Scottish Roundup

This has been a strange week in politics in some respects but obviously politics isn’t the be all and end all of life as we know it (apparently) and therefore there are other topics that I have covered in this weeks roundup

There were a lot of recommendations this week with a few leftover from last week, so here goes;

Starting with the visit of David Cameron to America to see Barack Obama and BP and Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi over on Red Meg’s blogshe is agreeing with David Cameron that the release of Al-Megrahi was wrong while Frankly’s Blogue explains the due process.

Caron’s Musings has the Florence and Precious Mhango vigil in Glasgow in words and pictures, including one of our very own J. Arthur MacNumpty who Caron spotted in the large crowd of supporters.

I thought there would be more about the Labour leadership race in the macblogosphere, giving my own blog a shameless plug I covered the news late last night that Ed Balls MP was considering quitting the leadership race on my running blog.  Tom Harris MPexplains why David Miliband would be the greatest threat to the coalition.

I did try to get more of a Labour Scottish angle on this but using the Total Politics top 50 Scottish blogs list, all of the Labour ones bar Tom Harris MP are no longer with us, invite only or really out of date.  I tried.

While we are talking about Total Politics blogging guides, it is that time of the year again when the 2010-11 Total Politics best blogs are being compiled and you only have the next week to participate.  For the explanation, rules and email address to send in your nominations can all be found here at the Total Politics site.

I am also going to highlight the proposed tax by Edinburgh Airport, they now want to start charging you a £1 just to drop off someone at the airport, the Scottish Liberal Democrats Margaret Smith MSPand Conservative Gavin Brown MSP both have petitions on this – if you want to tell BAA and Edinburgh Airport where to shove their proposed tax please sign them both!

Suitably Despairing questions whether the Green Party is being played by the SNP as the Home Renewable Energy Grants were axed by the SNP, a very good point put and one to remember as the budget discussion starts later this year.

Stephen Glenn on Stephen’s Liberal Journal talks about the passing of snooker’s great, Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins.

Who would you put on the naughty step? Christian Ronaldo, who has recently become a new father is the choice of Adventures of a lady in training.  While on football, the best round up of the World Cup from the Scottish angle that I’ve read comes from Billy Williamson over at Dear Scotland.

Sticking with the football theme The Scottish Football Blog has come under some pressure on copyright laws, a really interesting read and I for one are very sympathetic to his plight.

As we are on the sticky subject of copyright within blog posts etc, this post titled Blogger gets libel threat for criticising website caught my eye via twitter last night about Gordon Brown MPs website.

As we approach August, those of us who stay in Edinburgh are preparing for the Festivals, Alastair Braidwood on Scots Whay Hae! has done the first part of a few previews of the Edinburgh Fringe, well worth a read.

Now for a musical theme Aye Tunes is well worth keeping your eye on as a great and useful guide to what gigs and other events are coming up soon and for slightly different lists and views pop over to Peenko or perhaps The Pop Cop.  Staying on the musical review theme, Wesley Shearer AKA the Scottish Scribbler writes about the Blue Sky Archives while Have fun at dinner tells us about a folk trio from Aberdeen, The Son(s).

Nulty Goes To Partick has an amusing post, the good, the bad and the ugly (with swearing) about research recently undertaken by scientists about apples, well that is where it starts.

Moving onto home grown vegetables Taexalia tells us the story of her home grown potatoes, a really interesting read and while we are on the something different section Life in a Scots Sitting Room has a great post titled Freaky Trees.

BellgroveBelle explains her personal experiences, the good and bad, of breastfeeding her baby.

The SPVA Sucks! ventures into the territory of mental health issues, too often overlooked and not discussed, specifically screening for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and whether the Conservatives have backed down.

Now I iz 2 is a photo blog by Tom Clark, wow, an amazing selection and still on photos, although unlike Tom’s not an exclusive photo blog, Scotland Here And Now has a great post about the Royal Botanic Gardens here in Edinburgh while on Scotland in the Gloaming has an amazing picture of the Firth of Clyde afterglow.

Going the Extra Mileis fundraising for Help 4 Heroes in fact starting tomorrow the plan is to run over 200 miles in 10 days on Islay and Jura and a little on the Kintyre Peninsula.

I have left this one until last, delibrately, because I really couldn’t stop laughing, honestly, I am not telling you what it is about, but see if you can read it without smiling or laughing? The Missy M Misssives gets the last laugh of this week’s roundup.

That’s all folks, don’t forget to nominate your favourite blog posts for next week’s roundup.