It should be noted that all of the blogs regarding the snow and the performance of Stewart Stevenson were written and submitted prior to his resignation last night.

In the Scottish Parliament this week there we heard an apology from another Scottish Government Minister. Stewart Stevenson apologised for the problems that occurred to the Scottish transport system on Monday when heavy snow brought much of the central belt to a relative standstill. Scottish bloggers though were split on the need for an apology. Joan McAlpine did not believe that the Minister should resign over operational matters, highlighting the fact that Alastair Darling did not resign in 2003 when similar problems occurred in England under his watch as Transport Minister. Burdz Eye View has a different opinion, voiced early in the week when Mr Stevenson was on the airways but not, yet, apologising for the lack of information or the distress caused to those who really did need to travel.

Ideas of Civilisation also blogs on the apology when it came, linking it to other recent Ministerial apologies from both John Swinney and Alex Salmond and how they can distract from governing and give the impression of always being on the defensive.

The snow did cause some travel problems for many people but West Lothian Answers risks the wrath of many by questioning the need for so many people to travel on Monday despite knowing that the conditions were bad and likely to deteriorate. There is also a defence of Stewart Stevenson.

Slugs on the Refrigerator provide use with some great pics and a wee story on their travel situation during Monday. Finally on the snow, Lesley Riddoch wonders why school teachers appear to be one section of the workforce that are disproportionately by the snow……

Of course, one of the other big stories this week as been the Tuition Fees vote in Westminster. Alex Massie at the Spectator compares Nick Clegg (favourably!) to George HW Bush (he of ‘read my lips, no new taxes’ fame). The Will Patterson Notebook has a great post showing that just 48 MPs have voted on tuitions fees consistently since 2004 and the goes on to defend NUS against the attacks from the Lib Dems. New-Right gives us a clear list of which MP voted which way. The fees vote has cause students to protest and parts of those protests have become violent which has cause politicians to take to the airwaves. Munguin’s Republic was particularly vexed at the tone taken by London Mayor Boris Johnson during an interview on the Today Programme on Radio 4 about the attack on Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall.

The ongoing wikileaks story as taken a number of twists and turns as highlighted by Eric Joyce MP here and here.  Some of the wikileaks are going over some recent Scottish stories and Alex Massie covers the leaks that are do with the release of the Lockerbie Bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi. The ongoing battle to keep wikileaks online is covered in great, yet clear, detail by Technollama.

Elsewhere in the Scottish blogoshere the Sheridan trial continues with the appearance of Prime Ministers Communications Director, Andy Coulson. The Scotland Bill receives some further analysis by Absolvitor which highlights the bizarre beliefs of the Countryside Alliance and the British Association of Shooting and Conservation. Jeff at Better Nation blogs about the ever increasing presence of Tesco Towns and Bright Green Scotland give an excellent account of what has happened to the Irish economy.

Scotland for the Senses gives us some excellent pictures of the Hermitage in Perthshire, Mark Fisher’s Scottish Theatre blog gives us a review of The Three Musketeers and the Princess of Spain, Scots Whay Hae! gives us some information on some of the best Scottish music in 2010.

Finally, The Ben Lomond Free press covers the bizarre goings on at Newcastle Football Club, Last Years Girl gives us her Christmas pressie list and Soft Thistle gives us a new blogging idea - Sunday Snippets.

Thanks for reading.

One of the issues that got a number of Scottish blogs buzzing was the announcement at the start of the week at the Conservative Party Conference by Chancellor George Osborne that child benefit would be cut for parents on the higher rate of tax.

Efrafandays agrees that, even though there are a number of problems with the proposals, there are merits in the idea but does worry about the possible end to universal benefits and how some more affluent people may resent paying for services that they do not use.

The Burd then steps in with a well reasoned and argued post wondering why, after years of demonization, lone parents are now deserving of so much political and journalistic protection from the cut in child benefit. Skilfully slicing through the media myths about the cut she ends by reminding those who think the proposal can be corrected with a married couples allowance that lone parents are, well, single.

The Conservative Party conference also inspired some other bloggers to post, or at least post about other commentators’ views about the conference. Allan at Dispatches from Paisley feels that the Prime Ministers speech to conference was, in essence, Blairite in nature. Stuart Winton at Planet Politics wonders if Telegraph commentator Peter Oborne actually understands what a low wage is when he described £40k as a modest sum. Stuart also wonders if Labours leader in the Scottish Parliament Iain Grey understand how measly a £7 an hour ‘Living Wage’ actually is.

At the Conservative Conference Scottish Reception, the Prime Minister stated that the Tories would be ready and willing to fight for the Union if Alex Salmond ever called such a ballot. That prompted Love and Garbage to remind David Cameron that while there is a large body of opinion that feels that the Scottish Parliament does not have the legislative competence to hold a referendum on independence, Westminster certainly does. If anyone needs courage to hold a referendum it would be the Prime Minister.

In another post Stuart Winton also highlights how Scottish Labour is justifying how it can have different policies compared to Labour in Westminster. Using the example of knife crime both new leader Ed Miliband and Iain Gray feel that since Scotland has a particular problem with knife crime there should be a particularly Scottish solution thus allowing Iain to claim that Ed ‘gets’ devolution.

This week Ed Miliband also got a new Shadow Cabinet which prompted a couple of posts. Dean at New-Right highlights the fact that many of the people elected to the Shadow Cabinet were supporters of David Miliband rather Ed. The vagaries of this process mean that people like Jim Murphy become Shadow Secretaries of important departments based, not on ability, but instead the need to counter the problems of weak leadership. Dean also feels that the selection process requiring a minimum number of women further limits the leader of the Labour Party’s ability to choose the best people for the jobs required of them. Over at Devolution Matters, Alan Trench blogged on the various options Ed Miliband had regarding the Welsh and Scottish Shadow Secretaries. He also touches upon the challenge facing the Labour Party in Westminster regarding the Calman Commission recommendations.

The Marquis reminds us that although the new Shadow Chancellor Alan Johnson, despite holding a number of Cabinet posts, is relatively free of the mud that stuck to people associated with both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. However The Marquis does not feel that Alan Johnson should be seen as a benevolent politician due to the way that chief drugs adviser Professor Nutt was ruthlessly dispatched following a disagreement over policy based evidence making.

Edinburgh University Scottish Nationalist Association calls into question the understanding that Iain Gray has of economics. Calum Ashley offers a much more considered understanding of the economic viability of an independent Scotland. SNP bloggers are also upset with the BBC for not paying over £20m to be the host broadcaster for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. NewsNet Scotland and Mark MacLachlan at The Universality of Cheese both highlight other areas of high BBC expense in an effort to demonstrate the anti-Scottishness of the BBC.

Still with the political scene, Sheridan Trial: The Sequel attracted the attention of a few bloggers including, obviously, Tommy Sheridan himself. For a more detailed record of the trial then James Dolman has created a blog to where he will be posting live updates and analysis from the perjury trial of Tommy and Gail Sheridan. However, there is some disagreement about how long the trial will be. Iain Nisbet at Absolvitor reports that the Herald newspaper feels that trial could last a few months with the Legal Aid bill toping a cool half million pounds. The Ben Lomond Free Press offers a different opinion on the length of the trial stating that the prosecution may cut the number of its witnesses it calls due to the high level of corroboration. Lallands Peat Worrier blogs on a possible defence witness, Prime Ministerial Spin Doctor Andy Coulson, and how he could be asked questions that could be linked to the phone tapping scandal.

Lallands Peat Worrier also blogs very concisely and thoughtfully on the draft of the Double Jeopardy (Scotland) Bill and the strange insistence of a number of Labour MSPs linking the Bill to the World’s End Murders given that the original trial collapsed due to a lack of evidence.

This week also saw two other blogs from the legal arena with Jonathan Mitchell QC covering both the new website of the Scottish judiciary and the ‘Statement of Principles of Judicial Ethics for the Scottish Judiciary’ that can be found on the new website. Michelle Hynes-Mcilroy at LegaleagleMHM has a much more personal blog covering her studies and activities.

Over at Bright Green Scotland they are covering the story of the objections to a Biomass Plant being proposed for Leith in Edinburgh including an open letter signed by a number of key public figures and organisations.

Two Scotsmen abroad have personal blogs detailing their trials and triumphs. Seumas is our man in Brussels and he gives the story of how the SNP MEPs addressed a potential moratorium on oil drilling in EU waters. Craig Hunter is in Japan teaching English and this week gave us the story of the reaction of the community to him wearing a kilt, including one woman who was so shocked she crashed her car.

At Scotland for the Senses, Purest Green gives us her opinions of a number of Scottish Soaps as well as a request for someone to invent a smell-a-blog.

Finally, and in recognition of my chaotic use of the English language, I would recommend Mike Ritchie’s blog and his determination that the grammar, stupid phrases, meaningless responses and a general sloppiness to the use of English should be ended as soon as possible.

Thanks for reading (and with a bit of luck this will have automatically posted at 10 minutes past 10 on the 10.10.10)

This is my first attempt at doing the Scottish Roundup, so I apologise in advance if it is not up to the usual standards.

The talking point of the week would have to be the visit of Pope Benedict to Scotland which caused a flurry of commentary across Scotland and the Scottish Blogosphere. New group blog Better Nation continued its high-flying start with a jointly authored provocative post about whether or not the Pope should be welcomed to Scotland or asked to pack his bags. Seraphic and Joan McAlpine blogged on their personal experiences of the Mass led by the Pontiff in Bellahouston Park and The Burd reminded us all about the role of St Ninian in Scottish history and the fact that the Papal visit included a St Ninians Day Parade.

Meanwhile, in Holyood, it was Deputy Day as the leaders were with the Queen and the Holy Father. Moridura notes that the 2010 General Election showed a large swing from the SNP to Labour as the voters fled from a potential Tory Westminster Government and that the 2011 Holyrood campaign is a Scottish Labour vs SNP campaign. Subrosa gives an insight into how the SNP will be conducting their 2011 campaign as demonstrated by the Deputy First Minister which is to basically blame Labour for the economic problems.

This essence of the campaign is highlighted by Alex Porter over at Scotlandunspun by suggesting the SNP should actually leave Westminster as part of a tactic placing the blame for the economic problems on the Union as a proxy for Labour and the Tories (one for spending too much and the other for austerity). The idea being that if the Union is blamed for the cuts then independence becomes appealing. Kenneth Joseph Murray at Newsnet Scotland writes the final word about this topic (this week anyway) by looking at the human cost of the economic problems we face and argues that green energy and fiscal autonomy means Scotland can ride out the current economic problems. Newsnet Scotland also covers the Scottish Parliament’s Health & Sport Committee examination of the recommendations from Labours Alcohol Commission.

The causes of the financial problems facing Scotland and the UK can be confusing to many people but The Burd gives clarity to the economic situation by highlighting her bellwether measures that, in fact, can be used by everyone. If I were to add my own it is the number of construction cranes I can see when I walk around Edinburgh city centre.

The SNP and Labour will not be the only parties standing in the Scottish elections and Will Paterson blogs that the Scottish Greens are targeting Scottish Lib Dem voters who are disaffected with the Westminster coalition. He urges caution however, with this approach with a detailed analysis of what would happen across a number of Constituency seats and the Regional Lists if the Scottish Greens did well.

Over at The Shoogly Peg there is a post that the Scottish Lib Dems could use to counter any disaffection by pointing out that Nick Clegg is not a two-faced sellout.

This week also saw a lot of coverage about the future of two Royal Navy aircraft carriers which are due to be partly built in Scotland including extensive work at Rosyth. Suitably Despairing blogs on this but also tells us about hopping around naked. He goes on to confess his soft spot for the Navy but does ask whether or not the UK needs aircraft carriers. He then references Caron‘s blog over at Caron’s Musing who points out the irony of Alex Salmond devoting a lot of political time trying to ensure that the UK Government builds the aircraft carriers in a place that, if he has his way, would not actually be part of the UK. He also notes that the shipyards on the Clyde and Rosyth could be in fact used to build the technology required for supporting the nascent renewables industry in Scotland.

The Labour leadership battle is almost over and Jamie Cook at Not a Westminster Village highlights how his hopes for a dramatic and exciting relationship with one of the candidates in fact became a slow burn connection that could be something special. Torn between two brothers he has plumped for the elder Miliband and sets out his belief that David can unite and energise the various wings of the Labour Party.

Politics at a local government level in Scotland is going to become even more fraught in the coming months with council finances under pressure with Edinburgh Council cropping up in three blogs. Cllr Andrew Burns states that the first public consultation on cuts was not well attended nor well received. Peter McColl at Bright Green highlights the problems Edinburgh Council is having spending £168k in Craigmillar but Cllr Cameron Rose found that a cut in the education budget would actually lead to an improved service.

However it has not been all politics in Scotland this week. Love and Garbage and Lallands Peat Worrier both blog about the ruling from Lords Hardie, Bonomy and Wheatley that appears to legalise domestic abuse and both wonder why the mainstream media have not picked up the long term legal implications of the ruling. Both blogs take what could be seen as a complicated legal judgement and make it accessible to those who are less well versed in law.

Over at the pro-smoking site Freedom to Choose, there are three posts covering health statistic correlations, health inequalities and various smoking stories.

The weather is starting to turn and Lisa-Marie wrote an excellent recipe for some seasonal cake as well as a hearty soup and tasty casserole.

Ellen seeks more support when shopping from Asda, Tesco & Sainsburys. Areas for improvement include trolley design, undearwear shape and store layout.

Seumas offers an interesting non-political insight into how the EU works blogging for the duration of his 107 day internship.

There are more touching, although for different reasons, personal blogs from meagainstthepoolswimchallenge and Abyssinia, Henry who are facing their own challenges.

We also have some good photo and design blogs from rmontalban and yeahokbye including the brand new A Glasgow Album with an already fantastic array of images from Glasgow. Aye Tunes has some good info and commentary on the Scottish music scene.

Eleanor and James Crossing Scotland Coast to Coast is a blog giving details of a fundraising kayak 100k journey by 11 year old Eleanor and her dad James. They are fundraising for Marie Curie Cancer Care and the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. You can find out how to sponsor them here.

Finally, a new blogger got so annoyed at one of Scotland’s top bloggers, Tom Harris MP, that he set up his own blog just to respond. Like many bloggers though, he got hooked straight away…..

I hope that this edition meets you Scottish Round-up expectations and thanks for reading.