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

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Since Gaddafi jnr's arrest he and his wife have been released on bail and the servants have withdrawn their complaint after receiving compensation.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

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.

Hamish Macdonell - passing the buck

MUCH interest along the corridors of (devolved) power about the Scottish Government's decision to do a u-turn on alcohol.
What has got the gossips talking is not the u-turn itself (with ministers deciding to introduce their alcohol plans in a proper bill rather than trying to tag it on to existing legislation), that was expected.
What has caused speculation is the decision to give the whole thing to Nicola Sturgeon, the Health Secretary, rather than to rival Cabinet Secretary Kenny MacAskill, the Justice Secretary.
Up until now, Mr MacAskill has been the government's standard bearer on this issue but now his counterpart at health has been asked to take it through the parliament.
A snub for MacAskill? A boost for Sturgeon? Or is it the other way round because the plans will prove extremely tricky to get through parliament.
MacAskill and Sturgeon are the two big hitters who will be vying for the leadership when Alex Salmond eventually does step down so this is a very interesting scenario.
The real answer, however, could be more prosaic. The SNP holds the convenership of the health committee while Tory Bill Aitken is in charge at Justice. This might have been the extra factor which pushed the Scottish Government to give the issue to health.
It might have had nothing to do with Sturgeon or MacAskill at all ...
ends

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: So who is the minister for knives?

The Scottish Government has put out a press release on a knife crime summit this morning which has raised a few eyebrows.
The content is straight forward enough and the issue is of great importance, talking about the 'No Knives Better Lives' £500,000 initiative to help young people and reduce knife crime.
But it is the minister quoted in the press release - Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill (pictured) - which has rather exposed the SNP.
Not so long ago on January 23 there was another knife crime conference in Holyrood which was set up by the scottish Parliament's Petition Committee in response to a petition by John Muir, 69, whose son Damian was murdered by a knife wielding thug 18 months ago.
But instead of going to this high profile conference, Mr MacAskill decided he would prefer to go on a jolly to Canada to attend some Burns suppers, including one in the famous CN Tower in Toronto.
At the time oppositon parties called for his head, but the party spin doctors on the government payroll were adamant that he was not responsible for knife crime and instead the correct minister - Fergus Ewing, the Minister for Community Safety, attended.
One spin doctor said to me: "These attacks are just complete nonsense. Fergus Ewing has always been the minister taking a lead on knife crime, not Kenny MacAskill."
Not long after the Conservatives did a bit of research on who really was taking the lead on knives. This showed that between them Fergus Ewing and Kenny MacAskill had given 25 written answers dealing with knife crime up to January 23. Of these, 17 (68 per cent) were answered by Mr MacAskill.
And, at that time, of the two Scottish Government press releases available on its website that deal with knife crime, both were issued by Mr MacAskill.
And now it looks like Mr MacAskill is "taking the lead" again.
So is the truth about the incident in January simply that a jolly to Canada was a higher priority to him than knife crime? It will be interesting to see what response we get.

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.

David Maddox: So what was more important than knife crime, minister?

As the scourge of Scottish streets was debated in the chamber at the knife crime summit today, readers of the Steamie may wish to know the important events in Canada that made it impossible for Scotland's Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill (pictured) to attend.
His itinerary has been posted out by the Scottish Government:

FRI:
Daytime: Media interviews in Toronto to promote Homecoming
6.30pm: St Andrew's Society Burns Supper, Horizons at CN Tower.
SAT:
Daytime: Visits Pier 21 Immigration Museum, Halifax, Nova Scotia
6.30pm: Digby Board of Trade Burns Supper, Annapolis Basin Conference Centre, Nova Scotia.
SUN:
6pm: The Scots Society Burns Supper @ Westin Novia Scotian Hotel, Halifax, Nova Scotia
MON:
Dayime: Meetings with Canadian Ministers.
12.15pm: Lecture at Saint Mary's University, Halifax. What does the Future Hold for a New Scotland?
Flies back Mon evening