It used to be that the Edinburgh Fringe was an adjunct to the tonier Edinburgh Festival. No longer. “For the 250,000 odd who pour into the Scottish capital – a 50 per cent population increase – the chief draw is the Festival Fringe (August 3 to 25). Once a mere tangent to the snootier international festival, it is now the world’s biggest arts event. Scorning fears of SARS, terrorism and war, hotel-room bookings are buoyant, ticket sales are robust and records have already been broken: there will be 21,594 performances of 1541 shows by 668 companies in 207 venues, the first time the number of venues has topped 200, 24 more than last year.”