Editing the Scottish Roundup is a first for me but I can’t help thinking there is a whiff of nostalgia and deja-vu in the air as I look through the news headlines and how the Scottish blogosphere interprets it in its own inimitable and diverse way.

It’s the run up to an election, Labour are grimly hanging on to power, and transport strikes threaten travel chaos.Although spring may be officially here today, it feels at times as if we should set our clocks back to 1978…..

That does seem an awful long time ago and takes me back to when I was 18. Andy G isn’t quite my vintage but as a mature student he found it amusing and I think quite flattering to be asked for his ID to prove his age.

Two stories regarding prominent Scottish political women have featured heavily in this weeks deliberations. All Media Scotland give the facts and Lallands Peat Worrier gives his insight into the case of former MSP Frances Curran and her failed defamation action against the Daily Record. The story has its roots in the 2006 defamation action brought by Tommy Sheridan against News International in which he described his erstwhile colleagues in the SSP in less than flattering terms. LPW questions the wisdom of men and women bringing defamation actions and would prefer even more freedom of speech.

One wonders if another female politico, namely Anne Moffat, the Labour MP in East Lothian is perhaps proof of the old adage that politicians simultaneously speak out of both sides of their mouths (and sometimes elsewhere!) Jamie Livingstone reports on the MP’s battle to avoid de-selection by her constituency party, whilst at the same time negotiating a pay off and reported £30,000 per year pension from Parliament on the grounds of ill health.
However Jamie at the The Gallus Glaswegian provides proof that there is still idealistic enthusiasm in some corners of the party.

The perennial issue of rising fuel costs through higher duty as outlined in this week’s budget and its implications for island living is reported at Hebridean News Today

The Vinyl Villain obligingly continues the nostalgia theme by reporting on his trip in 1984 to see the Style Council and how he found himself alone and cold with no money in Amsterdam in the early hours of the morning.Still on music and nostalgia Clinically Fed Up uses an old logo and the 70’s campaign of “Home Taping is Killing Music” to illustrate the issues involved in digital file sharing. The wonderfully named Aye Tunes reports on the demise of Findo Gask who seem to have followed Aberfeldy as naming their band after a Perthshire town.

Back to the politics and retrospectivity (is that a word?) Michael Greenwell would like to see confidential papers released by government immediately rather than waiting 20 or 30 years. SNP Tactical Voting reports that two more former ministers have been drawn into the lobbygate issue and that this story has a bit still to run. Subrosa is in election mode and highlights the News of the World’s declaration of support for David Cameron – hardly a surprise but she has an alternative name for the paper.

David Fagan gives a North Lanarkshire councillor’s view of a meeting on the thorny issue of school closures.

Mr Eugenides crystallises the subject of the Roman Catholic Church and sexual abuse, in his own concise fashion and elicits several comments as one would expect. He also features a story about those rascally brothers Peter and Christopher Hitchens and how they have made peace despite their wildly conflicting views on religion.

Kenny MacAulay meanwhile gives us an insight into the sharp end of his job as an Episcopal priest in the run up to Palm Sunday next week.

Finally two ladies who are moving forward with varying degrees of certainty. Missy M gives an almost Luddite view on mobile phones in General and iPhones in particular in her familiar style. Jade Dickinson meanwhile can barely conceal her excitement at moving to her new house which leads me out of my simultaneous wander through the blogosphere and memory lane.

Greetings one and all, and welcome to this week’s Scottish Blogging Roundup. It is, as the nurse said to the patient, “months since I’ve been in this position”, so it’s good to see you all again. (No, really, that is what the nurse said to the patient.)

Apart from Scotland’s marvellous win at Croke Park on Saturday – which leads Alex Massie to award our national team the accolade of second most satisfying campaign of the Six Nations – most of the attention this week has, as ever, been on politics, with the small matter of an election in the offing. Neither of Scotland’s two main parties arguably have their troubles to seek at the moment, and this is reflected in some of the nominations on show in our mailbag.

The Purcell affair continues to resonate (not that you’d necessarily know it from reading Labour blogs, of course…) – with The Universality of Cheese and Planet Politics both weighing in with their tuppence ha’penny. Yapping Yusuf, meanwhile, prefers to look at the broader picture – what on earth, he asks, is the point of voting SNP at a UK General Election? He would say that, of course, but there’s no doubt that the SNP need to come out fighting and state a positive case for their relevance in a Westminster context. At SNP Tactical Voting, Jeff argues that Alex Salmond did exactly that (and read the comment thread, too).

The week also saw the passing of former SNP leader Billy Wolfe. Calum Cashley paid tribute to a friend.

And let us not – of course! – forget the Lib Dems. Stephen Glenn asks, quite reasonably, why ITV’s interview with Nick Clegg was shown in every region except Scotland. I am, for once, in full agreement: one can never have too much Mary Nightingale.

As the election approaches we can expect the Scottish blogosphere to become a more and more fractious place, so it’s probably good to know that there are some things that unite bloggers of left and right, male and female, Unionist and Nat. I refer, naturally, to the news, brought to use by Andrew Reeves, that Jack McConnell has been in negotiations with the Tories for a job in their new administration. There’s a prospect that can give us all the boak.

Is the BBC’s Question Time biased against the Tories? Braveheart’s Blog suspects not. Given the constant whingeing of Labour, Tories, Lib Dems, Nats, UKIPpers and BNPers about how terribly unfair the programme is to them every time they are on (or bumped from the lineup), it’s perhaps best to tune out all the complaints. Then again, given some of the dross that’s been on recently, a lot of people are tuning out QT altogether these days.

Wrapping up our political roundup, Lallands Peat Worrier considers what it is like to be a Scottish blogger in England ahead of an election which fills him, as he puts it, “with a species of mounting and mortal dread”. (Don’t worry, I think we all feel the same way.) Ideas of Civilisation considers Labour’s proposals to reform the House of Lords, after what seems like a century of dithering. And last, but certainly not least, Shuggy draws our attention to the latest legal action involving Scotland’s favourite son, George Galloway, who is threatening to sue David T of Harry’s Place.

Edinburgh University has been in the news for the “wrong” reasons this week, due to a minor spat over their admissions policy. I must say that I hadn’t previously marked them down as the most anti-English of establishments, given the frequency with which one hears the Home Counties bray in the student pubs of the Old Town (and the frosty reaction I got when I cheered this goal in the Teviot Union two years ago). But Tom Harris, at least initially, had a right go at them, before Alex Massie’s sensible piece prompted him to reconsider and issue a very magnanimous retraction.

And, while we are tangentially talking of football (or, at least, I am), Rob Marrs is picking his greatest ever Scotland XI. Jim Leighton in goal? Apparently…

Still on sport, and Doctorvee gives us his take on a forgettable Bahrain Grand Prix, the first of the season. Caron agrees: “dull, dull, dull”.

From motor racing, seamlessly, to the environment. Two Doctors is unimpressed with the SNP’s stance on a new power station at Hunterston, with each choice in this week’s three-option vote attracting an exactly even number of SNP MSPs. Meanwhile, from a slightly different perspective, Bishop Hill updates us on the reception for his book, and takes on some critics.

Mephedrone is the media scare story of the week. Caron shares what seems to this blogger to be sound common sense on the issue. On the other hand, I can’t say that I agree with Lena the Hyena when she says that Shakespeare should be booted from the Scottish curriculum, but do read and make up your own mind:

” Critics have heaped derision on Braveheart for tampering with historical fact but Shakespeare’s Macbeth is no different. Whether for political advantage or out of ignorance the story relating to King Macbeth of Scotland became corrupted and that distorted myth has become the accepted version of events throughout the world.

Shakespeare is revered as the most talented of Britain’s writers. Well that’s open to discussion. Sometimes a guy gets a lucky break and then it becomes a case of the Emperor’s new clothes… “

Neil Craig blogs on the extradition proceedings against alleged Bosnian war criminal Ejup Ganic.

Getting arty just for a moment, We Sink Ships has a lovely collection of photography on display here. Shirl’s Gardenwatch brings us some pics of a gorgeous sparrowhawk. To mark St Patrick’s Day, Joan McAlpine introduces us to The Orthodox Celts, whose music is certainly more attractive than their dress code. And the Edinburgh Rock Network reviews the Lostprophets at the Corn Exchange last Sunday.

Lastly on our nation’s capital, a quick quiz: where do you reckon this photo comes from? Beats me, I must admit.

And finally, the Flying Rodent takes exception to Times columnist and blogger Oliver Kamm in a post which, with due profanity warning in place, I heartily recommend. Kamm’s politics are probably rather closer to my own than those of the author, but we should all appreciate a good hatchet job when we see one. But be careful, Rodent: Oliver is bigger and fitter than you are.

That’s all for this week; but keep the nominations coming in, in the comments or by email, Twitter or any of the other methods on the sidebar. Cheers, all.

Hi folks! It’s been a busy and varied week in the blogosphere, and there’s been plenty going on for you all to get your teeth into.

The thing is, just as we’re supposedly heading for a rightward turn at Westminster, Holyrood appears to be facing the other way. Scottish Socialist Youth has a report from the PCS strike, which ended up affecting business at Holyrood as Labour and SNP MSPs announced that they were refusing to cross the picket line at the Scottish Parliament. Dave over at Holyrood Chronicles has two posts on the hyperbole surrounding this decision, while Stuart queries the motives and symbolism surrounding what was, essentially, the Parliamentarians’ secondary strike.

Meanwhile, it’s not just in supporting the PCS that MSPs have started moving to the left: SNP MSP Jamie Hepburn has tabled a motion praising Venezuelan socialist visionary leader/bloodthirsty tinpot dictator* (delete as applicable) Hugo Chavez, and has gained support from other SNP and Labour members, much to the chagrin of Andrew, Caron, and Mr. Eugenides.

Anyway. In other news, there’s an election coming up (no, really, it’s crept up on us, this one) and with the outcome too close to call, all eyes are on the LibDem Spring Conference to try and gauge their approach to a Hung Parliament. We didn’t learn that, but we did learn their election slogan. Stephen approves. Tom Harris doesn’t.

Meanwhile, Neil Craig sets out what ought to go in the upcoming budget (I suspect that he isn’t holding his breath, though).

Still, despite the recession, economic projections are turning out to be less controversial than environmental ones. Bishop Hill takes a look at attempts to predict the planet’s climate 100 years from now.

On a similar note, the recent spate of earthquakes and the devastion caused by them generates this post at Scottish Socialist Youth, where it’s argued that poverty and deprivation are the main cause of the catastrophe rather than the earthquakes themselves.

Ironically, while tectonic plates seem to be shifting at the moment, High Speed Rail isn’t – the first part of the line will go no further than Birmingham and it’ll be a long while before it reaches Scotland. Now, I’m all in favour of anything that gets travellers to the points failure at Oxenholme Lake District sooner, but Joan McAlpine has a more thorough set of comments on her desire for the HSR network to reach from London to Scotland, while Osama Saeed looks at discussions on who should foot the bill for a line north of Carlisle. He then follows that up with a second post in which he notes that the choice is either “trains or Trident”, and Jeff agrees.

Meanwhile, Glasgow is still the centre of attention, though not just for the Steven Purcell saga. The suicide of three asylum seekers in the Red Road area has generated this thoughtful post from Joan McAlpine, and a wider discussion of asylum policy under Labour led to this exchange of views between James, and Tom Harris, posting on each other’s blog (which explains why the links are that way round).

Staying in Glasgow, Subrosa reports on the logo for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, while Big Rab points out that it looks eerily similar to another part of the designers’ portfolio.

Moving along, East Lothian is also in the news for the local Labour party’s ongoing attempts to de-select their local MP: Andrew, Jeff and Mark all report on how, after years of trying, the local activists may finally be getting their way – and what the consequences are for Labour.

Meanwhile, in Dundee, Stuart fesses up to not knowing whether, for the purposes of Parliamentary representation, he lives in East or West Dundee, noting that an Angus Councillor apparently doesn’t realise what constituency he lives in either.

And in West Dunbartonshire, the Council’s continued ropey performance has led to an audit, which in itself has managed to raise a few more questions, if this investigation by Mark is anything to go by.

Maybe we should all just move to Edinburgh: these photos by Scott Liddell certainly present a good case for doing so.

Meanwhile, The Kiosque reports on two exhibitions by Frances Walker. She’s managed to get two displays on the go, but Crabbit Copy looks at some of the pitfalls of portfolio management.

Elsewhere, Peenko has an interview with Fiona Soe Paing, one half of audio-visual duo Colliderscope. And over at Elba Sessions there’s a review of singles by Chris T-T and Kill the Captains, while Aye Tunes has a review of the new EP from Miss The Occupier.

Meanwhile, The Pop Cop has two good posts this week, the first on the indie disco tracks that get everyone going, and the second a review of the Mumford and Sons gig at ABC1. I don’t think their opinion of the UK’s Eurovision entry will be overly high, though. Caron tries to find the positives. James Kelly doesn’t.

This week’s BBC Question Time managed to exasperate Martin Kelly. He should instead have gone with Subcity Radio’s Debate is Free, which held its own Election Question Time this week.

Speaking of election coverage, Jess the Dog is appalled that reporting from Afghanistan will stop during the campaign.

Richard Havers has analysed some of the reporting in the Scotsman, and come to the conclusion that it has ceased to be a newspaper.

Bill Boyd discusses communication skills for the 2010s.

Robert Sharp discusses how people are exercising too much caution on the blogosphere, lest their posts come back to haunt them. Over at Clinically Fed Up, there’s a post about not so much the caution as, well, pretty much that bizarre combination of joy and terror which came with being asked to send something into Ian Hamilton’s blog.

Ideas of Civilisation looks at how rules and reality rarely map onto each other successfully.

Elsewhere, the old chestnut that is homophobia in sport has popped up again, must to the anger of Stephen

And over at Left Back in the Changing Room there’s a look at suggestions to expand the Scottish Premier League.

So that’s your lot for this week. Next week it’s the turn of The Enraged Greek in the chair. As always, you can nominate posts for inclusion using the dooberrythingummyjig on the right, dropping us a line at scottishroundup@gmail.com or following our Twitter account @ScottishRoundup. Bye-de-bye!

Well here goes my first attempt at compiling the round-up and what a week to end up covering. It started with the resignation of Steven Purcell, first as leader of Glasgow City Council and ended up with his resignation as a councillor.  In between we’ve had the decision to exclude the SNP and other parties of government from the so-called Leaders Debate, Gordon Brown at the Chilcot Enquiry, the death of Michael Foot,  controversy surrounding Tory donations by Michael Ashcroft, and finally the Lib Dems Scottish conference.   So apologies in advance if it’s too political but with all this happening, it’s practically impossible to escape politics this week.

Glasgow City Council

I’m a bit wary of commenting on the Steven Purcell issue – after all most of Scotland’s papers seemed too wary to fully investigate the issue.  However, with the Sundays now covering the story in varying levels of detail I’ll highlight just a few of the comments.  Initially a lot of bloggers followed the same line as Iain Hamilton expressing their sympathy for someone who is clearly ill, however rumours kept surfacing on various blogs regarding the nature of the illness as highlighted by Rock’s Blog Spot and  with Tory Bear being less than subtle. The week is rounded off by SNP Tactical Voting who gives a brief summary of the Sunday papers and their take on the Purcell issue.

The Leader’s Debate

The announcement that the BBC, ITV and Sky are to only have the leaders of the three main unionist parties on their Leaders Debates has caused an outcry across the blog world.  North to Leith complains about the exclusion of the SNP,  Joan McAlpine highlights ten Scottish issues you won’t hear on the debates,  Bella Caledonia presents the case for ‘no television without representation’ complaining of the sanitisation of political debate while Two Doctors warns the SNP about their response to being excluded from the debates.

However, despite admitting to being a political junkie, Mr Eugenides isn’t getting too excited about the prospect of the debate.

Chilcot and Brown

In the same week that Gordon Brown appeared before the Chilcot Enquiry,  Subrosa reports on more deaths of British soldiers in Afghanistan.  Craig Murray expresses no surprise that Blair kept Brown out of the loop,  Blogo Wogo highlights Brown never answered the questions people wanted answered and Conservative Home blog unsurprisingly accuses Brown of evading the real questions and contradicting other witnesses.   Meanwhile Moridura contrasts Brown’s (in)actions over Iraq with Robin Cook’s actions.

Michael Foot

Most bloggers from across the political spectrum provide a general appreciation of the former Labour leader including Hythlodaeus who describes his death as a great loss to the socialist tradition in Britain,  Tom Harris states the oft reported comment that Foot was unlucky to lead the Labour party when it was un-leadable, meanwhile SNP Tactical Voting contrasts the politics of Foot leading from the front with the ’shadowy’ nature of Michael Ashcrofts donations to the Tories.

And Finally,

Lib Dem Scottish Conference

Andrewrunning blog provides an insiders view of the Lib Dem conference  while Carons-musings provides some more detail on Lib Dems policy positions.    Apart from a few twitter comments about paying back illegal donations, there has been little mention of the Lib Dems from other political viewpoints.

It’s a pleasure to do the round-up again, and this time they’ve let me loose on some of the political stuff. I feared that I might have to feign interest in the interminable shadow election campaign, which has largely been a policy free zone – as politicians of all sides maintain a high level of vacuous platitudes seemingly determined to bore most voters rigid prior to the vote. Luckily, though, I got a boring week. Aside from the Gordon Brown bullying allegations, the launch of another Scottish referendum consultation, Nicola Sturgeon’s apology (and the absurd over-reaction from some quarters of the Parliament), the launch of the Conservative party campaign slogan, some football club complaining about officiating, bank bonuses, and bank losses nothing’s happened. So, on with the round-up:

You can’t beat a bit of bully

The week began with The Observer serialisation of Andrew Rawnsley’s book on what has happened within the Labour government since his last book. The allegations that civil servants cowered in fear as the Prime Minister punched seats of cars prompted a wonderful Grand Theft Auto style reconstruction but prompted little comment from the Scottish blogosphere (although Jeff suggested that it might not be a negative factor come election day) until the intervention of Mrs Pratt – head of the National bullying helpline – who suggested that her confidential helpline had had calls from Downing Street including one person who had been signed off with stress, while suggesting that through not naming these individuals anonymity was preserved. Big Rab pointed out that Mrs Pratt had previously been a litigant in a case where she had been alleged to have “thrust her face into his and screamed “Communicate!” very loudly and directly into his ear. Mr Roberts found this very painful and was profoundly shocked by her conduct.” Caron and Mr Eugenides found themselves bemused by Mrs Pratt’s conduct (while Stephen maintained a running commentary on the slow death of the helpline as patron after patron resigned). Duncan’s perceptive post on Mrs Pratt’s entwining with the Prime Minister suggests that personal criticism of Gordon Brown may serve only to strengthen him – by appearing like bullying.

When it comes to Rauf justice sorry doesn’t seem to be the hardest word

Deputy first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, disarmed critics in the media and Holyrood by making an apology for her conduct. The apology was welcomed by bloggers from various quarters including Angus Nicolson, and Caron - although some (including Angus Nicolson and Jeff) noted that the wording of the apology – where the Deputy first minister indicated that she did not have a “duty” to act in the way she had may have left Alex Salmond somewhat exposed. Noteworthy though was the reaction from the Labour party. The Gallus Glaswegian, for example, suggesting that the one week recess between the original story and the apology worked to Nicola Sturgeon’s advantage. Joan McAlpine noted the adversarial personal tone of aspects of the Labour party parliamentary  response (notably from Iain Gray and Johann Lamont) and Will wonders if the memory of the Wendy Alexander resignation influenced Labour party behaviour.

Consultation paper and National Conversation leads to… new consultation paper

For the second time in two and a half years a draft referendum bill has been published for consultation by the Scottish public. This unprecedented level of pre-legislative consultation (which has nothing to do with parliamentary arithmetic or the imminent general election with the consultation period closing during the campaign – if we are heading for a May election) sees one big variant from the first paper, with two questions proposed on greater powers for the Scottish Parliament, and negotiations on independence. The approach is supported by Subrosa who notes the lack of response to the consultation from opposition leaders within First Minister’s Questions this week. While Braveheart suggests that this approach is designed to encourage confusion in the electorate.

Spare some change, mister?

I would be better disposed towards political slogans if they were better written. After Labour appeared to promised funfairs for all the other week, the Conservatives launched their slogan “Vote for change” – without specifying exactly how much change or what denomination of change we’ll get.  Jeff  suggests that it is a vacuous slogan to come up with at a time when polls suggest that more than 1/3 of the electorate don’t know what the Conservative party stands for. And Tom Harris MP has his own fun with the slogan.

Political blogging headline of the week

This comes from James, whose “Long-time lurker, first-time Parliamentary candidate” confirms his selection as PPC for the Scottish Greens in East Lothian.

What would Richard Dawkins do?

The Secretary of State for Scotland delivered a speech this week on faith and politics – appearing to suggest that people of faith would find their natural home in the labour party. This prompted a riposte from the National secular society, as well as various religious and political figures. As well as a lengthy post from Richard Thomson generally critical of Murphy Richard notes that religion and politics can mix because

” The experiences which people have and the beliefs that they hold will always inform how they respond to the issues of the day and will always shape their views on how the world should be. While it’s plainly wrong to pretend that religious belief can lead only to one single ‘correct’ viewpoint or that someone’s faith should lend their views any additional weight, it would be equally wrong to pretend that our public debate would be anything other than greatly diminished were no religious perspectives to be found.”

Yousuf takes a similar view (in a piece praising Murphy for his engagement with faith in politics). On such issues I turn to my “What would Richard Dawkins do” wristband – and, as he no doubt does, watch a story from season 17 of Doctor Who.

Football news

The following story came as something of a shock to me – and no doubt readers will have their flabbers well and truly gasted. Apparently, some people in Scotland will not be cheering on those parragons of virtue, John Terry, Steven Gerard et al during the forthcoming World Cup. Indeed, in a bid to cash in on this sentiment a company has produced casual wear bearing the slogan “anyone but England”. Michael Greenwell has a post justifying this view.

Also this week news broke that Celtic had contacted the SFA to complain about the quality of refereeing in Scotland due to decisions sometimes going against Celtic. A blog known as Celtic Paranoia has its own analysis. From my own perspective may I suggest to Celtic fans and board that if they want to see bad decisions they really need to come to the Third Division.

Mark Devereaux

The case of Mark Devereaux, the HIV infected man convicted of reckless and culpable conduct after he had sex with four partners, has prompted two passionate posts from opposite sides of the argument. Efrafandays argues that Devereaux 10 year sentence was correct. Lallands Peat Worrier’s post contains the sentencing statement and expresses some concern about prosecution and sentencing of HiV sufferers.

Miscellany

Ellen Arnison has an interesting post on news values and the impact of social media on the development of news stories.

Little Mummy comments on some of the Winter Olympics commentary where in certain sports female competitors are reduced to their status as “pin-ups”. And Skip Cottage Curling offers a summary of the disappointing British performance in the curling within the Games – while having rather warmer words for Steve Cram’s commentary than were used in my house.

Andy at Road Maps for the Soul has a post on the parliamentary report on homeopathy – which contrary to the “science of homeopathy” maintains its potency despite exhibiting no dilution of view, arguing that

“My own view is that a fraction of that £4 million would be better spent informing the public that “alternative” medicines are only so named because they are the alternative to the sort that makes you better.”

Of course, if the parliamentary report is followed and the budget for homeopathic treatment is diluted this will serve to make the funding of homeopathy even stronger.

Also nominated this week was the A Place to Stand post challenging the idea that there is (or was) scientific consensus on climate change.

The Absolvitor law blog reassures readers that the prosecution has been dropped in the case of Michael Mancini who had been charged with not being in control of a motor vehicle when he blew his nose while behind the wheel (and digs up the wonderful piece of information that the officer who charged Mr Mancini apparently issued an on the spot fine of £50 to a man who dropped a £10 note last year).

One blog that looks like it will be worth keeping an eye on as the year goes on is the Fraoch Wood site which is building up a diary examining an area of privately owned woodland in the Cairngorms with some photos of the area and the wildlife.

Iain MacWhirter

And like Ian Hamilton QC, Subrosa, and others I’d like to wish sometime blogger (and journalist) Iain MacWhirter a speedy recovery from his heart by-pass surgery. His excellent post on his imminent surgery gives a good indication why we need him back writing on Scottish politics and life in general as soon as he is able.

Keep the nominations coming in via the widget or by e-mail to the usual address or via the twitter feed. Next week you’ll be in the hands of Kenny MacLaren.