Eddie Barnes: Salmond having his cake and eating it

Watching BBC's Question Time, broadcast from Glasgow last night, was to marvel once again at Alex Salmond's ability to have it both ways. The First Minister was (no disrespect to Chief Secretary fo the Treasury Liam Byrne) easily the most influential minister on the panel; he is, after all, the First Minister of Scotland. But he did not have to answer a single question about his policies and record in office - not a single one. Instead, he was able to enjoy his usual role as the dis-interested pundit, jovily prodding and mocking the Tory and Labour parties.

He also used the show to make his case against the Prime Ministerial debates, to be shown on the BBC, ITV and Sky during the election campaign. And it's a good case, helped by the fact that these debates are a constitutional anomaly; a Presidential TV show awkwardly stuck onto our own constituency-based electoral system. Salmond made some fair and justified points about how much of the debates, for Scots and Welsh voters, will be entirely meaningless - for example, when Brown, Cameron and Clegg start discussing all their policies on health and education.

In other words, he had it both ways. Salmond used the fact that last night's programme was UK-wide to get away with not answering any questions about his own record - after all the BBC knows that to start asking the Scottish First Minister about his policy on local income tax, or class sizes, is irrelevent to the 90% of viewers from outside Scotland. But, at the same time, when the BBC decides to focus on those 90% of viewers (by going ahead with their TV debate) he was up in arms, complaining about bias and unfairness. Brilliant!

I do hope that Mr Salmond will at least take part in the Scottish TV debates which are also to be broadcast in the coming few weeks. If he were to take part in those, where - let us hope - his own record and policies might come under some light scrutiny, it would make it slightly easier to watch him having his cake and eating it.

David Maddox: Banking on Sean and Andy

Just a final thought on the events of the weekend and Andy Murray's defeat to Federer.

Some people may have noticed that there was an attack on one Scottish icon - Sir Sean Connery - for fronting an advert for a French bank on green banking.
Labour put out a quite contorted press release on it having a go at Sir Sean's alleged blunder.

Which got me thinking as I looked up at the TV screen to watch the tennis - "Famous people... advertising banks... making money... what's the big deal?"

And then I took a closer look at Mr Murray again and remembered his sponsorship. Strangely enough nobody seems to be concerned about the Dunblane lad's sponsorship by RBS, the bank whose dodgy practices almost sunk the British economy.

Could one of the differences be that Murray now refers to himself as British (courtesy, reportedly, of his marketing team's advice) while Sir Sean is a well known SNP supporter?

*As an addition the prize for the most pointless Murray political press release - keenly contested over the last week or two - has to go to the Scottish Government's one on Saturday evening telling us that the First Minister Alex Salmond would be sat on his sofa watching the Scottish hero do his stuff against Federer.

David Maddox: For Foulkes Sake (16) - The late late show episode 2

I know how much cybernats like pieces about written questions from Lord George Foulkes, Baron of Cumnock, MSP to the Lothians and First Lord of the Twittery.
It always surprises me why people who supposedly support democracy object to democracy in action because of cost or perhaps more likely because it embarrasses the party they support, although, it's fair to say, that it is not only Nationalists who are prone to this sort of self delusion.
But anyway here's another couple of the noble one's questions which finance secretary John Swinney has finally deigned to answer quite a few days late.
Readers of the Steamie may remember the questions from Lord George asking about the First Minister's tardiness.
He asked how many times Alex Salmond had been more than 30 minutes late to official events and why he was allegedly more than two hours late to the opening of the latest stage of the Burns Cottage development.
The two answers appeared to be a little contradictory. Here they are:


George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions since May 2007 the First Minister has arrived more than half an hour late for a public engagement.
Mr John Swinney: Under successive administrations it has not been customary to keep a record of arrival times at events by the First Minister.

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason the First Minister was over two hours late for the opening of the latest stage of developments at Burns Cottage.
Mr John Swinney: The First Minister was not late to this event. He arrived at 13:15, the arrival time agreed in advance with the organisers.

So basically what Mr Swinney is saying is that no record is kept of the First Minister's arrival time unless he is on time. This probably requires less effort.

David Maddox: For Foulkes sake (15) - aka The late late show

It seems that the First Minister may have been showing a little bit of tardiness lately if the questions he has been asked recently is anything to go by.
Any journalist who has waited for a briefing or press conference involving Alex Salmond will know this is the norm rather than the exception.
However, two questions were put down on 4 December on the subject by his fellow Hearts fan and old political adversary - Lord George Foulkes, Baron of Cumnock, First Lord of the Twittery and Labour MSP for the Lothians.
Lord Foulkes wanted to know why the FM was over two hours late for the opening of the latest stage of developments at Burns Cottage. He also asked for a list of events where Mr Salmond was late by half an hour or more.
The deadline for the answers was 18 December but, with the smallest hint of irony, the answers are late and the good lord is still waiting.

David Maddox: Currying favour at Christmas

The idea that Christmas parties reflect the fortunes of their hosts seems to be confirmed with a comparison between this year and last year of the bashes arranged by Scotland's leading political rivals - SNP First Minister Alex Salmond and Labour's Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy.
Last year, despite the SNP losing heavily to Labour in the Glenrothes by-election, Mr Salmond still gave the impression he could turn water into wine or at least walk on water, while Labour appeared to be stuck in the doldrums.
So the 2008 Christmas party arranged by Mr Salmond for Scottish political hacks involved top notch award winning curry, lots of drinks and a long reception at Bute House, the First Minister's official residence.
Meanwhile Mr Murphy's staff forgot to send invitations to the media for an event which involved a few drinks and crisps and was lumped together with inviting various parts of Scotland's great and good.
How different it is this year. Last Thursday Mr Murphy entertained the political hacks with curry and drinks, including Scotland's strongest beer (since Brewdog's Tokyo was banned), at 7.8 per cent, perhaps symbolic of Labour's decision to torpedo the SNP's minimum pricing for booze policy. Overall the event, as did the host's demeanour, reflected a far more confident relaxed attitude encouraged by rising political fortunes.
Labour of course have just thumped the SNP in Glasgow North East while Mr Salmond appears to be struggling with the SNP behind in the polls and having no chance of getting its referendum. There is also the small matter of the education crisis which led to the sacking of Fiona Hyslop from the cabinet.
Which brings us on to Mr Salmond's hastily arranged Christmas do for the media this year. This afternoon we learnt that it has now been diaried at the Scottish Government offices in St Andrew's House for a few drinks for Thursday, the busiest day in parliament, for an hour and 15 minutes at 5.45pm, a time when most journalists are stuck on deadlines and unable to attend.
Mr Salmond's office said this was because the original date clashed with the Tartan Bollocks (The Scottish Parliament Journalist Association's annual dinner named after the award for the worst story of the year -NB this is not the story which cybernats most disapprove of).
But, many have seen this last minute arrangement as a reflection of the First Minister's waning fortunes. It certainly suggests he may be less happy than he was spending his time with journalists and that he is not exactly pleased with the coverage he is getting currently.
Of course the irony, if this is true, is that a party on the down would have more cause to try to get in the press's good books to get back into favour, but it seems that's not how politics, at least in Scotland, works.

Chris Mackie: A bluffer's guide

As the SNP education brief begins life in a post Fiona Hyslop world, the clear line coming from the opposition parties is that her demotion (ok, sacking) was an example of Alex Salmond blinking first in the latest stage of his Call-My-Bluff style of minority government.

That the opposition felt emboldened enough to stare him down in his latest threat to walk out was emblematic of the torrid seven days his government has experienced. A simmering dispute with local councils, a lukewarm response to the referendum plans and ongoing education travails all added up to make it a week to forget for Salmond and co.

It is certainly true that the reshuffle (alright, sacking) has emboldened the opposition benches - the number of gleeful Tories, LibDems and Labourites eating lunch in the Parliament's canteen yesterday was significantly higher than it usually is.

But Alex Salmond is nothing if not a canny operator and he may well have felt that his powder would be better left dry to help him through the forthcoming budget negotiations, especially as the political tide is flowing against him in the run up to Christmas.

Much more is at stake for the SNP in those deliberations, and to take his government to the brink for the sake of loyalty to a colleague would have left him with much less political capital to play with in the new session. Yes, his position is lessened by this climbdown, but to stake his government on an education secretary that was the very definition of "embattled" would have been denser than the 198 brochure used to herald the referendum Bill.

Expect to see more of this in the New Year, with or without the chairmanship or Robert Robinson.

David Maddox: Breaking news - first cabinet casualty

Fiona Hyslop (pictured) has just been removed as education secretary by Alex Salmond after a string of failures.

She is replaced by Mike Russell. In turn Ms Hyslop takes over Mr Russell's old external affairs and culture portfolio in a non-cabinet role. However, Mr Salmond does not feel he can trust her with the referendum bill and has taken control of that personally.

It seems the final blow was a threat by the Lib Dems to hold a vote of no confidence on Thursday in Ms Hyslop. Interestingly, previous threats like this have been met with a threat by Mr Salmond to get the government to resign. But he clearly was not willing to stake the keys of Bute House on Ms Hyslop's woeful record.

Read more about it in tomorrow's Scotsman.

Eddie Barnes - SNP has it all to do in Glasgow NE

ALEX Salmond has raised some speculation about an SNP surge by announcing he is to head back to Glasgow North East on Monday, having just left there yesterday. This after saying he was going to play a low key role. A year and a bit after they won in Glasgow East, is there about to be another shock on the same streets?

Having lowered expectations over the summer and early autumn about their chances, the SNP is now casting itself in the role of the plucky underdog, gaining ground on the tiring front-runner. They are hoping to time their run-in like they did in Glasgow East when they similarly came from behind on the final straight.

But there is a big difference between Glasgow East and Glasgow North East. When the campaign bus arrived in Glasgow East last summer, Labour activsts discovered that they had precisely no information whatsoever about the local electorate. So instead of knocking up their own support, or offering prepared messages to swing voters, the party had to spend ages simply going out to find the people who might vote for them. It was a mess. In North-East, however, I'm told that the campaign apparently already knows the voting behaviour of more than 40% of the local residents. So they know where their support is and they can target them and get them out.

Still all to play for, but Labour has a much stronger base position than it had last summer.

Eddie Barnes: Salmond's speech, the morning after

Scotland on Sunday has plenty of coverage of Alex Salmond's speech and the SNP conference today, focusing predominantly on the SNP leader's decision to pitch himself against the cuts in public services. But there were some other bits of the speech which we didn't manage to analyse in the body of the paper. Here are three that are worthy of some scrutiny.

"In all 63 of our 94 headline manifesto commitments have already been achieved - two thirds at just over half way through our term."

Sounds good but the SNP won't say what those 94 commitments are, making the pledge completely meaningless. How can you base your own rate of success on an entirely made-up measure?

"Ed Miliband gave the game away when he said there was no difference between the Tories and Labour. Quoted in the Daily Telegraph - where else for a new Labour minister?- he said....."

This got a laugh from the audience for suggesting that New Labour ministers' first port of call was the English-based Tory-loving Telegraph.....but which paper was last granted an interview with our First Minister, after other Scottish based papers had been turned down?....er yes, the Daily Telegraph (last Saturday)

"Delegates, today Labour says no to Scotland at Westminster - no to our calls for a further acceleration of capital spending that would protect and provide thousands of jobs."

I thought this was a news line when I heard it yesterday. Had the Treasury said no to Salmond's request for a fresh advance of capital spending? In fact, Alastair Darling has yet to say, and won't until his Pre-Budget Report in the next few weeks. So, in this case, 'no' is defined as the current absence of the word 'yes'.

All a bit fly.....there must be an election coming.

David Maddox: Is the SNP trying to suppress democracy?

Interesting developments today over the great TV debate debate, if you get my drift.
Gordon Brown finally accepts, if somewhat reluctantly, to have one in principle. To be fair on him this is further than any of his predecessors have gone, even if he did have to be harried into accepting the idea.
Then, rather sinisterly, the SNP announce they will go to court to block any Scottish viewing of such a debate if they are not allowed to participate.
The Nationalists' argument is obviously that as arguably the best supported party north of the Border they would be unfairly disadvantaged if Alex Salmond or Westminster leader Angus Robertson were not part of it.
No doubt they still believe in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the 1930s that separation from the UK is the most important issue to discuss - most people in Britain might disagree.
If this were a Scottish election then they would have a point, but it is not. It is a UK election and this is the opportunity for people to see who they would rather want as Prime Minister - Gordon Brown or David Cameron.
There is just about enough moral justification to include Nick Clegg as leader of the Lib Dems, even though nobody but himself actually seriously believes he will be resident in Number 10 any time next year.
It would be a nonsense for tens of millions of non-Scottish voters to have to listen to a party they cannot vote for and a subject (Scottish independence) for which they care little and have no real say.
And where do we draw the line? Should we have the Greens, UKIP and the BNP who have more supporters across the UK than the SNP? Should we have all the leaders of Plaid Cymru and the various Northern Irish parties?
No we should not. The whole thing would become a joke.
So what the SNP want, essentially, is to make sure that Scots are the only voters who cannot watch these debates and take a view on who would be the best PM for Britain. It would be Scots, thanks to the SNP, who would have their democratic rights undermined.
The one compromise that seems reasonable here is the suggestion that there should be debates involving other cabinet ministers and their shadows.
If this were to happen Messrs Salmond or Roberston could take on Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy, David Mundell of the Tories and Alistair Carmichael for the Lib Dems in a specific Scottish edition on STV or/ and BBC Scotland.
However, we know from previous occasions that Mr Salmond's ego is too big to debate with mere Scottish secretaries or ministers. He refused an offer to take on Mr Murphy at a conference about 10 days ago and famously was mocked by Jeremy Paxman when he refused to engage with David Cairns.
It will be interesting to see how this all resolves itself. But my guess is that it may not be Gordon Brown's reluctance that stops these debates but the SNP's hubris.

David Maddox: At the risk of sounding like a cybernat...

This item Labour have just put out is possibly the most outrageous press release I can remember in my time in Holyrood, which is saying quite a lot.
I will spare you most of the gory details, but entitled: "SALMOND THREATENS TO CANCEL MORE GLASGOW PROJECTS" it claims that the First Minister during FMQs threatened to "cancel the new Southern General Hospital and the National Indoor Sports Arena if he does not get his way on the cancellation of the Glasgow Airport Rail Link."
It then quotes Glasgow Shettleston MSP Frank McAveety: “The First Minister’s threat to take away funding for the National Indoor Sports Arena is just more bluster. He knows fine well that he signed a commitment to deliver this facility, which is vital to the success of the Commonwealth Games."
I had to check with some fellow hacks, that I had not dreamed what really happened in FMQs. They confirmed to me that none of the above press release is true. Mr Salmond used those projects as examples of how Glasgow is still getting a lot of infrastructure investment and at no point was there a threat to cancel them. I write this as a journalist who has not exactly been shy of criticising the First Minister.
This release probably has something to do with upcoming Glasgow North East by-election and, as a colleague pointed out to me, there are a lot of weekly papers who do not have staff here who may pick it up and report it as fact.
Not exactly the most honourable moment for Labour in Holyrood, even if ultimately it is effective.

David Maddox: Revising the political lexicon

I've just returned from yet another conference on 10 years of devolution although, as The Scotsman is the official media partner, I should say that Scottish Parliament and Government: 1999 to 2009: Scotland after the first decade, the possible future, organised by the consultancy Mackay Hannah is one of the best ones I've attended yet.

It's two keynote speakers were inevitably First Minister Alex Salmond and his Labour rival Secretary of State for Scotland Jim Murhpy (no not Holyrood Labour leader Iain Gray).

There had been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing over when they should speak. One was supposed to open and the close, in the end they were both placed at the beginning. Then Mr Murphy tried to turn it into a debate, an idea quickly dodged by the FM.

It was noticeable that the conference was chaired by a professional mediator, John Sturrock QC of Core Solutions.

The end result was two speeches and Q&A sessions where the two outlined ideas and thoughts familiar to many of us who have heard them regularly before. However, if ideas were not a new currency the two at least tried to invent some new words and phrases for their ongoing conflict.

Firs up, Mr Salmond, managed to invent a new word - "bandiage" - as in the general political bandiage, otherwise known to the rest of us as "debate."

Not to be outdone, Mr Murphy decided to go digital on the First Minister, so to speak. A referendum, he said, is "a black and white solution to an HD conundrum." I should explain to the less technically minded that HD refers to high definition the latest ultra visual technology used for televisions.
He went on: "Nationalism is the pathway to the past, we are in the fast lane to the interconnected super highway."
One suspects it was all getting a little geeky for the audience and there was some bafflement at his phrase TGI Britain, which after a moment's thought turned out to be "thank God it's Britain."

But both seemed quite pleased with their innovation in political lexicography, so I would guess we will hear these and further additions more in the coming months.

Eddie Barnes: Love-bombing the LibDems - Scottish version

The LibDems can hardly move at present without some supposed political opponents attempting to hug them close. With David Cameron trying down south to become Nick Clegg's new best friend, now it is Alex Salmond's turn this morning to suck up close to the men in yellow.

At a conference on devolution this morning, the First Minister has declared that he is "minded" to propose putting a so-called 'multi-option' question to voters in his proposed referendum so that, along with the status quo and independence, voters would be asked whether they would like the Scottish parliament to have more powers. "That seems to me to be an entirely reasonable, consensual and democratic way forward," he declares. The development this morning appears to be that the multi-option referendum is now the SNP's preferred choice of question.

Labour and the Tories won't buy it, but - as we have been reporting over the last two days - the Liberals are swithering all over the place about whether to back the referendum or not. On the one hand, they don't want to help out the SNP by handing them their referendum. On the other, they are not happy at all about being cast by the SNP as part of an arrogant Unionist alliance, denying the people a say. Now Salmond is effectively offering to meet them half-way - if you won't go for dinner, at least let me buy you a drink, he suggests.

Canny politics.....now let's see if Scottish LibDem leader Tavish Scott pukkers up. The lean Shetlander is insistent that he will not back the bill under any circumstances, but the pressure is mounting from within his party. Interesting times.

David Maddox: Just for laughs

There was much angst (mainly from Labour) about the First Minister Alex Salmond making a joke about the events of recent weeks surrounding the release of a convicted mass murderer and his hero's welcome in Tripoli.
His friendly poking of fun at Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill at Tuesday's government funded National Conversation event in Glasgow North-east (the by-election constituency), seemed to go down with (Nationalist) parts of the audience.
The question is whether he is better as a stand-up comedian than club singer? we all remember that Caledonia session with Sandi Thom.
The Steamie has been supplied with a clip of Mr Salmond's hilarity. Click on the link to share in the joke or, if you are so inclined, feel a flush of fury at his light hearted treatment of such a serious matter.
salmond%20%27joke%27.mp3

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: 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."

David Maddox: Open Union

After the fuss about Andy Murray wrapping himself in the Union Flag at Wimbledon, it was interesting to see English golfer Ian Poulter go a step further as the Open started at Turnberry today.

His Union Flag top and specially commissioned red, white and blue "Poulter tartan" troosers certainly made a statement in the Borders.

No doubt the local Conservative and Unionist MSP - Presiding Officer Alex Fergusson - would have thoroughly approved of the sentiment, while First Minister Alex Salmond who visited the course the day before would not have found it to his Scottish Nationalist tastes.

But it was interesting that when a Scot wraps himself in the Union Flag in England it sparks far more debate and discussion than when an Englishman does the same in Scotland.

Murray's statement provoked political debate and questions over whether he had been got at by the marketing men to help turn Henman Hill into Murray Mound.

Poulter's just led to the usual raised eyebrows about the now expected flamboyant dress sense of a man inspired by his mother, a former shop manager at Dorothy Perkins.

David Maddox: Liz Smith goes out to bat

There are plenty of politicians who fancy themselves as sportsmen. Just recently we learnt that First Minister Alex Salmond reckoned he might have been a Wimbledon champion had he kept up his tennis.

Any follower of the MSP football team will realise that there are plenty there who think they could have been SPL stars in their day. Of course, Fife MSP John Park has gone down in legend as a political version of Chopper Harris for his now infamous tackle on Chick Young last year - he's still dining out on that one.

But there are few politicians who really cut the mustard as sportsmen and women.

In Westminster the double middle distance gold medalist Lord Sebastian Coe was probably the most world class sportsman to become an MP, although his former colleague Lord Colin Moynihan was also a gold medal winning Olympic athlete as a cox in the rowing team.

Holyrood has had far less genuine sportsmen and women. Former First Minister Henry McLeish played football for East Fife, but the one international sports personality is Tory MSP Liz Smith.

Ms Smith won seven caps for Scotland as a cricketer and the picture supplied shows her practising up with the bat before a game.

It is not known how good she was as figures for her batting and bowling are not available. But she did memorably manage to clean bowl a fellow political hack, John Robertson of the Sunday Times. He went for a duck in a hacks versus MSPs match a couple of summers ago on the second bounce of a slow delivery from Ms Smith, something he is yet to live down.

Ms Smith, though, is living proof that cricket is played and supported in Scotland by Scots. And she has written a fascinating rebuttle in today's Scotsman against the views behind the demands to get the sport off TV made by some of the Nationalist MSPs, most recently in a motion by Glasgow list SNP MSP Sandra White.

David Maddox: For Foulkes Sake (13) - Weighty issues

As mentioned in my most recent blog on Lord George Foulkes (bottom right), the Baron of Cumnock, MSP to the Lothians and First Lord of the Twittery is not lacking a sense of humour.

Thus this latest piece of mischief making in the guise of a written question.

*To ask the Scottish Executive what official engagements the First Minister has planned for July and August 2009 and whether an estimate has been made of catering costs.

The "catering" reference, of course, is to the frequent jokes about how being First Minister has apparently led to Alex Salmond's (top left) girth rapidly expanding, as well as his now famed food claims in his expenses as an MP of £400 a month, even when he was not in Westminster for months. The response from John Swinney was a lot more serious and dull.

*First Minister’s summer activities will focus on the Scottish Government Summer Cabinet meetings, taking place across the country.

Further to these events, the First Minister will undertake a range of other engagements in line with usual business. All events are planned with cost effectiveness as a priority.

However, ever one for political gamesmanship, no doubt Lord Foulkes is only too aware that his own critics, not least by the army of cybernats who stalk Scottish media websites, point out that he is not exactly lacking in pounds himself, either from his House of Lords expenses or, indeed, the shirt stretching sense.

David Maddox: For Foulkes Sake (12) - the world's been turned on its head

Hot on the heals of the SNP apparently starting to praise Lord Foulkes, Baron of Cumnock, Labour MSP to the Lothians and First Lord of the Twittery (pictured right), for his hundreds of written questions, then the noble one has delivered his own surprise.

As you will read in tomorrow's Scotsman, the good lord has reported his old Nemesis, First Minister Alex Salmond to the Westminster parliamentary watchdog for claiming back his legal costs for trying to impeach for PM Tony Blair and the Westminster standards commissioner John Lyon, has agreed to investigate.

You can read the whys and wherefores of this matter in The Scotsman tomorrow, but it does remind one of his lordships complaints about the way the standards commissioners in Westminster and Holyrood were brought into play to cause political damage not least for former Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander.

But most of all it brings to mind the complaint made last year by an SNP student activist Andrew Harlick about Lord Foulkes' consultancy, which was dismissed, but later blatantly used to derail his attempt to be Rector of Edinburgh University.

At the time his lordship noted that the complaint was "purely politically motivated." The question is whether his referral of Mr Salmond is any different.

The irony is that he has accused Mr Salmond in this Blair impeachment case of getting the taxpayers to "fork out for a political stunt." Lord Foulkes is not lacking a sense of humour.

David Maddox: And the prize for the fastest Andy Murray press release....

....goes to the Tories who managed to get their words of commiseration out less than five minutes after Murray's 3:1 defeat to Andy Roddick.

Murray's "an inspiration" Scottish Conservative leader Annabel Goldie said.

Labour's arrived a whole seven minutes later.

"Murray's done us proud," said Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray, who' s known some defeats in his time.

The Scottish Government one took another 21 minutes.

"Andy has made Scotland proud," said First Minister Alex Salmond

Still waiting for the SNP party and Lib Dem ones, but more to follow no doubt.

However, the prize for the silliest political argument of the day and probably the year is over the alleged claims by Mr Salmond that he could have won Wimbledon if he had trained a bit harder.

"This is the time that you get out there and say, 'if only'. If I'd worked as hard as Andy Murray then who knows, but I may take the odd swing and certainly if Andy wins there'll be a few balls going in the air," he told a well known state funded broadcaster ahead of the semi-final.

This may come as a surprise to those who think his current athletic physique is more suited to a specialist form of wrestling in Japan.

But, true to form, Labour put out a press release attacking the First Minister in the name of former sports minister Frank McAveety.

"Alex Salmond's ego knows no bounds," said Mr McAveety, who apparently had to pick himself up off the floor for laughing. "If he is not going round America comparing himself to Thomas Jefferson he is claiming that, with more practice, he could have been Wimbledon champion. The First Minister is fast becoming the Walter Mitty of Scottish politics."

The SNP think the joke is on Labour for failing to understand that the First Minister's quotes were a light hearted joke.

A spokesman for the First Minister suggested that Frank McAveety "should get a life."

Ross Lydall: Salmond's flying visit is almost lost for words

IT's a long way to travel for 71 words. Alex Salmond made it down to Westminster yesterday to contribute his tuppence-worth to the SNP/Plaid Cymru motion to dissolve Parliament in the wake of the expenses scandal etc etc.
It was his first contribution to a Commons debate for a couple of months - the last being on 27 April 2009, during the Budget debate (not more than a year ago, as I mistakenly said previously).
Was yesterday's contribution worth the air fare? Mr Salmond intervened on Welsh Secretary Peter Hain to boast about a 10 per cent increase in the SNP's vote in last week's European elections, which the First Minister said was a "resounding endorsement of the SNP government in Scotland".
That was it - though Mr Salmond did hang around until 7pm to vote with his six SNP chums. However the SNP motion rather backfired as the government ended up with a majority of 72, larger than Labour's working majority of 63.
To Mr Salmond's credit, though, he did make the effort to turn up, unlike David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Gordon Brown - yes, the self-same Prime Minister so keen to put Parliament at the centre of British political life, though not so keen to spend time there himself.

David Maddox: Hail! Alex Salmond, King of the Curries

Scotland's First Minister is no stranger to awards. In 2007 he walked off with both the Westminster and Scottish politician of the year trophies.

However, few can be less deserved than the one he has just received - Curry Eater of the Year.

This is the man who, after all, is chauffeur driven to his favourite curry houses at the expense of the tax payer and has his driver wait outside until he's finished.

It is uncertain that the the £800 of MP expenses food money he spent whilst Westminster was not even sitting was on curry, but some thought it was on a giant take away from London to his official Edinburgh residence of Bute House.

And Holyrood hacks still fondly remember the excellent curries served up for the media Christmas events at the same residence.

However, his love affair with the subcontinental dish has not always been as firm as it might seem. He once argued on late night TV that haggis was Scotland's national dish instead of curry. He lost, for the first time apparently and was pleased to do so.

And there is a certain irony with the sponsor of this prestigious award - Irn Bru the maker of Scotland's national fizzy drink. In an interview in the Big Issue at Christmas Mr Salmond said he wanted a year's supply of Lucozade (Irn Bru's market rival for student hangover cures) for his festive gift.

David Maddox: Half term report cards

Here are the spoof half term report cards put together by Labour and distributed to hacks prior to FMQs today (click on the link):
Report%20Cards_Layout%202.pdf

Pity that Iain Gray, the Scottish Labour leader, apparently forgot to actually use them in his four questions preferring his usual mantra on broken promises.

Nevertheless a spokesman for Alex Salmond felt the need to put out a response to them:
"The verdict of the people is what counts, which on the basis of the 50 key policies we have delivered over the past two years is highly satisfactory. The SNP have a commanding lead in the polls, even at the government's mid-term point. The score Iain Gray should be worried about is that only 7% of Scots support him to be First Minister - Alex Salmond is more popular than Iain Gray even among Labour supporters!"

The statement came with this briefing:
Polling%20Brief%2006-05-09.doc

The marks may be poor all round, but, as the SNP, say the final examiners (the voters) will give their verdict in 2011.

David Maddox: Has Alex Salmond undermined the Lockerbie bomber decision?

The First Minister faced questions today on whether al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bomb atrocity, should be returned to Libya after that country signed a prisoner transfer agreement with Britain.

He was at pains to say that he could not prejudge the decision which will be made, he said, by Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill now that an application has been made.

However, he was reminded by Lib Dem leader Tavish Scott that in a statement to MSPs in 2007 when he fumed about the UK government discussing setting up a prisoner transfer agreement, he said that al-Megrahi should serve all of his sentence in Scotland.

Then SNP bacbencher Christine Grahame alleged that there was a conspiracy by the UK government to stop an appeal going ahead so that further light will not be shed on the murky issue of the Lockerbie bomb.

And Mr seemed to agree with her that it would prefer due process (ie the appeal) to continue.

Former Labour First Minister Jack McConnell made a point of order asking the Presiding Officer Alex Fergusson to look at this, which he is going to do.

The issue will be raised by hacks in the post FMQs briefing shortly. Read the conclusion of this intrigue in tomorrow's Scotsman.

David Maddox: What's good for the councillor is not good for the MP

The Tories have just put out an interesting press release on the announcement by two Nationalist MSPs, Bill Kidd and John Wilson, that they are to step down as councillors in Glasgow and North Lanarkshire.
Apparently they do not believe they can do both jobs to a high enough standard.
A similar decision was taken by North East SNP MSP Nigel Don when he won his seat and opted to resign as a Dundee councillor. Stefan Tymkewycz took the opposite decision and gave up being a list MSP to remain as a Edinburgh city councillor.
"But what about Alex Salmond?" ask the Tories.
He still continues to be the largely absentee (from Westminster) MP for Banff and Buchan as well as the MSP for Gordon and, of course, First Minister.

Hamish Macdonell - Below the belt?

ONE party leader, who really shouldn't be named, was mulling over the following line for FMQs.
"Why is it, Mr Salmond," they planned to ask,"that you are the only person in Scotland who is refusing to tighten his - rather large - belt?"
The question was dropped after consultation with advisers. A good thing too, probably, as Mr Salmond is not one of those who takes ribbing about his weight very well ...
ends

David Maddox: The end of the SNP's flirtation with the Catholics?

WHEN Alex Salmond went on his jaunt to China to portray himself again as a world instead of a parochial figure, he may not have calculated that his trip would undermine his attempts to win an important group in the Scottish electorate.

Much has been made of Mr Salmond's attempts to woo the Roman Catholic vote in Scotland for the SNP not least with calls to change the discriminatory Act of Settlement which prevents Catholics becoming the monarch or even being part of the Royal family.

He also made a rare trip back to Westminster to vote on bio-ethics and tightening abortion laws and in 2008 drew praise from Cardinal Keith O'Brien (pictured) when he announced that he wanted moral values taught in schools.

The stakes are high not least because the now Tory supporting Bishop Joe Devine has been trying to persuade his flock to abandon their traditional support for Labour, but more importantly because the Catholic vote is an identifiable group which could be the key to breaking Labour's historic grip on Glasgow and the West of Scotland.

Putting a firmly Christian anti-abortion candidate up in the largely Catholic Glasgow East, John Mason, helped tip the balance in a tight result against the Labour MSP Margaret Curran who supports abortion and experimentation on foetuses.

But it seems that his apparent support for stem cell research on the China trip, an issue that Cardinal O'Brien has described as "Frankenstein medicine", giving his blessing to collaboration between Edinburgh University and Chinese scientists, has undone some of his good work as this article in the Scottish Catholic Observer, Scotland's biggest Catholic newspaper, appears to suggest.

This was accompanied by a leading article quoting the Cardinal's Easter sermon which suggested that Scotland is on the verge of social collapse.

Which all goes to show that it is no simple matter to win over the support of large interest groups, although it was also perhaps misguided to believe that thousands of Catholic would be persuaded to vote on ethical arguments rather than the more practical issues of life.

Hamish Macdonell - El Presidente?

ALEX Salmond is not renowned as someone who lacks confidence or needs his ego massaged.
But that message had not got through to one recipient of a health and safety award at the STUC conference today.
Receiving his award from Mr Salmond, the star-struck soul could only reply: "Thank you Mr President."
The First Minister emerged from the hall, his chest puffed out even more than usual, murmuring to himself: "I quite like the sound of that."
If that's not a warning, I don't know what is ...
ends

David Maddox: Labour stir up the ghosts of Salmond's past and present in the hope the future will follow

It may be that they think Alex Salmond (top left), the First Minister is wounded, but two motions went down in Holyrood today which suggest that Labour has properly regained its confidence in Scotland.

The two not only revive the ghosts of recent and long past troubles for the SNP leader, but are clearly aimed at what many consider to be his weak spots - his ego and his grasp of foreign policy.

The first was put down by Lord George Foulkes (top right), Baron of Cumnock, First Lord of the Twittery, MSP to the Lothians, who rather cheekily accuses Mr Salmond of cronyism in office. One wonders if the term "Tony's cronies" for the Blair regime is such a distant memory to the noble one.

However, he has been buoyed by the genuine hit he had over revealing the £10,000 expenses paid to the SNP supporting pop singer Sandi Thom. And let's face it, Lord George and Wee Eck love poking fun at one another.

The second is from Labour's Holyrood business manager, Michael McMahon (left), to remind us of the 10th anniversary of Mr Salmond's greatest foreign policy gaffe. The one where he condemned the bombing of the ethnic cleansing Serbs in Kosovo, allowing opponents to (unfairly) link his party with that sort of behaviour and describing the RAF as the Luftwaffe.

You may remember that the First Minister is sensitive about this and recently described veteran Lib Dem MP and foreign policy expert Sir Menzies Campbell as "a pompous ass" for reviving the same issue at the recent party conference.

The anniversary perhaps allows Labour to have some sort of repost to the constant battering about Iraq, although Mr Salmond's mistake only damaged his reputation, it didn't cost lives.

No doubt they hope that the ghost of his future will follow and visit its curse upon him in the forthcoming elections. Although, perhaps they have forgotten that Scrooge (played famously by Alistair Sim, right), the original one to be tormented by the three ghosts, learnt from his mistakes and had a happy ending.

Tom Peterkin on FMQs

With the sun beaming down on Holyrood there would normally be a pleasant end of term feeling emanating through the corridors of devolved power. Today is the last day of business before MSPs have their two week Easter holiday - sorry recess.
The horrendous events in the North Sea, however, have cast a long shadow over that. At First Minister's Questions the main party leaders united in expressions of sympathy to the bereaved. Alex Salmond gave a strong hint that there is to be a public inquiry into the accident and revealed that most of the victims were from the North East of Scotland.
While Tavish Scott, who as the member for the Shetlands has more experience of helicopters than most MSPs, spoke of the frightening flights over mountainous seas into gale force winds that off-shore workers brave as a matter of routine.
The disaster was quite rightly at the forefront of MSPs' minds, which is more than can be said for some London-based news organisations, who relegated the loss of 16 lives down the news agenda way behind the G20 summit.

David Maddox: Banking on tonight's game

Scotland and Iceland today take each other on in what may still be a crucial group 9 World Cup qualifier at Hampden.
But in reality this is a battle of the banking basement as the previous competitors for the “Best Small Country in Financial Services” now contest for "the biggest bailout."

Scotland, with its proud 300 plus year tradition as sound bankers, and Iceland, the Johnny come latelies of the banking world who turned small financial advice services into major banks in a decade, both ended up on the same scrapheap with their reputations in tatters.
So on April 1, the day we celebrate fools, it seems appropriate to assemble two world beating teams of politicians and bankers from the two countries who played their part in the dramatic matches of the last few months.

This is after all a grudge match for the Icelanders after Gordon Brown impounded their assets when their banks collapsed.

Scotland

Sponsor: The British taxpayer

Home ground: Hamstrung

Goalkeeper: Gordon Brown - Also captain and manager because he doesn't want anybody else to be in charge. Keeps annoying his team mates by referring to them as Team GB and going on about relocating to London in 2012. Perfect candidate for a keeper because he reckons he saved the world, although most people don't even think he can save himself.

Left back: Sir Peter Burt – As the creator of the apparently formidable HBOS team the veteran performer found he was not allowed to return to head the team sheet when it was sold off.

Right back (behind GB): Alistair Darling - Keeps going off to the corner flag and muttering about the worst season since the 1930s. Only useful for bringing on the half time oranges to feed the hungry bankers.

Centre back: Sir James Crosby – Former HBOS team captain, hand picked by Brown to shore up the defence but had too many long lunches and waived the attackers through, arguing that the less defenders tackle the less goals they concede.

Centre back: Sir George Mathewson - Architect of the RBS team hailed as the best ever, until it was discovered it had been taking performance enhancing credit. Not wanted by the HBOS team, but he still is allowed to play in Alex Salmond’s five aside team.

Right whinger: David Cameron – Qualifies through his Scottish grandfather (the one he doesn’t like to mention to his English club mates). Always complaining that he should be the captain. His tactics involve sitting on the sidelines doing nothing in the belief that it will turn the season around.

Left whinger: Alex Salmond - GB would prefer him left back far away. Keeps wandering out of position and trying to wrestle the captain's armband off GB. Dazzles everybody with his twinkle toe moves on spivs and speculators, but then ends up firing the ball into his own net - known as the "open goal mouth technique."

Holding player: Sir Tom McKillop – When the chips are down it is said (by UK government sources) the former RBS chairman can always play keepy uppy with the money just long enough for his old team mates to walk away with it in their pockets. Just ask Sir Fred.

Playmaker: Andy Hornby – Became a crowd pleaser with captivating play that seemed too good to be true in his quest to take HBOS to world glory. Unfortunately it was and his bank became the Accrington Stanley of finance rather than the Manchester United. Now on a loan spell at Lloyds.

(Too far) Forward: Jim "April" Faulds – Former Dunfermline BS captain was fed up with safe mid-table obscurity so changed sport to appeal to a new commercial market. Fell flat on his face and complained loudly when Alistair Darling wouldn’t come over with a large sack of oranges to revive him.

Striker: Sir Fred Goodwin – Former RBS top shot is happiest when he is firing (other people). Likes to play an expansive game. Unfortunately currently without a club after he mortgaged its assets on a has-been Dutch international, but still commands a huge salary.

Stuck on the bench: Vince Cable – graduated in Glasgow and is recognised as the only player around who knows what to do. But his team mates won’t let him on the pitch because his Lib Dem club play too far down the divisions and may not even get European qualification in Scotland in the election in June.

Iceland

Sponsor: Previously Icesave otherwise known as British savers, but more recently the Russian Government.

Home ground: Wreck’ya’bank

Goalkeeper: Geir Hilmar Haarde - dumped as Prime Minister of Iceland after dropping the financial ball in 2008, not even able to save his own country let alone the world.

Left but not back: Björgvin Sigurðsson - Iceland’s first trade minister was the only one to do the honourable thing and quit the team.

Central defence: Jon Sigurdsson - as Iceland Financial Services Authority’s chairman he took a similar view to defence as Sir James Crosby, except with less tackling.

Playmaker: David "playing the odds" Oddsson (Capt) – as prime minister he orchestrated the team’s expansionist style and then as central bank governor he organised the non-tackling defence. Amazingly, was still miffed when dropped from the team sheet.

Central Midfield: Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson – Chairman of the now nationalised Landsbanki, Iceland’s biggest bank, but fortunately knows a bit more about football as the owner of West Ham United.

Diamond geezer formation: Sigurdur Einarsson, Kaupthing bank chairman; Kjartan Gunnarsson, vice chairman of Landsbanki; Larus Welding, Glitnir bank chief executive; and Thorsteinn M. Jonsson, chairman of Glitnir - Impressed the world with their intricate passing of money until people realised that it wasn’t only the ball that was full of air.



Playing in the hole: Paul Carter – Leader of Kent County Council gained residency status for the Icelandic team by leaving £50m of taxpayers’ cash in the country for years even after he was told to get out.

Sweeper: Björk – bringing in a new broom, the pop singer is clearly the only talented player on the park because she does not have any background in finance or politics. Reinvented herself as a venture capitalist to save her country from oblivion, but is likely to walk away with the ball because she does not want Iceland to play internationally any more.

Final result: They both lost.

David Maddox: Sandi Thom and the First Minister

Anybody who thought that Alex Salmond's recent performance of Caledonia with the SNP supporting pop star was cringeworthy or was outraged by the £10,000 expenses she got from his Scottish Government should read this "scrapbuke,"which some wag has constructed out of the weekend's furore.

If you are a fan of either Mr Salmond or Sandi Thom (right) you should definitely not click on to the link, unless you want your blood pressure raised further.

Needless to say the saga of the "Sandi Thom war" and those expenses continues in tomorrow's Scotsman.

David Maddox: FMQs - Tories first to get unwanted double

Annabel Goldie (pictured right), the Scottish Conservative leader, made it an unwanted double today for her party after she was pulled up for insulting First Minister Alex Salmond with a nickname - "two salaries Salmond."

The strictures from Presiding Officer Alex Fergusson (Conservative) followed a similar lecture to by Speaker Michael Martin to Ms Goldie's UK leader David Cameron in Westminster yesterday for describing Gordon Brown as "phony" during PMQs.

Mr Salmond speculated that this may have been the first time a party has achieved the double.

Ms Goldie's questions were actually directed at the SNP's insistence (supported by all parties except the Tories) to push forward with free prescriptions for all. She claimed this would lead to £40 million of cuts in frontline health services.

Ironically, considering her foray into nicknames, she accused the First Minister of being "more interested in headlines and sound bites."

Mr Salmond gently reminded her that she and her party voted for the measure in the budget.

Earlier Labour leader Iain Gray accused Mr Salmond's government of not acting fast enough on apprenticeship guarantees. He raised the problems of a 19-year-old constituent Lewis Doig who could lose his apprenticeship just three months before he qualifies as a tradesman.

Tavish Scott, the Lib Dem leader, meanwhile pointed out that the UK government's economic recovery plan had the second least amount of green measures of any major economy after Spain. Mr Salmond happily agreed to publish the equivalent Scottish figures to prove his administration is better.

And stop press (although it was already in a popular tabloid this morning) the Scottish and UK governments at last agree on something- introducing legislation to stop more former prisoners from suing for compensation for having to slop out. In answer to a question from Nationalist MSP Stewart Maxwell (a former minister) Mr Salmond said that he would look at deducting board and lodgings from any compensation awarded.

David Maddox: Those were the days

There is a fascinating piece by David Torrance in today's Scotsman (page 42) on the 79 Group, set up largely by young firebrands such as Alex Salmond, Kenny MacAskill, Stewart Stevenson and Roseanna Cunningham in the SNP to promote the idea of a Scottish Socialist Republic.
Of course its historical importance is that it modernised the SNP and provided the core of its future leadership. All the above are after all now ministers and Wee Eck is ensconced in Bute House.
But the above picture dug up by Torrance has provided much amusement in the media tower at Holyrood. It has Stewart Stevenson and Kenny MacAskill leading a conference walkout in 1982 because the party was not socialist enough. If you look carefully current Highland MSP Rob Gibson is there too, fifth down the line.
As we can also see those when the days of kilts and Scotland football shirts were still de rigueur in the unreconstructed SNP.
But the amusement was provided by the fashion of Mr Stevenson who depending on which hack you talk to looks like a hired hand for a Colombian drug baron (what was in that brief case?), an also-ran in the 1982 Scottish Che Guevara look alike competition or, rather cruelly, Peter Sutcliffe (the Yorkshire Ripper), pictured right.
Anybody who knows what was in that brief case please get in touch.

David Maddox: Many questions, double standards (2)

Just following up on my colleague Hamish Macdonell's blog earlier on the SNP and their alleged aversion to oppositon MSPs putting down written questions.
The party of Scottish Government appear, according to some in Labour, to have taken up a new tactic to nobble their opponents, particularly their would-be nemisis - Lord George Foulkes (pictured right), Baron of Cumnock, MSP for the Lothians and First Lord of the Twittery.
The SNP cunning plan supposedly is to get one of their backbenchers to put down a near identical question to one tabled say by the noble Lord George after he has submitted his for answer.
They then answer the question from afore mentioned backbencher and send the oppositon MSP an answer referring him to the answer given to the party lackey.
This means that their backbencher gets the answer 24 hours before, but, if the SNP MSP Ian McKee's press release on questions is to be believed, it also costs the tax payer almost £100 for the extra question.
An example of this is below. A question put down by Lord George on February 26 for First Minister Alex Salmond and then a near identical one put down by SNP backbencher Nigel Don (pictured left) on March 4. The answers were given by Michael Russel, the new minister for external affairs, on March 5.

S3W-21418 - George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab) (Date Lodged Thursday, February 26, 2009): To ask the Scottish Executive what engagements the First Minister undertook during his visit to the United States of America; what topics were dealt with in each case, and whether he proposes to make a statement on these matters.
Answered by Michael Russell (Thursday, March 05, 2009): I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-21578 on 5 March 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.


S3W-21578 - Nigel Don (North East Scotland) (SNP) (Date Lodged Wednesday, March 04, 2009): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will report on the main outcomes of the First Minister’s recent visit to the United States of America.
Answered by Michael Russell (Thursday, March 05, 2009): The First Minister made a two day visit to Washington DC last week to raise Scotland's profile in the US; to strengthen relationships with key policymakers, particularly in the new administration, and to promote the Year of Homecoming in one of Scotland's biggest tourist markets.

The First Minister met with important figures in the new US administration. The First Minister's meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton marked the deepening friendship between our two nations and provided a good basis for further on-going dialogue in important areas of mutual interest, such as climate change and Scotland's renewable energy potential. The First Minister also met with Dr Christina Romer, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, to discuss efforts to promote economic recovery, the US stimulus package, and possible areas for future policy discussion and cooperation between the US and Scotland.

The First Minister's visit to the United States coincided with the launch of a new Scottish Caucus in the US Senate. The newly announced Caucus is one of very few in the US Senate and reflects the ability and efforts of Senator Jim Webb (D-Virginia) and his colleagues. With 30 US Senators “ a third of the Senate “ now joining the 50 members of the Friends of Scotland Caucus in the House of Representatives, Scotland now has a significant asset to promote our long-term interests in the United States.

In addition, the First Minister hosted a reception to promote scotch whisky, delivered a lecture at Georgetown University, and gave the keynote address at a prestigious symposium on the life and works of Robert Burns, at the Library of Congress. He also undertook various media engagements to publicise the Year of Homecoming and to promote key Scottish industries such as renewable energy, tourism and food and drink, in an effort to spur economic recovery in Scotland.

Hamish Macdonell - many questions, double standards

THERE appears to be a clear absence of joined-up thinking from the Nationalists at Holyrood.
Ian McKee has just put down a motion condemning one MSP (Labour's George Foulkes) for putting down so many parliamentary questions.
The Nats believe Lord Foulkes is often mischievous and only asks questions to embarrass the SNP.
Mr McKee reckons that, at a cost of nearly £100 per question, Foulkes has run up a bill of £100,000 so far this session, something he condemns in his motion.
Fair enough, if it wasn't for the fact that the SNP use the device of written questions as a barometer of how well their MPs and MSPs are doing.
The SNP regularly publish graphs showing how many written questions their members have tabled.
Just last month, the SNP press office circulated a table showing the vast number Alex Salmond had asked at Westminster to justify their claims that he was a very hard-working MP.
By the SNP's own calculations, Lord Foulkes is not just a hard-working MSP but probably the hardest working MSP in the parliament.
Surely Mr McKee (and his co-signatories Bill Kidd and Christopher Harvie) should have done some research on the SNP's approach to this issue before condemning it, particularly as the motion ends by saying: we "request all members to consider whether their question is really necessary before incurring yet more public expense".
A great ideal, without a doubt, but have they told Mr Salmond and all their colleagues at Holyrood and Westminster?
ends

David Maddox: FMQs - Independence defiance

In the face of certain defeat tonight over an independence referendum Alex Salmond made it clear that this is one policy that his party will not be shelved despite the parliamentary arithmatic.
Under attack from Labour leader Iain Gray, Mr Salmond took great pleasure in reminding his opponent that "consistency on the referendum is not Labour's strongest suit."
After all it was Labour less than a year ago, he pointed out, who backed a referendum under the ill-fated Wendy Alexander leadership. And he quoted Mr Gray's own appearance on Newsnight Scotland in May last year when he said Labour would support a referendum "whenever it comes."
But Mr Gray's response may be the historical footnote to the SNP's great missed opportunity.
"It was the First Minister who said 'no!'," he said before underlining the fact that the offer has now well and truly been withdrawn.
Which leaves the question of whether in retrospect the SNP really did miss an opportunity by not going for a referendum when Labour's support was there and Labour was so weak the SNP would have been in a great position to win. Maybe this will in time go down in history as the Nats great missed opportunity.
Both Tory leader Annabel Goldie and Lib Dem leader Tavish Scott asked about the appalling case of the death of the Dundee toddler Brandon Muir, which provoked a strong defence of social workers from the First Minister and an admission that nobody is really sure how many children are in similar circumstances to the little child.
Read more on all these exchanges in the Scotsman tomorrow.

Hamish Macdonell - Interest stateside

GORDON Brown maybe in Washington at the moment, but he is not the only British politician grabbing the headlines.
A piece recently appeared in the Boston Globe, starting like this:
"One of the most interesting politicians in Europe these days is a Scot, and I don't mean Gordon Brown. Alex Salmond is the first minister of a devolved Scottish parliament, a creation of Tony Blair's Labor government designed to take the wind out of Scottish separatist sentiments.
"A few years ago, however, a ranking member of the British royal family, whose members aren't supposed to get involved with politics, committed an indiscretion by telling me that he thought devolved parliaments were a terrible idea because they could break up the United Kingdom. The Welsh would stay with England, and maybe the Northern Irish, he said, but the Scots probably would not. Salmond, the head of the Scottish National Party, is banking on the royal being right."
How fickle the American press is. Mr Salmond got mixed coverage during his recent trip to the States, getting some positive publicity from some quarters and ignored in others.
Now he is back here and getting glowing reports over there. Maybe he should just stay in Scotland.
ends

David Maddox: How booze is affecting senior ministers

The day has been dominated by the Scottish Government's long awaited strategy to tackle Scotland's love affair with booze.
But there was an interesting political aspect to the morning's excitement in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, which had little to do with drink.
The press conference and the launch was led by Nicola Sturgeon (pictured), Deputy First Minister and Health Secretary. Sitting along side her, but very much sidelined was Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, whose baby this booze strategy had been.
His well known brush with the law from his Tartan Army days had made him a passionate advocate of tackling booze culture. Nobody stronger than a sinner that hath repenteth etc.
There are a couple of possibilities to why he was sidelined.
First, it may be a reflection of Alex Salmond's view of how badly Mr MacAskill has sold these measures over the last few months, losing votes in parliament and being pilloried for the under 21 ban. Ms Sturgeon, Scottish Politician of the Year, may have been seen as more capable.
On the other hand, it is no secret that Nicola Sturgeon is Mr Salmond's preferred successor in the (very) distant future for the leadership. Mr MacAskill on the other hand is the most likely figure that any challenge from the so-called fundamentalist wing may gather around, if things were to go pear shaped in the next couple of years. So giving Ms Sturgeon the credit for the biggest social reform the SNP can hope to deliver could have a long term tactical play to it.