I thought the first week back would be a relatively quiet week for blogging with many people taking a break and recovering from the New Year festivities; however, there were plenty of posts worthy of comment this week.

Resolving

It’s always interesting to read the first blog posts of the year, often they mention new motivations or resolutions of some sort or other.

Caron notes how her daughter has forced upon her a sort of resolution, to encourage her to swear less and has created a list of financial penalties for particular swear words. The list drawn up, of course, contains no swear words but instead words which rhymes with them, some of the examples are:

Rhymes with rugger                                            20p
Rhymes with snitch                                             10p
Rhymes with white                                              25p

Kenny mentions that he intends to post a lot more frequently this year and starts off with an interesting article about the relationship between the length of an ad campaign and its success.“Through use of excellent concepts, great media which stretched from Tweets, Facebook, Youtube virals AND replies to user questions on youtube, they brought the meaning of consumer interaction right to the forefront of our mind. Is this what every advertising creative should aim for?”

A Wee Bit of Cooking reflects that the feeling of wanting to hibernate at this time year isn’t really a bad thing, I can agree with that perspective! I posted my own resolutions of the year, inspired by the word minimise.

Opinions and Setting the World to Rights

Perhaps it’s the start of the year but it seems there are a lot of people this week trying to put their opinions forward and get them heard by the right people.

Belinda, at Freedom to Choose (Scotland), posts on the subject of the proposed pylons between Beauly and Denny, having contacted the Minister for Enterprise with her opinions on the matter.

A burdzeyeview discussed his opinion of the recent Eastenders plotline: “Everyone is now talking about the plotline:  it will be a ratings winner, which was the purpose, and no doubt champagne corks will be popping.”

Ellen Arbison looks at the cuts in public libraries and the consequences of shutting more down: “For many people, especially those on low incomes, libraries are the only place to find a steady — and free — supply of nutrition for their brains. Surely as important as five-a-day for the body?”

Michael Traills gives an opinion on the recent hit and run incident involving an off duty police officer in Edinburgh, noting that: “The law applies to everyone regardless of age, sex, location or profession.  Every person should be treated equally and must be entitled to a fair ‘trial’.”

Other Interesting Points

Missy M’s recount of a recent trip to Pets at Home in Aberdeen has made me think twice about visiting the shop in case I run into any of the characters she has experienced.

Nine recounts the journey taken over the past year as she travels indefinitely throughout the world; this week Nine is also interviewed at a new blog Clear Minded Creative.

At The Words of the Lost Penguin, there’s an annual review of documentary films of 2010. Summarising this year’s finds: “If this year’s cinematic documentary offerings had a theme it was blurring the lines. There was a great deal of playing with – and down right manipulating in a few cases – audience perceptions, constructed realities and general blurring of the lines between fact and fiction.”

This week we also have a contribution from a YouTube video from Sandra Harrison showing Images around Scotland with music sung by Sandra Harrison.

News and Political

Five years ago Torcuil Crichton at Whitehall 2012 visited Japan to hear the stories of the Hibakusha; the survivors of the Hiroshima atom bomb, these stories are recounted in his recent post:  “Most of us only read history but Sunao Tsuboi, he is testimony. As a 20-year-old student, Tsuboi stood little more than 600 metres from the centre of the blast: the original ground zero.”

Mark Gallagher notes the ongoing Hiroshima commemorative events.

Love and Garbage look at the Lockerbie Release a Year on and recount some of their recent comments to the Guardian website:  “I have sat as a Scots lawyer, increasingly bemused by the series of theories argued in the media. The following is not a criticism of Mr White, but draws elements of a general misunderstanding of the legal position present throughout the London based media. Perhaps if the London media spoke to some Scottish lawyers (or read their commentaries) rather than asking English practitioners to comment on Scottish legal matters the media might be better informed”

SNP Tactical Voting looks at a recent Holyrood poll: “It seems like a long time since the last one but a decent poll has been released from TNS-BRMB via The Herald.”

Health and Exercise

Belinda at Freedom to Choose has covered a number of NHS issues this week, including the cost to bring in enforcement officers to ensure the smoking ban is upheld at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee and the NHS Fife’s annual review meeting. Belinda put into perspective the cost of the enforcement officers when there are so many other issues in the NHS: “Isn’t abuse of staff vastly more objectionable than smoking in a doorway out of the rain?”

John at Morhamburn also blogs about the NHS, looking at whether NHS Scotland can take the proposed job cuts: ‘Either the NHS is big enough in Scotland to be able to pare away at it for the next few years without affecting patient care; or it is its very size that allows the NHS to deal with so many sick people, and to deal with them properly.”

Mark at Morhamburn discusses the Scottish Government’s alcohol summit and how much the alcohol problem is costing Scotland: “It cannot be argued that there is no alcohol problem in Scotland.  It was reported earlier this year that alcohol misuse cost Scotland £3.56 billion each year or £900 for every adult.”

Tim Carmondy at kotte.org has an interesting article looking at why athletes are different from you and me.

Home

Our homes are important to us; Taexailia contemplate the purpose of her own doorstep and the power struggle which can occur there: “My doorstep is for welcoming friends and family, accepting parcel deliveries, having a coffee in the morning sunshine, pondering my plan for a butterfly and bee garden. It is not a place where strange men should feel it is their right to disturb me, patronise me, try to manipulate me and lie to me.”

If you need some interior inspiration, such as a new sofa, head over to Yeah…Ok…Bye for a very nice Chesterfield sofa or any of her other great interior finds.

Food & Drink

For starters Wendy at A Wee Bit of Cooking comments on how great the tomatoes have been this year and gives us a simple recipe for tomato and basil soup – one of my favourites. Then Is there a Plan B looks at the difference between a couple of supermarket chickens – are you particular about the type of chicken you buy?

Do you remember getting your bottle of milk in nursery or primary school? Ellen Arnison reminisces about school milk and looks at its future: “It took me back for a moment. To a classroom, the smell of Copydex, a pair of nobbly tights under sandal buckles and what happened when I rubbed my thumb on the silver top of the milk bottle.”

Interesting

Finally there’s Missy M’s hitchhiking confession and Mark Frauenfelder highlights a memo from the 1970s from an oil company owner, who has no time for pleasantries.

Well it’s my first time here at the Scottish Roundup, I was feeling rather relaxed about it until I started reading articles on some of the nominated blogs, articles relating to both spelling and grammar, with Mike Ritchie noting:

“There is so much available to read as social media continues to expand but, unfortunately, a lot of it is riddled and marred by bad spelling and poor grammar. To me, rightly or otherwise, such factors indicate a sloppiness and a questionable attitude to detail.”

Then there’s Ellen Arnison at In a Bun Dance who recently noticed a spelling mistake in the London Aquarium, I’m sure to be under scrutiny!

This roundup will be a tour heading from the South to the North of Scotland focusing on what’s going on around Scotland at this point in the summer.

In Ayrshire, Socrates MacSporran discusses the upcoming London Olympics and the relevance of ‘team GB’ to “a small far away country of which we know little” (a title we may have previously been referred to as).

Sandy Stevenson provides us with many photos of Scotland, old and new, on Tour Scotland Photographs, from a statue of a dwarf near Peebles, to a crannog in Loch Tay.

On the Paisley Blog Brian McGuire discusses the problems Scottish holiday makers have as they miss their local food and drink: “A survey of passengers at Glasgow Airport has also revealed that Irn Bru and square sausage are the items holidaymakers miss the most.” Thankfully plans are in place to ensure they can get what they’ve been missing, before they even leave the airport.

Scotchpotch has an interesting poll currently, asking, “Should we pulverise The Proclaimers and make Leith (the place that spawned them) into a landfill site for Edinburgh?” The current result is very close so ensure to get your vote in!

The Edinburgh Festival posts have started to appear throughout the blogosphere, with the Arts Extravaganza already underway in the city and not long until the Fringe starts. The Edinburgh Spotlight is previewing some of the opportunities available to you, including dining 100ft in the air above Princes Street Gardens.

Throughout the country, university students are destined to be part of Coca Cola’s recent marketing campaign with new vending machines described on Revolver blog which may bring ‘happiness to all’!

Secret Scotland highlights one of the risks of being a tourist in Scotland – the midge – which he claims “It looks as if the Scottish midge has its roots in Glasgow, and taken after the example of the city’s legendary ‘hard’ men”.

Over at Other Aberdeen we get some pointers on the etymology of Mounthoolie, the name of a large roundabout in Aberdeen, a roundabout which has been designated by Aberdeen City Council as an ‘Urban Green Space’. “It’s ours, all ours to enjoy whenever we want to. But how is it possible to enjoy a roundabout?” Well you’ll have to visit Other Aberdeen to find out.

My Nairn recommends a trip to the Highland Aviation Museum, where there’s been a recent addition of a Nimrod that reached the museum by road. There are not many museums left where you can actually clamber into the exhibits.

Wendy from a Wee Bit of Cooking shares a great shot (as usual) from a road trip to Ullapool. Then we head to Caithness, where Not Delia visits the Caithness Smokehouse; the most northerly UK mainland smokehouse for our most northerly blog link of this roundup. Not Delia informs us that “[the smokehouse owner] is willing to smoke pretty much any foodstuffs his customers care to bring him”.

Now if you feel you’ve not had quite enough links to keep you going all week, Biogal at Panoptifier has provided you with a list of interesting links, from Bromosexuals to Juanita W. Goggins. If you’d like a quick extra laugh The Big Dollop can provide you with the kind of antics which you may expect more from the Duke of Edinburgh than the Prince of Wales.

That’s a small selection of what’s going on in Scotland, with quite a few new blogs in the mix. Please submit your nominations by using the form on the right of the Scottish Roundup site or by email to scottishroundup@gmail.com or by tweeting @ScottishRoundup.