David Maddox: Emergency item for the Knesset

On 8 January this year, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, with the support of all parties bar the Tories, led an emergency debate in Holyrood on the crisis in Gaza. This was followed by a letter of protest demanding a ceasefire from the Israeli government, whose citizens were also under bombardment from Hamas missiles. No message was sent to the Palestinian Authority or Hamas and it was the second such communication from the SNP government to Israel.

And this was despite Holyrood having almost no responsibility for foreign affairs.

I wonder, as he stood by Gordon Brown yesterday and watched the British PM field questions on the international consequences of Scotland sending home a notorious Libyan mass murderer and terrorist, whether Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu thought: "We really should have an emergency debate on this in the Knesset (Israeli parliament)." And further noted: "I must send Alex Salmond a letter outlining my government's deep concerns about his government's actions in this international crisis."

For some reason I would be surprised if he did.

Eddie Barnes - Brown butts in on Burma, so why not Scotland?

GORDON Brown is "both saddened and angry" at the decision. He believes that it showed that the authorities were "determined to act with total disregard for accepted standards of the rule of law and in defiance of international opinion".

Has the Prime Minister finally broken his silence over the fate of the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi? No. That was the Prime Minister talking earlier this month about the sentencing of Burma's opposition leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi. It seems that when the Burmese judicial system acts, it's the PM's business to make his views known. But when the Scots system does, it isn't.

Amid all the conspiracies about why Brown is refusing to say what he thinks about the decision to release Al-Megrahi, could the truth be a little more mundane? What if, as with Aung Sang Suu Kyi, Brown agrees that Al-Megrahi should indeed be allowed home? Prezza thinks so. The Church of Scotland thinks so. So might the PM also believe in a "compassionte" decision? Not that he can say so, seeing as Scottish Labour has come out four-square against it.

All idle speculation, but until Brown makes his views known, that's all we're left with.

David Maddox: A lesson in Libyan compassion

Last night I attended an excellent concert at the Usher Hall organised by the Swiss Consulate in Edinburgh. Among the guests was Scotland's SNP Minister for Culture, External Affairs and the National Conversation Mike Russell.

It reminded me that while this summer will be forever remembered for Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill sending the Lockerbie bomber Al-Megrahi home on the grounds of compassion (heroic scenes pictured), Switzerland has also had its difficulties regarding Libyan prisoner transfers.

On 15 July 2008 Colonel Gaddafi's son Hannibal and his wife were arrested by the Swiss authorities in a luxury hotel in Switzerland for allegedly beating up two servants.

The response by Libya was to first cut ties with the Alpine nation and then arrest two Swiss citizens in Libya four days later, essentially turning them into hostages.

The two employees of engineering company ABB Ltd - Max Goeldi and Rachid Hamdani - were locked up for alleged breaches of immigration rules.

Since Gaddafi jnr's arrest he and his wife have been released on bail and the servants have withdrawn their complaint after receiving compensation.

But the dispute between the two countries has dragged on for over a year, and on Thursday (20 August) just as Mr MacAskill was providing succour to Libya by releasing Megrahi, the Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz formally apologised to Libya and agreed to have the original arrest looked at by an independent arbitrator in London. This, he understandably said, was to get the two Swiss citizens home, although it has been suggested that he was under huge pressure from businesses.

So all in all Col Gaddafi had a very good day on Thursday and his own brand of international diplomacy and lack of compassion got him everything he wanted to mark the 40th anniversary of his dubious dictatorship. The one thing though that can be said is that the Swiss, it seems, had much less choice in the matter than Mr MacAskill.

Eddie Barnes: Al-Megrahi and Glasgow North-East

In my column in the Scotsman this morning, I look at how the release of the Lockerbie bomber is going to play out electorally ahead of the Holyrood vote. I forgot to mention the small matter of the Glasgow North-East by election, to be held in November, as well.

According to gleeful Labour canvassers on the streets, Kenny MacAskill's decision to release Mr Al-Megrahi is going down like the proverbial lead balloon - adding to the theory that while the decision will go down well in Glasgow's West End and Edinburgh's Morningside, it won't get quite such a tolerant response in Shettleston and Wester Hailes.

Then last night, the SNP apropos nothing released a statement from their Glasgow North-East candidate David Kerr.

Declares Kerr: "When I first heard of Kenny MacAskill's decision last week, I confess I was sceptical, and my initial thought was that he could perhaps be released into the care of a hospice in Scotland."

"However, like everyone else, I have now had the opportunity to hear the arguments. I watched the Justice Secretary's parliamentary statement on Monday very carefully, and it is obvious that this option would have been totally impractical on the basis of the unacceptable level of security required. In light of all the information and arguments that have come forward, it is now quite clear to me, and I believe a growing number of people in Scotland - of all parties and none - that the Justice Secretary took the right decision, and above all he took it for the right reasons."

What an odd statement. Why bother admitting that you initially disagreed with the idea? Why?

Let's imagine a scene from the Glasgow doorsteps.

Knock on the door. "Good morning. My name is David Kerr. I'm the SNP candidate. Can I count on your vote?"

"Whit? SNP? You tell that ****in' Kenny MacAskill and that ****in' Alex Salmond I'd vote fae ma' dug before I'd vote fae you ***tards. Letting oot criminals! Have ye' lost your mind?"

Kerr shuffles feet, looks over shoulder. "Well of course, between the two of us. I had my doubts as well. In fact, if you read my statement......"

Tom Peterkin: on Megrahi

Gordon Brown has finally said something on the Lockerbie situation. The PM said he was repulsed by the reception given to Megrahi when he came back to Libya last week.
Brown is hardly alone in expressing that opinion. His view on whether or not the decision to free Megrahi was correct remains a mystery.
The sight of Scottish saltires welcoming a man convicted of murdering 270 innocent victims was obviously deeply unsatisfactory. So was there an alternative?
One SNP minister told me that he was "very proud" of the way Kenny MacAskill dealt with what most people recognise was an exceptionally difficult dilemma.
The Justice Secretary was in a truly unenviable position. But his sanctimonious comment suggesting that Megrahi had been dealt with by a "higher power" sounded as if it should have come from the mouth of a Kirk minister rather than a Justice minister.
And his suggestion that Scots are somehow more humane than other people, smacked of self-satisfied parochialism.
MacAskill released Megrahi on compassionate grounds, because he is suffering from terminal prostate cancer.
A number of MSPs - notably the Tories - are saying that plenty of compassion could have been shown to Megrahi had he stayed in Scotland for what remains of his life. That would have avoided the triumphant homecoming of Megrahi that was so sickening for so many of the victims' families.
MacAskill said that he ruled out a Scottish solution because of the "severe" security implications. But many at Holyrood are wondering if MacAskill fully explored that option. Pursuit of that course would have upset Libyans, but look out for more questions in the parliament on that topic.

Chris Mackie: Tories and Nationalists get cosy

There is some thoughtful stuff from former Scotsman hack Fraser Nelson over at the Spectator website. As well as some barbs directed at the SNP for its handling of the Lockerbie Bomber release and a fascinating snippet about Alex Salmond meeting Gideon, er sorry, George Osborne on an flight between London and Edinburgh, he throws up some interesting politics surrounding the relationship between the UK Conservatives and the SNP.

His contention is the likely Conservative general election victory could offer the Nationalists a route to financial independence by playing on English Tory Party unease about the level of public subsidy offered to Scotland. www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/the-week/5275838/part_4/politics.thtml

Here is the key section: "For some time, nationalists in Westminster have been quietly cultivating Tories who are known to resent the level of subsidy sent to Scotland (public spending per head is still 24 per cent higher than south of the border). They propose a new settlement. Why not set Scotland’s budget at whatever Scotland raises in tax? This is, after all, how the Basque country deals with Spain. Several Tories, including many on the front bench, are interested."

The move would certainly be popular among the core Conservative support in England, but does Cameron really have the stomach to abandon the strictly unionist line he has been careful to maintain during his leadership? Unionist Tories in Scotland may well begin to think that they have been sold out by their leadership, although the move might well play well to some of the small "c" conservative sections of the SNP support, so it could be a case of electoral swings and roundabouts.

Whatever happens, it will be fascinating to see the relationship between Eck and Dave emerge in the event of a Conservative victory next year.

David Maddox: Alex Salmond's international portfolio

1. Scottish Saltires fly in Tripoli as Al-Megrahi, a convicted mass murderer held responsible for the lives of 270 innocents killed when Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie on 21 December 1988, is welcomed back to Libya as a hero after Mr Salmond's justice secretary releases him.
2. A Nato soldier finds the remain of victims of the Serbs attempts to ethnically cleanse Kosovo. Nato's intervention to stop the murder and forced removal of Kosovans was infamously described as "an unpardonable folly" by Mr Salmond.

3. Robert Mugabe, an international pariah and responsible for the brutal repression of Zimbabweans and the destruction of the country's economy. Mr Salmond was accused of giving Mugabe international credibility by writing to him asking for support on nuclear disarmament.


4. The high point of his attempts to woo America - an audience and photocall with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The politician his minister has just publicly ignored and slighted over the fate of the Lockerbie bomber and the US administration that has been insulted by the hero's reception for Megrahi in Libya.

The question is: If Scotland does become independent do Scots want Alex Salmond and the SNP to be responsible for its foreign policy? Feel free to discuss in the comments section.

David Maddox: Steaming into the top league

It is perhaps a little immodest to point this out, but I've just seen that the highly respected TotalPolitics website has published its top 40 media political blogs.
Rather gratifyingly the Steamie was 20th overall and seventh best amongst the newcomers. Not bad for our first year. We will hope to get even higher next year and there may be some improvements on the way.
Thanks to Green James MacKenzie of Two Doctors blogging fame for pointing this out.

David Maddox: Politicians beware of Wikipedia

Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, has become a favoured tool for lazy and under pressure journalists (I admit to being guilty of using it on occasions). It has, however, become infamous for its inaccuracies and spoof additions over the years.
And politicians in particular need to keep a close eye on what is added to their profiles for untruths being added, often as a joke.
This seems to be what has befallen the former Deputy First Minister and Scottish Lib Dem leader Lord Jim Wallace of Tankerness.
His Wikipedia entry runs as normal until you get to the bottom and the following spoof entry has been added:

Crimes
Recently he came under fire for selling school children out of his basement as pets.

I suspect the entry may not last long.

David Maddox: Robert Brown can rest easy

Assiduous readers of The Scotsman may recall a piece I wrote earlier this month about a motion put down by Lib Dem justice spokesman Robert Brown condemning the creation of the world's strongest beer in Scotland.

The small Aberdeenshire outfit BrewDog are selling something called Tokyo which is 18.2 per cent strength.

In the spirit of investigative journalism several of us thought we would try this monstrous beer out to see what all the fuss was about. A bottle was purchased for £8 by an associate from one of the political parties and three of us media hacks tried it out last night after work.

The unanimous conclusion was that the drink was vile, which is a pity because many of BrewDog's beers are very good. Its odour offered a hint of ginger beer but it had an overwhelmingly thick malty taste which made it hard and unpleasant to drink. In fact the three of us, not exactly unused to hard booze, struggled to finish one bottle between us.

So Mr Brown may be worried about the selling of such a product, but experience would suggest that if anybody is foolhardy enough to spend £8 on it they will not do it again once they have tasted it.

However, it should be noted that the adverse publicity (of which this blog is guilty of continuing), caused largely by outraged politicians has apparently done wonders for sales of Tokyo, far exceeding the effect normally expected from the advertising budget of a small Scottish company. The bottle we tried was apparently the last one in the shop because of the high demand.

David Maddox: Attack of the clones

There is a rumour going around that the Tories have a secret factory which churns out by-election candidates. The evidence appears to be with these pictures of Ruth Davidson, the former BBC journalist just selected to fight Glasgow North-east, and Chloe Smith, who just won Norwich North for the Tories.

I'm still not entirely sure which is which.

Eddie Barnes - The 2011 election campaign begins

All the Scottish papers today carry the story about Labour's plans for a new Property tax to replace the Council tax.
I was struck by the Daily Record's coverage of the tale, under the headline "Vote For Us and We Will Axe the Council Tax." Do I detect the first shot of the 2011 Scottish election campaign here?
Steamie readers will recall that it was the SNP which went into the 2007 campaign with billboards plastered across Scotland pledging to "axe the tax". But after opting to dump their plans for a Local Income tax, and stick with the Council tax for now, that has now been downgraded to a pledge to freeze the fees.
Now Iain Gray looks like he's going to try and steal Alex Salmond's clothes, and will head into the next campaign pledging to do what Alex didn't.
Only another two years until we actually get to vote......

David Maddox: Fielding at silly point again

It's good to see that I have returned from a fortnight's holiday and the great Scottish cricket debate has a bit more life in it still than England's bowling attack had today at Edgbaston against the Ozzies (as evidenced in this picture on the right of England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff).

When I left bouncers were still be aimed at the head of Nationalist Glasgow list MSP Sandra White (pictured below left) for putting down a motion calling for the sport to be removed or at least reduced on Scottish television.

The furore seems to have been the reason for a visit by SNP Sports Minister Shona Robison to an under-15s game to show that the Nationalists are not prejudiced against the summer game and SNP ministers even welcomed an idea by Labour's Richard Baker of getting Neds to play the game as a distraction.

However, it appears that Ms White, whose name at least reflects the proper colour of cricket attire, has not been stumped.

Instead she has sent down another googly in the form of another motion backing the BBC Trust's demands for sports to be returned to terrestrial television.

The following is the text of the irate e-mail I received which more than explains it.

"It's interesting to note that Sandra White welcomes the inclusion of the Scotland World Cup games and Commonwealth Games 2014 but fails to mention in her motion that the BBC Trust also recommended the inclusion of England Home Test Matches and the Cricket World Cup Final and the 20/20 cricket final. She really doesn't like cricket does she !!!"

I don't think anything needs to be added.

David Maddox: Homecomer

Just got back from the Algarve in Portugal on a pleasantly cheap deal for a week where the delights included this nice beach near Lagos. But it has niggled my conscience a little that I was probably not doing my bit for Homecoming Year and the push to support Scottish tourism.
And interestingly, the issue of Homecoming Year has made MSPs very nervous about talking about their holiday destinations and few have let on whether they plan to go abroad for fear of being pilloried for not doing their bit.
When a request went round from one newspaper asking parties for their MSPs choice of holiday, at least one party's press office put round a note telling their MSPs not to tell us anything.
But some details have leaked out.
It seems that First Minister Alex Salmond is not actually planning on taking a break, although I am assured he intends to visit some places at his leisure in the North of Scotland.
His chief spin doctor Kevin Pringle had a very nice break on the Greek island of Zakynthos near Keffalonia of Captain Corelli's Mandolin fame, relaxing in a converted farm house reading and enjoying the spectacular coast. By coincidence the next door neighbour who fixed his light, a permanent resident, is from Inverness, but is also a regular homecomer.
Green MSP Robin Harper apparently spent a wonderful time in the Alps, enjoying a spectacular lightning show from a storm one night.
SNP MSP Christine Grahame plans, like me, to go to Portugal. Meanwhile I ran into the husband and wife Labour MSP team of Richard and Claire Baker returning from the Dordogne at Edinburgh airport.
Admittedly, the whole issue is a typical silly season one and MSPs should be allowed to relax in the summer at a place of their choice. In that sense they are no different to the rest of us.
And as one MSP put it to me: "You cannot be a Homecomer unless you've gone away in the first place."