Hi folks! No prizes for guessing what this week’s main story is: it’s Gordon Brown’s uncanny ability to lose a 13,000 vote majority down the back of a couch. Still, Labour’s loss is the SNP’s gain, and SNP supporters have not been slow to celebrate.

We start with SNP Prospective Parliamentary Candidate in Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East Julie Hepburn, who discusses some of her encounters on the campaign trail, while SNP PPC in Glasgow South West Chris Stephens looks optimistically to the future.

However, the past gets a look-in as well: one of the brains behind the SNP’s operation in Glasogw East, Anne McLaughlin reflects on how younger SNP activists now have a moment of celebration to look back on, comparable to the 1967 Hamilton result, or the two SNP wins in Govan, in 1973 and 1988.

Meanwhile, Holyrood Watcher observes the SNP campaign from the outside, and reflects on Alex Salmond’s approach to the By-Election with impressed tones. And James looks at what the winning candidate John Mason’s reaction may as well have been.

And with an SNP win comes an inevitable discussion on independence. Jennie ponders what that would mean for English politics and asks if Scotland could take Yorkshire with it.

Nevertheless, the other side to the SNP victory is the Labour reverse, and Edinburgh Labour Councillor Andrew Burns is gracious in defeat, as is Kezia Dugdale. However, Jeff has noticed that Tom Harris MP has not been quite so dignified. And Richard Havers notices something familiar in Labour’s official response.

Anyway, the inquest into the defeat has begun, with Kel and John Spence suggesting that the SNP has successfully moved onto Labour’s ideological territory. Neil Craig reckons it’s down to Labour’s organisation. Andy reckons Scottish Labour needs to distance itself from the UK party. There’s faint praise for Labour over at Forgesian Thinking, where it’s argued that Labour mean well but aren’t performing well. Matt’s Mic thinks Labour took the area for granted.

David criticises Labour for running a cynical campaign. Ewan Watt suggests that the Labour campaign wasn’t quite as slick as the commentariat seem to think it was, Political Dissuasion has no time for Margaret Curran and wants her to resign as an MSP, while Bridget Fox considers the eternal question of tactical voting.

And it goes without saying that Gordon Brown is now in bloggers’ sights: Ideas of Civilisation, Scottish Tory Boy, Boxthejack and Richard Havers all agree that Brown is now trapped in serious trouble. Indeed, Shuggy suggests that the real people celebrating the result are in fact Blairites.

As well as that, people are looking at the prospects for the next General Election through the Glasgow East prism. Niall and Cabalamat see Labour as the lesser of two evils, while Bill Cameron and Alasdair reckon that Labour is heading for certain defeat.

But while Labour lost the seat, the LibDems were in the unfortunate position of losing their deposit. Stephen Glenn and Malc take a look at where the party is going, while ASWaS considers the rights and wrongs of candidate Ian Robertson.

Dave’s Part looks at what the result means for the Left, while Andrew Burns looks at what it means for ‘traditional’ politics. And there’s discussion of voter turnout: Cased thinks it’s disappointingly low, but Steve Horgan thinks it was surprisingly high.

Then there’s some of the broader reactions: Caron wasn’t overly impressed with the SNP’s reaction to victory, while Clairwil was in the mood to celebrate but has had to deal with a foul slur!

Adopted Domain and Duncan are ambivalent, seeing one party they dislike triumph over another party they dislike. E-visible Woman isn’t all that thrilled either.

Mr H does a brilliant imitation of the MSM’s style of reporting the reaction of “ordinary people” to the result, and this brings us to the mainstream media portion of the Roundup: Ewan Crawford picks holes in the commentariat’s analysis of the result; Colin Campbell looks at the Herald website and notices what a striking resemblance John Mason has to either Barack Obama or Nicolas Sarkozy. Catherine it’s too impressed with how the London-based titles have reported on the By-Election, while Kenny Sheerin reports on just where the By-Election result did get noticed. Elsewhere, the campaign has even inspired a piece of music.

Green_Anorak has a sense of foreboding about the policy implications of the result, while Ideas of Civilisation looks at the overall picture, including the By-Elections in Crewe & Nantwich and Henley.

And eyes are being turned to the next By-Elections: Louise looks at the prospects of the vote to replace John Mason as Councillor for Baillieston, while Jeff is revved up for the Motherwell & Wishaw By-Election as soon as Jack McConnell packs his bags and heads for Malawi.

In other news (finally!), the independence referendum is being discussed again: Bernard Salmon reacts angrily to Sir Menzies Campbell’s suggestion that the next Scottish LibDem Leader could just ignore whatever decision Conference took on the issue, while Jeff hits out at Labour’s backsliding on Wendy Alexander’s support for an independence referendum. In fact, Ewan Aitken believes that Gordon Brown’s reaction to her policy was the main reason for defeat in Glasgow East.

Richard Havers and Adopted Domain attack the SNP’s approach to windfarms.

Angus Nicolson reacts to the passing of Angus Graham, a one-time adversary on Comhairle nan Eilean Siar.

Louise defends MPs’ rights to a holiday abroad.

Bishop Hill is baffled that Councils don’t think they have a duty to make sure that school pupils are taught English.

Political Dissuasion is not impressed with Trevor Phillips, and is also asking if there’s actually anything substantial behind Barack Obama.

Stephen Glenn reflects on the Conservatives’ overtures to the Ulster Unionists.

Flying Rodent looks at a possible way to find Osama bin Laden.

Legal eagles may find Absolvitor of interest.

Finally, it’s always nice to end with a bit of navel gazing. James has turned the content of his blog into a rather charming graphic, thanks to Wordle; Ideas of Civilisation looks at just who reads blogs anyway, while Stephen Glenn is coming to terms with his apparent role as Principal Speaker of the Scottish LibDem Bloggers. Meanwhile, with the blogosphere girding its loins for Iain Dale’s Top 100 List, Jeff wonders if the English and Scottish blogospheres are in fact completely separate entities, while Flying Rodent feels that people shouldn’t judge Iain Dale just because he’s a Conservative.

And that’s very much it for this week. We’re keeping you in suspense as to next week’s Rounder-upper so for now let me just remind you that you can submit suggestions to us using the boombangabangahoopahoop on the right or by dropping a line to scottishroundup@gmail.com. But from me, it’s bye-de-bye!

The polls have closed and now we just have to wait a few hours for the result. By the time you read this I will be getting on with something much more important — I’ll be down the pub. But I have spent the day diligently gathering the best online commentary about Glasgow East from the past few days. So here is a round-up of the last-minute campaigning and predictions.

Mr H braced himself to delve into the murky waters to review each of the candidates. But the election was really always about the battle between Labour and the SNP.

A reader of Will Patterson’s blog wrote a comment asking if there was much of a comparison between this by-election and the Glasgow Garscadden by-election of 1978. Will Patterson looked to see if the comparison stood up.

Kezia Dugdale found herself in a spot of bother again this week. This time she was stung by a reporter for The Sunday Times. As you would expect, Kezia is not very happy about it. But Scott at Love and Garbage wonders if the piece was as bad as she made out.

Related to this, one of the running themes of the by-election has been how “desperate” the Labour campaign apparently is. Stephen Glenn reports on some desperate — and rude — telephone canvassing from Labour. Meanwhile, Indygal felt that some of Labour’s negative campaign literature was a gift to the SNP.

A lot of the commentary surrounding the by-election has focussed on the implications for Gordon Brown’s leadership. Tim J at Conservative Party Reptile thinks that defeat for Labour in Glasgow East will mean little. For him, the party has already been so stunned by previous defeats that another one won’t spur them into action — not least because there are no obvious replacements.

Life-long Labour member Alex Finnegan thinks the Glasgow East by-election is the wake-up call his party needs. And boy do they need a wake-up call. Fraser Nelson — whose reporting has been excellent throughout this by-election campaign — reported that Glasgow East’s former MP David Marshall took his voters for granted so much that he had zero data on them!

North Britain looks at the Westminster Government’s proposals to lower the number of unemployment and incapacity benefit claimants and how it would affect Glasgow East.

Beau Bo D’Or illustrates Scottish Labour’s woes in his inimitable fashion.

But Sky’s Niall Patterson reports that in private Labour believe they’ve done enough to win this election. Meanwhile, the SNP are saying that private polling shows them 4 points ahead. Labour MP Tom Harris scoffs at this.

But amid all the claims and counter-claims about levels of support, ASWAS points out why parties should not pay too much attention to canvass returns.

Stephen Glenn has criticised the leaking of postal vote results by some activists.

On to the issues, and Alasdair reports on Psycho Steve’s attempts to convince you to vote Labour.

The Telegraph’s Jonathan Isaby reckons Margaret Curran’s refusal to move to Glasgow East in future should be giving Labour some last-minute jitters.

Lib Dem activist Andrew Reeves is not very impressed with SNP candidate John Mason who “is rarely left on his own now”.

Richard Havers was not very keen on Alex Salmond’s decision during a press conference to display a photograph of Gordon Brown and Margaret Thatcher together.

On a lighter note, Richard Thomson highlights the difficulties he has had bring from Edinburgh and trying to make himself understood to Glaswegians.

And following her dog bite scare, Bellgrove Belle was back in action this week.

Julie Hepburn claims to have met a voter who was reluctant to vote for John Mason because he was too good.

Conservative Councillor Iain Lindley has not seen much of Glasgow since his childhood, but reports on his thoughts campaigning for the Tories.

Scottish Tory Boy has heard that there are fears within the Lib Dems that they may finish fourth and lose their deposit.

Meanwhile, where are the Greens? Both Two Doctors and Adopted Domain wondered why the party was largely ignored by the media.

Ah, the media. That brings us on to another running theme — how posh media types have been casting their gaze upon Glasgow and how the city’s residents have reacted. Guido notes that Guardian reporter Helene Mulholland got chucked out of a café for referring to it as a “greasy spoon” while liveblogging.

And Jennifer doesn’t mince her words about a piece written about Glasgow East by A. A. Gill.

Related to A. A. Gill’s piece, Shuggy looks at the ‘Catholic vote’ and concludes that it doesn’t exist.

Holyrood Watcher was similarly downbeat about the election a couple of weeks ago, but has been impressed by the effort all the parties have made all the same — as was Jeff. But Ideas of Civilisation wonders if this kind of campaigning actually works.

Louise Hector reviews the campaigns as a whole and provides her last-minute predictions. So does Political Dissuasion, who confesses that he probably won’t care about this election in a month’s time.

Bill Cameron thinks Labour will get a bloody nose, but will manage to hold on to the constituency. And I posted some of my own last-minute thoughts as well.

And that’s it! Phew. The roundup will be back as usual on Sunday with the aftermath of the Glasgow East by-election plus all the week’s other great blog posts. So don’t forget to get your suggestions in by emailing scottishroundup@gmail.com or by using the contact form on the right.

Hi folks! Remember when the Summer was the ’silly season’, when hardly anything would happen and all sorts of stories would be classed as news, just to fill the void? Well, turns out we’re not getting one of those this year. The Glasgow East By-Election has seen to that.

There’s a preview of Thursday’s poll over at Reuters. There’s a prediction at Adopted Domain. Meanwhile, with predictions of victory and a ‘political earthquake’ being issued from SNP HQ, Jeff and Scott both wonder if it was wise to predict victory beforehand.

Certainly, that declaration looked a little ropey following an ICM opinion poll giving Labour a double-digit lead. Or did it? ASWaS, Mike Smithson and Anthony Wells line up to scrutinise the figures.

Elsewhere on the trail, there’s been a reaction to debates held between the candidates from the Big 4 parties. There’s an assessment at Political Dissuasion. Meanwhile, James and Adopted Domain aren’t happy with SNP Candidate John Mason’s comments over the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.

Staying with the SNP Campaign, Hopi Sen has examined a picture of the SNP activists at campaign HQ, and has not managed to count the five hundred that were reported to have gone out last weekend. Though in fairness, the campaign has seen footsoldiers receive wounds: IndyGal reports on an injury to BellgroveBelle, who was out flying the flag for the party. And John Mason gets an endorsement from Julie Hepburn. He doesn’t get one from Shuggy, who also has some reflections on the notion of Annabel Goldie in a leotard while campaigning for Davena Rankin. And on the Tories, Jennifer Dunn thinks it’s a bit rich for them to be promoting health and fitness when they’re leaving their campaign leaflets in piles at the bottom of tenement stairs rather than going up and posting them into the flats.

Meanwhile, the Labour campaign has been on the receiving end of pelters as well. Guido notes a photograph showing candidate Margaret Curran MSP meeting a 93-year-old war veteran who turned out to be a 67-year-old Labour activist, while I dipped into the Holyrood Official Report and discovered that her voting record on Iraq isn’t what she claims. However, IndyGal notes that Margaret Curran didn’t know where former Glasgow East MP David Marshall’s Constituency Office was. Oh dear. Elsewhere, Mark McDonald spots a Labour leaflet that appears to be backfiring, Louise notes the plan to abandon an increase in fuel duty in the Autumn and points out that a UK Government U-turn on an unpopular policy didn’t help them to hold on in Crewe and Nantwich. Meanwhile, Alanna asks what 50 years of Labour has actually done for the East End.

On a broader note, this has been the first By-Election in which the Scottish blogosphere has been fully engaged. Andrew Burns is fascinated by the exchanges, but Duncan isn’t impressed. Neither is Stephen Glenn.

One particular row concerns this post by Kezia Dugdale, which has caught the attention of Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who Kezia alleges was asked to leave a shopping centre. Tom Harris MP notes that the incident was filmed but accused the BBC of bias for not showing it. James looks at the incident and wonders what impact it might have on the campaign and the result.

Another row brewing comes from Davie Hutchison, who is not impressed with the new blog, SNP Watch.

But this is also the first Twitter By-Election: LibDem Candidate Ian Robertson is taking advantage of the service.

In other news now, the economic downturn has caused Bill Cameron to produce a thoughtful post, while Jeff looks at the Royal Bank of Scotland’s share price, making comments that resonate with David Farrer. While Mr Eugenides looks at the possibility that Gordon Brown is now pursuing a ’scorched earth’ economic policy.

Staying with administrations facing financial problems, Ideas of Civilisation takes a look at Aberdeen City Council’s fiscal problems and wishes that local politicians would stop blaming each other for the mess and sort it out. Andy, on the other hand, notes Labour’s attempts to blame the SNP for the problems and calls on the local party to fight back.
On the subject of local finance, Edinburgh Council Labour Group Leader Andrew Burns has a post condemning the Local Income Tax proposals.

While we’re in the Capital, A Scandal and A Disgrace notes a fall in room bookings for the Festival.

A new website, Secret Scotland, takes a look at Scottish public finances and oil money. Holyrood Watcher has a post on the Scottish Government grant to the Govan Law Centre that was awarded, un-awarded, then re-awarded. And Angus Nicolson looks at former Labour MSP for the Western Isles Alasdair Morrison being appointed to the board of MG Alba, the new Gaelic television service.

Staying with the MSM, James notes the resignation of Charles McGhee as editor of The Herald, and wonders if it’s wise to leave the paper leaderless during the By-Election. Duncan, meanwhile, wonders why technology news doesn’t get much coverage, even when it’s important.

While we’re talking about Internet-based shenanigans, Angry Steve discusses the etiquette of mailing lists. And of course, there has been navel gazing this week: Ideas of Civilisation thinks about who’s reading blogs, while Northbritain looks at how many, or rather how few, people are engaged with bloggery in Scotland.

As is often the case, crime and punishment issues get a look-in this week: Man About the House looks at the problem of banning knives outright, while Alastair looks at the fluctuation in the UK Government’s latest plans to tackle knife crime.

Meanwhile, civil liberties get a mention: Mike Smith is troubled by proposals to create a central database which logs our telephone and internet communications, while Alastair looks across the Pond to a watch list which you can’t get off once you’re on.

Speaking of civil liberties, Iain reckons his have been infringed as his status within the Scottish LibDems means that he can’t pass public comment on their Leadership Election. Caron, however, has no such problem, and is endorsing former Rural Affairs Minister Ross Finnie.

Clairwil reflects on housing provision.

If you haven’t already seen it, we draw your attention to Crap Holyrood Chat, which casts a disdainful eye over some of the more appalling examples of political banter from our MSPs.

Oh, and Alastair and Flying Rodent discuss Margaret Thatcher’s funeral plans. Would it be overly distasteful to suggest sending her to a taxidermist, then turning her into a piñata that tours the UK, offering people the chance to beat the living daylights out of her with a big stick? Probably, but it’s worth thinking about.

Finally, Bookdrunk is closing the curtain on blogging. For now.

And on that note of an ending, this is a good time to conclude this week’s Roundup. Remember that Duncan’s here with a special Glasgow East special on Thursday night, and I’m back in the hotseat next Sunday. As always you can send us your suggestions for inclusion to scottishroundup@gmail.com or fill in the twiddlythingummybob on the right. Bye-de-bye!

This is just a little post about some of the plans for Scottish Roundup over the next little while.

By-election special

First of all we are going to have a Glasgow East by-election special to be posted when polls close on Thursday. That roundup will contain all the last-minute campaign and pre-poll thoughts and will be edited by me. Sunday’s roundup will cover the reaction to the result as well as all of the week’s other top posts as always. That one will be edited by Will P.

Non-political roundup

Longer term we will be experimenting a bit with the format. All too often non-political bloggers get perplexed whenever their post is included in what is ostensibly a ‘political’ roundup. So for a trial period of three months we will be keeping the weekly roundups for political posts. For non-political posts, there will be a monthly roundup which will be posted on the third Wednesday of each month.

It is just an experiment and might fall totally flat on its face, so all feedback will be appreciated! Any help with compiling it would also be greatly appreciated, as I know that I often struggle to cover the wide world of the Scottish blogosphere adequately enough outside of the political blogs.

All suggestions as always to scottishroundup@gmail.com, or you can use the form on the right. It would also be helpful if someone would be up for guest-editing a non-political roundup.

Spring clean

I’ll also be tinkering with the design a bit. Nothing major — just enough to refresh it and stop it from looking a bit tired. Is anyone particularly attached to the MyBlogLog thing? I’m thinking of getting rid of it.

Update: I also forgot to say that I will be deleting the user accounts of everyone who hasn’t been a guest-editor. The user accounts are only there for editors — you don’t need an account to comment. And a lot of the ‘users’ are spammers and the like so I’m going to delete them all. So if you signed up for a legitimate reason, don’t be alarmed if your login doesn’t work. Like I say though, everyone who’s been an editor in the past will keep their account.

Hello, and welcome to this week’s roundup. The last roundup ended on a cliffhanger. We can now say that the Labour candidate for the Glasgow East by-election is… [Big Brother-style pause] …Margaret Curran.

For Boxthejack it’s the most sensible decision Labour have made in a while — just a shame they made a hash of it.

The best MSM coverage of the Glasgow East by-election has undoubtedly been from The Spectator’s Coffee House blog. Fraser Nelson’s piece on the ‘Two Scotlands’ is an essential read. Meanwhile, Clairwil looks more in-depth at the case of one person in poverty.

David Osler looks at the implications for the Labour Party if it loses Glasgow East. Could Labour really be at risk of losing in Glasgow East? According to The First Post, a senior minister is bracing himself for defeat.

Meanwhile back in the campaign itself, North Britain has caught Margaret Curran telling porky pies about where she lives. And now that Margaret Curran will potentially have a “dual mandate”, Richard Thomson wonders where Labour’s calls for Alex Salmond to resign as an MP have gone.

But maybe a dual mandate is the least of Margaret Curran’s worries. Anseo wonders if her selection was even legitimate under Labour Party rules.

Clairwil takes a closer look at the real reasons behind Labour’s trouble in finding a candidate. She is not too fussed about the dual mandate debate:

I must say I’m at a loss as to why anyone is concerned about how she’ll handle being an MP and an MSP at the same time. Doing bugger all for her constituents in two jobs can’t be any harder than doing it one.

Grant Thoms wonders how Margaret Curran is going to defend her voting record.

Will Patterson has taken a look at that old Labour trick of scaring the voters off with threats of Tories.

There was also some amusement when we realised that Margaret Curran would be up against the SSP’s Frances Curran. Political Dissuasion is sure that Labour will use the resulting confusion as an excuse if they get a poor result.

It’s not just the Labour candidate who’s found herself in bother though. Mr Eugenides points out a nasty moment from SNP candidate John Mason’s recent past, as did Kezia Dugdale.

Meanwhile, amid debates as to whether Labour will hold on to Glasgow East, Shuggy made a very good point. The fact that Labour defeat in Glasgow East is even contemplated is the significant thing about this by-election.

Jeff Breslin similarly argued that the SNP shouldn’t be talking up their chances of a win when a vastly reduced Labour majority would be victory enough.

The real shock of the by-election though is of course, as Mr Smith points out, the fact that the Miss Great Britain Party isn’t standing.

After all the argy-bargy of the campaign, time for a spot of light relief. Indygal tells the story of the SNP canvasser who almost thought he had been invited to bed by a voter!

Meanwhile, Holyrood Watcher confesses that he isn’t all that interested in the upcoming by-election!

It’s fair to say, though, that it has got a lot of people enthused. Another by-election hasn’t caught the imagination quite like Glasgow East has though. Cassilis assesses what David Davis has and hasn’t achieved.

Scott at Love and Garbage writes about the shortest-lived leadership bid in history. Not Margaret Curran, but Harriet Harman.

Elsewhere, Tom Harris is critical of the media which seems to be talking the country into a recession. When you consider the proper definition of recession (i.e. two consecutive quarters of negative growth), you realise we are a bit off it yet.

Richard Havers is not impressed with Ruth Kelly’s justification for delaying the decision on the proposed new Heathrow runway.

Elsewhere in political correctness land, Big Rab looks at a stooshie in a teacup. Are Muslims really so offended by a dog?

Bill Cameron looks at how the Labour Government treats asylum seekers from dangerous countries. One gay man was forced to move back to Syria and told that he would be okay as long as he behaved “discreetly”. That’s all right then!

This week Gordon Brown has been trying to persuade people not to waste so much food. But Louise Hector points out that it’s not so simple if you’re not the Prime Minister.

Alwyn ap Huw wonders why the Holtham Commission on how the Welsh Assembly Government gets its funding is set to run in parallel with the Calman Commission.

Meanwhile, Ideas of Civilisation wonders if a Wales-style Labour–nationalist coalition is all that unlikely in Scotland. Indygal reminds us that while party members of Labour and the SNP may have a lot of hard feelings between them, voters do not.

Another unlikely coalition has just been formed on Highland Council. But Bernard Salmon wonders if the Lib Dems and Labour were so smart to team up with the independents. Weren’t the independents the main problem in previous coalition with the SNP?

Let us not forget the Lib Dem leadership contest. Scottish Tory Boy wonders if Jeremy Purvis has something against Mike Rumbles.

Elizabeth Maginnis looks at how spending a penny can end up costing a pub a lot.

Michael Greenwell recalls an injury he sustained while working at a supermarket and how he was treated by his employer.

Colin Campbell is fed up with nationalistic sports coverage.

Fred Barboo ponders on phone etiquette. Who’s ruder — the person who doesn’t answer the phone, or the person who demands that you answer the phone? As a phone-phobe myself, I know which side of the fence I come down on!

Richard Havers looks at a CCTV camera installed at a jetty in Skye due to some petty arguments that have taken place there.

Holyrood Watcher takes a deep breath and investigates the MSM blogs. He isn’t too impressed with all of them.

And that’s it for this week! Hmm. All the political action meant that not very much non-political stuff got a look in. I hope that doesn’t disappoint the good people in this thread too much! If you have any nominations — whether it’s political or not — please send them using the form on the right or by emailing scottishroundup@gmail.com.