Chris Mackie: 10 years of laughter and fun in the Kenny and Jack Show

Sporting some carefully nurtured stubble, more at home on the chin of serial automotive snoozer George Michael, Jack McConnell kicked off a lively day of debate at the Law Society of Scotland's devolution debate on Friday.

Tieless, full of jokes and looking relieved that the Lockerbie decision hadn't fallen to his administration, Jack (famously pictured right as First Minister in Tartan week in America) regaled delegates on the successes (and failures) of devolution as he saw them. Among the clear positives, he contended, was the introduction of the smoking ban, something he revealed had caused him a degree of nervousness before it was enacted. Chided by a frosty reception at a licensing industry jolly weeks before the Bill was passed and fearful of widespread civil disobedience of the new measures, Jack had, he reported, barely slept during the night before its introduction.

Later, he outlined some areas for improvement of the arrangements. Among those was the need for a more mature dialogue between Holyrood and Westminster, and he expressed incredulity that the Megrahi decision hadn't been discussed at a high level between governments before deploying the old "if an alien had landed from the planet Zog, what would he have thought?" rhetoric to make his point.

Another contention was that the current system of 32 local authorities was unsustainable and should be scrutinised by an all party review body. Maddeningly, however, he failed to tell the audience a) precisely what he thought was wrong with the system, and b) how he believed it could be improved.

He also called for a radical change to the taxation powers of the Parliament, suggesting that responsibility for income tax gathering could be split between both Governments. And he lamented the lack of a serious policy shaping community in Scotland, revealing that, during his tenure as First Minister, only a handful of times had a policy report crossed his desk that sparked serious debate in the Government.

Later in the day, Sir Kenneth Calman (pictured left) cut a wry figure as he took to the lectern to offer a review of his Commission before taking questions from the floor. He insisted that the process of gathering evidence for his report had been "great fun" with the hard work punctuated by members of the commission circulating e-mail jokes around the group. If any curious reader wants a record of those gags, they may well be available via the submission of a creatively worded FOI request.

Speaking to The Scotsman after his appearance, Sir Kenneth revealed that he had managed to see his daughter's (http://www.susancalman.com/) recent stand up appearance at the Festival Fringe, and claimed to have helped her write some material. As for the remainder of her show, he was less enthusiastic: "She sometimes uses language," he said, "that is not for my ears."

David Maddox: For Foulkes Sake (11) - aka I'm alright Jack!

How things change. Lord George Foulkes, Baron of Cumnock, MSP to the Lothians and First Lord of the Twittery (pictured right at a Hearts match) has been the bête noire to the Nationalists for many months now.

How they have railed at him over his hundreds of "pointless" written questions (more than 1,000), costing the taxpayer thousands of pounds.

But suddenly the Noble one has become a paragon of virtue in their eyes. What has changed? The answer is the target.

The SNP guns are now trained on former First Minister Jack McConnell (pictured left in his infamous Tartan Day get-up) who is being portrayed as Holyrood's laziest MSP.

Apparently in the two years to April 2009, he failed to cast his vote in 17 per cent of debates and submitted the equivalent of just one written question per fortnight. He also tabled a mere 14 parliamentary motions and did not serve on committees.

Nationalist MSPs have pointed out that other former ministers have not been so work shy. And which one did they raise as an example? Yes, you got Lord George Foulkes who has asked more than 1,000 written questions and tabled 61 parliamentary motions.

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.

Tom Peterkin on Salmond and Obama

There was a thought provoking column in yesterday's (Tuesday's) Times. Angus Macleod picked up on an article in the most recent Scotland on Sunday in which we revealed that Alex Salmond has sent an invitation to Barack Obama to a Burns Supper the First Minister is hosting in Washington next month as part of Scotland Week.

Angus remarked that it can only be a matter of time before Obama is invited by someone at Holyrood to learn the words of "My Granny's Heilan' Hame" as he lamented the "small country-itis" that appears to be infecting Scotland.

It has also occurred to me that we are seeing more and more Brigadoonery, tartanalia and shortbreaditis (if those are words) festooned about the place in this year of Homecoming.

Angus went on to say that Obama "would be well-advised to steer clear of the event (the Burns Supper) rather than risk an interminable Salmond lecture on how Scots invented and discovered everything worthwhile and how the whole world is obsessed by a small country on the northwest fringe of Europe".

The contributions offered by Scots to the world (penicillin, the telly, telephone, the Tunnock's tea cake) are surely things to be justifably proud of, although the swaggering "Wha's Like Us" attitude is in danger of being overdone.

On balance, however, I almost prefer that sort of attitude to the talk of ending the "Scottish cringe" that was such a feature of Jack McConnell' s administration. I never knew what the "Scottish cringe" was. Was it something to do with an inferiority complex? In any case, nothing made me cringe more than listening to McConnell blethering on about ending it.

David Maddox: Good auspices for Homecoming Year

The auspices for the Homecoming Year look good if the desperate attempts by our politicians to take credit for it can be taken as weathervane on how well it will go.
As I blog the Homecoming 2009 is being debated in the main chamber in Holyrood. To remind those who do not know this is the idea of encouraging expat Scots, people with Scottish heritage and those with an affinity (liking or interest) in Scotland to come home this year. It has, of course, been timed to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the birth of Burns.
But almost every politician who gets to his or her feet seems to want to take party political credit for the idea.
Tourism minister Jim Mather has pointed out that the SNP government is pushing it forward and making it a key part of Scotland's economic recovery. Lib Dem Ian Smith has pointed out that the original idea came from former Lib Dem MSP Donald Gorrie and was in the Lib Dem 2003 manifesto. Labour MSP Margaret Curran has credited former Labour First Minister Jack McConnell for taking the idea up and getting it going. The Tories must be feeling a tad left out.
This rush to take credit for the idea can only mean that despite the economic turmoil in the world they think it is going to be a great success.
Part of this is what Nationalist MSP Roseanna Cunningham described as the "silver lining of the dark cloud of the collapse of Sterling." In other words Euro zone, North American and Australasian homecomers can look forward to cheap holidays in Scotland this year.
Hopefully the optimism is well founded, but it will be interesting to see that if come December there is a similar rush to take credit for the year. That will be the real political test of success.

David Maddox: the Name Game

Jack McConnell may seem like a distant memory these days in terms of being First Minister and he may still be smarting from missing out on his cushy number in Malawi, but he can at least take some satisfaction in reclaiming one top spot.
Yes, the most popular names of the year for babies have just been published and "Jack" is back at number one. When Lewis took top spot from Jack in 2007 it was seen as symbolic of the former First Minister's demise in that year's election.
But, it seems that the influence of the current incumbent is having an impact on our new borns too. Alex is up 19 places to 67th equal. Apparently 100 baby boys new to the world in 2008 now bear the same name as Wee Eck, a long way behind the 692 Jacks.
However, to be fair on Mr Salmond, it seems that to get into this particular top spot he would have to perform a cultural revelution perhaps greater than the one needed for full independence. In the last ten years Jack and Lewis have been the top two names for baby boys in Scotland.

David Maddox: Holyrood and the police

Not to be outdone by their colleagues in Westminster, we have just learnt at the back end of First Minister's questions that MSP want their own protacol on when and how police should be allowed to search their offices and arrest them.
This is of course MSPs trying to spread the continuing furor over the arrest of Damien Green, the Tories' immigration, spokesman by the Old Bill in Westminster.
In the exhanges with labour leader Iain Gray, First Minister Alex Salmond made a quip about how his Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill, will not be calling in the police to arrest oppositon MSPs. The unspoken meaning was "unlike the Labour government in Westminster."
Mike Rumbles, the Lib Dems' chief whip in Holyrood, made a point of order at the end of FMQs repeating a request he made to Alex Fergusson, the Presiding Officer, that he should make a statement and issue his guidance, as was done by Speaker Michael Martin yesterday.
Apparently Mr Fergusson is considering the matter.
There was a further intervention by former Labour First minister Jack McConnell asking that the guidance is given as a statement to the full parliament.