Hello and welcome to the 18th edition of the SBR. Lot’s of good stuff as usual and here it all is.

Mr Eugenides makes a rather good point concerning state funding of political parties and the BNP’s election campaign. Reactionary Snob expands on the issue as does Shuggy.

The differences between the English and Scottish versions of the Sun have always been a source of some amusement. McGellie thinks that the Scottish Sun should come out in support of Scottish independence. Stranger things have happened.

Still on Murdoch press, David Farrer has noticed that the Scottish section of the Times Online has been a casualty of their redesign. It is apparently a temporary absence.

The SNP have been trying to get the tolls on the Forth Road Bridge scrapped. C. Wilde has the details.

Tartan Hero is on the look out for a messiah to lead us to the promised land of environmental sustainability. Kezia Dugdale probably doesn’t think that such a leader is likely to arise from the ranks of the Greens.

Over at Scottish Political News, there’s news of an independent (small “i”) candidate who’ll be standing in Lothian. The gentleman in question has a good stab at representing his position in the comments to the post.

A new blog started up this week called SNP Tactical Voting. It probably isn’t necessary to go into too much detail as to what’ll be covered there. Interesting stuff.

But for all the interest, Mike Smithson has noticed that betting on the Scottish elections has not exactly been popular with the punters. Do your own obligatory “tight Scots” joke.

Alistair ponders the possibility of a seemingly unlikely coalition. Liberal Democrat party members may not be as hostile to Independence as their official line would suggest.

HolyroodBelle has, well, just click through.

Moving away from the elections, Kirk Elder has penned a splendidly written piece on Affluenza.

As yet another attempt is made to reform the House of Lords, Holyrood Chronicles ponders the value of euphemisms.

Over at Rolled-up Trousers, Osama points out a problem with Richard Littlejohn’s attitude towards this week’s letter bombs. On a related note, I wonder if moderate motorists will now be dropping their campaign to oppose government plans on motoring? After all, when it comes to this sort of thing, “you’re either with us or against us…”

Angry Steve is angry about yellow boxes this week. Definitely one for the “Stupid Ideas of the Year” awards.

And finally, because your host was involved in a little bit of handbags this week with the U.K.’s “top political blogger”, I can’t resist including this. Be advised that no hamsters were hurt in the making of this post.

And that’s it for this week. Remember to send your nominations for next week to scottishroundup [at] gmail [dot] com when guest host Clairwil will be at the helm. See you then.

Hello again and welcome to another Scottish Blog Roundup.

This week saw the 300th aniversary of the Act of Union. Gordon at Ranting and Raving has one simple question.

The celebrations may have been decidedly low key, non-existent really,  but bloggers have had plenty to say on the subject.

Neil Craig has a look at what the Union did for us and then has a look to the future

Shuggy looks at the odds of the union surviving.

The Tenement Tory does want to celebrate.

J. Arthur MacNumpty wins the award for best post title.

Bookdrunk raises an intersting question on the legality, or otherwise, of the SNP’s proposed referendum on independence.

Holyrood Chronicles is the place to go for informed analysis of Scottish politics. Peter Riddell of the Times might want to drop by occassionally.

Moving on to other Scottish political issues now, Clairwil has discovered the blog of the Labour councillor whose name I couldn’t remember the other week. She’s not impressed. (The post is only slightly tarnished by the suggestion that the SBR is run by “lovely boys”. The words of someone who has never met us, I fear.  Much appreciated all the same.)

Ridiculous Politics raises the dreaded issue of poolside footwear. Are the SNP really fans of the flip flop?

Meanwhile, Davie Hutchison highlights Labour council leader Jim McCabe’s rather cavilier attitude to the smoking ban. He’s even managed to unite FOREST (hurray for smoking!) and ASH (boo to smoking!) against him. Reactionary snob has more, well, reaction and there’s more still on Scottish Political News.

On to wider issues now as Osama Saeed points out that Richard Littlejohn is not nearly as clever as he thinks he is. That’s not news admittedly but it’s worth taking the time to read the post all the same. Next, week, I have it on good authority that Littlebrain be insulting all protestants by defining them as “the people who brought you the IRA”.

Our own doctorvee has managed to say some interesting things about the whole Big Brother broohaha. That’s not something many  mainstream commentators have managed. Naked Blog, as well as having the dubious pleasure of being right up there in searches for “Jade Goody Naked”, writes a post in defence of the girl. I suspect Mr Eugenides will not be following suit.

Back over to rhetorically speaking now, where Bookdrunk investigate the links between sex and pizza. That post also wins a new award for attracting possibly the longest, most baffling anonymous comment in the whole history of blogging. Crikey!

Cassilis has been thinking about progressive attitudes to taxation and government spending in a post which is more interesting than I’ve managed to make it sound

And finally, here’s Colin on the wonder that is the deep fried Mars bar. To all those doubters from other countries, no, it really isn’t an urban myth.

That’s it for this week. Doctorvee, who does much more and really deserves most of the credit for the SBR, may be doing it next week or it might be time to invite a guest host. Either way, we still want your nominations. Get those email in to scottishroundup [at] gmail [dot] com

Happy new year and welcome to the first roundup of 2007. This year could be a momentous one for Scottish politics. Is it possible that Labour could lose control of the Scottish parliament, a parliament they only created because they thought they’d be able to dominate in perpetuity? The opinion polls suggest they might but we all know what they say about polls. We’ll know in May. Interesting times.

So what have Scottish bloggers being saying so far in 2007? Here’s our pick of the bunch.

FlyingRodent indulges in the traditional blogger practice of predicting what’s likely to happen in the coming year. Heh.

Hollyrood Watcher also has a go and makes some detailed predictions as to the election outcome.

Mr Eugenides does something really surprising and agrees with the government. No really. Is it a new year or a new universe? In truth, a thoroughly interesting and thought provoking post.

Reactionary Snob does not agree with the government and has a specific problem with one of its number, an Ivan Lewis. No, we hadn’t either. Even at this early stage however, he now appears to be high on the list of candidates for “hypocrite of the year”

Not so long ago, Doctorvee linked to a Labour councillor whose name I can’t remember and have no inclination to look up. The councillor seemed to be under the impression that the roundup is pro-Scottish independence. It seemed to have escaped his attention that what we’re trying to do here, at least in part, is provide links to topics which everyone is talking about. Given the opinion polls, and given the fact that Labour themselves are hyping up the SNP in order to motivate their own base, it’s no surprise that independence is high on the list of topics covered here. We make a deliberate effort to decouple our own political opinions from the process of selecting posts (although I think I’d need a lobotomy before my own personal dislike of Blair’s New Labour could be fully eradicated from these little links).

Anyway, here are a couple of posts especially for the councillor.

First up, David Farrer is concerned that many people have not come to terms with the full implications of Scottish independence.

Handily, James Highman has had a go at explaining what some of those implications might be.

Still on the union, there’s going to be a new political party fighting the Scottish elections. Scottish Voice is the brainchild of millionare businessman Archie Stirling and is going to defend the union. Scottish Political News is not hugely optimistic as to the impact this new party will have.

One more on independence. With the SNP promising a referendum and Labour opposed to holding one, J. Arthur MacNumpty considers the ins and outs.

On to matters international now and Mike Power wonders if the Australian sun has been getting to Norm whose take on Saddam’s execution seems to have slightly missed the point.

Meanwhile, Shuggy takes Johann Hari, another famous recanter, to task over his attitude to Saddam’s execution.

Fellow Aberdeen blogger Mark McDonald has some thoughts on Iraq and New Labour’s authoritarian tendancies. He’s also made some resolutions but he’s not telling us what they are. A sensible plan.

Cassilis demand equaility for short ginger people. There’s a serious point there too.

Over at No Geek is an Island, Will has been celebrating yet another appearance on proper telly. Quite right too as his Webcameraon spoofs were clearly far superior to Sion Simon’s efforts.

And finally, Clairwil had her Christmas ruined. By Bono. The bastard.

And that’s all for this week folks. Please remember to email nominations of next week’s roundup to scottishroundup [at] gmail [dot] com.

The very late appearance of this post can mean only one thing; yes, its my turn to do the roundup this week. Unlike the good doctorvee, it would appear that I’m fundamentally unable to do anything in a timely and organised manner. (That sound you hear is everyone who knows me nodding emphatically in agreement.) I saw a documentary about people who share this problem and it turns out that I may have Slightly Maddening Erratic Git Syndrome. Unfortunately, no cure has yet been found.

Without further ado then, let’s see what we’ve got in this week’s bag of goodies.

All things considered, it is probably necessary to start with Mr Eugenides‘ reaction to the Tory Party’s new found love of Polly Toynbee. Who else could you possibly turn to at such a moment? Well, the Devil’s Kitchen of course. Perhaps this is intended to be Dave’s “Clause Four” moment. It certainly hacked off very many people who feel they’ve got nowhere else to go. As a slightly impartial observer, it’ll be interesting to see what happens next. Will the enterprising people of the libertarian right (apologies of the generic labelling) succeed in doing something to create a viable alternative or will they try to change the Conservative Party back into something they can vote for? The problem with creating an alternative, as us lefties know only too well, is that the FPTP system creates enormous barriers to entry into the corridors of power. The last new party to succeed, the Labour Party, was created a century ago. The system is very much small “c” conservative and that can be a major problem if you want to create something new.

In other news, Robert Sharp is cross about all the fuss that got up about crosses. Over at No Geek is an Island, however, Will is inclined to back BA. The Flying Rodent, meanwhile, investigates the archives of the London Evening Standard (circa 1897). Won’t somebody please think of the poor vampire hunters?

Reactionary Snob recalls a prediction. Sometimes, it’s not good to be right.

Over at Scottish Political News, attention is turned to the (lack of) “Cameron effect” in Scotland. As with any discussion of the Conservatives in Scotland, the “T” word cannot be avoided.

Shuggy thinks there are better ways to defend the Union than those used by Blair this week.

And talking of the Union, the SNP must have been flattered that the Labour big guns at the Scottish Labour Party Conference seemed to spend all their time talking about the dangers of independence. There’s fear in them there hills. Richard Thomson wins this week’s Best Post Title award as he analyses the conference from an SNP perspective.

Ewan Aitken, the leader of Edinburgh City Council, wonders about that langoustine. It’s caught off Scotland’s coasts but then has to undergo a several thousand mile round trip on its way to our supermarkets. Many consumers might not approve but will they be any the wiser? Councillor Aitken has a suggestion which might help.

Over at The Select Society, the death of Pierre Gemayel triggers a look at a rarely mentioned consequence of foreign intervention in the Middle East

Moving away from politics (one small step at a time), the fantastically named Gadget Vicar – a real vicar – goes to see Borat after reading a review which suggested that the film contained a postive Christian message. Gadget Vicar, perhaps unsurprisingly, disagrees. Also from Gadget Vicar, a brilliantly silly gadget. “Yes, it has” is almost certainly the answer to the question.

Gordon Mclean writes about every bloggers favourite subject: blogs. And also about the fact that people spell his name wrong when they link to him (I’ve resisted the temptation to intentionally do so here for humerous effect because it wouldn’t actually be humerous).

Gary Wood does a spot of investigative journalism and discovers Greggs’ insidious scheme for world domination. Forunately, he was able to do so without becoming entangled in the murky world of habitual mince pie consumption. A lucky escape, methinks.

And finally, a long running blog from Aberdeen may be about to lose its raison detre. Say it isn’t so!

That’s all for this week, folks. Next week, someone organised will do it so it probably will be posted at a sensible time of day rather than so late that it’s basically Monday. Do please send in your suggestion to scottishroundup [at] gmail [dot] com.

Hello and welcome to this week’s roundup (slightly late due to the fact that the I’m a stranger to organisation at the weekends. OK, even more of a stranger than usual). My thanks to Doctorvee for taking over last week at short notice.

Right then, what have we got this week?

Reactionary Snob reacts to the aquittal of BNP leader Nick Griffin and the government’s kneejerk desire to legislate in response. This reminds me of an interview David Dimbleby conducted with Griffin on election night last year in which Dimbleby calmly and methodically took the racist’s arguments to pieces. Free speech is not Griffin’s friend.

Mike Power also has some thoughts on the matter and is satisfyingly rude about the “glorious leaders ” of our country.

While we’re on the subject of racism, Osama Saeed considers the circumstances and consequences of the horrific murder of Kriss Donald in Glasgow.

Over at Rhetorically Speaking, a rare show of unity between hardline Jews and Muslims comes under the spotlight. Unfortunately, this isn’t the cause for celebration it might have been under other circumstances. Some Christians join in too for good measure.

And Bill highlights the less than tolerant amendments passed during the mid term elections on the other side of the world.

Closer to home, Neil Craig gets another letter published in the printed press. It’s a response to Transport Minister Tavish Scott’s defence of the proposed £609m rail link to Edinburgh airport. Considering that the Aberdeen line runs right past the end of the runway, it’s hard to understand why £609m needs to be spent getting trains a few hundred metres closer to the terminal.

Hollyrood Chronicles has the word on Jack McConnel’s response to the soon to be published extensive and detailed inquiry into local taxation in Scotland. Little Jack has more in common with Blair than he would have us believe.

Shuggy takes issue with Polly’s defence of the Surveillance State as does Mr Eugenides. Both are in fine form. On a similar topic, Jarndyce, writing at the Sharpener, has an idea for an incentive scheme for all those MPs who voted for the National Identity Register and ID Crud scheme.
Over at Freedom and Whisky, David spots an SNP politician proposing a whole new level of state surveillance. She doesn’t appear to be joking. Oh my. On a related issue, Angry Steve is angry about a Dundee academic.

And talking of kitchens, the Devil’s Kitchen (heh, smooth or what?) is concerned about Chip and Pin. What happened to DK’s correspondent’s father is all sorts of wrong and very worrying for anyone with a credit card. I worked in retail as a supervisor for a good while and we were always told that you needed the cardholders consent to correct errors made by cashiers. In fact, I can clearly remember being advised by our bank that completing a correction without consent would leave us open to fraud charges. That was a while ago now and it seems that things may have changed and not for the better (unless you’re a retailer or a fraudster).

Changing tack, Mark has written a political obituary for Donald Rumsfeld. The Flying Rodent also bemoans the departure of the Don in fine style.

And finally, over at the Naked Blog (at it since 1997), attention is turned to Remembrance Sunday.

And that’s it for this week. Please do feel free to send your nominations for next week to scottishroundup [at] gmail [dot] com. See you then.