Afternoon all! Or indeed, “mornin’” or “evenin’” depending when you are reading this. As part of the “Best Political Team in the Blogosphere” the privilege of writing this week’s round-up has fallen to me. I’ll try not to screw up too badly.

With the bells ringing out for Christmas it is no surprise that bloggers have been a bit quieter this week. However, there’s still plenty going on…

The Scotsman’s new blog “The Steamie” featured some fun stuff this week, and it is proving a popular addition to the blogosphere. However, Stephen Glenn is a bit miffed as he seems to have been ignored in his attempts to join their blogroll!

Scottish Tory Boy kicks off the campaigning on his blog… no, not for the election (next year?) but in support of attempts to get Jeff Buckley’s version of Hallelujah to top the charts for Christmas.

Music of a different sort, as Hamish Macdonnell tells us how four MSPs took to the stage at the Labour Christmas bash to perform as Boyzone… no doubt actually better than the real thing. And still on the music theme, James at Two Doctors laughs at the Scottish Government for confusing Caledonia with… Catalonia.

Ewan Aitken agrees with Brian Taylor on the principle behind directly elected health boards. He is, however, sceptical about the need for them. Ideas of Civilisation and Will Patterson add their thoughts.

Despite taking an extended holiday in South-East Asia, Jeff manages to find the time to defend the SNP’s record in reducing the number of Quangoes… while back in Scotland, Richard Havers considers the potential sale of Edinburgh Airport and the impact it will have on customers.

David Maddox spots a “left field” motion from everyone’s favourite eccentric MSP while Crap Holyrood Chat has another one from the one-man-motion-machine that is Kenny Gibson.

Westworld takes a pop at Labour MSP Mary Mulligan for what he thinks is Crap Holyrood Chat. Stephen Glenn has more on the story.

Also this week:

Scott at Love and Garbage questions the legal system

Calum Cashley “speculates” on why Labour have moved out of John Smith house.

Yousuf rubs his hands at a new poll which he thinks brings plenty festive cheer to Labour in Scotland… but looks like leaving the Lib Dems with only coal in their stockings.

Holyrood Chronicles bemoans the lack of tradition upon Royal Mail’s stamps… pointing out that two men dressed as women are no Santa and Rudolf.

Bernard Salmon points out Lib Dem attempts to harness the “YouTube generation” and calls on leader Tavish Scott to start his own blog. He’d certainly be a welcome addition to the Scottish blogosphere.

And as one new blog might be in the pipeline, another falls to that other mistress we bloggers call “life”. Mark McDonald announced his (hopefully short) break from blogging at Granite City. The birth of his (excellently named!) son and his council duties have taken over his time. I’m sure I speak for the whole blogosphere when I say “Haste Ye Back!”

And I guess that’s your lot for the week. There will be no round-up next week with Christmas on the go, but Will Patterson will be your host on January 4^th. As usual you can nominate posts by emailing scottishroundup@gmail.com or completing the wee form on the right.

Merry Christmas and all the blogging best for 2009 from the Scottish Round-up team!

Welcome to the snappily named Non-Political Roundup or the NoPoBloRo as I’m going to call it for the duration of the post in the hope that it might catch on.

First up is Gordon of One Man Blogs who found Christmas Shopping was not the relaxing spiritual journey he had hoped.

On a similar note, Big Rab of The Ben Lomond Free Press loses it over Christmas Muzak in them  there Dumbarton shops. I’m assuming he has Radio Scotland playing in his own pet shop at this time of year. The hamsters are calmed by the voice of Tom Morton, apparently.

And then there’s Loth, who isn’t as pleased as Aled Jones’s Mum was on hearing the news that her son is to join the school choir.

Quite rightly, Mr Farty is incensed at the standard of science teaching in our schools, but please, no one offer him a chemistry teacher’s job until my kids are safely out of the school system, eh?

It’s the time of year where lists abound in the press. Top ten this and that, best of that and this.  But who to trust? The Guardian? The NME? Q Magazine? Well, you could do a lot worse than have a look at Andy Learmonth’s Top Ten Albums of the Year. Not a Viva La Vida in sight. Lucky devil didn’t even have to pay for them, either.

Read the latest in Random Burbling’s series (a possible memoir in the making, Alan?) on his first year as a stand-up comedian. Remember, he does it so you don’t have to.

Over in Egypt, ex-pat Scot Trailing Grouse is worried about what Freud would say about her  first  etchings from her art class. Maybe she’s particularly worried that he’d say “Trailing grouse, I sink you are suffering from ze Pencil Envy”.  C’mon, I couldn’t resist….

To keep us all chipper until the Winter Solstice, Peter of the Naked Blog is posting a beautiful photo a day from his archives for you to do with what you will (and he’s also doing a little accompanying blog in case you think he’s just posting photos). None of those photos involve nakedness, as the blogname might suggest. But he maybe does requests.

On the subject of nudity, kind of, Cat over at The Cat Girl Speaks thinks that Glamour Magazine is living in a dream world with their pronouncement of the average amount of sexual partners a girl might have. That dream world being one filled with pretty dull dreams, then.

The banks have pretty much ruined everyone’s year, but now they’ve gone and ruined Billy The Kid’s Christmas as well. What a bunch of utter gits. What next? Bank tellers drowning puppies in the bank foyer?

The Scottish Patient pays tribute to Scotland’s greatest living poet, Edwin Morgan. If they ever find Nessie, you know it’s going to sound exactly like he said it would.

And will anyone notice if I cheekily stick one of my own posts in? Ah, well, forgive me, but it’s all in spirit of public service. Read my carefully researched Christmas Party Survival Guide and avoid no end of seasonal embarrassment. Don’t thank me, I’ll only get embarrassed.

Scots bloggers have, as usual, been busy documenting the issues of the day. A full dissection of the end of Woolworths has featured in the blogs of Jeffzycinski, IndyGal, Last Years Girl, Zippykins, Jack Deighton and The Adelaide Green Porridge Cafe, amongst others. Firstly, how many of you had your first Saturday job there? Secondly how many of you pinched the odd Pick and Mix.  not me, officer, not me…

Talking of disasters, this time round Angry Steve is angry about the Edinburgh roadworks. Flippin’ trams better be like something out of Bladerunner, that’s what I say.

The Crayfish Diaries celebrates a first ever achievement. The world over people get crap haircuts, are shown them in a mirror and when asked if it’s okay, meekly reply “Yes, very nice”, then go home to cry and wait for it to grow back. Not this Crayfish!

Nintendo and Chocolate is having bum trouble. Would it be pushing it to suggest that she makes this a regular feature? Top tip: maybe don’t read whilst eating your tea.

Oh and we’ve a recipe from Islay!

And finally…the weather, as reported by  Man About the House. Check out his musings on snow and his beautiful photographs, not least the last one of the wee Christmas Elf.

It’s been a pleasure, treasures.

Merry Christmas.

Misssy M of The Misssives

Hi folks! This, for the record, is the first Roundup under the new team system, and I’ve been looking forward to it, primarily because it allows me to refer to the ‘Best Political Team in the Blogosphere’, in the style of CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. As the Wolfman is a personal hero of mine, that’s no bad thing.

Anyway. It’s no surprise that once again, the economy, and the Government’s reaction to the global downturn, is at the top of the agenda. Especially as it transpires that Gordon Brown has managed to save the world. In his words, anyway. Richard Thomson and Stephen Glenn have a little giggle at the PM’s slip of the tongue.

The thing is though, the Government’s popularity has picked up of late, prompting Drew to ask if difficult economic times are actually a political bonus for Labour.

But not everyone agrees that Brown is a hero, and he’s found a new critic in Peer Steinbrück, the German Finance Minister. Alex Massie finds himself in agreement with Herr Steinbrück, while McChatterer opines that he may have a point, but governments just don’t criticise other governments like that.

Financial matters of a different kind, now, and bloggers have been running the rule over the Government’s plans to reform the benefit system. Yousuf is in favour, while Ideas of Civilisation thinks it’s worth a shot, at least.

On a similar note, Clairwil has been reflecting on people’s wish to see how benefits are given out to parents in the wake of the trial of Karen Matthews.

Meanwhile, following the wringing of society’s hands at the outcome of the Matthews trial, and the case of Baby P, where the failings of social workers were blamed for the child’s death, Calum Carr asks why suicides are blamed on the victims rather than the failure of support networks that are meant to exist.

Staying with the rather grim theme, Dan Vevers echoes Margo MacDonald MSP’s call for a debate on assisted suicide.

Elsewhere, Bill Cameron slates the open verdict issued at the inquest into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes.

Meanwhile, Holyrood Watcher recalls the idea of an ethical foreign policy, and finds that current examples of the Government’s approach fall well short.

And Michael Greenwell is less than impressed with the decision for the Republic of Ireland to hold a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

Environment policy plays a big part in this week’s Roundup: The Daily Rabble suggests that Scotland might need nuclear power, while James has two posts ripping into the Scottish Government: first on the new Forth Crossing, and second on the wider policy approach.

On a similar note, the Plane Stupid protest at Stansted Airport leaves both Bernard Salmon and Shuggy wondering what, exactly, direct action is supposed to achieve.

The people of Sark must be wondering what democracy was meant to achieve: Scott considers the result of the first elections on the island, and its unintended consequences.

Both Scottish Unionist and Holyrood Patter were watching Scottish Questions at Westminster last week, and seem to agree on what the half-hour session now consists of: the three UK parties joining together to slate the SNP. Regular readers of both blogs won’t be surprised to learn that they don’t agree on whether or not that’s a good thing.

Staying with Westminster, the ongoing Michael Martin saga continues. Over at the Steamie, the Scotsman’s new blog, David Maddox notes that the SNP are staying broadly supportive of the Speaker, which is ironic when you consider that the party fielded a candidate to challenge him at the last two General Elections while the other parties who are criticising him haven’t done so since he took over from Betty Boothroyd. Jamie reckons that the Tories are putting heat on the Speaker to avoid people looking to closely into the minutiae of Greengate, while Stephen Glenn found Michael Connarty’s impassioned defence of Michael Martin last Sunday somewhat less than 100% effective.

Malc in the Burgh suggests that the LibDems were on the verge of quitting the Calman Commission.

One political story that has got people to their keyboards over the weekend is the defection of Glasgow City Councillor Colin Deans from the SNP to Labour. Tom Harris MP is jubilant, Yousuf is pleased, particularly as Labour won a By-Election in East Ayrshire on Thursday as well, but not overly triumphalist (on the grounds that the SNP won one in North Ayrshire). Scottish Unionist reckons that getting Deans on board isn’t actually all that great for Labour, while IndyGal isn’t too sorry to see the back of the Councillor.

Meanwhile, Alister is sceptical about Tommy Sheridan’s call for a truce between the left wing parties in Scotland.

But who knows? After all, this week saw agreement between Boris Johnson, Tom Harris and Malc in the Burgh, all lamenting the apparent reluctance to celebrate Christmas as Christmas. On a similar note, Ewan Aitken understands that there seem to be two sets of Christmas stamps this year: one religious, one not so religious, and that you actually have to go out of your way to ask for the former.

Calum Cashley posts in defence of the proposed questions for the Census in 2011.

Ewan Aitken has a heartening tale on how the younger and older generations needn’t be at loggerheads.

And Mr Eugenides has some harsh words for Preston City Council, who are attempting to ban swearing in the City Centre. I know that neck of the woods well enough to avoid further comment: we’d get complaints otherwise.

Finally, anyone interested in Web 2.0 in Scotland (which I guess is nearly everyone who’s read this far) will be interested in the new Scotweb2 blog.

And that’s your lot for this week: Misssy M has the Non-political Roundup on Wednesday, while Malc is here on Sunday for the last Roundup before Christmas. As always, you can e-mail your suggestions in to scottishroundup@gmail.com or fill in the baddabing on the right. Bye-de-bye!

The response to my plea for help was better than I had expected, so thanks to everyone who got in touch about that.

The team has been put together, and a number of Scotland’s best political bloggers are now contributing to the roundup on a more regular basis. I will elaborate on our plans more fully when I have the time, but for the time being here is a list of the people who are now helping out on the political roundup:

• Me
• Will Patterson from J. Arthur Macnumpty
• Malc in the Burgh
• Sara from A zippy adventure
• James from Two Doctors
• Stephen Glenn from Stephen’s Linlithgow Journal
• Scottish Tory Boy
• Cabalamat
• Scottish Unionist
• Holyrood Patter

As you can see, membership is pretty hefty now. But I’ll leave the door open for anyone who wants to join, and if I think their presence would improve the balance of the team then that’ll be great.

Meanwhile, there hasn’t been much of a response when it comes to helping out on the non-political roundup. Just Sara and I are on the team for that for the time being, so I would be grateful if more people could come forward.

Here we are, whilst the “yoof” are out doing whatever it is the “yoof” do on a Saturday evening, yours truly is sat in front on his laptop compiling for everyone the weeks happs in the blogosphere. I can take solace from the fact that I have some wine to sip on whilst I compile this post.

The continuation of the saga surrounding the arrest of the Conservative MP Damian Green continues and on Wednesday the speaker of the House of Commons, the Glasgow MP Michael Martin, made his statement. The biggest talking post was that the police had no warrant to search the premises of the Ashford MP. Whilst the BBC’s Scottish Political Editor, Brian Taylor, noted “evident and widespread sympathy for Michael Martin” few others seemed to notice it. Guido Fawkes lambasted the speaker, describing him as the most chippy useless speaker to have sat in that chair” before going on to say that he is a “terrible champion of parliamentary democracy”. Labour Group leader at City of Edinburgh Council, Andrew Burns, also picks up on the story here but it’s safe to say that not many so far have gone as far as Labour MP Bob Marshall-Andrews who today has called for the speaker to resign.

Keeping on with the Green chat. My favourite bastion of Greenness on the blogosphere, Two Doctors, broke the story surrounding the redundancies at the Herald and the associated papers and notes the importance of media in a democracy – it‘s a bleak time for the print press. Yours truly picks up the story as does Debatable Land picks up on the story under the doom and gloom title of the death of Ink. Managing Director of the group, Tim Blott, featured on Newsnight on Thursday evening and it’s reasonably fair to say that Gordon Brewer tortured him with Mr. Blott saying over and over again that this was an exciting time for the Herald group. It didn’t strike me that Brewer really believed Mr. Blott’s assessment of things.

Another big talking point was the Homecoming Caledonia video, described by Malc of MalcintheBurgh fame as “pretty cringy.” It can be seen in all it’s (lack of) glory here. Turns out that £150k was spent on the video yet it’s only being shown in Scotland – a colossal waste of money. Hardly going to attract ex pats back to Scotland if the video is only shown in cinemas in Scotland. It wasn’t just bloggers that were able to have a laugh at the video. Conservative MSP David McLetchie also pocked fun at the appearance of Sean Connery during Thursday’s Local Government finance debate:

Labour blogster Yapping Yousuf seems to have caused a bit of a stir with a story about some of his friends meeting SNP MSP, and serial motioner, Jamie Hepburn in a boozer in Glasgow. Bit of a strange post from Yapping Yousuf but it was nominated so it‘s included in the Roundup. He redeems himself slightly with a return to more analytical thought, this time pontificating on the effect that a return to front line politics for Charles Kennedy would have on the dwindling fortunes of the Liberal Democrats. Wouldn’t do the party any harm I wouldn’t imagine. Many believe that the primary reason that the Lib Dems did so well in the 2005 General Election was their opposition to the Iraq war but you can’t underestimate the role that Charles Kennedy played in their success that year.

Fresh from an incredibly entertaining speech in the aforementioned Local Government finance debate on Thursday, SNP Finance Guru John Swinney caused a bit of a star with an admission, albeit one I suspect he didn‘t mean to go out, that he hates surgeries and this story has been picked up by both CrapHolyroodChat and the Right Student. A very funny story, but I wouldn’t want to be Swinney’s assistant.. Nice wee exclusive for CrapHolyroodChat though and one picked up on by the Sun newspaper.

The following post was suggested to us under the title “Two Doctors comes out” which amazed me as he hadn’t mentioned anything in our chats this week. Alas, the thing that the bright light of Scottish Greenism admits to is a fondness for legislation. Takes all sorts I guess.

I have to admit, I don’t really get into the festive spirit all that much these days, despite being an only child, but the same cannot be said for Labour MP Tom Harris who is positively frothing at the mouth in anticipation. Taking a break from posting various links to you tube videos of his festive songs, the Glasgow MP this week admits to a strong dislike of Colin and Justin and isn’t happy at their return to our, and particularly his, Television screens.

Anyway, that’s this week’s roundup. My usual musings can be found here.

Take care,

ScottishToryBoy