brain fade,
I also feel I should stick up for Edinburgh ATC at this point. Although the full length taxiway wasn't built when I worked there, I'm fairly sure the new entry / exit points at the full length are 90 degree turns and therefore very speed limited, which instantly builds in some extra spacing required.
And yes, EDI ATC are forbidden to offer a visual approach to aircrew, the initial request must come from the flightdeck. The reason is apparently to reduce noise nuisance, although many of my colleagues felt that vectoring traffic to 7 miles rather than permitting them to turn visual to 5 mile final added a couple of miles, hence another minute of airborne noise. And don't start me on the lack of expeditious departure routes - somebody feel free to explain how it's better for the local environment to have a line of jets burning hundreds of pounds of fuel per minute awaiting a slow departure order, than some early turns after departure and firing 'em off somewhat quicker...
Regarding the headwind allowance, I find your comments hard to believe (although you say it's "from the horse's mouth", maybe not your own experience?). The AIR controller has a radar screen showing the final approach track with aircraft labels displaying groundspeed - we have to take the pilot's word for what airspeed he's flying, and also what the upper winds are, but the radar easily plots groundspeed and this is what we see and use to calculate time to touchdown. Notwithstanding all that, I can't speak for the current mob as I haven't been back for a while! However...
Consider that there is some movement between (particularly) NATS units by ATCOs, so any given unit will have a mix of experience and backgrounds from all sorts of airports. If one airport seems particularly pedestrian then perhaps there are other conditions pertaining to operations at that airport.
Any clues as to the identity (company or airport) of your headwind-gripe co-complainant and the ATCO who commented on the EDI watches? Just 'cos I reckon I can guess both........!