A PORRIDGE lover in Edinburgh has started a new business with big ambitions to help feed the world – as well as local people and tourists. The Porridge Box, based in the Old Police Box outside Edinburgh’s Tron Kirk in Hunter Square, will be donating a portion of its profits to Mary’s Meals, the charity that feeds more than one million children every day in the developing world. Jas Scott-Moncrieff, 51, originally from Peebles, took several years to develop his mix of pinhead oats, oat bran, oat flour and oat flakes for his two main product lines – which can then be flavoured in the traditional way, or with ingredients including hemp oil, Brazil nut or sunflower seed butter. Mr Scott-Moncrieff described his recipe as “a real power food” with traditional roots, but optional flavours for the 21st century. “I also wanted the Porridge Box to have social responsibility and clear ethical and environmental values,” he added. “More than anything, by creating porridge as Scottish street food, I hope people enjoy it!”

ON the subject of police boxes, a desk tidy modelled after Dr Who’s TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension In Space) has inspired out-of-this-world spin from the bloggers at Surrey-based novelty gift maker The Monster Factory. “Do you dread those long, dreary days in the office fielding emails, fiddling with spreadsheets and brainstorming novel ways to unjam the printer? Whether it’s wading through revision or spending endless hours watching the spinning wheel of death on your laptop screen, you are not alone – even Time Lords have to do their admin! At last something has come along to relieve the tedium of everyday life on Earth. Before you run out of the door screeching ‘exterminate!’ at Keith in Accounts, let the TARDIS desk tidy whisk you away on a journey through space and time. You may not have a plucky companion, but you can have the ultimate accessory…”

PR agency The BIG Partnership is raising money for St Andrew’s Hospice in Airdrie by getting rid of office jargon. In its “jar-gone” campaign, anyone using a banned word or phrase gets fined 20p and the money goes into the fundraising jar. The no-no list includes ‘touch base’, ‘strategic’, ‘deliverables’, ‘ducks in a row’, ‘turnkey solution’, ‘revert’, ‘learnings’ and ‘helicopter thinking.’

All the money goes towards the St Andrew’s Hospice £9 million Capital Appeal, which is raising money to completely refurbish, upgrade and extend the hospice building. “20p doesn’t sound like a lot, but you’d be surprised by how many times these words get used on a daily basis,” a BIG spokesman said. “We’re having to add new words and phrases all the time as people at BIG, and beyond, come up with new ways of needlessly complicating the English language. On the plus side, it’s raising some cash for a great cause.”