Hi folks! You’re stuck with me again for this Last Roundup Before Advent, and the Blogging Gods have given me a very fruitful harvest this week.

This is primarily to do with the UK Government’s ability to lose discs with the details of 25,000,000 child benefit recipients. The story is so big that Bill Cameron has brought his blog out of retirement.

Meanwhile, over at Love and Garbage, we get two posts (oh, the value!) concerning a House of Lords report on Internet security, and the Government’s response.

The Government’s competence with IT naturally gets called into question: Angus Nicolson and Richard Leyton are stunned that these data can be put on a CD and sent in the internal mail when there is the technology around to transfer all and only the information that is needed electronically. Even my employers manage that. And AswaS suggests that the Government might want to use more traditional forms of communication from now on.

However, the people involved also generate interest. Tartan Hero is calling for the Chancellor’s head, but Alistair Darling gets an easier ride from IndyGal, who notes that Darling’s role in this fiasco was limited, and that his resignation wouldn’t achieve all that much.

Instead, blame appears to have fallen on a ‘junior official’, and Holyrood Watcher expresses concern for the staffer who will bear the weight of this whole episode on their shoulders for the rest of their career, and Ewan Watt is less than impressed that Ministers no longer appear to be responsible for what happens in their Department. But does the ‘junior official’ claim hold water? Mr. Eugenides points out that backing for the sending of the information came from people far higher up the food chain.

But attention has turned to the implications of this incident, and David Linden makes an interesting point: he worries about the safety of children, given that it was the child benefit, and the child benefit claimants’, details that were lost. He argues that these data could now be in anyone’s hands, including, potentially, sex offenders. However, most of the chatter focuses on identity theft: Carolyn Brodie notes the increased risk of this now that the details of 25,000,000 bank accounts have got out into the open. Caron, on the other hand, wonders if there’s any point in even trying to fight ID fraud when in one moment of glaring incompetence, the Government have made the crime so much easier.

On the same subject of identity fraud, Niall notes that ID card supporters are now arguing that the increased risk posed by this debacle actually increases the need for cards rather than proving why the Government can’t be trusted with our personal data. Garry flirts briefly with the idea that this is precisely what was intended, but decides not to buy it a drink, followed by a bite to eat. Indeed, Louise and Robert hope that the argument in favour of ID cards has now been lost.

Staying with ID cards, and Mr. Eugenides reliably informs us that former Home Secretary David Blunkett is in the pay of Entrust, the security company running Spain’s ID card scheme. Entrust want to run the UK’s scheme, should it happen, and David Blunkett is in favour of ID cards and will soon be free to lobby on Entrust’s behalf. Funny, that.

Anyway. One Government department that won’t have much postal trouble is the Scotland Office, because it receives so little mail in the first place, as noted by Mr. Smith. And despite the lack of meaningful activity in one of his Departments, Des Browne is taking pelters for being able to concentrate fully on both of them, as Angry Steve discusses.

Elsewhere, Clairwil tackles the BBC’s assertions that it’s easy to get Incapacity Benefit.

And now that we’ve started talking about money, Julie Hepburn gives us her reaction to the Budget, and in the wake of the Higher Education sector calling for more money, AswaS takes a look at the financial state of our universities.

Also, Scottish Tory Boy wonders if plans to cut ScotRail’s Glasgow-Edinburgh journey time by 10 minutes should be that big a priority, when the service isn’t all that bad at the moment and there are other parts of the rail network that need attention.

In other news, cross-party relations have come under scrutiny again. AswaS casts his eyes over suggestions that deals have been done between the SNP and the Tories, and isn’t convinced. And the Presiding Officer’s continued exasperation at cross-party egg-throwing manifesting itself in bogus points of order has generated this post over at A Scandal and A Disgrace.

Speaking of cross-party egg-throwing, Labour’s now ex-spin doctor Matthew Marr’s foul-mouthed outburst at the Scottish Politician of the Year Awards raises eyebrows, with DK surprisingly impressed. Sadly for Marr, this sentiment is not shared by all and claims that he was behaving out of character have been scoffed at by Mark Mcdonald and Osama Saeed, who have run into him before.

But with Marr’s resignation adding to the Brian Lironi-shaped hole in Labour’s PR team, Calum takes a look at a new recruit. Reactionary Snob thinks this latest episode shows what a dire state Scottish Labour are now in, and Wendy Alexander’s performance on Question Time gets panned by Justified Spinner.

And the short-staffed Labour PR department has had an effect on Scottish bloggery, with Labour blogger, and last week’s rounder-upper, Kezia Dugdale being transferred temporarily from George Foulkes’s office to help fill the gap. She worries that if she keeps blogging, her posts will be scrutinised by people in other parties for even the slightest hint of off-message-ness, but worries that if she stops, she’ll be accused of having been gagged by Party HQ. Kudos to her, then, for her declaration: “Sod it,” she says, “I’ll carry on…” But she gets a frosty reception from BellgroveBelle, Convener of Young Scots for Independence, who takes Kezia to task for a recent post on the YSI’s position on student funding, and wonders how Kezia will fare compared to Lironi and Marr.

Though there is something of a merry-go-round in Scottish Labour: Mr. Smith notes that the aforementioned Brian Lironi is now Leader of Glasgow City Council Steven Purcell’s PR man, and that he has filled the vacancy in that post left by a certain Matthew Marr. I have a headache now.

Anyway, on other matters, David Farrer has been talking about the Right in Scotland. Duncan, however, reckons that the labels ’Left’ and ‘Right’ are meaningless when a party that calls itself left wing can produce the sort of anti-immigrant rhetoric associated with the far right.

Moving swiftly on, and there was a By-Election in Dundee this week to replace SNP MSP Nigel Don, who resigned his seat on Dundee City Council to focus on Holyrood. The SNP won, and Tartan Hero celebrates the swing to the SNP from Labour. However, Dundee LibDem Councillor Fraser Macpherson argues that as the LibDems netted the biggest increase in the share of first preference votes in the ward, they have the most to celebrate. Not sure third place and 10% of the vote is a great reason to get the champers out myself, but, hey! Any excuse for a thrash…

Staying with the LibDems, and newly elected LibDem Vice-Convener Iain Rubie Dale is exasperated that party rules meant he couldn’t even mention his candidacy until after the election.

Meanwhile, Richard Havers looks at the language of the SNP Government and suggests that the talk has yet to be backed up with action. And on language, Angus Nicolson notes that plans for a Gaelic TV seem to have died.

This week, Ewan Aitken, Leader of Edinburgh Council’s Labour group, is getting to grips with Facebook, and wonders why anyone would want to throw a sheep at another person.

And Angry Steve is angry about various bits of kit for the hardened gadget lover being overly expensive for what they actually are.

I’ve been hesitating to cover the week’s other big story, but I suppose I can’t not. Alex Massie is disappointed at Scotland’s exit from Euro 2008, but is pleased with the team’s overall performance. Jennifer Dunn shares those sentiments but missed the agonising final minutes after the pub she was in lost the signal from the dodgy Greek satellite system they were watching the game on. Flying Rodent shares his very relevant dream with us, and chez BellgroveBelle the heartache was doubled on Wednesday.

Speaking of Wednesday, IndyGal feels an element of sympathy for now ex-England gaffer Steve McClaren. Mark McDonald doesn’t. And having discussed Gaelic media, Angus Nicolson also makes time for knob gags in Croatian.

Moving on to football in general, Shuggy asks that age-old question: what is the point in shouting instructions at the players when you’re watching the match on TV?!

Finally this week, another blogging birthday, with Osama Saeed putting a bit of stick about at Rolled-up Trousers for two years now.

And that, at last, is that for this week. I’m off to price up socks for relatives I don’t particularly like, and Duncan will be your host for the First Roundup of Advent. Why not give him an early Christmas present by leaving lots of nominations for him, either by using the jiggertywidget on the right or dropping an e-mail to scottishroundup@gmail.com?

Imagine asking a Labour Blogger to sum up the week where Alex Salmond wins not one but two, Politician of the Year Awards and the SNP publish their first budget in power. An honour or a curse? You decide. For what it’s worth I thoroughly enjoyed it….So here goes:

Debatable Land argues that this weeks budget was sober and sensible, and suggests that if Salmond really wants to further the case for independence he should cut income tax in Scotland, fuelling English demands for a full review of the Barnett Formula.Andrew Burns argues that despite all the claims that this weeks budget will provide local authorities with more flexibility and autonomy, the truth of the matter is that if each individual council is forced to sign a “Single Outcome Agreement” all autonomy is lost as Councils give up their local agendas for national priorities in the name of a Council Tax freeze.

Staying in Edinburgh for a second, I’d like to welcome Cllr. Ewan Aitken back to the world of blogging - by far away his best post this week notes the frightening similarity between John Swinney and Arthur Daly.

Doctor Vee has a very well considered and argued piece on University Funding following the SNP’s budget whilst .

A Place to Stand demands more tax cuts to fuel the Scottish Economy and argues that in essence, Salmond’s Celtic lion has more of a purr than a roar whilst Parliamentary Questions takes a look at what’s next for the budget process.

It’s perhaps also worth commenting on the fact that there’s a real dearth of SNP blogs on the budget this week, there is however an abundance of posts on TV themed issues starting with Angus Nicolson who has a great piece on the challenge facing Gaelic Television. A view also held by Reactionary Snob who questions whose “value for money” the BBC Trust Unit is assessing.

Scottish Futures wonders whether a Scottish Doctor Who really is the best the Broadcasting Commission can come up with whilst Havering Havers notes the irony of the meetings being held “in camera” – especially when all the transcripts will be published at a later date - Anyone else think that the Broadcasting Commission recommending a Scottish Six is about as predictable as Margo MacDonald making a Point of Order at FMQs?
Another big political story this week was the news that Jonathan Aitken is take on a new role reviewing the Conservatives prison policy, Still Not Grown Up makes the excellent point that every time we laugh and sneer at the “disgraced ex Tory MP” we ignore the fact that prison is about both punishment and rehabilitation and that he has as much right to get on with his life and make a fresh start as the next person. A view that Tartan Hero might think about the next time he’s in the company of Lord Watson.

Perhaps the biggest event of the week was The Herald’s Scottish Politician of the Year Awards (for full results and comment see Mr Eugenides) and since nothing of any great significance happened there (!)… I’ve decided to exploit my position as guest editor and do my own little Awards ceremony. So here goes:

The Soapbox Award for Bravery goes to Matt Wardman for suggesting that it’s actually Shetland’s Oil.

The Soapbox Award for “Well Said” goes to J Arthur MacNumpty for arguing that just because the greens say they’re right, doesn’t mean they actually are!

The Soapbox Award for the Most Random Post goes to Scottish Tory Boy for defending the Spice Girls

and finally, The Soapbox Award for Most Likely to get Abuse goes to me for suggesting the SNP have been making policies disappear with a flick of their web wizardy wand.

And that’s all folks! Thanks for all the nominations this week. As always, email in with your favourite blogs of the week to scottishroundup@gmail.com

Hello! Roundup time again.

It looks like the biggest story of the week was the Commonwealth Games. This sort of thing normally bores me to sleep. Mind you, this time round we have at least had the entertainment of seeing nationalist types who were strongly opposed to London 2012 but have the bunting out for Glasgow 2014. Just more proof that Scotland is every bit as Glasgow-centric as the UK is London-centric. Elizabeth Maginnis says Glasgow already gets plenty of extra money — what about Granton?

Mr Eugenides made a good point when Peter Tatchell criticised the possibility of the Commonwealth Games being held in Nigeria.

To shoehorn in some balance here (because the reaction from the blogosphere was actually mainly positive), Will P noted that it was an example of “new politics” at its best.

Richard Leyton was liveblogging the announcement as seen on TV. Unfortunately, as David Farrer points out, TV missed the announcement!

Speaking of TV, Michael Greenwell shares his thoughts on the idiot-box. He’s not too happy about the trivialisation of some weighty concepts.

Andrew Burns is in favour of Labour’s proposal to raise the school leaving age in England to 18. He notes, when it’s considered in an historic context, it really is nothing that extraordinary. I have to agree — why expect the trend of ever-greater government interference to end? Before we know it, we’ll all be in school until we’re 21, then 30, then…

Kevin Williamson wonders where the cause for independence would be were it not for Alex Salmond, noting that it seems rather over-dependent on one person. If I was feeling cheeky, I would say it was a neat analogy for how an independent Scotland would be over-dependent on North Sea oil. Whoops, I just did!

Speaking of which, cast your mind back to last week, when we were fresh from the revelation that Labour now believe that an independent Scotland could survive well enough. Stephen Glenn is pretty scathing about the Labour stance:

You only have to look at the stances they have taken or failed to take more accurately in the last 15 years to see this shift from being a party with ideology to being a party with your and your and your ideology.

Mind you, this ideology business is often more trouble than you’d think. What if your ideology is to hate all foreigners, but you have to form a coalition with foreigners in order to get funding from the EU? The Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty group have fallen out among themselves this week. Alessandra Mussolini made some disparaging remarks about Romanians, prompting five Romanian members to threaten to leave the group.

Angus Nicholson does the pointing and laughing thing. Meanwhile, as ever, Mr Eugenides comes up with the best line:

It must come as a shock to these delightful people to learn that, as far as their quasi-fascist mates are concerned, they all look the same anyway.

The Conservatives are in their own disarray. If you are thinking of saying that Powell was right, Love and Garbage has a cut-out-and-keep guide to help you explain yourself.

With a slightly more serious point on the issue, Robert Sharp notices the double slieght-of-pen that was employed by Nigel Hastilow. (Never mind the “many insists” that were in Hastilow’s article. The interviews he did afterwards conveyed to me pretty much that Hastilow actually does believe that Enoch Powell was right.)

While some Tories are saying Powell was right, others are saying that Mundell is wrong — or at least to blame, seemingly for everything. Scottish Tory Boy defends the Conservatives’ sole Scottish MP.

President Musharraf of Pakistan is a wily guy. He’s obviously been studying the behaviour of leaders of the western world. As Mushkush points out, seemingly you can use the threat of terrorism to let you do whatever you want.

Indygal wonders if the legal system’s priorities are straight. Filming inside court gets you arrested, but filming a physical attack gets ignored by the police.

Mind you, what can you expect from the police? Clairwil wants to know what it will take for Ian Blair to resign. This post contains the funniest line I’ve read all week, so thanks Clairwil!

Neil Craig points out the ridiculous nature of claims that canals are more energy-efficient than road transport.

Bookdrunk attempts to debunk some myths about proposed hate crimes legislation.

Pat Kane has been asked by the Scottish Left Review to come up with a new slogan to replace “The best small country in the world”. Any ideas?

Anastasia Beaumont-Bott was astonished to learn that she has something in common with Karl Marx.

Stewart McDonald casts his eye over the constitutional mess. A favourite topic among bloggers!

Armin is chronicling the progress of the new Islay Hotel.

This week, Steve is Angry about people chaining their bikes to his fence.

And that’s all for this week! Thanks for all the nominations this week. As always, we are always looking for more. So please email us at scottishroundup@gmail.com, or drop a note in the form on the right. I don’t know who is doing next week’s roundup yet, but it will be someone new. Exciting!