It’s Clair here again, it feels like being back in school with my work always having to follow Kateri’s, oh well best get on with it. As we hurtle towards the end of July and pass the half way mark of the school holidays Scottish blogging has continued apace with a wonderful range of blog posts concerning just about everything.

A round up of this week without referring to the event’s in Norway would be completely remiss. As a community, bloggers are more politically active than most and the target of the attacks really hit home to many. I hope you’ll forgive the indulgence of a not-strictly-Scottish blog post from Stephen Glenn who puts into words some of what we are all thinking. The Barefoot Crofter says in a picture some of what we can’t put into words with a pause for thought. Bella Caledonia looks at the idea that this attack “came out of nowhere” and the increase in the amount of right leaning governments, policies and ideologies across Europe.

Talking of Europe, Better Nation discusses the economic crisis in the US and how this could have been Europe’s big moment and Parkinson’s Law which also explains why I can never finish anything before the deadline. Andrew McPake also reflects on his friends who have become the boomerang generation- whether this is down to the economy or the Scottish government’s policy on teacher training. Michael Traill hosts a guest post from Hannah Lister who uses the Freedom of Information Act the way it was meant and urges us all to do the same.

Since it’s the summer holidays its not surprising that many a member of the blogosphere has headed off to sunnier climes which has resulted in a few pertinent reflections on the experience. Ellen from In a Bun Dance headed off to Austria with children in tow. Expecting to find the full force of the Eurocrat rule-making fun-stopping only to find that life on the continent is about taking responsibility and having fun. The Burd saw the impact of  Brits abroad having too much fun in the Canaries and suggests that perhaps we need to learn moderation. Not everyone heading off to the sun is doing so because it’s a holiday- the Wandering Medic discusses the differences between our A&E and those in the third world and Happy Science wonders if the life of an academic scientist will always be nomadic.

It’s not just exotic places Scotland’s Bloggers seek out though, the Shoogly Peg took a tour around the Supreme Courts and reflected on the welcoming nature of the guards throughout the building, only to realise that the Courts might be open to walk around but are they really open for women to be in the driving seat? It’s been a week of reflections on the role of women with Caron talking about the impact of MP Jo Swinson’s victory over advertisements for make-up full of air brushed images being banned by the ASA following on from this issue is Transatlantic Blonde discussing the body hair imbalance between men and women, just don’t ask her about the vajazzle.

If all that thinking is a bit much after all this unseasonable sunshine we’ve been experiencing perhaps what you need is a few recommendations for the last of the summer holidays. Dorky Mum picks out some of the best spoken word events at the Festival and Caron is excited about the re-opening of the National Museum in Edinburgh- along with 21,999 other people on the first day. If you are looking for outdoor adventure Invergarry Lodge shows some beautiful Scottish mountains in need of a climb and Cartside has launched a new blog venture for entertaining kids and helping them connect with nature- perfect for the long summer days. It’s not all plain sailing though as Nikkiwarns us as she uninvites a five year old from a party and Ellen deals with toddler poo in the local pool.

It seems wrong to end on toddler poo but since many of my days end that way I think I’ll leave you to the Sunday papers and your coffee.

As this is my first time editing the round-up I feel I should introduce myself. My name is Kateri (pronounced Cat- Terry) and I blog at Bear Bahoochie. In case you want to know more about my name Kids, Craft and Chaos has handily recently posted a bit about the name ‘Kateri’ so have a look there.

This week I’m thinking about holidays. Mostly because I’ve been on my holiday – hanging in Orkney with the in-laws. The big news up here was the Tall Ships visit last weekend, Life on a Small Island did a nice series of posts about them. Orkney is more famous for the archaeology and I’ve been following along with the dig at the Ness of Brodgar

Despite it being a holiday I couldn’t resist a bit of librarian fun and caught up with the librarian at Stromness Academy and compared our school library blogs (catch the JYHS Library blog, and compare for yourself). Speaking of libraries in Orkney I love reading the Orkney Library and Archives blog even when I’m not in the area. In fact their Facebook feed is one of the few I follow.

However, boats, libraries and archaeology isn’t all that Orkney has to offer. For those unfamiliar with these lovely isles someone has helpfully created this promotional video for Flota, that you can watch to find out all the highlights (this spoof reminds me rather a lot of Absolutely).

I’m not the only one enjoying a holiday this week my pet rats are also enjoying their vacation but perhaps more interesting to most is MSP Drew Smith is using his break to share his thoughts on the future both for his Scottish Labour party and the SNP.

He’s one of the lucky ones though, those poor MPs had to delay their holidays for this week’s emergency Culture, Media, and Sports Select Committee meeting as a result of the hydra-like phone hacking scandal. Edinburgh councillor Paul Edie came back from holiday to discover the mess and shares his thoughts on the committee, Nikki’s Blog calls upon those in charge to fix Britain using a handy cake analogy but my favourite post related to this was Bella Caledonia who compares the whole thing to the Star Trek: The Next Generation Holodeck.

Alas for one poor group of people the holidays are a distant memory – yes it’s the start of the new Football season and Better Nation contemplates issues facing them as well as the brevity of the off season.

Finally I have a selection of stories from the blogosphere that I’ll file neatly under holiday reading. We’ll kick off the selection with two more gritty of the articles – Lallands Peat Worrier discusses Lapdancing in Court (or more accurately how the recent Session Court ruling will affect lap dancing and similar clubs in Glasgow) and Wilf Wilson shares his love of RAF Leuchars and his concern over it’s future. Next comes the two magazine stories thanks to Rubarb Crumble who shares a day in her life which includes rollerblading and nomming Turkish Delight while Working Hypothesis faces down the agony of tooth removal. To finish off the happy bit at the end comes from Fife Diet which shares the trailer for a interesting sounding movie that shares 24hours in every country in the world.

And that’s it all over for another week. I think I may need another holiday…

Well, maybe not the most original headline of the week, but you would think that nothing else had gone on than the scandal engulfing News International, the Police and politicians. Scottish bloggers have certainly taken a robust look at this one this week, but lest we think it’s all that matters at the moment, I want you to focus on Cicero’s Songs gloomy forecast for the world economy. He’s taken on Murdoch as well this week, but his piece on impending global financial meltdown chilled me to the bone, particularly as I’ve found him to be right on many occasions in the 25 years I’ve known him. A cheery thought for a Sunday morning, particularly as there’s very little any of us can do about it.

The hacking story has received widespread coverage and put the spotlight on journalistic practices across the board. Love and Garbage, takes on the Observer on the subject of blagging. Shuggy smells out some hypocrisy on issues of privacy and liberty. The Burd looks at the implications for the inter-relationships between Scotland’s power players. Paul Kavanagh over at Newsnet Scotland analyses the key players’ words and deeds on the first Sunday without the News of the World. In a Bun Dance, though, reminds us how important good journalism is to our culture.

In other news, Lallands Peat Worrier is concerned that Alex Salmond’s defence of Scotland’s legal institutions may harm them while Joan McAlpine takes on the idea that Scotland couldn’t have survived the collapse of the banks as an independent state. A Scottish Liberal, however, won’t be taking up Alex Salmond’s invitation to join the SNP.

SNP MSP Mark McDonald, writing on Better Nation, takes on those who complain about people being too young to be in politics.

Working parents have been in the news this week. I wrote about how Nick Clegg had been slated by the Daily Telegraph for the sin of taking his kids to school. In a Bun Dance asks if baby talk in the office is appropriate, which may interest Is there a Plan B? as she returns to work after the birth of her baby. She discusses her slightly mixed feelings on the occasion.

Greener Leith looks at the debate on regeneration in the area.

A Diary of Injustice in Scotland complains that people who actually use the courts and solicitors are being shut out of the Scottish Government’s review on civil justice.

The Snooker Blog carries news of Scotland’s exit from the World Cup – but we did get to the quarter finals.

If you haven’t decided where to go for your holidays this year, The Shoogly Peg says Japan needs you. World famous cyclist Lance Armstrong has come to Scotland though and is posting photographs of his Highland adventures.

If you’re fed up with repeats on the telly, Islay Blog suggests you watch this video of a model aeroplane flight between Ireland and Islay.

And, finally, FitbaThatba has had a You Tube video go viral with not that far off quarter of a million views.

If you’re reading today’s selection thinking I’ve missed a fabulous post, why not volunteer to edit one Sunday? The feedback we’ve had from people who’ve done it is that they have generally enjoyed it, and we do try to hold your hand through the process and give you what we hope is a good balance between autonomy and guidance. If you don’t have time to edit, then please nominate your favourite blog posts. No one person has the time to go through the entire blogosphere in any given week, so the more posts you readers put forward, the wider the selection we can offer. Contact us by the panel on the side, or tweeting @scottishroundup or e-mailing scottishroundup@gmail.com.

In honour of what has been the most important news event of the year so far, The Scottish Round-up of Blogs is brought to you by tabloid headlines, often completely unrelated to what the blogs are talking about…  (by Mairi Campbell-Jack @lumpinthethroat)

Cancer cured by words

A Scottish Liberal talks about the language used around his mother’s breast cancer diagnosis.  I agree, having had a partner who had Hodgkins Lymphoma a lot of words are trotted out that really, only make the person using them feel better.

Sticking with the word theme Sean McP discusses the political ramifications of the word “separate” and links it to arguments in favour of faith based schools.  While I can’t agree with him, it is always interesting to hear the arguments from the other side.

Criminals ruin hard working families dream home

No they don’t.  Look at this amazing artwork from Dorky Mum’s recent holidays.  I wish our streets were this creative.

Britons cheer while small sticking plaster is placed on open fetid wound

Frankly discusses the friendship between Clarins Dave and Coulson, while Gerry Hassan also discusses the ramifications for the Conservative party.  That Guy from Easterhouse searches through the muck of Murdoch’s life, newspapers and practices and manages to still admire him.  Lallands Peat Warrior and Random Thoughts Re Scots and (other) Law discuss the implications the NoW downfall has for Sheradin.  Spectator has mysteriously found a memo for Rebekha Brooks.  Bright Green Scotland pauses to contemplate all the staff at The News of the World, who have now lost their jobs, while not hacking phones.

Nationalist Scots try to repel English with art

This is quite beautiful.  Mugwump investigates the history of SNP policy while Michael Trail writes a letter to Alex Salmond asking that Glasgow 2014 be brought under the Freedom of Information Act.

This week’s Scottish Roundup is compiled by Hercules Moments’ Eoin Smith (@eoinsmith), a journalist, student and magician from Aberdeen.

A Bit About Music

Aldous Huxley once said that “after silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” And it seems that Scotland’s music bloggers share this sentiment. The Shoogly Peg recently went to see Take That in concert, and marvelled how the singing quintet “radiate happiness”. He writes that the manband “constantly give the impression that being in Take That is preposterously fantastic […] and that being in a Take That audience is only marginally less stupendous than actually being in Take That.”

At the other end of the spectrum, journalist Euan L. Davidson muses on the etiquette of music reviews, and how sometimes you have to look beyond your friendships and connections to present an honest reaction to the music. It seems, though, that mutant science punk rock band We Are The Physics’ fans have no problem in expressing their views as they are shocked to hear the band have utilised an acoustic guitar in the recording of their sophomore album.

As a journalist and music fan, I’ve been lucky enough to meet some of my favourite bands and musicians. Emma Kempsell has learned the value of “[taking] risks in the city” after just missing out on meeting one of her favourite bands, TV on the Radio. Perhaps they’ll meet up in New York, though. (Warning: this link contains a naughty word. If you are of a nervous disposition, you are advised to take the necessary precautions.)

A Bit About Everything Else

Sometimes you come across a piece of writing that draws you into a much bigger project that you weren’t ever aware of before. Diary of an Office Girl: Not A Spy is a day-to-day account of a female spy who not only has assignments and terrorists to worry about – “the rescue mission was not successful, which is a staggering understatement considering a fair number of the team are dead” – but also ex-boyfriends and comfort-eating cakes from Greggs.

In the world of real-life politics, Love and Garbage takes a philosophical look at the SNP website, asking “if a speech is removed from a website, does it really exist?” Elsewhere Duncan Stephen, a.k.a. Doctor Vee, has created the “Ed Milliband Random Statement Generator” which is, quite simply, genius.

Over on The Blurst Times, an online newsblog written by journalism students, Joe Sutherland discusses the merits of the newly unveiled Nintendo U, which despite sounding like a 21st Century university is actually a games console with a controller that “looks almost like the lovechild of a Dreamcast controller and an iPod Touch”.

If you’d rather read about the great outdoors than technological advances, one blogger recently took part in The Caledonian Challenge, a mammoth hike through the Scottish wilderness: “I have always thought that Scotland was pretty awesome and the best of the scenery majestic,” writes The View from the Hills. “But walking into Glencoe at dusk, from high up above the Devil’s Staircase was beyond awesome. The sheer scale of Glencoe is breath-taking.”

The Ben Lomond Free Press recently posted a poem about the “sing-el fish”, a Scottish variation of the Great British institution: fish and chips. Whilst you’re reading, you might want to chow down on some delicious-looking lemony mackerel pâté as described – and photographed enticingly – by Wendy at A Wee Bit of Cooking.

And finally, sometimes we all just need to relax a little, as described so simply by Confessions of a Creative Writer. (Warning: this link also contains the aforementioned naughty word.)

Have a truly fantastic week.