Hi folks! Just when you think things are settling down and getting quieter, up pops something that throws everything into confusion. The good workers of Grangemouth Oil Refinery have done exactly that, and are now out on the picket line, as the unions and the employers, Ineos, place their naughty bits on the table and argue about whose are the biggest. Let’s face it, that’s what this is really about.

Anyway, despite the possibility that news of the strike could induce mass hysteria in Scotland and send motorists to the petrol pumps to fill their tank at grossly inflated prices, bloggers put their own private panic to one side briefly to take to their keyboards, and came up with some good stuff.

Richard Leyton isn’t overly affected by the strike but looks at what the workers are striking for and wonders if it’s worth it. Caron, meanwhile, looks at the actions of Ineos and has taken the unions’ side. Iain Rubie Dale takes what you might see as the more typical LibDem view of “A Plague on Both Your Houses”, arguing that both sides need to let ACAS have the final say.

With petrol supplies now potentially at risk, bloggers started considering the issue of panic-buying. Andrew Burns contrasts the Scottish Government’s message – that there’s not going to be a shortage if everyone stick to their usual purchasing habits – with the news that Lothian Buses are running out of fuel. Malc accuses the media of irresponsible reporting, which could lead to more people heading to the pumps to stock up. Reluctant Hero argues that panic-buying is pretty much inevitable, while Holyrood Watcher suggests that it’s actually pretty sensible to stockpile something when you think it’s going to be in short supply.

Meanwhile, the political response has also come under the spotlight: having accused the media of scaremongering, Malc levels the same charge against Nicol Stephen, following the LibDem Leader’s performance at First Minister’s Questions, while Richard Thomson notes that Wendy Alexander never even bothered to ask about the dispute. Jim Millar produces the most thoughtful post on the matter: a look at what this means for the independence debate, as he mulls over the UK Government’s actions – or perceived lack of them – to tackle the issue.

The last word on the petrol crisis, however, has to go to Flying Rodent, who wishes to calm the populace in his own unique way.

However, the populace is still somewhat cheesed off about the abolition of the 10% starting rate of income tax. Kezia defends the policy and Labour’s economic record. Unfortunately for her, she’s very much in the minority: Stephen Glenn is not impressed, neither is Rob Davidson, or, for that matter, This Is Alba.

Caron, meanwhile, reminds us that there are people struggling to make ends meet already who don’t need a tax rise, and Elizabeth Maginnis is blunt about the change: she damns it for making the poorest poorer.

However, as Kezia pointed out, some of those affected by the change will be able to claw money back through the tax credits system. But even this comes in for criticism: Cassilis notes the red tape inherent in getting tax credits, while Ewan Watt simply asks what’s so good about having more people claiming them.

Like Stephen, I just look back at Labour’s original announcement of the 10% rate, back in the 1997 Manifesto, and wonder why Labour is undoing its own actions.

Staying with taxation, Adopted Doma.in offers support for the Greens’ proposed replacement for the Council Tax, a Land Value Tax.

Meanwhile, with the SNP Conference taking place at Heriot-Watt University last weekend (and I can confirm that if the buses do stop running, the Riccarton campus will be completely cut off from civilisation), bloggers have been reacting to Alex Salmond setting a target of 20 MPs for the Party at the next Westminster election. Calum Cashley looks at where those 20 MPs might represent, though Iain Rubie Dale is dismissive of the suggestion. Jeff, meanwhile has two posts looking at where the twenty constituencies could be, though his suggestions don’t go down all that well with Scottish Tory Boy. Not to be deterred, however, Jeff reckons he knows how to get whichever twenty seats the SNP fancy – celebrity candidates! And with the Scottish section of a recent UK-wide opinion poll putting the Labour behind the SNP, Richard Thomson reckons that the twenty-seat target isn’t completely beyond the realms of possibility.

Staying with the theme of SNP representation, there’s a post at Two Doctors questioning whether some of the party’s most hardcore standard-bearers on the internet, they so-called CyberNats, might actually turn people away from supporting them. Needless to say, CyberNat has other ideas.

Meanwhile, this week has seen the launch of what could best be described as a pro-independence superblog: destiNation. For the Union has other ideas, though.

Elsewhere, bloggers are musing about who they’d vote for in the London mayoral election, if they could. Bill Cameron would hold his nose and vote for Boris Johnson. Caron would give her first vote to Brian Paddick, and give a grudging second preference to Ken Livingstone. Bookdrunk is just dismayed at what candidates will say and do to get Londoners’ votes.

The small matter of the US Presidential Election also got people blogging: Andrew Burns notes that Hillary Clinton won the Pennsylvania Primary, but believes that a 9.2% margin of victory wasn’t enough for her to get back into the race, and the Democratic nomination will be going to Barack Obama. Frankly, I think he’s just saying that so that his hamster will end up as Obama’s running mate. Speaking of rodents, the Flying one considers Clinton’s campaign pledge to ‘obliterate’ Iran.

Staying with foreign affairs, and Mr. Eugenides has spotted a picture of some protesters who could have done to check the history books before they made their placard.

Elsewhere, Greener Leith reports on proposals to regenerate Leith Docks, Calum Carr takes a trip to Kirkcaldy’s Links Market, and Angus Nicolson awaits the arrival of Tesco on the Western Isles.

In other stories, Mike Smith and Almax noted the passing of jazz legend (and presenter of I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue), Humphrey Lyttleton. I was thinking of putting one of Humph’s best lines here, but there are too many to choose from.

Staying with music, Frank McAveety is mourning the death of the independent music store, prompting Richard Havers to point out that the Labour MSP is wasting Parliamentary time complaining about market forces, as music lovers head online. Though when they do, they might encounter problems, with Cabalamat looking at Microsoft’s dying DRM system, “PlaysForSure”. Somehow, when I see that name, I just know that it actually doesn’t. And if you’ve got hold of bagpipe music, believing it to be traditional, Colin Campbell might be about to drop a very unwelcome bombshell.

Jeff Zycinski has been to a lecture by former MP Brian Wilson on the Scottish newspaper industry, while Duncan wonders if linking your blog with your Twitter account and your Facebook page is just turning the Internet into a massive echo chamber. Personally, I get around the problem by not touching Twitter with a ten-foot pole, and using my Facebook account primarily to bitch about my co-workers.

Or if you want stuff to get out into the open, you could just leave it in the hands of the Government, which, according to Mr. H, has suffered 100 data losses in the last six months as a result of security breaches, and only been able to recover the information in three of the cases.

Now that we’re onto statistics, Niall is dismayed by figures which show that more money was donated to a donkey sanctuary than the combined income of all the domestic abuse charities. Stephen Glenn, meanwhile, produces his own statistic: the percentage of each Party’s MPs who employ family members. As Stephen admits, however, the SNP and DUP figures are skewed by their small respective sample sizes.

Elsewhere, Angry Steve, last week’s rounder-upper, has hit on a radical way of getting more people onto trains without reducing petrol supplies to zero: make the fares cheaper! And Alastair looks at the perils of flying Continental.

And if that hasn’t given you nasty images, I’m going to leave you with this one provided by Holyrood Watcher, who refers to External Affairs Minister Linda Fabiani’s choice of apparel while at school.

Anyway, I’ll leave you all alone with your sick bags now. Don’t forget that you can submit posts for next week’s Roundup using the zippetydoodah on the right, or by dropping us a cod to scottishroundup@gmail.com. Bye-de-bye!

Muahahahaha.

For some reason I was asked to do the Scottish Roundup for this week – ah, the fools! Every time I see roundup, I think of this… Trouble is, the weeds around here just will not die… I say we dust off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.

Starting with some light entertainment from Auld Reekie Rants I am sure I was sent an email with some of those jokes at work. Sure enough, they don’t work nearly as well when we tried them on our resident Englishman.

David Farrer, of Freedom and Whisky fame, links to ClydeSights, which seems to be a ship-spotting site. Well, I suppose it is a step up from trainspotting. While I was chuckling about that, I noticed a post about something which does get me angry – in his post Praising the devil he talks about the deification of murderers and despots like Pol Pot, and my own personal favourite, Che Guevara. Regarding the trainspotting comment, David, I had written that before I saw your post… Honest…

Another thing that really annoys me is trade unions and enviro-hippies, and The Devil’s Kitchen has a cracking post which has the two combined. Bishop Hill (no relation) has a post on the biggest enviro-hippy of them all, Al, with his massive carbon footprint.

On a trawl of pages linked from the roundup, I have found a few humdingers. One that deserves particular mention though is Red Star, who is clearly red, but arguably not much of a star talks about Defending class interest in Scotland. “The struggle for independence in Scotland cannot be separated from the struggle for socialism and therefore anything short of the Scottish Workers Republic is not supportable” If that’s the case, then we’re all doomed. Remember folks – “God, guns and guts will keep us safe from commie nuts”. (Bonus points for folk who know what that’s a quote from).

Anastasia Beaumont-Bott is suitably outraged by Tesco selling padded bras for 7-8 year olds… I suppose they have to make their £2.8bn profits somehow…

Young Grant explains why his blogging has been so crap, err, light, lately by the way of a gleefully plundered image on his blog Ropes and Pulleys. For a small fee, I can pop round to his desk and break his legs, if you feel his post on fatherhood isn’t up to the standards we’ve come to expect here in the roundup.

Here’s a post from An Englishman’s Castle, it’s about Scotland, and about equality in the Scottish justiciary, which is why I am including it. That, and there are some fantastic quotes in the post – which I’ll not spoil for you.

Reactionary Snob is suitably scathing of the Pope’s recent remarks while on tour in America.

In a bit of shameless self-promotion, I have a rather good grumble about the attack on our liberties – first it was the smoking ban, now it’s the war on Passive Drinking, and a post on a proposal for anger management for the yoof of today.

On the subject of the youth of today, RfS has a post in praise of cadets – unlike certain a certain whining councillor I had the misfortune to know. It turns out, another councillor has posted about this… Really, that wasn’t the one I was talking about whining…

Both Malc in the Burgh and Scottish Tory Boy poke fun at Wendy Alexander for her third question, well, not being a question… While on politics, Mr Eugenides has a rather amusing post in support of some EU regulation… Yes, I found it rather unlikely too, but highly amusing all the same.

Angus Nicolson posts a comment about CLINT, yes, I read that differently, and thought it was something else… He’s referring to the Local Income Tax proposals. I was referring to something entirely different. I quite like Angus’ tagline “If you want balance then get some scales. This is opinion – my opinion.” That said, I can’t agree with everything he says in his blog, but that can wait for another day, and another fine single malt to get the creative juices (bile) flowing.

I have learned an interesting new term – and not one that would make a sailor blush. Well, maybe. “Cyber Nats” is the topic du jour from the Scottish Tory Boy. Apparently they are the electronic equivalent of Sean Connery – folk who don’t live here, but want to tell us how to run our lives… They exist in the online, drive-by sense, when it comes to interweb polls, and blogs and so on. You know it’s bad when Kezia mentions it too…

Bill and J Arthur MacNumpty have something to say about the ban on blood donation by those deemed to be in “higher risk” groups, with an opposing point of view from Jeff at SNP Tactical Voting.

Ideas of Civilisation gives some tips on tipping. HW tells us, on Holyrood Chronicles, that Kate Moss was spotted in the Bow Bar on the 15th… Good for her. I wonder if she sorted the staff out with “yin for yersel’” while she was there.

Love and Garbage, and Iain Rubie Dale pass comment on the Falkirk man, who was trying to claim he was discriminated against because he is bald… I shall make no further comment, since I seem to be inheriting the family widow’s peak…

Jim Millar has posted some pictures of himself wearing armour. I think he should be wearing that to a council meeting. It might prove to be rather useful. That and I think more people would take an interest in local government if he was to do that regularly…

Almax posts on JK Rowling’s recent court appearance regarding copyright issues surrounding some book not written by her about Harry Potter. I am inclined to agree with his sentiments on the matter, although I think my photo of her, featured in wikipedia, is waaay better than that one.

Now, on to another favourite subject of mine, the breakdown of society, we’re all doomed, check the structural integrity of lamp posts, and your stocks of piano wire… Alex Massie tells us we’re all going to hell in a handbasket because of ‘elf ‘n’ safety!

I think that should probably do it for another week. Readers get bonus points for figuring out which parts of the post were compiled when I was drunk. Readers also get bonus points for realising that was a trick question, and whilst this was composed over several days, I was drunk the whole time. This was quite interesting to do – and the age old problem of if I do it well, they might ask me back, but if I do it badly, it will make me look like a f*ckw*t. More so than *ing out the U and I in *u***i*. Gaaaah! Seriously though, it’s been quite entertaining, for me anyway. Have an adequate day.

Hello there and welcome to this week’s roundup.

This week many bloggers turned their thoughts to this year’s Beijing Olympics as the torch parade went to London. Flying Rodent was on the scene.

Stephen Glenn thinks that any boycott, as suggested by Nick Clegg, would not do the trick. Besides, it isn’t feasible:

Nick may have slept with less than 30 women but does he have less than 30 items in his possession that are manufactured in China. My guess is that he probably does not.

Louise was downright unhappy with the protesters, saying they have done more damage to the Olympic spirit than to the Chinese government. Ewan Aitken agrees that a boycott is not the way to go, but sees the protests as a sign of a healthy democracy.

Meanwhile, Stewart McDonald would rather freedom came before the Olympics. ASWaS is also with the protesters and argues that the Olympics cannot be seen in a vacuum outside of politics.

But amid all the guff being spouted about the “Olympic spirit” at the moment, Alastair reminds us that the Olympics are really just a load of nonsense.

Reactionary Snob wonders what’s with Gordon Brown’s indecisiveness over the Olympics. As does Mr Eugenides.

Just to underline the government’s indecisiveness, with reports that Jack Straw threatened to punch Ed in the balls, Shuggy wishes he actually did it.

Prominent Labour blogger Kezia Dugdale has been involved in the Scotland for Obama campaign. Calum Cashley took great exception.

In turn, plenty of bloggers have rounded on Calum Cashley. Jeff has even threatened to tactically vote against the SNP, as Cashley is standing in his constituency. Similarly unimpressed are Political Dissuasion and Malc in the Burgh. Meanwhile, Kezia Dugdale defended the campaign here.

Barack Obama himself came in for some stick this week. Apparently he’s elitist. Flying Rodent sympathises.

Quote of the week comes from Clairwil in what is actually quite a serious post about the arrest of Karen Matthews.

It’s strange I love cows but the slightest trace of bovine in a person sends me insane.

As fears grow in the United States over the prospect of the $4 gallon of petrol, John Kirriemuir points out that in the Outer Hebrides you can expect to pay more like $10 for the same gallon.

Bookdrunk notes that Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s claims about the public’s disapproval of animal–human hybrid embryo research is not backed by another recent opinion poll and looks at the reasons why the disparity exists.

Holyrood Watcher considers the confusing legal ins and outs of the SNP’s local income tax proposals. Bernard Salmond adds his thoughts on the little dispute with the Treasury here.

Angry Steve’s antenna twitched when he heard about doctors complaining about large drinks measures.

A topic that has been missed out here due to congestion is the English Democrats’ controversial London Mayoral campaign which has been perceived by some to be racist against Scots. Iain Rubie Dale thinks we shouldn’t worry too much about it.

This week has probably brought closure to the whole Diana saga. Of course, that has been a staple of the Daily Excess newspaper’s front pages. But Robert Sharp reckons they may have found a “sequel” to Diana. And what’s that the Devil’s Kitchen is saying in the comments?…

It’s just as well this is probably the end of the media’s coverage of Diana because I am sure many of us would concur with Niall that after 10 years of overexposure to Diana, we have had quite enough.

I have heard from a few places that Newsnight attempt to squeeze in the London Mayoral debate as well as Newsnight Scotland was a bit of a botch job. Bernard Salmon wonders if it’s time that Newsnight Scotland was scrapped.

Scott has had one of those nightmares where you wake up and it doesn’t stop happening.

I was most glad to see that Michael Greenwell’s reaction to one story on BBC News was the same as mine: what’s so “shocking” about a polar bear killing a fish? I am sure polar bears shit in the arctic as well, but what is shocking is that this one doesn’t!

Here is a nominated blog — see, they are included! This was intriguingly brought to my attention by an email that said, “some unusual recess postings”. Pauline McNeill is on a “Medical Aid for Palestinians delegation” and is blogging from the scene.

There was another nomination this week for a site called Put A Kilt On It. It seems rather eclectic. I liked this post about the various places Scots have emigrated to historically and how the weather played an important role in that.

One for the tech buffs now. John Kirriemuir assesses Flickr’s decision to allow users to upload “long pictures”, or video clips to you and me.

Meanwhile, Edinburgh City Council have set up a Bebo profile for their ‘Fairdeal’ scheme. The irony, as Andrew Burns points out, is that Bebo cannot even be accessed from Edinburgh City Council!

Please forgive a bit of navel gazing now. Scottish Tory Boy has provided a short summary of his favourite blogs. He is probably correct to say that the Scottish political blogosphere is now dominated by SNP supporters and he had to be pointed in the direction of the relatively few Lib Dem blogs.

That’s a good time to point out that if you see any interesting Scottish blogs that haven’t been featured here, then get nominating and spread the word! You can do so by using the little form on the right, or simply drop an email to scottishroundup@gmail.com. Next week, who knows who’ll be here. I am on the case and a wonderful guest will bring you the roundup next Sunday.

Hi folks! With the MSPs off on their hollybobs, it’s tempting to think that bloggers will follow suit, and hang up their keyboards for a week or so. Wrong!

In fact, the Scottish blogosphere is as busy as ever, and with the Scottish Labour Conference taking place in Aviemore last weekend, why not? Kezia Dugdale takes a look at some of the speeches that didn’t make the news, and is impressed. Holyrood Watcher takes a look at Rhona Brankin’s speech on education policy, and isn’t. Calum Cashley goes over Wendy Alexander’s speech, and he isn’t impressed either.

However, the big thing to come out of Alexander’s speech was the line that appears to position Scottish Labour back on the Left as a ‘Socialist’ party. Ewan Aitken cheers the speech, but a number of bloggers have opted to hoot with derision: Gus wonders what exactly is socialist about Labour, Alastair reckons that Tony Blair hounded all the actual Socialists out years ago, and Cyber Nat considers some of the people connected with Labour now, and notes that they’re not all that dissimilar to the people having scorn heaped upon them in Aviemore last weekend. ASwaS joins the list of bloggers bemused at the ‘Socialist’ line, and manages to work in references to Doctor Who and the Eurovision Song Contest. These are both subjects close to my heart, so I am impressed. Finally, Jeff wonders if being Socialist is necessarily all it’s cracked up to be, anyway, while still questioning whether or not Wendy Alexander actually is one.

Meanwhile, both ASwaS and Julie Hepburn wonder what’s Socialist about getting rid of the 10p Income Tax band.

But the SNP are under the microscope this week, as well, with Councils up and down the country publishing their budgets. Bernard Salmon is concerned about the cuts in education budgets, while Kez looks at the cuts to services being planned by the LibDem/SNP-run Aberdeen City Council, and criticises the Government’s response. Louise reckons that reality is now beginning to bite for the SNP. On the other hand, Jeff reckons that John Swinney’s reaction is spot on and argues that Aberdonian Councillors are having to work with a financial mess left over from previous administrations, while Ewan Watt makes the point that it’s impossible for Councils to keep Council Tax down and spending up, and if people want the former, they should be questioning Councillors’ decisions to do the latter.

However, the SNP also come under criticism from Ewan Aitken, after a consultation rejected an SNP manifesto promise to give first-time buyers a £2,000 grant.

Elsewhere, Jim Millar takes a look at Tartan Week, and argues that it’s a good idea, but it’s not yet reaching its full potential. Angus Nicolson has this post about tourism in general, suggests that it’s a good thing, but shouldn’t be the be all and end all of the Western Isles economy. And on the subject of the Isles, Silversprite reckons that the doom and gloom stories about the Outer Hebrides are wide of the mark.

Meanwhile, planning issues rumble on: Iain Rubie Dale comments on Donald Trump’s pathological inability to keep his mouth shut for more than five seconds, and with Glasgow City Council’s planning committee approving plans for ‘Go Ape’ to be sited in Pollok Park, local residents are unhappy: a Save Pollok Park website has been set up, and Richard Leyton reports on a campaign meeting. Over at Ideas of Civilisation, there’s a look at the state of the planning system in general, and Jeff brings to our attention what will probably be the next big planning fiasco. Yup, it’s in Edinburgh.

Speaking of the capital, Hacksaw Jim Duggan has bad news about the state of local businesses, and places the blame squarely on the construction of the tram system. However, Lesley Hinds hails the launch of the Edinburgh International Festival 2008 programme.

Elsewhere, the Speaker of the Commons is still in trouble: Jeff looks at the latest row over expenses, as does Iain, who was not impressed with the Michael Martin’s handling of Wednesday’s PMQs either.

David Farrer has a novel idea to tackle anti-social behaviour in young people.

And the NHS comes under the spotlight: Calum Carr has two posts on his long-running battle with NHS Lothian. Over at Political Dissuasion there’s a look at the risk inherent in Gordon Brown’s plan to fight MRSA by having every hospital in England deep-cleaned. And Julie McAnulty looks at how the NHS differs in the respective nations of the UK, and suggests that the lack of proportional representation has had an impact on how the English NHS has developed.

This is something that has cropped up this week: David has a look at English civic institutions and English identity (also check out his post on the difficult position Labour have got into over devolution and independence). This now has added piquancy following the launch of the English Democrats’ Matt O’Connor’s campaign for Mayor of London. It’s been characterised as anti-Scottish racism by Kezia.

Back in Scotland, Colin Campbell is exasperated at the time, energy and hand-wringing that has gone into an agreement to have the Saltire flown over public buildings. And David Linden has declared war on Siol nan Gaidheal, in a post that confirms my suspicion that David is very much at home in the blogosphere and should take to his keyboard far more often.

Back to the London Mayoral campaign now, and at Political Dissuasion, there’s talk of how a Boris Johnson victory would be a very bad thing. And Bookdrunk reacts to the news that the lead BNP candidate for the GLA has had to quit a disgusting comment about the crime of rape.

From xenophobes to asylum policy now, and Niall looks at the case of a man facing deportation back to Syria, where he’ll definitely face persecution, but it’s not clear whether it’ll be for being gay or for being Kurdish. And Flying Rodentgives us the facts about immigration in his usual style.

Over in the Republic of Ireland, Alex Massie reacts to Bertie Ahern’s announcement that he’s to resign as Taoiseach, while Mr. Eugenides reacts to the appointment of the rather dishy Alexander Stubb as Finland’s new Foreign Minister.

MSM time, now (it wouldn’t be the Roundup, otherwise, would it?). Ideas of Civilisation and Iain Rubie Dale run the rule over journalistic inaccuracies, while Holyrood Watcher wonders what point there was in the BBC sending George Alagiah to present the Six O’Clock News from the Zimbabwe/South Africa border. However, Craig offers a cautious welcome to the new look BBC website. Elsewhere, Kevin Williamson offers an obituary for Tommy Sheridan’s show on Talk 107, which has been axed, and Mr. Eugenides has a rundown of this year’s April Fool gags.

In other news, Shuggy isn’t impressed with the NUT’s plans to go on strike in England, while Anseo has a post defending those die-hard political activists known as the Tallymen. Tallypeople, surely? Surreptitious Evil welcomes the new coin designs, and Richard Thomson has this post about damn good coffee.

Yet there’s one voice of discord: Holyrood Watcher has dared to suggest that at times, Scottish politics can be “less than scintillating”. Shame on you, HW, shame on you!

Finally, a blogging birthday to celebrate: usually we mark people’s first or second anniversaries on here, but Bill’s Comment Page has reached the ripe old age of six. I suggest we have a whip-round to get Bill a carriage clock, or something.

And on that note, that’s your lot. You can, as always, point us in the direction of posts for next week’s Roundup by dropping us a line at scottishroundup@gmail.com or by using the hoobledooptwiddlypeep on the right. Bye-de-bye!