Hi folks! I’m sure crossword fans will get the post title, but there’s nothing cryptic about what we’re leading with this week, as Wendy Alexander resigned, failing even to emulate the staying power of Iain Duncan Smith. The BBC’s Brian Taylor has a resumé of the tale.

However, the general tone of the blogosphere seems to reflect the lack of a Labour presence in it: hostility seems to be the order of the day. Calum Cashley and Richard Thomson both condemn Wendy for blaming everyone but herself for her downfall. Rhythmaning asks why she went yesterday and not in December. Andy also looks at the timing, and where Labour go from here, but reckons that the SNP wanted her to stay in charge. This is seconded by Jeff, who argues that it’s because he wanted her to stay that she was right to go.

Man About the House argues that her own ego finally did her in, while Bernard Salmon suggests that it wasn’t the donations row that killed her off in the end, but her own poor performance as Leader. Shuggy believes that she’d have been a stronger Leader had she faced a contest, while Angus Nicolson argues that she had the potential to be great, but was surrounded by intellectual pygmies. A similar point is made over at Political Dissuasion, where Wendy is compared to the Tories pre-Cameron, the SNP under John Swinney, the English football team under Steve McLaren and Hearts under Stephen Frail: their own abilities didn’t matter; it was the squad around them that caused the downfall.

There is some sympathy, however. Holyrood Watcher detects an air of self-pity about Wendy Alexander, though doesn’t think it’s unjustified. The Big Beast of Tory Bloggery Iain Dale suggests that it was the complex rules about expenses that are to blame. However, one of the most interesting posts comes from her former election agent, Terry Kelly who does think it’s the SNP’s fault that she’s gone, but shares with us his recollections of meeting her, supporting her and working with her. One of the most thoughtful comes from Alex Massie, who believes that this scandal gets far too much attention, while real scandals, like the state of Scotland’s schools, how public money is spent, and an erosion of civil liberties, get far too little.

Meanwhile, there’s also talk about how this affects Gordon Brown. Ewan Watt suspects that he was actually the one who told her to go. Fitaloon hopes that Brown’s resignation is next.

Speaking of Gordon Brown, it’s now one full year since he took office as Prime Minister, and the talk is generally negative. Shuggy isn’t impressed with Brown, or Alistair Darling, but reckons that attempts to blame the fact that both are Scottish are wrong. Jeff takes a look at how Brown is, erm, celebrating the anniversary. Over at Ideas of Civilisation, there’s a detailed look at why things have gone wrong for the PM.

And it’s not been a good anniversary after the Henley By-Election, where the Labour candidate lost his deposit and came fifth, behind the Greens and BNP. Scottish Tory Boy notes the LibDem optimism prior to the poll, while Bernard Salmon thinks his party’ campaign wasn’t great, but notes that talk of it has been eclipsed by Labour’s dreadful showing. While over at Two Doctors, James celebrates the result for the Greens.

And it’s not over yet for Gordon Brown: there’s now likely to be a By-Election in Glasgow East, with sitting MP David Marshall’s health getting the better of him. David Linden reckons that the SNP can win the seat, overturning Marshall’s five-figure majority in the process. Grant notes that the Tories won Crewe & Nantwich on a 17% swing, so a 22% swing isn’t beyond the realms of possibility, while Jamie Hepburn MSP thinks that in the current political climate the SNP can ‘poll very well’ and speculates that this is the ideal opportunity for Jack McConnell to resign his seat at Holyrood in advance of heading to Malawi. ASWaS argues that whatever the outcome, it won’t look good for Labour, while Jeff wants the SNP to select Elaine C. Smith as the Party’s candidate. Despite being a Unionist, Mountjoy wants an SNP victory and thins that any other result would be crazy. However, Kez flies the flag for Labour, arguing that the party doesn’t fear a By-Election, and belives that descriptions of the Labour Party as ‘in turmoil’ are wide of the mark, with the situation in Zimbabwe being real turmoil.

Speaking of which, Stewart McDonald argues that the UN have to go in and arrest Robert Mugabe for crimes against humanity. Jennifer Dunn notes South African President Thabo Mbeki’s inaction.

Back to more local matters now, and Harriet Harman’s proposed Bill to enforce positive discrimination. Ewan Watt believes it’ll fuel resentment, while at Political Dissuasion, we are reminded that positive discrimination is still discrimination.

There’s a dismayed look at the standard of Scottish political discourse over at Ideas of Civilisation, while Boxthejack wonders why Christians describe themselves as politically apathetic. That’s a tag that certainly not be applied to religious activists in Romania, who, as Cabalamat reports, are mounting a legal challenge to a Government decision allowing an 11-year-old rape victim to have an abortion.

On lighter matters, Jeff looks at how a row between Scottish Labour spin doctor Simon Pia and STV reporter Michael Crow highlights the poor relationship between Labour and the press. However, Polly Toynbee is still clearly ‘on-message’, as Cassilis reports. Meanwhile, Julie Hepburn looks at Labour’s decision to hire a psychiatrist to analyse their performance at Holyrood.

Meanwhile, in the midst of the Wendy Alexander frenzy, we’ve overlooked the fact that one Labour Group does now have a new Leader: Andrew Burns is now the Leader of the Opposition on City of Edinburgh Council. His predecessor Ewan Aitken offers warm congratulations, while we have this post from the man himself. He also gets a warm welcome at Matt’s Mic.

Speaking of Edinburgh, the trams are one again a talking point. Over at A Scandal and A Disgrace, the talk is of local businesses suffering, while Calum Cashley has some questions for the people in charge, but they don’t appear to have any answers.

Staying with public transport, Scott tried to work out how to get from Annan to Glasgow Central with the ‘help’ of the National Rail website, while ASWaS waxes lyrical about the new Stirling-Alloa line.

David McDonald looks at ‘popcorning’, one of the less known (but no less terrifying) aspects of nuclear missiles, while Bishop Hill makes the case against recycling. Scott looks at the proposed Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions) (Scotland) Bill and thinks it’s more to do with the Government wanting to be seen to be doing something than anything else.

Elsewhere, Fitaloon is horrified that Government plans to tackle binge drinking could spell the end of the free dram at the end of distillery tours. Clairwil is sick of benefit claimants being demonised.

Kez speculates at what a Scottish Cabinet reshuffle might look like, and Holyrood Watcher looks at the proposed changes to Westminster expense rules and isn’t impressed.

Meanwhile, Misssy M reflects on the joys of taking her young daughter to the cinema, and Gordon McLean has a brush with beverage-related death. Cat deals with the etiquette of a crush, while Kez was preparing for a fancy dinner and wasn’t sure what to talk about.

She should probably avoid talking like the women described by Alastair, who also brings us tales of an unfortunate typo. A less unfortunate, but no less amusing, typo is spotted by John.

And no Roundup is complete without a spot of navel-gazing. Flying Rodent compares bloggery to a rather charming image, while Big Rab looks at why he blogs.

Finally, bloggers might fancy registering with the Local Blog Directory.

That’s your lot for this week. Stephen Glenn will be in the hot seat next week, and you can nominate posts by e-mailing scottishroundup@gmail.com, or filling out the shawaddywaddytwiddlydee on the right. Bye-de-bye!

Hello and welcome to this week’s roundup. It is Saturday night and I am stone cold sober. That’s not because the SNP want me to stop drinking. Of course, it’s because I have a roundup to write. In my experience, it’s the best way to spend a Saturday night.

A fair amount of controversy has been caused by the SNP’s new proposals to tackle binge drinking. In fact, if the hope was to stop people having arguments to do with alcohol, it’s clearly backfired — you just need to take a look at the blogs this week.

Chris Dillow was fairly critical, seeing it as yet another example of the managerialist ideology that pervades political discourse at the moment.

But Tartan Hero was fully supportive, pointing to the fact that a recent trial in West Lothian coincided with a decrease in anti-social behaviour and alcohol-related crime. Along with him, Jeff Breslin seemed to be the biggest supporter of the SNP’s proposals.

But Scottish Tory Boy pointed out that there would be nothing to stop mischievous youths from getting their hands on alcohol via an older accomplice. And Stephen Glenn reckons it’ll mean people popping over the border to get their booze hauls.

Bill Cameron pointed to the inconsistencies in the SNP’s policies on age limits in different areas. Votes at 16, but no takeaway booze until 21? This contradiction was also pointed out by Bill Salmon. He, like many others, also pointed out that the government would almost certainly have no power to fix the price of alcohol as it would be against European competition law.

Alex Massie sees the SNP’s proposals as another instance of a government feeling that it has to do something, anything. Meanwhile, Iain Rubie Dale wins the award for bluntness.

Ideas of Civilisation was more balanced and admired the SNP for bringing up proposals that will not be popular with everyone.

On a similar note, Mr Eugenides picked up on a scheme whereby people who stop smoking will be given money on a card that will not allow them to buy booze or fags. Those who are familiar with Mr E will probably guess that he’s not exactly over the moon about the idea.

Matt’s Mic notes that it’s not been the greatest week for SNP ministers.

Clairwil is rightly fuming at some MEPs’ calls for the blogosphere to be regulated. Surreptitious Evil isn’t pleased either.

Ignoring that matter, these are exciting times for the Scottish blogosphere as one blogger has an exciting new job and another has made the front page of a national newspaper!

Councillor Andrew Burns is set to become the new leader of Edinburgh Labour group.

Tom Harris found himself in hot water for this post, though I don’t see much wrong with it myself. One of Tom Harris’s constituents, Richard Leyton, thinks that his blog should be commended. Meanwhile, Simon Dickson is in two minds about the Daily Mail’s coverage.

I was actually more interested in Tom Harris’s weak defence of Andy Burnham’s comments about Shami Chakrabarti.

Indeed, as the fallout from David Davis’s announcement last week continues, sadly — but entirely unsurprisingly — the same old rough and tumble of politics Labour-style continues. Fitaloon called Andy Burnham’s smearing of Shami Chakrabarti “inexcusable”.

Bishop Hill wonders if in the end David Davis’s campaign will signify a fundamental realignment in British politics. Perhaps the ‘left’ / ‘right’ distinction (which most political junkies know is pretty nonsensical nowadays) will be superseded by a distinction between libertarians and authoritarians.

Will Patterson takes a look at the future of Highland Council following the collapse of the administration this week.

The methodology of GERS was altered this week, and Richard Thomson was pleased to see that the report now backs up the SNP’s beliefs. But Holyrood Watcher points out that all such reports will necessarily be based on strong assumptions that can drastically alter the conclusions.

This week Raj Persaud was suspended by the General Medical Council for plagiarism. But Alastair wonders if the GMC has brought psychiatry into disrepute more than Mr Persaud has since the complaint was made by the Church of Scientology.

Iain Dale (the Tory one) has launched his new Total Politics website. It comes complete with a Scottish political blogs directory. But Scott has pointed out some perplexing omissions from the directory — including my blog! Pah!

Lis has a story of almost having her mobile phone snatched from her hands by a man speeding along on a bicycle on the pavement.

Mike Smith has news of some alternative events for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

That’ll do for this week. Don’t forget to send your suggestions, either by using the nomination form on the right there or by emailing us at scottishroundup@gmail.com.

Well, if anyone thought that Politics was a dull affair then they would have to be in a coma all of this week to still think it doesn’t possess the ability to excite, enthuse and engage.

All of the 3 e’s above were in full show on the Scottish blogging scene with the question of whether the police should be granted the powers to hold individuals for 42 days without charge. Bloggers were mostly united in being up in arms about the affair: Stephen Glenn fears 42 days is just the beginning,  Angry Steve believes our historic rights are being pissed up a wall, Bill Cameron thinks we’re on our way to a dictatorship, Scots and Independent can’t comprehend Brown’s political tactics,  Calum Cashley suggests it’s unacceptable in a civilised world, Shuggy describes it as audacious but for all the wrong reasons. Infact, only one blogger that I could find was in favour of the legislation but I suspect he doesn’t know what he’s talking about….

A very direct disagreement over this bill arose between Mark Lazarowicz MP and Anseo. Mark, despite his ‘grave reservations’, gave 3 explicit reasons for why he was able to vote yes. This didn’t seem to appease Anseo who took umbrage at his MP’s lack of humanity and wafer thin belief in civil liberties. Consequently, the SNP blogger will now definitely be voting for Calum Cashley, Mark’s future opponent in Edinburgh North and Leith. If I was Calum I would be wondering why that was ever in doubt in the first place…!

Holyrood Chronicles described the Labour win as a pyrrhic victory, extending my vocabulary by a count of ‘1′ at the same time:

Is it worth having a victory that relies on the support of the progressive forces of Anne Widdecombe, the nine MPs of the Democratic Unionist Party and UKIP’s Bob Spink?

A fine point indeed!

But mercifully for Gordon Brown, his ‘victory’ may well not prove as pyrrhic as it could otherwise have been.

Yes, David Davis didn’t so much step into the spotlight this week but rather explode onto it replete with neon signs and dancing bears. He is resigning his constituency seat to stand again on this very issue of 42 days detention and civil liberties at large.

Mr Eugenides took a day to mull it all over before deciding in typically colourful language that Davis is “a fucking hero” and a “magnificent bastard”. Doctor Vee continued the somewhat contradictory compliments by calling Davis “mad but right”. A Place to Stand sees it as a courageous and calculated gamble. Calum Cashley swithers over whether it’s a daft move or a clever stunt. The admittedly anti-Tory Love and Garbage agreed with every word of Davis’ speech and was able to shake off cynicism at the same time. Ewan Watt was confused by Brown’s “farcical response” that the Tories are divided when Labour themselves had 36 rebels and the Tories only 1.  

Infact, contrary to the popular press, the blogging scene was again largely united in being impressed with the decisions of David Davis. It fell to Tory Councillor Jim Millar to inject a bit of pessimism and fear that there will be more damage to his party than is currently feared.

With Kelvin MacKenzie ready to stand against Davis, and even a rumour that our very own Smeato is to be standing, I am sure we haven’t heard the end of this story…

And while the DUP were saying Aye to 42 days, the Irish were saying “Non” to the EU Treaty, sending it back to Strasbourg for the Eurocrats to think again.

Angus Nicolson believes now is the time to have a “root and branch” review of why we need the EU, Tartan Hero thinks Ireland’s strength on the Euro stage should galvanise Scottish Nationalists, SNP Tactical Voter wants the European public to be at the forefront of EU minds,  Holyrood Chronicles suggests continuing with ratification is tantamount to pissing in the wind while Michael Greenwell is effusive in his thanks and appreciation for what the Ireland ‘No camp’ have done, especially as they were outspent by the ‘Yes camp’ 20 to 1.

It’s fair to say, there weren’t many Scottish blogging tears shed in the Irish No vote.

All this unity could never last though and, like many short-term love affairs, it took teenagers to bring about some disagreement.

It seems reducing the Scottish voting age to 16 is moving up the political agenda. Bellgrove Belle is delighted that young people will be listened to and not demonised but Ideas of Civilization prefers the limit to stay at 18. Mr Smith just finds it bizarre that the SNP can want 16/17 year olds to vote but thinks they’re not responsible enough to use sunbeds. I can see where the SNP are coming from though; with Tommy Sheridan on tv less and less then maybe kids aren’t getting enough warnings about how silly Scottish people can look with a fake bake!

Kezia Dugdale has been able to blog from the exotic location of Greece with some cleverly timed automatic postings. But with the Blogging Scene being so heavily loaded with SNP supporters, maybe it is best she is out of the country when she gives us her much-anticipated thoughts on Scottish Independence. In part 1 of this trilogy we learn, amongst other things, that a single extra MSP in Holyrood does not mean they should get their perfect referendum. A far cry from “Bring it On” if you ask me…

Meanwhile, MSPs turned inwards and discussed their favourite subject. How much money they get to spend at Holyrood. The debate was heavily trailed by Scottish Tory Boy (who isn’t as hard as Jamie Hepburn, apparently). Codger was interested that where others had to beg their boss, MSPs could just do what they like. SNP Tactical Voter was disappointed that the independent view was disregarded. But, well, I daresay there are many bloggers who may well get a wee payrise as a result of this and who can begrudge them that. (Mine’s a Fraoch next time anyone’s buying!)

The never-ending question of relations between Scotland and the rest of the UK was raised in various forms:

Ian Hamilton would like to see Trooping the Colour come North of the Border every now and again, particularly as that’s what Glasgow’s Queen’s Park was created for.

Stephen Glenn notes that after 30 years in waiting, Tam Dalyell has finally found his “least bad answer” for the West Lothian question. The unlikely provider is Ken Clarke. But Holyrood Chronicles is less impressed believing that Ken’s proposals are fairly “innocuous” (another one for the vocab list!).

Richard Thomson discusses the truth behind Scotland’s Oil and the contribution it makes to the UK coffers.

Not Working for the Clampdown wonders if the Westminster purge of the Scottish Mafia will extend to the German Bundestag where David McAllister (who has Scottish roots) is the head of the German Christian Democratic Party.

The eagle-eyed J Arthur MacNumpty has a pop at Michael McMahon (Labour MSP). J wonders why Michael is so keen to pull up Alex Salmond for attending Westminster but content to ignore George Foulkes’ attendance at the House of Lords.

But enough of this looking at UK/Scottish disagreements and relationship strains. Let’s have some good news and some more Blog Love.

Yes, Julie Hepburn rightly celebrates the saving of 800 jobs in Cumbernauld while Stephen Glenn gives us his thoughts on his favourite Scottish blogs.

And from me, well, despite it being Father’s Day today I will give the final word to 12,000 women via Cameron Rose’s celebration that the Moonwalk is underway. An army of females dressed in just their bras? I can’t think of a better way to finish the weekend off if I tried…

Nighty night.

Hi folks! Following last week’s brief outage, the Roundup is back to its Sunday slot, and bouncier than ever.

Anyway, we start this week’s trawl through the blogosphere with plans for a Britishness Day, as put forward by UK Immigration Minister Liam Byrne. Byrne suggested that it could be tied in with an existing holiday, earmarking the Summer Bank Holiday at the end of August. Unfortunately, this isn’t a Bank Holiday in Scotland, where it’s more common to take a day off at the beginning of the month, so it pretty much defeats the purpose of a ‘British’ Day. Fitaloon points out that even the first Monday isn’t necessarily a Public Holiday everywhere in Scotland, with some parts of the country opting not to take a day off then. Alex Massie, meanwhile, suggests that the actual date doesn’t matter: it’s just not British to flaunt your Britishness!

However, there were some local festivals this week, and Ewan Aitken reflects on the presence of a market at the Leith Festival, while Julie Hepburn reports on Condorrat Gala Day.

Meanwhile, some commentators have suggested that ‘Tax Freedom Day’ – the point at which we’ve earned more money in a year than we’ll pay in tax – should be a holiday. Cassilis explains why it doesn’t mean much.

On the subject of money coming into Government coffers, Kez takes a look at SNP policy on oil money, and doesn’t like what she sees. While on the subject of spending that money, David Farrer notes that Frank Field has got confused between free personal care – which Scottish pensioners get – and a free place in a care home – which Scottish pensioners don’t get, while Jeff challenges the notion that everyone in Scotland gets free education. And Clairwil has a book recommendation on the subject of government spending.

Staying briefly with monetary policy, Alyn Smith MEP reports on the Danish Government’s plans to hold a referendum on joining the Euro, though following the scandal involving Tory MEPs this week, perhaps “Filthy Lucre” wasn’t the best post title to use.

And on the subject of votes taking place in other countries, we finally have a Democratic nominee for the US Presidency, in the shape of Senator Barack Obama, who has fried my spell-checker. Anyway, Bookdrunk isn’t overly impressed by former Tory spin-doctor Amanda Platell’s criticisms of the Senator from Illinois, Robert Sharp takes a look at Obama’s internet-based fundraising approach, suggesting that it could be a model for future campaigns which never quite repeat the success of the original.

Meanwhile, while we’re thinking about politics online, Simon Dickson at Puffbox takes a look at the presence of UK political parties on the Net. And Holyrood Watcher takes a long, hard, unimpressed look at the new Scotland Performs website, which judges the state of the nation against 45 indicators.

Meanwhile, official communication wasn’t at its finest this week, with the Scottish Government accidentally telling journalists that Enterprise Minister Jim Mather’s answer to a question on drugs in prisons was “Blah”. Well, these things will happen when Mercury is retrograde! Anyway, Andrew Burns raises a smile, though wishes that responses from City of Edinburgh Council were that informative.

But communication has been a big thing at Holyrood, with Environment Minister Mike Russell being surprisingly honest about a Parliamentary debate, as noted over at Ideas of Civilisation. Such a blatant display of truthfulness is rare in politics, however, and Calum Cashley notes Labour’s assertions that a row has broken out between the Scottish Government and CoSLA over ring-fencing. As Calum tells us, this came as news to many people, particularly the Scottish Government and CoSLA.

While we’re in the realms of the process stories, Scottish Tory Boy reports on a Labour adviser who may or may not be quitting, there’s a discussion at Ideas of Civilisation about possible changes to expense rules turning Regional MSPs into ’second-class’ parliamentarians, and Ewan Aitken gives us a good insight into some of the things politicians come up against in their day-to-day lives. And the Councillor himself gets some praise from Fay Young, for his part in bringing about Poetry in St. Andrew Square.

Meanwhile, Midlothian Council got its brief day in the sun, with LibDem Councillor Katie Moffat defecting to Labour, giving them a majority in the Council chamber. Andrew Burns wishes that a LibDem on Edinburgh Council would follow suit, while I wonder what state the LibDems must be in when they’re losing Councillors to Labour. Staying with the LibDems, Bernard Salmon notes that Nick Clegg has described the party’s candidate in the forthcoming Henley By-Election as “excellent”, a description given to LibDem candidates in practically every By-Election for the last five years, making him wonder just how you define “excellent” in those circumstances.

In other news, Lesley Hinds looks at how demand for Council housing appears to have shot up, with a massive rush of applicants for the sort of flat that the Council couldn’t give away a couple of years ago. And UK Transport Minister Tom Harris MP wonders why SNP MPs were voting against Crossrail for London.

Staying with Westminster, and Bill Cameron attacks the ‘just in case’ defence for extending the time limit for detention without trial to 42 days, while Stephen Glenn notes that Gordon Brown doesn’t want to make this policy an issue of confidence in the Government.

Meanwhile, Stewart McDonald takes a baffled look at Dunkin’ Donuts’ decision to pull an ad featuring chef Rachael Ray, following complaints that it’s an endorsement of terrorism, on the grounds that she’s wearing a keffiyeh, and Yasser Arafat used to wear them.

On asylum, Jacq Kelly wonders why NHS Scotland can’t make itself available to asylum seekers when NHS Wales can, while David McDonald notes that a lot is being done to make life better for asylum seekers, but there still needs to be more.

Elsewhere, Niall wonders if banning knives will actually solve violent crime, while Mr. Eugenides takes RMT Secretary Bob Crow to task for blaming Boris Johnson after the party to mark the last night of alcohol being allowed on the Tube led to RMT members being spat at. And Shuggy lists the reasons why Guardian columnist George Monbiot’s plan to perform a citizen’s arrest on former US Under-secretary of State John Bolton at the Hay Festival was just plain daft.

And that marks the beginning of MSM time: Flying Rodent trails the launch of Standpoint magazine, while Alex Massie explains why Gary Lineker is an idiot, a tag which you’re apparently not allowed to give to commenters on the BBC’s Have Your Say site, according to FR.

Meanwhile, Richard Havers is baffled by the priorities given (or not given) by BBC Scotland to various stories, when economic issues like the future of the textile industry in the Borders even manage to get noticed on ITV Lookaround, but don’t get even a mention on Reporting Scotland. And Reluctant Hero suggests that Labour complaints about how the media are treating them now are a bit rich when only a year ago, the Sun was depicting the SNP emblem as a hangman’s noose.

And finally, let’s wrap things up with a bit of bloglove from Jeff. We love you too.

That’s your lot for this week. You know the drill by now: you can nominate posts for next week using the flibbertywotsit on the right, or by sending a message to scottishroundup@gmail.com. Bye-de-bye!

Wow, it looks like we are back. Sorry if you were checking for the roundup yesterday. All of my websites were knocked over by this incident. I was in good company because a couple of other high-profile casualties were Statcounter and B3ta. The internet felt like a much quieter place yesterday, mostly because I wasn’t able to say anything!

Anyway, better late than never. Onward to this week’s roundup. It is quite an eclectic one I think. That’s partly thanks to some great nominations that were received this week, so do please keep them coming in. Now onto the roundup.

Richard Thomson takes note of a change in position in the Electoral Commission. Apparently they will now be willing to help the Scottish Government if it were to ask for assistance with an independence referendum. There is also an interesting discussion in the comments there about the wording of the referendum question.

Frank at New Saltire reckons that the SNP is doing everything in its power to divert attention from its LIT policy.

Meanwhile, as John Swinney calls for the Scottish Parliament to be given more powers to borrow, Stephen Glenn wonders if this signals that he is not confident that an independence referendum will be won and that the Calman Commission will be useful after all.

As things to from bad to worse for Gordon Brown amid the continuing fallout from the Crewe and Nantwich by-election, CyberNat feels the need to point out that the backlash against Labour started in Scotland a year ago.

Calum Cashley surveys the Labour Government’s legislative programme and worries that it is an exhibition of overlegislation. Could this be a sign of Gordon Brown’s desperation?

Meanwhile, as Gordon Brown tries to persuade oil companies to increase supply of North Sea oil, Alex Massie looks at who is really to blame for increasing oil prices.

But as the country apparently faces economic crisis, Labour faces financial crisis. A dream for Labour’s lazier opponents who can’t resist an easy potshot. Kezia Dugdale thinks that Bill Kidd should grow up.

As MPs look to give themselves another payrise, Bookdrunk wonders just why politicians seem so eager to make sure they are more and more loathed all the time. Mr Eugenides also wonders how politicians can increase their pay like this and concludes that they must only be unaware of how despised they really are as a class.

Perhaps what is even worse than what politicians pay themselves is what politicians pay their staff. Or rather, what they ask their staff to do once they’ve been hired. Jeff knows someone who works at Edinburgh Council and on Monday was asked to do just half an hour’s work in an eight hour shift. This costs the council £21 per hour!

Fay Young writes about the creation of Poetry in St Andrews Square, which has been set up with the help of Edinburgh Labour blogger Ewan Aitken.

Speaking of Edinburgh Labour, you have to take your hats off to them in one respect at least. They seem to ‘get’ social media (etc.). Several Edinburgh Labour councillors have blogs and now Edinburgh Labour has set up a YouTube account. This week the first video, about the “cuts, closures and chaos” that has taken place since Labour lost control of Edinburgh last year, was posted.

The negativity might not be to everyone’s taste. Ewan Aitken says the negativity isn’t in his nature, but he feels he needs to speak up for the city. Meanwhile, Andrew Burns notes that it probably won’t hold much sway in Edinburgh Council since YouTube is blocked there!

While Edinburgh Labour gets to grips with the new-fangled interweb thing, the media might not be coping so well. Mr Eugenides takes a look at the recent spat between the Guardian and the Telegraph over crackpot comments.

Elsewhere in media land, The Scotsman is hosting a series of debates. James at Two Doctors has a review of the first of these debates — but he wasn’t impressed with the audience: “It was like seeing the Herald’s and Scotsman’s online comments sections in person.” Ouch!

Do you remember the SSP? Apparently they still exist. But they don’t seem to be impressing many people these days. Will P likens their behaviour to that of an annoying-sounding person called X (let’s hope X doesn’t read J. Arthur MacNumpty!). In fairness though, if I had a name like X, I would probably behave strangely as well.

Bookdrunk is not too impressed with Stewart Lamont’s argument that Mary Whitehouse was decent and the permissiveness of the 1960s has indirectly led to child abuse.

Shuggy looks at voting systems and the BNP.

Voting systems certainly caused a lot of hand-wringing last Saturday. The aftermath of the Eurovision Song Contest saw the usual protests about political voting. For David Farrer it demonstrates some flaws inherent in democracies. Julie Hepburn took the opportunity to call for independence so that our own voting bloc can be created.

Meanwhile, Ewan Spence and I tried to debunk the Eurovision political bloc voting theory. An unprecedented 14 different winners in 14 consecutive years says it all for me.

Bishop Hill is impressed that the IPPR is recommending that school holidays should be shorter and more frequent (which I have always thought should be the case). But, argues Bishop Hill, it would be better for holidays to be set in response to demand rather than being imposed from the top down.

In the wake of the announcement that Superfast’s Rosyth–Zeebrugge ferry link will be axed later this year, Bill Cameron looks at the implications.

Caledonian Jim takes a look at those photographs of an uncontacted tribe that has been doing the rounds this week. He doesn’t blame them from staying away from the rest of civilisation.

This is not a particular area of expertise of mine, but plenty of people are talking about football at the moment. Both Jeff Breslin and Bernard Salmon reacted against Fifa’s plans to limit the number of foreign players in football teams. Who needs the nanny state when you can have nanny football, huh?

Meanwhile, Big Rab looks at the demise of Gretna FC and the pickle the SFL finds itself in as a result.

Holyrood Watcher wonders what qualifies Michael Parkinson to be a “dignity ambassador”.

Jacq Kelly is pleased to see that the Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh will be holding a Tracey Emin exhibition later this year.

Another mention now for PollyOdd, a fledgling Scottish political podcast. It now seems to have a permanent home here. Do check it out — the second edition is now available. I’ve not had the chance to listen to it yet, but if it’s as good as the first one it will be worth your while.

That is all for this week. Like I say, thanks for the nominations. If you have seen something that you think should be included in next week’s roundup, use the contact form on the left or email scottishroundup@gmail.com.