tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44228682082318197882010-02-04T14:50:15.509ZThe Scotsmannoreply@blogger.comBlogger608125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422868208231819788.post-78682133739741775992010-02-04T11:41:00.002Z2010-02-04T11:47:26.976Z

We're informed that the SNP Government will unveil the names if the Three Wise Men who will examine their books next week, as part of the Independent Review into the Scottish Government's finances. As I've written in the Scotsman this morning, I suspect there is a lot of behind-the-scenes arm-twisting going on about who they might be, as the make-up of this review will be crucial in deciding

Administratorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07545328874873784965noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422868208231819788.post-87985287333403483422010-02-02T16:04:00.004Z2010-02-02T16:32:09.146Z

Clare Short gives more tantalising evidence today on one of the most fascinating issues raised by the Iraq inquiry - the process by which the Attorney General ended up changing his mind on the legality of the war. Lord Goldsmith revealed last week that what persuaded him to say the war was legal was his visit to the US, where he met Condaleeza Rice, her legal advisers and Britain's Ambassador to

Administratorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07545328874873784965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422868208231819788.post-59378375572851988092010-02-02T15:08:00.004Z2010-02-02T15:44:53.743Z

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

Administratorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07545328874873784965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422868208231819788.post-8666129149370197332010-01-30T10:04:00.003Z2010-01-30T10:10:37.004Z

The McLetchie-for-Scottish Secretary line is running again this morning in the blogosphere. I first heard this story knocking about at the Conservative conference in Manchester when drink may have been taken. The idea played into Cameron's "respect agenda". With McLetchie in post, the Tories could turn round to Alex Salmond and say that a member of the Scottish Parliament was sitting Cameron's

Administratorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07545328874873784965noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422868208231819788.post-67602885458699884822010-01-28T14:29:00.004Z2010-01-28T14:53:22.599Z

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

Administratorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07545328874873784965noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422868208231819788.post-14778839822418392972010-01-28T12:07:00.005Z2010-01-28T13:22:20.423Z

In the Scotsman office this morning we were laying bets....which party would win the "I-Want-To-Be-Andy-Murray's-Best-Friend" award?Labour. Literally less than a minute after he won this morning, this press release landed in the e-mail box."Scottish Labour's congratulated Scots tennis ace Andy Murray for his magnificant victory today which secures his place in the final of Australian Open (Murray

Administratorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07545328874873784965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422868208231819788.post-64355794085284827682010-01-26T11:17:00.002Z2010-01-26T11:22:04.940Z

Is Scotland out of recession? The Office of National Statistics has revealed this morning that UK plc has - ahem- rocketed out of the economic gloom, surging by a whole 0.1% in the final quarter of 2009. The regional breakdowns won't be collated until April, when we'll find whether or not Scotland has managed to keep pace with the UK's own booming growth. Last week, we reported how Scottish

Administratorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07545328874873784965noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422868208231819788.post-40607217339394268962010-01-26T10:20:00.006Z2010-01-26T12:31:18.441Z

An interesting written answer has popped up on the list on the parliament website which shows that the SNP ministers are intent on avoiding any details getting out of how much taxpayers' cash they hand out to party supporters. Here it is:Lord George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what costs were incurred by and reimbursements made to Elaine C Smith as a consequence of her

Administratorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07545328874873784965noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422868208231819788.post-90200472841843665192010-01-20T12:46:00.003Z2010-01-20T12:59:19.336Z

Big day for Annabel Goldie today. She's had her fair share of brickbats in recent days, with questions being asked about why the Scots Tories aren't doing any better than, for example,their counterparts in Wales. Goldie is giving a speech this evening, widely trailed in today's papers, in which she is expected to lay out how a Conservative government at Westminster will deal with the SNP

Administratorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07545328874873784965noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422868208231819788.post-35237080185292021702010-01-19T11:43:00.008Z2010-01-19T14:04:40.239Z

One of the more interesting election bets on offer is from Ladbrokes on how many cabinet ministers will lose their seats when voters go to the polls.Given that three of them - Lords Mandelson and Adonis, and Baroness Royall - are not elected this leaves just 20 possible targets.In Scotland we have two cabinet ministers often talked about as possible scalps. The Tories have hopes of taking both

Administratorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07545328874873784965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422868208231819788.post-47943072357085140652010-01-19T10:02:00.003Z2010-01-19T10:42:27.040Z

Labour have kicked up a fuss this morning about a video the Scottish Government have posted on Youtube tracking Scotland's constitutional history.The video was the one played at the recent launch of the SNP's white paper on a referendum for independence. It starts with the first record of a Scottish Parliament in 1293 and moves through notable moments in history.Not surprisingly it is packed with

Administratorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07545328874873784965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422868208231819788.post-54264084932865834562010-01-16T16:43:00.003Z2010-01-16T16:47:45.639Z

A predictable Scottish political rammy is underway today. The Labour-run Scotland Office has released a new report - snappily entitled "Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland" - as it seeks to make the case for how well Scotland is doing from the current constitutional arrangement. According to the report, each household would have to cough up £2,700 to pay for welfare spending north of the border

Administratorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07545328874873784965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422868208231819788.post-89396618429278343582010-01-15T16:51:00.003Z2010-01-15T17:09:32.032Z

It's that time of year again, and the first vote on the Scottish Budget will take place on Wednesday. Manufacturers of nail-clippers, beta-blockers and booze will expect a spike in sales at Holyrood between now and the 3rd of February, the scheduled date for Stage 3.Speculation is rife, and the multi-handed game of very important poker is underway. Eddie Barnes thinks us Greens won't get what we

James Mackenziehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07707473889170111139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422868208231819788.post-34465308811353119332010-01-15T11:19:00.005Z2010-01-15T13:49:45.620Z

It's been one of those weeks in Holyrood where the main activity has been to spot the various gaffes.In a week where the shocking level of illiteracy in Scotland was debated by MSPs we had two good examples of the problem. Firstly, on Wednesday, in his statement on the Aberdeen bypass John Swinney's speech writer managed to include the words "pubic transport" which the minister himself avoided

Administratorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07545328874873784965noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422868208231819788.post-29888446912832198892010-01-14T10:40:00.005Z2010-01-14T11:51:45.930Z

Time for Holyrood to take back some attention from the Westminster pre-election fun. The Scottish Government's budget is laid before parliament today ahead of the first debate next week. Expect stern warnings of non-cooperation and brinksmanship from the opposition parties, and sage words from the Scottish Government about politicians' responsibilities to the public.I expect the SNP Government to

Administratorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07545328874873784965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422868208231819788.post-83127504190047817352010-01-12T15:22:00.005Z2010-01-12T16:42:46.183Z

Last week, an exhibition of photographs was displayed in the Parliament detailing the suffering of the Palestinian people wrought, campaigners maintain, by an oppresive Israeli state.Alongside some very graphic images of seriously injured children and information about the Scotland to Gaza Medical Appeal run by Edinburgh Direct Aid was a comments book, dutifully completed by various visitors

Administratorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07545328874873784965noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422868208231819788.post-88688824670261905612010-01-09T13:27:00.004Z2010-01-09T15:36:39.453Z

Scotland on Sunday is running an interview with Jim Murphy tomorrow and while he has some harsh words for people in his party who have conceded defeat, the Scottish Secretary was pretty upbeat.Not surprising when you come to think about it. Murphy, who is running the Scottish Labour campaign, has the best job in the Labour cabinet. The main reason is that he won't be involved in the campaign in

Administratorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07545328874873784965noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422868208231819788.post-23894483826945836562010-01-07T09:27:00.006Z2010-01-07T10:18:33.201Z

David Cameron enjoyed the political equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel this morning as he was interviewed on the Today programme. Usually when an opponent describes his enemy as being "completely divided" as Cameron did this morning, you would take it with a pinch of salt. But after yesterday's coup flop, the Tory leader was guilty only of being a bit behind the news cycle.If Gordon Brown is

Administratorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07545328874873784965noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422868208231819788.post-35944015448340265482010-01-05T19:15:00.007Z2010-01-05T19:36:46.540Z

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

Administratorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07545328874873784965noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422868208231819788.post-42664836013029508432010-01-05T16:49:00.005Z2010-01-05T17:27:18.773Z

THE UK parties' general election slogans, which got their first outing earlier this week, have already come in for a bit of criticism from some quarters. But at least they have the merit of being different.At the weekend, newspapers in Scotland received three different press releases from Labour, the Tories and the SNP. First there was the Conservative Shadow Secretary David Mundell. Releasing

Administratorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07545328874873784965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422868208231819788.post-29740784097949281932010-01-05T10:09:00.004Z2010-01-05T10:48:58.981Z

It has been a bitter winter in Scotland not least for the SNP leader of Fife Council Peter Grant (pictured right).As the snow and ice have taken a grip on Scotland his council made UK headlines for running out of grit for the roads and being the worst prepared.Things have got so bad that his own party - in the guise of Central Fife MSP Tricia Marwick - has called for an inquiry.The press release

Administratorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07545328874873784965noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422868208231819788.post-34207942764108551412009-12-22T19:05:00.003Z2009-12-22T23:44:35.258Z

There was an air of predictable inevitability over the announcement on the election debate and its consequences.The broadcasters were never going to countenance having Alex Salmond et al joining the big three, or rather the big two (Brown and Cameron) and medium sized one (Clegg). I gather that they were reluctant even to include Clegg but could not get away with it.And, of course, apparently in

Administratorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07545328874873784965noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422868208231819788.post-34655412384406137102009-12-18T22:36:00.001Z2009-12-18T22:42:14.792Z

What was heralded as the last chance to save the planet has become a rushed attempt by world leaders to save face.The Copenhagen Accord that has been agreed by world leaders has no legally binding targets, no transparency to monitor progress towards the domestic targets set, and no target date for finalising a real global deal in the future.COP15 has turned into a cop out. No matter how much they

George Lyon MEPnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422868208231819788.post-88634776654432466312009-12-18T18:29:00.004Z2009-12-18T18:42:18.662Z

As talks in Copenhagen continue this evening, at least for the moment, spirits are rather low.America and China produce over 50% of the world's carbon emissions: any deal here tonight will require them work together. Unfortunately, there appears to be stalemate.Prior to today there was some hope that the US had come to the negotiating table ready to play ball. Hillary Clinton suggested that they

George Lyon MEPnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4422868208231819788.post-379576708718154322009-12-18T15:37:00.004Z2009-12-18T17:37:21.846Z

I've just come from two separate briefings, one with the EU delegation and one with their Indian counterparts. Different briefings but the same message - there will be no climate deal.Details are sketchy at the moment but the EU delegation has told me that China is digging its heels in over binding targets and the future inspection of those targets. There is a leaked draft agreement floating

George Lyon MEPnoreply@blogger.com0