The Scotsman

The historic Old and New Towns of Edinburgh rightly earn their place on UNESCO's list of 754 World Heritage sites worthy of protection. The city has been on the list since 1995. However, since then, it seems that invoking the UNESCO brand name has only served to hide problems with urban regeneration policy in the Capital. In the first place, the ever-growing UNESCO Word Heritage list no longer confers uniqueness or automatically tempts the global traveller. The UNESCO bureaucracy, as with all UN agencies, has to play buggin's turn, so practically every UN member state from Albania to Turkmenistan has something on the list. These include national parks in the jungles of Colombia and the Congo, though we would not advise any tourist to visit just yet; modern architecture in Brasilia; Dubrovnik, unfortunately shelled to rubble during the Balkan wars; the entire Loire Valley and its vineyards (a very French notion); modern Tel-Aviv (it was laid out by Sir Patrick Geddes); the Hiroshima Peace Memorial; the jail on Robben Island where they locked up Nelson Mandela; and not forgetting the Statue of Liberty. Nor does being on the list bring UNESCO cash - the UK is too rich to merit aid.