Scottish Roundup

Some hae meat and canna eat,

And some wad eat that want it;

But we hae meat, and we can eat,

Sae let the Lord be thankit.

(The Selkirk Grace, Robert Burns)

And so the week started with the traditional celebration of the life of Robert Burns, slap up suppers all round. Although as Burns notes in the Selkirk Grace, some prefer not to dabble in the delicacy that is haggis and so we, at the Scottish Roundup provide a suitable alternative – A Taste of Savoie a whole host of tasty non-haggis morsels to whet any appetite, though be warned, after viewing this you will be starving.

But the big news of the week was the launch of a new Scottish online newspaper, The Caledonian Mercury, launched by former Scotsman Editor, Stewart Kirkpatrick. Blogger Andrew Reeves gave a brief summary of the history of the Mercurius Caledonius.

Meanwhile, the other big news of the week has been the announcement of the Top Scottish Blogs, here at the Scottish Roundup while a useful guide to the top Scottish political tweeters was produced over at the Johnisagrownup blog, and will surely rival the lists of a certain Iain Dale.

The ongoing struggle of those in Haiti was highlighted by Habib Malik who called on the country’s foreign debt to be cancelled, while here he noted DEC Scotland meeting with MSPs to update them on their activities.

An issue which we’re likely to see more about in future, is the publishing of public notices by Councils and the Scottish Government. Currently notices are published in local and national newspapers, but there is much talk of notices being published online in future. Labour Dundee Councillor, Richard McCready blogged about his views on this subject.

This week also saw the announcement that Labour MP, John McFall was to stand down at the General Election after 23 years of service, Andrew Reeves gave a brief biography of the MP while pondering on what effect his departure would have on the Commons Treasury Select Committee where McFall has been a vocal critic of the banking crisis.

Moviecom.tv  did a rather informative blog on the uses of social media by SMEs, though it also contains a lot of information relevant to anyone thinking about how they deploy social media to get their messages out there (Prospective Parliamentary Candidates take note!)

For those looking for something a bit lighter, Under the Radar has published their weekly listings of where to see the greatest unsigned Scottish music acts. While Dear Scotland has published some fantastic Scottish photographs.

And finally a tale which should restore all our faith in humanity. Back on Sunday, Uist Lady reported how she was the recipient of an incorrectly addressed parcel. Originating from Germany, the parcel had travelled all over Shetland, particularly Unst, searching for the Macaulay family. But having had no luck there, it had made its way to Uist in the Western Isles, ending up on the doorstep of Uist Lady. Mrs Mac, who was not the correct recipient then sent out an SOS to the Scottish Blogosphere to track down the correct addressee’s and within a matter of hours, the correct Macaulay’s had been located, back over on the Shetland Isles, and I’m told the parcel is winging its way there as we speak.

That’s what this week has had to offer, but if you’ve got a blog you think we should be covering, or if you want to nominate your own, you can use the handy contact form on the left or alternatively, you can email us at scottishroundup@gmail.com, or get in touch via Twitter @ScottishRoundup.