Hello and welcome to this week’s roundup! Attention is gradually turning away from politics and ahead to an “ice cream summer”. I can certainly tell you that on a scorching 25 degree Saturday afternoon / evening, there is definitely no better way to spend my time than sitting in front of a computer in a stuffy room trying to collate the best of the week’s blogs.

Even though the coalition deal was sealed over a week ago now, bloggers are still getting used to the situation. NoYo is optimistic about the situation, pleased at the potential for a new style of politics to emerge. Neil Craig is less keen on the prospects.

Coalition does involve compromise, and Caron has already been made uneasy by the way the government has treated Sehar Shabaz:

Home Secretary Theresa May is imminently deporting Sehar Shabaz and her 8 month old daughter Wania. Sehar was at the centre of controversy earlier in the week after she and her baby were detained at Dungavel after both Tavish Scott and Alistair Carmichael had said that child detention would stop. It has now been confirmed that the Liberal Democrats have been successful in ending this practice and no children will be detained at Dungavel in the future.

That’s all well and good, but I’m not convinced that sending them to Yarls Wood is actually a better solution. I’d have liked to have seen all detention of children suspended while the system was reviewed.

More policy difficulties come in the form of the compromise over the Conservative proposal to repeal the Human Rights Act. As Scott from Love and Garbage pointed out, this was never really going to be on the cards. Nick Robinson comes in for particular criticism for failing to understand the constitutional reality of this matter. Lallands Peat Worrier adds his analysis of the situation.

Meanwhile, Alastair Tibbitt from Greener Leith was invited to 10 Downing Street to discuss “the big society” with David Cameron and Nick Clegg.

Of course, there is the kneejerk anti-Toryism for the coalition to contend with too. Dean MacKinnon-Thomson looks at the challenges that face the Conservatives in Scotland.

At first glace, as Prime Minister Cameron entered Holyrood [his first visit anywhere as PM] he could still hear the faint noise of a protest. “Tories, Tories, Tories, out, out, out,” was the familiar cry. Out pumped the traditional battle cries, out flew the red banner- socialism invoked and the elderly Ms Thatcher still treated as the Great Satan.

However on closer inspection this mob of socialists, anarchists, and Bolsheviks turned out to be predominantly teenagers and students- members of the fresh faced Scottish Socialist Youth. They chanted, they hated, they protested…but most of them could hardly remember a Conservative government, and they certainly weren’t around for the miners strike.

You could sense that this wasn’t your traditional anti-Tory protest at all, this crowds opposition, hate and hostility was born from second-hand experience; a borrowed synthetic rage. Borrowed from youtube footage of Ravenscraig, Orgreave and Wapping. Most of it all just names to these student protesters.

And with the Lib Dems now partnering with the party that’s so unpopular in Scotland, what next for the Scottish Liberal Democrats? That is what Planet Holyrood calls the Tavish Scott Question.

In a similar vein, Ideas of Civilisation wonders if the chances of any party partnering with the Liberal Democrats in the Scottish Parliament have been scuppered. If so, will this close the door on an independence referendum?

But while Westminster tiptoes its way towards a more consensual style of politics, Patrick Harvie thinks that the consensual atmosphere in Holyrood needs to be turned down a notch:

It was useful to talk of consensus on the issues we did agree on. But it’s time to recognise that we have no consensus on how to reach those long term [emissions] targets, or even on how quickly to get started.

Now that the election is over, Kezia Dugdale presented a series of entertaining stories from the campaign trail.

Peter Cherbi looks into an apparent “anti-client policy” at the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission.

Meanwhile, Planet Politics bemoans the lack of engagement shown by Dundee City Council, following the apparent failure of a community council.

Tom Harris went beyond the call of duty in order to find out about the reality of abusive drug addicts clogging up pharmacies.

Eagle-eyed Will Patterson was apparently one of the few to spot that the Scottish Conservatives had a reshuffle this week, and was straight in analysing Annabel Goldie’s moves.

Dark Lochnagar has a novel take on the deficit situation.

Following on from last week’s closure of The Pop Cop blog, Ellen Arnison is left wondering how she would feel if her blog was shut down.

If you’re looking forward to the Eurovision Song Contest this week, you can probably do a lot worse than subscribe to Ewan Spence’s Unofficial Eurovision Podcast.

Scott Liddel shared his photographs from a trip to Edinburgh Zoo.

That’s your lot for this week! Many thanks to Lallands Peat Worrier who suggested the lion’s share of these posts. As you can see though, we could still do with more blogs about stuff that isn’t politics.

Please don’t be shy! Nominate away. If you see any good blogging that you should be featured here, please use the contact form on the right, or email scottishroundup@gmail.com. Also don’t forget you can now follow us on Twitter @ScottishRoundup.

We’re also looking for more guest editors too. So if you fancy giving it a bash please do not hesitate to contact us!

Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s roundup! The general election is reaching its climax this week. Many will be breathing a sigh of relief, although I sense that the real interest will be found in what happens after the polls close on Thursday.

However, it has been a fascinating week with the final of the three Prime Ministerial debates (even if the debate itself was a bit of damp squib), and the continued Lib Dem surge nudging the election into uncharted territory. Then of course there was perhaps the biggest gaffe in election history dominating the news.

But the news that Gordon Brown “has contempt for the electorate” is not a surprise to Mr Eugenides.

One lifelong Labour loyalist breaches the cordon sanitaire round the gordon insanitaire, and has the temerity to raise the kind of boilerplate concerns that politicians of all stripes affect to be concerned about, and what is our Prime Minister’s reaction?

Should never have put me with that woman… whose idea was that?

Actually, it was the Greeks’ idea, Gordon. We called it democracy.

Meanwhile, were you aware that Mr Brown kept his microphone on all day? Ellen Arnison has the lowdown on the trouble he has been having over other words.

With a more serious take on matters, Indygal has a thoughtful post on the issues surrounding this, and why voters may express such views.

Gordon Brown hasn’t been the only politician having problems communicating, in the eyes of Stuart Winton at least:

Part of the reason for Nick Clegg’s success in the leaders’ debates has supposedly been that he addresses the questioners by their first names, and also due to the way he looks into the camera most of the time when speaking. Apparently these techniques make him a good communicator, but surely there’s a contradiction between the two?

But at least Mr Clegg had the chance to look a bit awkward on the television. Will Patterson outlines why he thinks the SNP’s exclusion from the debates was unjust, and why the Scotland-specific debates are not adequate.

You can see why SNP supporters might be upset, even though no SNP MP has any chance whatsoever of becoming the Prime Minister. After all, it’s no surprise that the SNP would appreciate a taste of the unprecedented boost the Lib Dems have enjoyed as a result.

For one thing, the Lib Dems have secured the endorsement of a proper newspaper for the first time (The Independent doesn’t count, does it?)! James Kelly looks at the decision of The Guardian to back the Lib Dems — mostly justifying his description of the paper as “left-leaning” rather than “Labour-supporting”.

Meanwhile, Jacq Kelly wrote about a special “Ladies Night” hustings that she was involved in setting up, held in the Edinburgh South constituency:

Bored of hearing about haircuts and oddball toes (seriously, c’mon – Sarah Brown is a highly successful business professional) Edinburgh Feminist Network and Edinburgh University Feminists opted for the good old-fashioned way of making politicians listen; giving them hell and demand some answers…

Women need to know that David Cameron wants to hack away their reproductive rights with his wire coat hanger. Or that, under Gordon Brown, welfare reforms pushed women with children further into poverty. The Lib Dems have hardly championed the cause in this campaign either. We want to know what the political parties plan to do to actually help women.

Elsewhere, Chris Jones has been left “furious” at Labour’s anti-Conservative campaigns, with Jim Murphy constantly bringing up Ravenscraig.

You see, I was born and brought up in the North East of England, in the shadow of Redcar steelworks – the industrial jewel of Teesside. Steelworks that two months ago were consigned to history – on the watch of Peter Mandelson and the Labour Party.

Meanwhile, The Shoogly Peg reports on the hustings in Glasgow South.

And that is your lot for this week! Depending on the demand, I don’t think there will be another roundup before the election. But Will Patterson will be back in the hotseat next Sunday to cover the final few days of the campaign, and the aftermath.

As always, get your suggestions coming in — your ideas really are vital in helping us feature new and under-appreciated blogs. You can use the handy form on the right, or you can email scottishroundup@gmail.com. Alternatively, give us a nudge on Twitter @ScottishRoundup.

Hi everyone! It is a while since I have felt the spicy heat of the hot seat. My last roundup was in fact way back in January. I decided to give myself a bit of time off actually writing the things, as real life has become a bit busier and time consuming. But I thought I’d better get round to doing it again sometime, so here I am.

Election makes twits of Labour

This week, the General Election campaign was officially launched. For some, this is what it’s all about. Others will be dreading it. Speaking personally, even though this is the first time I am actually involved in a campaign, I am finding the General Election as a whole to be a bit “meh”. I’m not sure I can actually handle the next month, but like it or lump it, the campaign is going to dominate the next month.

The campaign got off to the worst possible start for Stuart MacLennan, who was Labour’s candidate in Moray. Mr MacLennan’s politically incorrect tweets landed him in water that is even hotter than the hot seat I’m currently sitting on.

There has been a lot of chat about this election being “the Twitter election” or “the blogging election”, where social media plays the pivotal role in the campaign. Most of it is nonsense really. I seem to remember widespread predictions about 2005 being the internet election too. 2001 was probably the same.

But there is no escaping the fact that Twitter has already played a huge role in Stuart MacLennan’s election. It’s a real clanger though. A Pretty Simple Blog asked why Mr MacLennan was not more savvy in light of the fact that he even noted that he may make a Twitter gaffe. Who is to say more people won’t be caught out?

It is fair to say that this is probably not the positive role the social media flag-wavers had in mind for this election. I guess one positive is The Sun‘s headline yesterday morning — “Twit hits the fan” — which at least made me smile when I saw it while buying lunch.

But the BBC’s normally jovial Brian Taylor seemed less amused when he wrote about the saga on his blog: “You name it, he had a pathetic comment to offer, tedious yet unpleasant too.”

Lallands Peat Worrier marked the return of the ‘Indygalling’ phenomenon. Meanwhile, Jeff at SNP Tactical Voting wondered if this will put paid to the jibes about over-enthusiastic SNP activists being ‘cybernats’.

Will Patterson joined in, also recounting his experiences of Mr MacLennan from his days in student politics at the University of Edinburgh.

Labour member Jamie Smyth is a bit more forgiving than most, noting that “I’m guessing Stuart was there for experience as a PPC so the loss isn’t make or break.”

Stuart MacLennan wasn’t the only Labour candidate getting into a bit of a mess with Twitter. Scott at Love and Garbage brought our attention to this stunning leaflet where Linlithgow candidate Michael Connarty advertises his Twitter username as being ‘yourname’. I also like those snappy URLs and email addresses.

Digital Economy Bill

It is reassuring to know that these are the people who have rushed through the Digital Economy Bill, which means that your internet connection could be cut off if there is suspicion that it has been used to download copyrighted material. Scott wrote a letter to Michael Connarty, his MP, and shared it with his blog’s readers.

If, by any chance, you have missed the controversy surrounding the Digital Economy Bill, Labour MP Eric Joyce provided the background. Meanwhile, digital law expert Lilian Edwards cast her eye over the bill and the online reaction to proceedings.

Edinburgh-based journalist Jodi Mullen listed the MPs who voted against the Digital Economy Bill, looking in particular at Edinburgh’s MPs. If you want to check how your MP voted, you may like this handy tool.

On a similar note, if you are of a skeptical bent, check out Skeptical Voter, which has plenty of information on MPs’ views on issues important to skeptics.

The Alternative McLeish Report

The football fans among you may be aware that Henry McLeish is currently working on a review of the running of football in Scotland. Rob Marrs at Left Back in the Changing Room said, “I think he needs to be pretty radical – and I’m not sure he will be.”

Enter the Alternative McLeish Report, with the involvement of a number of Scottish bloggers producing “a joint document which will be splashed in the hope of influencing the course of events in a real way”. The project already has the involvement of Inside Left, More Than Mind Games, Avoiding the Drop and The Scottish Football Blog.

Further digital woes and more…

We have all performed the thought experiment, but how many of us could actually cope well if our phone died? Well, Ellen Arnison has been going through the ordeal and has reported on how she has been coping.

And here is something a bit different — a blog maintained by a Mini. Called Hamish. Dressed up as a Highland coo.

It is not car-shaped, but a Highland cow features on the cover of a 1984 single by a Scottish band called Memphis. It features in The Vinyl Villain’s Great Scottish Singles series. As JC says, “[It is] one of the great all time ‘lost’ Scottish 45s in that it came, it saw and it completely failed to conquer.”

Set the challenge of photographing something ugly, Clinically Fed Up decided to feature Perth City Hall. “Not visually ugly, but ugly by its existence.” I think the photographs look great.

Genealogists may be interested in the useful information from My Scots Ancestors on tools to make using Google to research your family history easier.

Help required!

That’s your lot for this week. As ever, please keep those nominations coming in. Your help is vital for us to feature a wider range of great Scottish blogging. You can use the handy form on the right, or you can email us at scottishroundup@gmail.com. Or drop us a tweet @ScottishRoundup.

I am also looking for some more guest editors in the coming weeks. Will Patterson is in the hot seat next week, but the whole rota is open after that. So if you fancy giving it a shot, please do let me know.

Also, if anyone has any suggestions as to how the General Election should be covered by Scottish Roundup, I am all ears. I was asked by someone what the plans are, and I had to confess that I haven’t yet given a moment’s thought to it! I know, I am just full of lame excuses at the moment.

First of all, a huge congratulations to all blogs that were involved in the Scotblogs Awards. Whether your blog secured a high position or not, this entire exercise has been a great way to discover new blogs — and it is because of every one of the 140-or-so blogs that were nominated.

A massive thanks must go to everyone who nominated a blog, all of those who contributed to the over 1,500 votes cast, and the panellists.

The great thing is that even more blogs have been submitted to Scottish Roundup since the deadline for entries closed. Each of them will be featured in the roundup in the coming weeks.

The wonderful diversity and the high quality of the blogs, right the way through the field, bodes well for the health of blogging in Scotland.

Below is the main list you have all been waiting for — the top 100 blogs. For information on the voting process, visit the Scotblogs Awards 2010 page. View the winners in other categories.

• 97=. Scottish Business Blog
• 97=. Philosophical Zombie
• 97=. Hythlodæus
• 97=. Amused Cynicism
• 95=. Islay Info
• 95=. Councillor Paul Johnston
• 94. Captain Ranty
• 93. Pining for the West
• 89=. The Green Isle of the Great Deep
• 89=. One Man Blogs
• 89=. Loose Change
• 89=. David Fagan
• 88. Inside Left
• 87. Bread and Roses
• 86. Slugs on the Refrigerator
• 84=. Smashing Mirrors
• 84=. Better Oot Than In
• 77=. PoliticsScot
• 77=. John Connell
• 77=. Jamie Livingstone
• 77=. Islay Birds
• 77=. I am a Rag Doll – Broken and Bent
• 77=. Domestikated
• 77=. Alter Ego…
• 76. A Wee Bit of Cooking
• 72=. RantinRab
• 72=. My Portis Wasp says
• 72=. Have Fun At Dinner
• 72=. Debra Storr
• 71. Bishop Hill
• 67=. Shopaholly
• 67=. A Son of the Rock
• 67=. A Rabbit’s Eye View of the Hyperborean North
• 67=. …except the Kyles and the Western Isles
• 66. TheCatGirlSpeaks
• 65. *Insert My Blog Name Here*
• 64. Andrew Reeves’ Running Blog
• 63. …and your electron microscope!
• 60=. Eric Joyce MP
• 60=. Caledonian Comment
• 60=. An incredulous eye on the isles
• 59. Scotland in the Gloaming
• 58. Pseudepigrapha
• 53=. Scottish Football Blog
• 53=. Wholly Rude
• 53=. What Oor Willie Did Next
• 53=. Another side of Lesley Riddoch
• 53=. “And Another Thing…”
• 51=. Taexalia
• 51=. Bella Caledonia
• 50. Jess the Dog
• 49. What’s in Kelvin’s Head
• 47=. Whitehall 1212
• 47=. Holyrood Chronicles
• 46. Scots Law News
• 42=. Holyrood Patter
• 42=. Suitably Despairing
• 42=. Scot goes Pop!
• 42=. Ideas of Civilisation
• 41. Newsnet Scotland
• 40. Yapping Yousuf
• 38=. Love and Garbage
• 38=. Kezia Dugdale
• 37. Under the Radar
• 34=. More Than Mind Games
• 34=. Left Back in the Changing Room
• 34=. Greener Leith
• 32=. Stephen’s Linlithgow Journal
• 32=. Phuturelabs
• 31. Calum Cashley
• 30. Last Year’s Girl
• 29. Blether with Brian
• 28. Planet Politics
• 27. Between the Hammer and the Anvil
• 26. Clairwil
• 25. Iain Macwhirter Now and Then
• 24. The Universality of Cheese
• 23. Inksters Give Blog
• 22. Freedom and Whisky
• 21. Aye Tunes
• 20. Scottish Roundup
• 19. Malc in the Burgh
• 18. The Ben Lomond Free Press
• 17. Ian Hamilton QC
• 15=. Subrosa
• 15=. Indygal Goes to Holyrood
• 14. The Pop Cop
• 13. Gerry Hassan
• 12. Caron’s Musings
• 11. doctorvee
• 10. Peenko
• 9. The Misssy M Misssives
• 8. We Know SFA
• 7. Alex Massie
• 6. Lallands Peat Worrier
• 5. Everyone I Ever Kissed
• 4. Go Lassie Go
• 3. J Arthur Macnumpty
• 2. Mr Eugenides
• 1. SNP Tactical Voting

In the interests of full openness and transparency, I have decided to make all the data available for anyone who wishes to look at it. You can download them below in PDF or Excel format.

• Scotblogs awards data (PDF)
• Scotblogs awards data (Excel)

One of the things that really struck me as I was gathering votes was the large differences between the choices of the panellists and the choices of the voters. As such, I thought it was worth mentioning those blogs that scored particularly well in one of the rankings, but ended up with a moderate overall ranking due to doing poorly in the other one.

A wee bit of cooking is an attractive food blog. It caught the eye of panellists, five of whom gave it the nod. This made it the second most popular blog among the panellists. Staggeringly, only one person voted for it in the poll, placing it joint 121st in the readers’ ranking. This has left it 75th overall.

Two panellists gave Pining for the West their vote, placing it 19th among the panellists. Again, just one person voted for it in the readers’ poll. This left it in an overall position of 92nd. (Disclosure: This is my mum’s blog, and I helped her set it up!)

Four blogs received one vote from a panellist, but got no recognition from the readers at all: Bigmout Strikes Again, Shirl’s Gardenwatch, Skip Cottage Curling and Southside and Newington Newsblog.

A further seven blogs received the same number of votes from panellists as from readers overall: Better Oot Than In, Smashing Mirrors, Jim Millar, Mid-Life Bassist, Sea Kayaking with SeaKayakPhoto.com, Type face a week and Scotland in the Gloaming.