David Maddox: Official endorsement of The Steamie from Alex Salmond's spokesman

Just come back from the weekly Scottish Government briefing that follows First Minister's questions.
Perhaps not surprisingly given what happened in FMQs the main topic of conversation was Mike Russell and unsubstantiated allegations over his supposed connection with a malicious blog run by his former employee.
Kevin Pringle, Alex Salmond's spin doctor in chief, was again reiterating how Mr Russell had no prior knowledge of the blog or its contents.
But, as an aside, Mr Pringle, a regularly reader of The Steamie, kindly took time to highlight it as the sort of blog preferred by the Scottish Government.
"We are into that sort of blog," he said.
It's obviously the season of generosity. So Happy Christmas to you Kevin and all other Steamie readers.

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: Still chums then?

A little bit of gossip from Wednesday evening after John Swinney's "glorious" victory in passing a budget at the second time of asking this month.

You will remember that he went out of his way to humiliate the poor Green MSPs (both of them) for having the audacity to join with the former executive partners (Labour and the Lib Dems) to vote down the budget. The offer of £33 million for a free for all insulation scheme was chopped down to a wholly inadequate means tested scheme for £15 million.

Afterwards the Greens' spin doctor (and general dogs body) James Mackenzie (pictured, left) could be seen in the White Heather Club (Holyrood's bar) drowning his sorrows with glasses of Peroni and muttering darkly about the SNP. For all it seemed that the Greens "love affair" with the Nats, propping them up in difficult votes was over.

But as fate would have it, or rather a seat arranger with a sense of humour, within an hour he was to be seated next to Kevin Pringle (pictured, right), Holyrood's lord of spin and the chief special adviser to First Minister Alex Salmond, for a delayed Burns Supper. And at the end of which the two were seen hand in hand singing Auld Lang Syne. So maybe "auld acquaintance" has not been forgot and they have made up, but only time and a few tight votes will tell.

One more ironic twist was that the Burns Supper in question was arranged for MSPs and hangers on by Energy Action Scotland and Scottish and Southern Electricity, two of the biggest supporters of the Greens' insulation scheme.

No doubt they reminded those of the 123 MSPs present who voted against it that had the Greens got their way 1.8 million households in Scotland would have bills of £340 a year less, less old people would have died of cold, at least 1,000 jobs would have been created and carbon emissions would have been reduced in Scotland by six per cent.

Perhaps it was with this lecture in mind that the Labour MSP Jackie Baillie noted as she gave the reply to the toast to the lassies: "Regarding insulation, we have all missed an opportunity this week."

David Maddox: The business of government (2)

Arrived this morning to discover an e-mail from Kevin Pringle, Alex Salmond's chief spin doctor, regarding the posting yesterday on the Scottish Cabinet watching President Obama's inauguration as part of their official cabinet meeting. Nice to know that the powers behind the throne are reading The Steamie.
In response to me asking why they weren't getting down to the business of running Scotland and sitting around watching TV instead, he had a (slightly tongue in cheek) answer.
"I detected a shared agenda between President Obama and the Scottish Government! - not least on renewable energy," he said.
Perhaps a nod too to my prediction in the blog that it wouldn't take long for our politicians to attach Obama's name to their policies. As ever, the SNP got in first.