Hi folks! It’s been another weird and wonderful week in the Scottish blogosphere, and nothing is more weird and wonderful than the investigation into Tommy Sheridan. Until now, the Tanned One has been taking pelters, but there are the first signs of a backlash developing, with a Solidarity spokesman decrying the inquiry as a ‘witch-hunt’. Gus Abraham wonders if the News of the World have faced any form of investigation for bugging an MSP, as Sheridan was at the time. Seeing as one side in Sheridan’s original proceedings against the newspaper had to have been lying, Iain Rubie Dale asks if Tommy’s former comrades in the SSP – who testified against him – have had the police knocking on their door. Ian Hamilton QC launches a brutal attack on Lothian & Borders Police, accusing them of conducting a vendetta against justice itself.

However, Scott disagrees, arguing that Lord Turnbull, the judge in the original trial, called for an investigation. And Scott also reports on a new twist in the saga: that Gail Sheridan (Tommy’s wife), has been suspended from her job at BA following allegations that she may have been going home with the miniatures. Surreptitious Evil, with tongue firmly in cheek, points out that Mrs Tommy was simply putting the Socialist principle of “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need” into action, and that anyone married to the Leader of Solidarity would need a stiff drink. But Gail does have someone in her corner: despite sticking the boot in about Mrs Sheridan’s taste in handbags, IndyGal compares Gail’s alleged wrongdoing and her subsequent arrest with Wendy Alexander’s breach of campaign fundraising law and her subsequent let-off.

Speaking of Donorgate, the story finally fizzled out completely this week with the news that the Electoral Commission won’t be taking action against Charlie Gordon, the Labour MSP for Glasgow Cathcart who managed to kick off the whole scandal. Malc in the Burgh is exasperated but not surprised, and Tartan Hero is horrified that the Commission thinks that seven years isn’t enough time for politicians to understand the law as it stands. However, a new allegation has popped up involving Labour MSP for West Renfrewshire and Deputy Presiding Officer Trish Godman. Kevin Williamson reacts with anger to news that the MSP and her husband bought a flat in Edinburgh from her son – who has just been jailed for fraud in the US – for less than half the market value just after he had been extradited to Houston. These stories are turning into a political equivalent of “Whack-a-gopher” for the Labour press office!

In the same post, Kevin also goes on to discuss the current row over the Speaker of the Commons and MP for Glasgow North East Michael Martin’s expenses, and Angus Nicolson is appalled that Martin has used Air Miles racked up on Parliamentary business to take his family – including his son, Paul Martin, the MSP for Glasgow Springburn – to New York for Christmas. Tartan Hero notes that the Tories have declared open season on Martin Senior anyway and that a case like this isn’t helping him- indeed, Malc reckons the Speaker may be considering his position - while Calum Cashley argues that Martin Junior should have declared the gift on the Register of Interests.

Speaking of fathers helping out sons, eyebrows have been raised that the Guardian gave Max Gogarty, son of freelance journalist Paul Gogarty, space on their website to write about his entirely normal gap year. Clairwil is not impressed.

This leads us into our usual look at the MSM, with two posts from Garry: one of which takes a look at the comments policy on The Sun website, and the other defends the BBC iPlayer’s seven day time limit.

However, other bloggers have found their posts under scrutiny this week as well. Last week, we linked to this post by Jeff about the honesty or otherwise of our MPs. Anseo responds, arguing that story may not be entirely correct.

Meanwhile, Kezia Dugdale criticises the Government for not choosing to ban snares, and highlights in rather graphic fashion what they can do to animals. ASwaS is unimpressed, arguing that pictures of dead animals are no substitute for action which Labour have called for but until now haven’t taken.

From inhumane treatment of animals to inhumane treatment of other humans, and Garry reacts to the UK Government’s admission that extraordinary rendition flights were refuelled on British soil.

Staying with foreign affairs, and Alyn Smith MEP has toasted Kosovo’s declaration of independence. Ewan Watt has not: he argues that the Independent’s support for UK and US recognition is hypocritical, and forecasts this is a boost for secessionist movements across the world. Tartan Hero agrees that it is a boost for pro-independence movements, but sees that as a good thing. Meanwhile, Kezia Dugdale is disgusted by SNP support for Kosovo’s independence now, given that Alex Salmond attacked NATO’s bombing campaign against Serbia over the province in 1999 as an “act of unpardonable folly”. However, Richard Thomson argues that SNP predictions that the campaign wouldn’t protect civilians from Slobodan Milosevic and that Kosovo was headed for independence as a result of military intervention were proven right.

While on the other side of the world, bloggers are saying “¡Adios!” to Fidel Castro, who as from today, will no longer be President of Cuba. Alastair takes a look at some of the levels the US have gone to in order to oust El Jefe, Louise celebrates his departure, as does RfS, who notes that one of Scotland’s biggest cheerleaders for Castro is strangely quiet on the subject.

To Cuba’s neighbour now, and comparisons are being drawn between US Presidential candidates and UK politicians. Richard Havers notes that Barack Obama is able to inspire his audiences, and is saddened that no UK politicians can do the same, while Alex Massie compares Gordon Brown to Hillary Clinton and finds them very much alike, though that’s not a good thing.

Staying in the realm of foreign political figures, Angus Nicolson suggests that the world’s religions aren’t all that different, given the amount of madness in some of their followers: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad is fuelling speculation that the ‘Missing Imam’ is about to return some 1,000 years after his disappearance while hardliners in Israel are accusing gay men of causing earthquakes. Anyone who asks if the Earth moved will receive Victoria Wood’s response (“No, but the wardrobe door came open!”).

Meanwhile in Europe, the Spanish election campaign is now in full swing and as part of their bid for re-election, the PSOE are promising the employment of more native English speakers as language teachers, as Bill Cameron reports. This won’t please Alyn Smith MEP who is unhappy at the linguistic Anglicisation of Europe. On a similar theme, AEDJT wants to see us improving our foreign language skills.

Sticking with education, and Schools Minister Maureen Watt has suggested that school pupils ought to be taught bloggery: Mr. Eugenides details what students would learn from him. I’m not totally happy with the proposal.

And while we’re on a pedagogical theme, Cllr Fraser Macpherson reckons that the Presiding Officer could do with a refresher course in numeracy. To be fair, the PO was always going to struggle with the basics, given that he went to a bog-standard dump of a school – Eton!

Moving on to figures, and Julie Hepburn is unimpressed with the profits being raked in by British Gas while their customers’ bills are increasing.

Staying with business, Ewan Watt is displeased that the Government has nationalised Northern Rock, and questions whether the UK is still operating a free market system. Jeff, meanwhile, is just thrilled that he (along with the rest of us) now part-owns a bank.

Meanwhile, Bernard Salmon accuses the SNP Government of forcing local Councils to cut funding for services as a result of the decision to freeze Council Tax. ASwaS, however, points out that the Councils that have done so get extra money for services from the Government.

And what should Councils spend their money on? Well, according to Mr. Eugenides there are proposals that they could pay for pubs to open their toilets up to non-customers, to make up for the lack of public conveniences. This brings a new meaning to the term ‘pan-handling’ if you ask me.

Finally, the killer ladybirds are heading to Scotland, but don’t worry, Flying Rodent reckons he can take them.

That’s your lot for this week, but I end on some good news… Duncan’s sabbatical away from the Roundup is coming to an end (what do you mean, “Thank f**k for that!”?!), and he’ll be making a long-awaited return to the hot-seat next Sunday. As always, you can leave suggestions for inclusion via the diggiloodiggiley on the right, or with an e-mail to scottishroundup@gmail.com. Bye-de-bye!

Hi folks! This week’s Roundup is going to be a bit process-y, as you are in the tender care of an unapologetic electoral geek.

This is because the Boundary Commission for Scotland has issued its long awaited draft proposals to revise the boundaries for the Scottish Parliamentary Constituencies. ASwaS takes a look at some of the howlers made by the Commission, and has a stab at analysing how the 2007 Election would have turned out if the proposals had been in place last year, and in a supreme service to geekery, produces a map of the proposals.

Calum Cashley reckons that the proposals are positive for the SNP, and Jamie Hepburn MSP is similarly optimistic, though does take the time to issue the now customary “What the…?!” over the proposed North Renfrewshire & Clydebank Constituency, which would straddle the Firth of Clyde.

Malc in the Burgh notes that the changes are generally bad news for Labour, but reckons that the voters, faced with yet another series of major changes, are probably the biggest losers. Before the proposals were published, Glasgow Labour Aileen Colleran produced a post which gave me food for thought: she (correctly) resigned herself to the fact that Westminster, Holyrood and Council boundaries would continue to cross each other, and argued that it’s not just political parties who have to find a way of sorting out their infrastructure to deal with that – community groups who deal with local politicians hav to deal with the differing boundaries as well.

But the changes to the boundaries could be thrown into disarray by changes to the border with England: could Berwick-upon-Tweed find itself back in Scotland again? Julie Hepburn recalls her childhood memories of the town and argues that the local people should decide, but Richard Havers wonders if local people would see much in the way of a positive difference. David Farrer points out that a small adjustment to the land border would result in a major adjustment to the maritime border. Bernard Salmon suggests that if Scotland takes Berwick back from England, it ought to give Orkney & Shetland back to Norway. Jeff thinks that Christine Grahame MSP – who has tabled a motion about this in the Scottish Parliament – is being somewhat less than constructive, and Anthony Wells at the UK Polling Report points out that the poll for the local press which projects an overwhelming majority in favour of a return to Scotland isn’t actually all that credible.

Border issues are making an impact elsewhere in Europe as well: Kosovo is on the verge of declaring independence (and looks like it will have done so by the time you read this): Alyn Smith MEP takes a look, and also discusses the Cypriot Presidential Elections.

However, the US Presidential Elections are the main game in town: Kezia Dugdale now thinks that Barack Obama is going to secure the Democratic nomination and is excited at the prospect, though Edinburgh Labour Councillor Andrew Burns is gutted that Obama’s momentum has in effect wiped out his hamster’s Presidential campaign.

On the other side of the world, the new Australian Government has apologised to the Aboriginal people for past injustices committed against them. Andrew Burns hails the move.

However, the treatment of different peoples within a nation isn’t just a hot topic in Australia: in the UK, there’s a continuing debate on multiculturalism, and an article by the Royal United Services Institute argues that the policy is undermining security in the country. Garry disagrees with its findings.

On a similar theme, there’s been controversy over whether or not young people are being victimised through use of the ‘Mosquito’ which emits noise that causes discomfort to the under 25s. Bellgrove Belle is horrified.

Staying with community safety and policing, Mr. Eugenides looks at how owning an MP3 player can get you on the DNA register, and this prompts Bill Cameron to look at whether or not the UK is a police state.

While we’ve got the police in, the investigation into Tommy Sheridan’s alleged perjury continues with Solidarity Co-Convener and former MSP Rosemary Byrne being charged with perjury, along with a number of others, and Gail Sheridan (Mrs. Tommy) now helping police with their enquiries. Angus Nicolson, Scott, RfS and IndyPal Two all look on.

On the subject of party difficulties, bloggers have been looking at internal wrangling within Labour over the Constitution. Holyrood Watcher notes that MSPs and MPs are not singing from the same hymnsheet. Tartan Hero notes that an intervention Scotland Office Minister David Cairns has pretty much caused the Constitutional Commission to run aground, and Jamie Hepburn MSP is dismayed by David Cairns’s approach.

Meanwhile, a meeting of Labour parliamentarians has led to a statement saying that they’re all going to work together to oppose the SNP. Jennifer Dunn is amused that it’s taken them nine months to decide that.

On a similar note, people are still considering who should replace Wendy Alexander has Labour Leader in the event of a vacancy. Calum Cashley has been supporting Helen Eadie for some time, but he’s now found her a potential running mate for a “dream ticket” - Councillor Terry Kelly! However, all in Team Eadie is not rosy, as they have a challenger in their midsts: the AEDJT is backing Airdrie & Shotts MSP Karen Whitefield…

Elsewhere, ASwaS believes that the primary reason for Scottish independence has already been achieved: Scotland could have its own entry in the Eurovision Song Contest, to the delight of Tartan Hero! However, IndyPal Two doesn’t think that’s necessarily a good thing.

But regardless of whether or not Scotland enters, you might not be able to listen to the Contest on a DAB radio for very much longer, with news that a number of channels will leave the medium, which is losing out to downloads and internet radio. Robert Sharp has the story.

Meanwhile, tolls on the Forth and Tay bridges are now a thing of the past: Louise is celebrating the decision. Edinburgh Labour Councillor Ewan Aitken is not.

On the subject of taxation, much has been made of the likely freeze in Council Tax. However, the agreement between the Government and Councils doesn’t apply to Scottish Water, who may increase water charges, leading to an increase in Council Tax bills after all! Kenny has been investigating…

Having looked at taxation, there now comes the usual post about spending, and this post by Garry raises an important question: if the Tories favour increased government spending in areas like policing and defence, and if wanting increased government spending makes you a leftist, are the Tories therefore a leftist party?

Worth a mention is this great post by Jeff who considers the employability of Westminster MPs in the real world. The numbers make for uncomfortable reading when you realise that these are the people who pass the laws that we have to follow.

And it’s nostalgia/reflection time: Friday marked the fifth anniversary of mass demonstrations against the then forthcoming Iraq War. Flying Rodent has a wry look at the ‘legacy’ of that day and the nature of public protest. Reactionary Snob has a sobering analysis at the statistics collected on the death toll the conflict.

Elsewhere in the Middle East, Mr. Eugenides looks at Saudi efforts to stop people celebrating Valentines’ Day. Finally Woken notes that the men of Aberdeen opted to mark the most romantic day of the year at Pittodrie.

And on that note, parting may be such sweet sorrow, but that’s very much your lot for this week. Don’t forget you can leave nominations for inclusion next week by using the doowahdiddydiddy on the right, or dropping a line to scottishroundup@gmail.com. Bye-de-bye!

Hi folks! One of the bonuses of the Budget getting passed is that this is the last week of posts about the Budget. This is the fourth consecutive week where it has featured, and with events reaching what could reasonably be described as a dramatic conclusion, it’s a good place to start.

Malc in the Burgh celebrates the Budget’s passage, and is, surprisingly, joined in celebration by Edinburgh Labour Councillor Ewan Aitken, though the latter’s celebration is based mainly on relief that there won’t be an election (Alex Salmond having threatened to resign and trigger an election if the Budget did not pass), and that the good Councillor feels minority government is a good way to conduct business in PR parliaments.

Though just as the posts about the Budget over the past month or so have revolved around how other parties would respond to it, so most of the week’s comments have centred on the voting behaviour of the different parties. Dundee LibDem Councillor Fraser Macpherson is troubled that the Tories, whose full name is “Conservative and Unionist” opted to back a pro-independence Government’s budget. On the other hand, Scottish Tory Boy refers to an article in this week’s Economist which paints the Tories as having regained political influence for the first time since 1997.

The Greens’ decision to abstain gets a mention as well: Green Anorak notes that the party did win some concessions, but that the overall package wasn’t green enough for them to support, so applauds the two Green MSPs’ decision to abstain. I’m less convinced that they did the right thing, but I spend more time discussing Labour’s decision to abstain.

Indeed, this is what bloggers seemed to pick up on: Holyrood Watcher hopes they can explain what they were hoping to achieve, Angus Nicolson brands Labour a laughing stock, Chris Stephens lists some of the things Labour couldn’t bring itself to support, and ASwaS notes the reaction of the press.

Meanwhile, one Labour MSP (Cathie Craigie, MSP for Cumbernauld & Kilsyth) did in fact vote against the Budget, who denied claims that she pressed the wrong button and broke ranks with her colleagues out of principle. While discussing the aftermath of the vote, The Herald’s Robbie Dinwoodie tells the story of how Craigie made this announcement, and what happened next. I won’t spoil the ending.

But the party in general just seems to be taking pelters at the moment: Richard Thomson reckons that Wendy Alexander’s leadership of Labour is doomed, and Holyrood Watcher considers the Leader of the Opposition’s latest soundbite.

And this wave of negative karma comes even when the Electoral Commission decide not to send their paperwork on Wendy to the Procurator Fiscal. Kezia Dugdale posts the Commission’s statement. Iain Rubie Dale reckons that Wendy is still tainted, however, and Malc in the Burgh damns the report as a whitewash. Scott at Love and Garbage wonders if someone else could report Wendy to the Fiscal, even if the Commission has opted not to. All the same, Wendy does have on admirer, in the shape of Mr. Eugenides, and even he notes that the decision has some troubling implicaions.

And the wider discussion of parliamentary expenses has prompted two exasperated posts from BellgroveBelle and Political Dissuasion.

Oh, and speaking of politicians, scandal and the courts, what would the Roundup be if Tommy Sheridan were missing from it? Korakious posts a copy of a letter to the Morning Star, which proves that the war between the Tanned One and his former brothers and sisters in the SSP just keeps going and going and going, like an overcharged Duracell bunny.

But one thing that might stop is the tradition of Scottish banks printing their own money, thus putting under threat the customary blazing row with staff members in English shops over the validity and legality of a Clydesdale Bank tenner. The First Minister is taking a stand to defend the Scottish note, but Bernard Salmon argues that Alex Salmond’s position is undermined by the SNP’s support for the Euro.

Regardless of what happens to banknotes, this week saw one removal: that of the tollbooths on the Forth Road Bridge. Angry Steve is – yup, you guessed it – angry over this, arguing that despite no longer taking money, the booths were only built in 2006 and can still be of use.

And while the tollbooths are being evicted from their home, UK Housing Minister Caroline Flint has suggested that unemployed people ought to be threatened with eviction from theirs. Richard Havers and Caron are horrified.

Elsewhere, Danny Finkelstein is horrified at requests by Oxford’s Muslims to have their call to prayer broadcast on loudspeakers, suggesting that it flies in the face of Britain’s Christian tradition (tell that to the Druids!). Robert Sharp takes a different view, while Flying Rodent considers the Christian call to prayer and wonders if Britain is all that Christian now, anyway.

Staying with Islam and Christianity, Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, suggested that some form of Sharia law might well find itself entering into civil practice in England and Wales. The reaction to the Archbishop’s comments has been hostile, and Almax takes issue with some of the points raised. But the MSM has picked up on Dr Williams’s speech and entered into a state of hysteria, exasperating Garry, who compares the media’s reporting of what Williams said with what he was actually getting at.

Speaking of comments and reactions, Cassilis notes that Oliver Kamm now takes comments on his blog, and isn’t sure that doing so is necessarily a good thing. I suppose it would be ironic to ask, “What do you think?”

Staying with comments, the MSM normally have their detractors around these parts, but they have a new defender this week, in the form of Anseo, who takes a look at the ‘Comments’ section of the MSM websites, which are usually full of people arguing that Journalist X is biased towards Party Y. Duncan seconds Anseo’s post.

But regardless of whether or not our journalists are being programmed by political parties, could the next step be for governments to program their citizens? Cabalamat considers the scientific possibilities.

Though perhaps the first people who ought to be in the queue for reprogramming are the 22 Edinburgh Council employees who were suspended for sending an offensive e-mail around the office. Niall at Mushkush cringes.

Elsewhere in the world, the US Presidential Elections are gathering momentum, with Super Tuesday taking place. Kezia Dugdale went without sleep for the event – I’d say something flippant but I’m pretty sure she’s seen me in a sleep-deprived state and would therefore have the means and motive to take a very brutal revenge – and Andrew Burns views the night as a victory for Barack Obama. Jeff reckons that Mike Huckabee has all but secured the Republican Vice-Presidential nomination, and Ewan Watt wonders whether or not Joe Lieberman, Al Gore’s running mate in 2000, will address the Republican National Convention in the Summer.

Staying with Presidential Elections, and Serbia has completed its own poll, with the pro-EU incumbent Boris Tadic fending off a challenge from the hardline Radical candidate Tomislav Nikolic. Ewan Watt has the story.

One of the things Tadic has to deal with is an almost certain unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo. SNP MEP Alyn Smith has visited the province and posts his reflections.

But back to the UK, briefly, and with the discussions of the SNP minority Government passing its first Budget out of the way, Tartan Hero wonders if minority government could be heading for Westminster after the next election. This is too much, even for a hardened political anorak like myself.

So to end, here’s some light relief. Almax has advice on where to get a dirty screen sorted out.

And on that note, I’m offski, but computer gods willing, I’ll be back next week, so don’t forget to send your nominations to the usual place, using either the shemaddabbydoowop on the right or by dropping us a cod at scottishroundup@gmail.com. Bye-de-bye!