Eddie Barnes: 9 votes for Tommy

Tommy Sheridan held a press conference this morning to launch his campaign for the Glasgow North-East by election. Of most interest was the former SSP MSP's impending court case with the News of the World, but Sheridan was as unfazed as usual, arguing that he stood a fair chance of winning the by-election, which takes place on November 12th.

And he got his campaign off to a good start. Leaving the press conference, held at the Petershill Leisure centre in Springburn, he was approached by a local man, dressed in his football kit, who was preparing to play a five-a-side game on the centre's astroturf pitch. They only had 9 - would Tommy mind making up the numbers? Sheridan, a mad-keen footballer, quickly dashed off to his car, got his kit from the boot, and headed straight out onto the pitch.

Hamish Macdonell - You can bank on it

THERE is always somebody who says 'I told you so', whatever the situation and today's latest bail-out of the banks has allowed the left-wingers of Solidarity to ride in, claiming they always wanted to see the banks nationalised.
Tommy Sheridan's supporters (in his self-enforced absence) don't quite go as far as praising Gordon Brown for following their policies of nationalising the banks but they come close to it.
They use today's latest gloomy economic news to call what they really want "genuine people's banks", which would lead to the nationalisation of almost everything else, including, crucially, the means of production.
I guess that's the true sign of a revolutionary, take change in your direction any way you can get it.
ends