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Ed is right, Edinburgh is becoming a mess, and that's because for more and more of the year (not just the month of the Festival) the only people it can think about are tourists. So more buildings become hotels and bars, more shops sell Chinese-made 'Scottish' tat, more flats become rented as 'party flats' (pity the residents who have to share their stairs with them on a twelve-month basis), the Old Town in particular becomes a shabby theme park, and the only aim of the city is to give a visitor a 24-48 hour 'experience'. Tourism is fine, at the moment we are all still doing it, but sometimes tourists want to come and see real things and real places where real people live interesting lives. Edinburgh needs to pay more attention to building up the long-term value of Edinburgh as a place to live in, for its own citizens, future citizens, as well as visitors.