As you may have seen in the comments to Will’s latest roundup, the idea of a Blogosphere BBQ has had people licking their lips. So we are kicking around a few ideas for a possible meetup.

Right now we are thinking of having a little gathering to coincide with the Edinburgh Festival, probably sometime in the week beginning 24 August, or 31 August. If you have any ideas, let us know.

See more information over at my blog.

Hi folks! With politicians taking a (well-earned?) break, there’s been a veritable smorgasbord of issues discussed in the blogosphere this week, much like the Summer barbecues we would have if we could guarantee the weather – there’s a little something for everyone. Unlike barbecues, however, there’s little or no chance of food poisoning from a dodgy burger.

First on the grill is a spot of navel-gazing. With Labour, the Tories and LibDems all having some form of hub for bloggers, Jeff wonders if there should be some sort of SNP equivalent. Subrosa questions whether one is actually necessary, while Kez accuses SNP spin doctors of trying to suppress the possibility.

There’s no substantive link between that and the next post, but there are curious echoes of Kez’s post in this piece by Calum Cashley, regarding a split Labour’s reaction to Paisley securing regeneration funding, with Councillors hailing the cash, and Wendy Alexander finding points to criticise.

On a similar note, Christian takes a look at Richard Baker’s activities over the past few days, and comes to the conclusion that he’s the weakest member of the Labour front bench.

Speaking of liabilities, Harriet Harman’s comments that men can’t be left to their own devices (*cough* Margaret Thatcher *cough*) as far as the Labour Leadership is concerned raised eyebrows, particularly with Holyrood Patter and Political Dissuasion.

And on the subject of very unfortunate comments, Stuart looks at the case of Councillor Kenneth Gunn, an SNP Councillor in the Borders who called a radio phone-in and, well, basically damned Scotland’s gay population to Hell.

On a lighter note, Malc has a look at a recent LibDem leaflet in Edinburgh North & Leith, and has a few quibbles with the details on the ever-present bar chart.

Meanwhile, Jeff has heard that the LibDem candidate there, Kevin Lang, isn’t too happy with John Barrett, the departing MP for Edinburgh West, for announcing his intention to stand down long after Lang secured the North & Leith selection.

Still, the LibDems do at least have a candidate lined up for the Glasgow North East By-Election, as reported by Andrew Reeves.

Speaking of the By-Election, Scottish Unionist and Stephen Glenn are unhappy with the decision to hold a National Conversation event in the constituency. Subrosa, however, argues that the meeting would have been arranged before the By-Election was needed and that the Calman Commission would have done well to have held an event in the area.

While we’re on the subject of Calman, Moridura notes that the Scottish Government is currently better prepared to implement its provisions than the UK Government.

That said, it’s no surprise, as it seems that minds at Westminster are now being concentrated on another important matter, as Tom Harris discusses. Yup, it’s time for Parliamentarians to get their Christmas cards sorted.

More serious considerations now: Andrew and Caron take a look at the figures surrounding surgical errors, and come to the conclusion that while the matter is serious, the risk is relatively low.

Christian has this post reminding us of the homelessness problems in Edinburgh.

Meanwhile, the assisted suicide debate progresses: Malc has a guest post by PJ on the issue, while Lallands Peat Worrier looks at the state of the law surrounding it in Scotland. FlyingRodent, meanwhile, takes a look at some of the various stances being taken on the issue.

Economic considerations now and Neil Craig has two interesting posts: the first on the space industry and the second on how governments are lagging behind the private sector when it comes to technology prizes.

Meanwhile, in a week when we learned that Gordon Brown is using his holiday to take part in voluntary projects in Kirkcaldy, Jess the Dog wonders why he’s not tackling many of the issues involved as Prime Minister, while Duncan looks at the state of the economy in the town and notes how the area’s MP is responsible for how things have turned out there.

Stephen chews over the decision to send the Number 2 at the British Embassy in Iran to Mahmoud Ahmedinejad’s endorsement ceremony and asks what kind of message it sends.

Clairwil casts an angry eye over planned changes to disability benefits.

Malc fisks Paul Hutcheon, while Dave is taking a look at the Scottish Government’s approach to Gaelic.

Bill Cameron questions the decision to release Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs from prison on compassionate ground, and to send Abdelbasset Ali al-Megrahi back to Libya.

But while Bill is asking why they’re being let out, David is asking why families are still being kept in Dungavel.

Staying with immigration, Mr. Eugenides suggests administering the British Citizenship Test to politicians, while Shuggy is sceptical over the criteria for the new points-based immigration system.

In other news, the Totnes Primary has Tom Harris and Yousuf looking at the significance of the event and whether open primaries are the way forward for selecting parliamentary candidates. Frankly, all I can think is how ‘the Totnes Primary’ doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as the New Hampshire Primaries or Iowa Caucuses. Maybe it’s just me.

Finally, James dares us to reveal the political events that we’ve dreamt. And I don’t think he’s asking about the time I was delirious with food poisoning and thought I was Gordon Brown…

So that’s your lot for this week. If you want to send in a link for next week’s Roundup, you can use the doodah on the right, or send us an e-mail to scottishroundup@gmail.com. You can also follow us on Twitter: @ScottishRoundup. Bye-de-bye!

Hello, and welcome to this week’s roundup! It is now August, which means it’s silly season and there is not very much going on. So it might be a slightly slimmed-down, summery edition of the Roundup. But you know us bloggers — we always find some reason to reach for the keyboard.

Perhaps the biggest story of the week is the failure of Gary McKinnon to win his appeal against being extradited to the USA. Subrosa was critical of the one-sided nature of the extradition agreement between the USA and the UK.

Jeff calls it Britain’s shame. Andrew Reeves calls it Labour and Britain’s shame. Caron also criticises the Labour government, but notes that the Conservatives offer little in the way of support.

Controversy surrounding David Kerr’s religious views continues. This week Lallands Peat Worrier waded in with his views on religion in politics. Malc said that religion must matter in politics, but shouldn’t be the only factor that voters take into account.

But another controversy over David Kerr emerged this week when it was revealed that BBC bosses were none too pleased with a report he made involving waving guns around in public. Caron thought that Labour’s attempts to capitalise on it were a desperate attack.

This week the Lib Dem Edinburgh West MP John Barrett announced that he will be stepping down at the next General Election. Stephen Glenn reflected on the news, and wondered who would make a suitable replacement candidate for the seat.

Meanwhile, an opinion poll has this week shown a surprising result — Labour leading over the SNP in Scotland. Well, the sample size was just 225, but for what it’s worth here is what Jeff thought.

Yousuf noted that this would translate into 35 seats for Labour, and just 8 for the SNP (behind 9 for the Lib Dems!). This leads him to bring up First Past the Post. No use in talking much about it to Shuggy though — he thinks talk of voting reform is a waste of time.

This week Debbie Purdy won her appeal on assisted suicide, kick-starting the debate on the issue. James at Two Doctors argued that ultimately it must be a choice for the individuals concerned.

Pakistani President Asif Zardari has banned jokes ridiculing him. This prompts Clairwil to wonder if Gordon Brown would consider doing the same thing — until realising that the government has gone beyond ridicule by now.

Both Subrosa and James at Two Doctors mark the last episode of Riddoch Questions, and call on the BBC to rethink.

Don’t be thinking that the SNP are the only nats around — Yousuf has come across a number of other nationalist parties.

Gary lays into energy companies for taking advantage of the complexities involved in switching provider.

Was it wise of David Cameron to call Twitter users “twats”? Jeff offered his opinion. Andrew Learmonth was none too impressed with the Conservative leader’s attempt at humour, while recalling the days when he was Wendy Alexander’s joke writer!

But Bill Cameron argues that David Cameron has every right not to like Twitter.

As far as I’m concerned, it takes a lot to get called a twat by someone on Absolute Radio… Incidentally, if you’re a twat too, follow the Scottish Roundup Twitter account — @ScottishRoundup.

This week my attention was turned to Frankly Francophone, a blog by a franco-Scot, which appears to focus a lot on French perspectives on “la crise”.

Outlander has got his hands on a “leak from my source in Westminster”. Make of it what you will…

Finally, a spot of navel-gazing from Will, who looks at the state of the Scottish blogosphere.

That’s all for this week. Get those nominations in for next week, when Will P will be in the hot seat. Use the handy form on the right, or email scottishroundup@gmail.com. Thanks!