St Andrew Square, one of the main features of the Scottish capital’s glorious Georgian New Town, has for the first time been opened to the public. This being Edinburgh, it has all been done in the best possible taste. Two new gates, curved footpaths and a water feature encourage tourists and office workers to sprawl on the grass and enjoy their sandwiches. More realistically, a new glass pavilion has a coffee shop that is enjoying a roaring trade from those huddling against the rigours of the Scottish spring.

During the 19th century, the area was known as the city’s “Golden Square” because of its population of insurers and bankers. Many have moved on, but the square still contains the headquarters of Standard Life Investments and the registered office of Royal Bank of Scotland, even though RBS three years ago opened new global headquarters at Gogarburn, on the western outskirts of the city.

The £2.6m refurbishment of the gardens has also permitted a makeover and subtle illumination of the often ignored statue of Henry Dundas, which has since 1828 looked down on the square from the top of a 30-metre monument styled on Trajan’s column in Rome. Thanks to ruthless use of patronage and manipulation of the electoral system, Dundas had such a grip on 18th-century politics that he was known as “the uncrowned king of Scotland”.

To make sure the column stayed upright, nervous neighbours sought expert advice on the foundations from Robert Stevenson, lighthouse engineer and grandfather of the novelist Robert Louis Stevenson. So far, so good.

Deep thinking

Injecting free-market ideas into Scotland’s corporatist body politic can be a low-profile activity. But Reform Scotland, the new pro-business think-tank, excelled itself by holding a launch party in a venue in Edinburgh’s medieval Old Town known as The Caves.

Reopened after being closed for more than 100 years, the brick-lined vaults are on the site of the original Oyster Club, where in the 1770s Adam Smith and David Hume met to discuss the philosophical issues of the day. So it was not a bad venue for an organisation that aims to stimulate debate.

Annabel Goldie, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, sent apologies but her deputy, Murdo Fraser, was circulating in the gloom. Ben Thomson, the investment banker who chairs the new think-tank, hinted that local government could be an area up for early scrutiny by its researchers.

An illicit whisky still was found on the site of The Caves in 1804, said to have been working “to the severe injury of the Revenue”. This might strike a chord with those who suspect Reform Scotland’s enthusiasm for lower taxes and a smaller public sector will prove an unpalatable brew for most Holyrood politicians.

Actuarial uproar

Scottish actuaries may not actually be revolting, but some are very unhappy about the proposed merger of their 152-year-old Faculty of Actuaries with the even older London-based Institute of Actuaries. The two professional bodies already work closely together and were planning to vote on a merger in June.

The Scots put a spoke in that bandwagon last week, when a special meeting of the Edinburgh-based faculty voted for alternatives to a merger to be considered further. The Caledonian collywobbles came in spite of efforts to persuade the faculty’s 2,667 members they would not be swamped by the 15,691-strong institute.

The proposed merged body would continue to have a Scottish council and the first president of the joint body would be Ronnie Bowie, a member of the faculty. It was also planned that the English institute’s motto, certum ex incertis (“certainty out of uncertainty”) should be dropped in favour of the Scots’ ad finem fidelis (“faithful to the end”).

Perhaps prophetically, Stewart Ritchie, president of the faculty, had said before the vote that he had been uneasy about the institute’s motto for some time, because actuaries were concerned with the management of risk – not the removal of uncertainty.

Mr Ritchie and Nick Dumbreck, institute president, have written to members, acknowledging that any merger vote is now likely to take place later than June. Only 137 members voted at the faculty meeting, so perhaps the original merger plan will prevail. But, as any actuary will tell you, forecasting is a tricky business.

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