney said that Bin Laden didn't have to have a gun to be resisting. He said there was a great deal of resistance in general and a highly volatile fire fight. The latest version says Bin Laden's wife charged at the US commando and was shot in the leg, but not killed. The two brothers, the couriers and owners of the compound, and a woman were killed on the ground floor of the main building. This version doesn't mention Bin Laden's son, who also died.

By this count only three men, at the most, were armed. I do wonder how much fight they could put up against two helicopters' worth of Navy Seals. Does any of this matter? Well, getting the fact right is always important. You can't make a judgment without them. We all make mistakes, and journalists hate doing so because it makes people trust us less. For those involved an operation like this, time must go past in a confused and noisy instant, and they aren't taking notes. Confusion is very understandable. But you start to wonder how much the facts are being massaged now, to gloss over the less appealing parts of the operation. And of course there is the suspicion that the US never wanted to take Bin Laden alive. Here at least many see a trial as inconvenient, awkward - a chance for terrorists to grandstand. Look at all the fuss about the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

In the confusion of a raid it's hard to see how the Seals could be sure that Bin Laden wasn't armed, didn't have his finger on the trigger of a bomb, wasn't about to pull a nasty surprise. If he had his hands in the air shouting "don't shoot" he might have lived, but anything short of that seems to have ensured his death. I suspect there will be more worry about this in Britain and Europe than in the US. That doesn't mean we are right or wrong. It is a cultural difference. We are less comfortable about frontier justice, less forgiving about even police shooting people who turn out to be unarmed, perhaps less inculcated with the Dirty Harry message that arresting villains is for wimps, and real justice grows from the barrel of a gun. Many in America won't be in the slightest bit bothered that a mass murderer got what was coming to him swiftly, whether he was trying to kill anyone in that instant or not.

How The Bin Ladens Lived

The BBC's Orla Guerin looks around the perimeter of Bin Laden's compound.

A fortified compound in a quiet suburb was home to the world's most wanted man, Osama Bin Laden, and a few close associates. The building was also reportedly home to several of his wives, numerous children and domestic helpers. But what kind of life did they lead? They certainly lived an isolated existence and had barely any contact with their affluent and congenial neighbours, residents in the area told the BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Abbottabad. Their desire for privacy was so marked that people left them well alone. They did not mix with others and were never seen at local wedding celebrations or other community occasions. A reporter from Pakistan's Express TV even tweeted that one neighbour said when local children hit a cricket ball into the compound, they were not allowed to retrieve it. Every now and then what looked like bullet-proof vehicles would go in and out of the compound, but security gates would slide shut immediately afterwards, locals told the BBC.

Goat Delivery

But living in an urban area such as Abbottabad does require some contact with the outside world and a few people have spoken about the Bin Ladens' habits and routines. A newspaper hawker told the BBC that he delivered newspapers to the compound every day and at the end of each month his bill was promptly paid, always by the same man.

He never stepped inside the compound and his impression was that only one person lived there but, he added, that every now and then he saw a red pick-up vehicle, with a goat inside, being driven to the compound. US officials said their long-term observation of the compound revealed that the inhabitants burned their rubbish inside the compound, rather than leaving it outside to be collected. Another neighbour also told the BBC's M Ilyas Khan that there was a domestic helper who lived in the area and who went into the compound to clean and to work in the kitchen. She divulged very few details but said that she never saw Osama Bin Laden in the house. The residents of the compound clearly employed a number of domestic helpers. Abbottabad hospital staff have told the BBC Urdu service that among those being treated in the wake of the raid are two women believed to be maids employed by the family.

The area around the compound was opened up to the media on Tuesday and among those reporters in the vicinity was Associated Press correspondent Nahal Toosi, who was tweeting her observations.

"I am in a bldg across from cpd. Looks like servants quarters. Piles of clothes, pillows on floor. Broken clock on ground. Stopped at 2:20," he reports. He also notes a mouldy lentil stew in a pot, half-eaten bread and an old television set.

"I report, you decide," she tweets, when she observes a bicycle covered with fake flowers now parked outside one of the entry ways.

Who else lived there?

US officials say that satellite spying technology allowed them to determine that a family was living in the house with two men. Two Pakistani men were seen around the compound, according to BBC Urdu's Rahimullah Yusufzai, who has also kept in touch with a network of local journalists. He says all their researches indicate the house was being rented by two brothers. These are not to be confused with the "couriers" that the CIA appears to have been tracking. These two men, according to neighbours, seemed to be in control of the household.

When our correspondent asked the neighbour if there were any children living in the compound, he said that there were none. But then his 14-year-old son interjected saying that there were a few boys who lived in that compound and that they used to go to one of the shops in the area to buy goods. But, he told our reporter, he never spoke to the boys. Other media reports say that children from the compound were despatched to buy food from local shops.

Kitchen Garden

As media access to the area increases, all kinds of observations have been trickling out.

Mr Yusufzai was told by other neighbours that one man from the house would go out on his own for a large shopping trip in which he purchased many items

Local police told al Jazeera's Imtiaz Tyab that there was a kitchen garden and some chickens were kept too, indicating, they say, that it was a self-sufficient compound where they could grow their own food

Nick Robertson of CNN observed on Twitter that neighbours say the "Osama entourage" passed themselves off as gold merchants

Sky News quotes Jibran Khan who said that tall Pakistani men lived in the house and said that a friend of his who ran into the men at a local bakery said they were always very courteous.

One point on which all observers are united is that the women were rarely seen. Most people assumed that this is because they were Pashtun, and they tend to observe strict purdah. The children of the compound were not thought to be attending school, neighbours told local journalists. They assumed that they were simply schooled at home - although this cannot be verified. Staff at the hospital where the injured were taken told local journalists that the wounded from the compound speak Pashto and Arabic.

Waziristan 'Mansion'

The spacious and prosperous homes in these areas are known as "havelis" and, according to local journalists speaking to the BBC, the Bin Laden home was known as "Waziristan Haveli" or "mansion" - named after the semi-autonomous tribal area where many until now assumed Bin Laden was sheltering. Although the compound sits in relative isolation, it is situated in an up-and-coming area and a number of people have recently built their homes nearby. But Pakistan's Express TV says that people in Abbottabad report it is common to go for up to 16 hours a day without electricity.

Satellite images between 2005 and 2011 reflect the change in the area and also show how the compound itself has expanded as more outbuildings, walls and privacy features have been built. And there are notices placed on Pakistani property and land websites, advertising land for sale in the "delightful climate and surroundings" of Abbottabad. Land for sale can also be found in the Hashmi Colony area, very close to the Bin Laden compound. The area is seen as secure and stable. Just a few hundred metres north is Pakistan's prestigious Kakul Military Academy. And property is available here too. According to the seller, "it's a very secuir [sic] place near army farm house army jeeps takes 100 rounds in a day so very safe place to live". Details from US officials reveal that there were no phone or internet lines into the house and that there were very few windows. US officials also refer to a private 7ft high wall surrounding a room on the second floor of the building. US officials released an image of a bedroom on the second floor, showing a double bed strewn with pillows and cushions. The floors are blood-stained: this is said to be the room in which Bin Laden was killed.