Welcome to this week’s roundup, now moved back to Sunday. We’d wanted to try a different day for various reasons, not least in order not to clash with other more esteemed and well established roundups, but Sunday just seems the natural day to round up the weeks’ blogging goodness. (Even better if I’d been organised enough to get this up at a reasonable time of day.) What say you, people?

Anyway, here are the goodies. First up, Jarndyce points out that Labour’s shiny new inclusive aproach to faith schools is nothing of the sort.

[T]his is nothing more than prejudice dressed up as liberal neutrality.

Quite.

Over at Rhetorically Speaking, the talk is of veils, crosses and beards. Mike Power, who has recently moved to Aberdeen, approaches the discussion from a slightly different angle.
Osama Saeed explains how the debate initiated by Jack Straw is having real world effects on Muslims in Britian. He believes we are seeing a riding tide of prejudice and violence which is a direct consequence of New Labour’s shameless political opportunism. (Not a Scottish blog link but Jonathan Freedland’s article – “If this onslaught was about Jews, I would be looking for my passport” – mentioned in the comments to Osama’s post, is also worth a read. Unfortunately, there’s every possibility that forcing Mulsims to leave the country would make some in our “tolerant” society very happy indeed. )

Shuggy looks at another religious political issue; the head of the Catholic Church in Scotland, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, has come out in support of Scottish independence. A matter of faith?

With support for the Scottish Conservatives running at an unimpressive 14%, Scottish Political News considers drastic action. Even a liberal leftie like me must concur that “there is definitely more than 14% of Scots who think in a centre right way”.

Over at Freedom and Whisky, David Farrer ancipicates the very real possibility that Scottish independence is on its way and suggests one way in which it could be made to work. That’s if we are able to significantly reduce the size of the public sector in order to make sure an independent Scotland is not beset by economic stagnation.

Letter writer extraordinare, Neil Craig, also has some thoughts on the possibly inevitable move towards independence. Neil made it to the letters pages of the Scotsman.
Richard Thomson reports on the aftermath of the SNP conference. There’s a palpable sense of optimism for the forthcoming Scottish elections. He also questions the wisdom of Nicol Stephen’s opposition to an independence referendum. Is Nicol a Liberal Democrat or not?

Angry Steve asks a £1m question. Would you?

Continuing with climate change, David Farrer makes an excellent point concerning scientific consensus. Even if, like me, you believe the current consensus on climate change is accurate and a cause of great concern, it is extremely dangerous to ostracise and discourage scientists who challenge conventional thinking on this subject as in any other. In science, progress has always been brought about by those who have challenged existing paradigms. (Of course, I’d also point out that many challenges to current climate change theories are funded (often in not exactly transparent ways) by large companies with a vested interest in a particular answer. That isn’t a great way to do science either.)

Not sure whether either or both of the protagonists will thanks me for including these posts but my co-host doctorvee has had an interesting exchange of views, ahem, with the Devil’s Kitchen. Start here, then here and finally (for now anyway) here. The part which really rings my bell is doctorvee’s view on whether you believe in government intervention in the economy:

Once you accept that some government intervention can be a force for good, you have voided your ability to use “small government” as a mantra, a panacea for all economic ills.

That seems to me to be the nub of the issue. I believe, for example, that government intervention in the form of taxation as a means to redistribute income is necessary because the free market does not distribute income in a way which is consistent with creating a fair, equitable and tolerable world for human beings to live in. It is surely more difficult to argue against that as a point of principle if you adopt a very similar position with regard to government intervention in the labour market.

And finally, Boorach highlights the effects of the smoking ban in Scotland. Would it surprise you even slightly to learn that isn’t quite what the S.E. were hoping for?

That’s it for this week. Your comments are always welcome and please remember to send your suggestions to us at scottishroundup [at] gmail [dot] com for next week. And if you want to suggest ways we could do this better, or make any other comment, feel free. Thanks muchly.

Welcome to the second Scottish Blogging Roundup and this week it’s my turn. Before we start, I’d just like to say one thing. ONE NIL, ONE NIL, ONE NIL, ONE NIL! Ahem, anyway, there’s lots of good stuff this week so let’s get straight down to it.

With the SNP doing reasonably well in the polls, Scottish independence is back on the agenda in a big way at the moment. Converts are coming from the most surprising places. This week, David Farrer interviewed Scottish conservative historian Michael Fry on his conversion to the cause. (You may have to scroll down a bit to find the post.)

Will Howell’s has done some excellent work on his new project WebCameraon. Two posts, both definitely worth watching. Top spoofery.

Bookdrunk over at Rhetorically Speaking has some thoughts on the equine nature of women. Oh my. Congratulations are also in order.

And speaking of doctor’s, roundup initiator doctorvee has had some trouble with trains. It never used to happen in the good old days of steam apparently.

Next up, Bill Cameron discusses the US government’s attempts to draw the UK into its criminal conspiracy A dramatic title indeed.

Over at J. Arthur MacNumpty, Will is considering the implications of the by-election for the Markinch and Woodside East on Fife Council. There was a 30% swing to the SNP; is there now no such thing as a safe Scottish seat?

There’s been plenty of talk on Jack Straw’s article and subsequent comments on whether Muslim women should wear the veil. Osama Saeed expresses his concern that “we are witnessing a spiralling race to the bottom as to which party can malign the Muslim community the most”. Shuggy explains that some of the arguments used against Straw’s position are flawed but ultimately takes a liberal view and Caron believes that Straw’s comments reflect Labour’s fundamental inability to respect individuality.

Bernie Hughes looks at the Conservative Party’s prospects in Scotland. Unsurprisingly, they are still dire. Should the Scottish Conservative Party make a unilateral declaration of independence from the Conservatives at Westminster?

Bernie also has an interesting conspiracy theory.

And finally, Holyrood Cronicles reminds us that none of the above posts will be read by anyone in offices of the Scottish Executive. If you thought there was a chance that your voice might be heard within the corridors of power in Edinburgh, think again. The powers that be have taken steps to ensure that blogging subversives like us are unable to disrupt the gravy train system.

OK, one more and finally in the spirit of ITV News at 10 when it was still watchable. I found this yesterday:

This is the biggest spider I’ve ever discovered in Scotland. It just about scared the pants off me. Anyone seen a bigger one?

That’s all for this week folks. Before signing off though, I’d like to add that we’d really like people to nominate posts for inclusion in the roundup, particularly from blogs we’ve not mentioned before. And if you’ve started a new blog, feel free to send us a link for us to plug in our “Newly Discovered” linklog. Please send your nominations to scottishroundup [at] gmail [dot] com. Thanks.