Morning all. The good people of the Roundup have foolishly left their back door open again, so I’ve sneaked into the opulent editor’s suite for a good rummage through the blog drawer. Here are the best posts I found inside.

We begin with Turing. The extraordinary codebreaker was vital in World War II’s victory, but he took his own life in 1954. Mairi at From Speaker’s Corner reflects on his conviction of the then-crime of homosexuality, the horrible medical interventions which tried to “fix” him and the arguments for and against an official government apology for his treatment.

And moving from an act that should never have been a crime to one which too often is not treated as one, Sarah Lauren Scott writes about her participation in an upcoming documentary about sexual violence.

We pause now for a public service announcement. This week, the Roundup has received several nominations for blogs rather than specific blogposts. As this is a roundup of the week’s best writing rather than a Top of the Pops style weekly chart, please remember to nominate a particular post. (For younger readers, Top of the Pops was a music show where pop stars mimed their hits and Radio 1 DJs cracked awful jokes. I miss it terribly).

Anyway, back to the blog drawer. As usual, quite a lot of people are exercised about politics, none more so than the Cybernats. They are unimpressed with David Cameron’s speech at the Conservative’s knees-up in Troon, and their sentiments are echoed by Justified Spinner, who takes issue with Iain Duncan Smith’s latest attack on the SNP.

This week saw not only the Tories’ tryst in Troon but also the (Os)Borne Budget. It’s a bit like the Bourne trilogy, only longer and less exciting. Aidan at Better Nation produced an impressive analysis that frankly went right over my head, my Higher Economics being but a distant memory of guns and butter. And the Burd followed up her budget scrutiny with some gentle lampooning of the Unionist parties’ choice of Yes campaign leaders.

From politics to poop, avoiding the temptation to draw an analogy between the two, oor ain Ellen at In a Bun Dance writes about her attempts to get her toddler to use a potty, and his sweetly firm determination not to.

And finally, the hands-down winner of the Post of the Week award that I’ve just invented and will probably forget about immediately, Ruth at Dorky Mum produces a moving and measured account of a visit to the West Bank. If you read nothing else this week, read this.

Right, I think I can hear someone coming, so I’d better tidy up all these blog posts and leg it. Cheerybye!

The great thing about blogs is that they can shed light on all sorts of things. From carpentry to cats, snowballs to sarsaparilla, you can find a blogpost about almost any subject that will explain matters quickly and concisely.

This week’s batch of Scottish blogs have only one thing in common: they all offer us an interesting nugget of insight. We start with Open Justice, which previews a week-long project, beginning tomorrow, which aims to shed light on Scottish justice issues which normally go unreported. They plan to use social media to discuss legal points in a way that is accessible to all of us, and jolly good luck to them.

Also expounding on generally unnoticed matters is Tony Boaks, who gives us a somewhat eccentric tour of his recent blog comments, including a rather uncomplimentary one about Elvis’ manager.

Taking an altogether more serious approach is Dan at Liberal Sellout, who’s been looking at electoral figures in Edinburgh to work out where Tory voters are most likely to put their second vote. He concludes, rather intriguingly, that Lib Dem candidates would be better off trying to secure Conservative second choice votes than trying to get their own voters to support them. Ah, politics, it’s a fickle mistress…

The redoubtable Burdz Eye View is also thinking about Edinburgh politics, and wondering why the capital’s councillors felt it necessary to dream up an extra £26 million of expenditure at a time when we’re all supposed to be skint. She concludes, shockingly, that it may have something to do with an upcoming election. Surely not?!

Scottish Mum is pondering a different type of legalities, wondering whether a contract between the nation’s parents is feasible. She promises to hide her dishes in the oven, as long as her fellow parents eat plenty of sausage rolls. Sounds fair.

And we finish with the most endearing post I’ve read all week, in which Susan K Mann provides a series of unbearably cute pictures of her wee boy in a furry pig costume. It’s as cheering as it sounds.

So, that’s all for this week: I trust you feel suitably enlightened. Have a good week, and remember to nominate your favourite blogs for next Sunday. Pip pip!

Well, only one topic really gripped Scots bloggers this week.  Stand by, everybody: it’s a Referendum Roundup! There were many differing views – although oddly, none of the nominated blogs argued in favour of the union. Do Unionists not read the Roundup?

Several of the constitutionally-focused posts had a reflective feel to them. Caroline at Macafee’s Pleasance mused on a dream she’d had, in which Alex Salmond drove a JCB into Holyrood, rescuing a Scotland which had become trapped in a neverending episode of DIY SOS. Though it made more sense the way she said it. Jeff of Better Nation felt the hand of history upon him, and hoped for poetry rather than partisanship from our politicians.

Two new blogs have been set up this week, each aiming to provide a space for debating the case for independence. If you’re musing over whether to vote Aye or Naw (do you think those will actually be the options on the paper?) then Colin’s new site Aye or No is for you. He’s currently in the Aye camp, but wants to hear opposing views. If you’ve already made up your mind that you’re voting Yes, then you might want to check out Aye 4 Scotland, which is saying a big Aye We Can to independence and wants the debate to be led by the people not the politicos.

Some bloggers were leaving the vision thing to others and getting into the detail of it all. Doug at Bella Caledonia was scotching what he says is the myth that Scotland really wants devo-max, and sharing a suspicion that the SNP have already decided it won’t be on the ballot paper.

And Miserable Old Fart, who is hopefully a bit cheerier than the name suggests, was wondering why Unionist parties don’t have a vision for a post-independent Scotland, since they’d presumably want a shot at running one if it came about.

So were there really no non-political blogs nominated this week? Well, no. I may have been exaggerating about that: there’s lots of other stuff too. For example, Poet on a Hill got lost coming off a motorway and Susan McNaughton summed up the stats from the latest Scotland Hour: a monthly event in which people tweet about their favourite bits of Scotland, in order to help tourists.

A slight digression at this point. Getting into the Roundup is an uncertain business. You have to think of a topic, write up your post, hope that somebody nominates it (or do it yourself, there’s no shame in it) and then hope that the editor of the week decides to include it (I don’t think there’s an anti-bribery policy, by the way. On a completely unrelated note, I’m next doing the Roundup on 25^th February). Anyway, this week one reader decided to skip all that tomfoolery, and has succeeded in getting his/her comment on the blog by the simple method of sending it directly to us. And here it is:

“I saw the Northern Lights Ayrshire, near Auchenharvie, between 1957 and 58. Did anyone else see this?”

There. Now back to the blogs, and we’ll finish with a trio of Scotland’s finest ladybloggers (a term I have just invented, and intend to apply to myself from hereon in).

Dorky Mum has rediscovered the lost art of letter-writing and is loving it. You can’t put a glittery sticker on an email.

Ellen at In a Bun Dance has done us all a service by hosting a mental health blog carnival, bringing together some insightful, moving and informative blogs on a subject that for my money is the most important one there is.

And A Burdz Eye View pays homage to a man who had his own battles with the black dog, marking Burns Night by reminding us just how articulate he was.

“The past was bad, and the future hid, its good or ill untryd; O

But the present hour was in my pow’r, and so I would enjoy it, O”.

Quite. A pleasant Sunday to you all.

Early December is an odd time of year. It’s not quite Christmas, despite the best efforts of the shops to convince us otherwise. We’re still at work, not yet at the stage when we can skive off for the last few hours, eating mince pies and chatting about bread sauce recipes. So as we teeter on the brink of festivity, restraining ourselves from opening the brandy for a few more days, what better way to while away the time that with another Scottish Roundup?

You’re right. There is no better way. So let’s crack on. There are, basically, two subjects that the Scottish blogosphere (Scogosphere?) has been tackling this week, and the first is the wind. Or to give it its official title, Hurricane Bawbag. Deililly at Tiptilted starts us off with a rather touching memoir of her childhood as an latecomer to Scotland, and her gradual adoption of its culture. She sees the Hurricane Bawbag term as an example of the Scots humour and dexterity with language that she enjoys, and she’s not alone. A Burdz Eye View spent Thursday alone and unwell under a duvet, turning to Twitter to keep her informed and entertained. Love and Garbage went one step further, providing a valuable public service with her live wind blog, in which she charted Hurricane Bawbag’s progress from quite windy, windy and very windy up to its full power of very very very windy gusting to very very very very windy. The Met Office must have been looking on in awe.

And so to the second hot topic of the week, same-sex marriage. The consultation on this closed this week, prompting a flurry of blogs focusing on the matter. Up first is Mairi Campbell-Jack at Bright Green Scotland, who takes on Scotland for Marriage’s arguments against changing the law. She finds support from What’s in Kelvin’s Head? who reports that his congregation have sent in a response that’s in favour of the proposals.

Ellen at In a Bun Dance doesn’t explicitly tackle the subject of same-sex marriage, but her blog about the non-nuclear shape of her family is very timely, pointing out that families can come in all shapes and sizes. And MamaJ of the new blog, At Least Daddy Can Cook, is also thinking about relationships in an affectionate tribute to her friends, who have helped her through life’s ups and downs, including a battle with depression. It’s a good reminder of the really important things in life, and a counterpart to the rather depressing research that Better Nation has been reporting on, which found that more Scots would be likely to vote for independence if it made them £500 a year better off.

A sobering thought, which is just as well as there’s another week or so of sobriety before we can get properly Christmassy. So line up the Santa hats, fill the fridge with Cava and ready the mince pies: the seasonal starting gun will be firing very soon. Merry Christmas!

How did we get here? Where are we going? And what are we going to do when we arrive? Not an excerpt from a Talking Heads song, these are in fact the questions that this week’s pick of the Scottish blogs has been wrestling with.  And they are undoubtedly good questions, so join me as I settle down for another wee birl in the editor’s chair at the Roundup. Whee!

We start back in the thirteenth century, as a Scottish Patriots short film takes us through Balliol and Bruce’s fight for the Scottish crown, eventually settled by Edward I of England, which had the entirely predictable result of the victor Balliol being seen as a mere puppet and uncharitably christened a “Toom Tabard” or empty shirt. A useful phrase, which I shall store up for future use.

Sticking with the issue of democratic legitimacy, Kelvin Holdsworth at What’s in Kelvin’s Head is sorely disappointed at the very low turnout in the Glasgow Hillhead by-election, and in particular wonders whether a tally of just 307 Lib Dem votes out of a potential 23,243 signals a need for an entirely new Scottish Liberal party.

Liberal Democrat Voice is also thinking about constitutional issues, suggesting that we need a UK Constitutional Convention rather than a fragmented approach to the future of the UK. Though I suspect that only makes sense if you’re not already convinced that the UK doesn’t have a future…

Wot’s News is thinking about constitutions on a bigger scale, arguing that the UK Government is not doing justice to Europe, while Scottish ministers desperate to get round the relevant tables are being blocked by Westminster civil servants.

Indeed, civil servants are not getting a good press this week, as A Burdz Eye View rails against quangos and mandarins who wilfully thwart government policy. She cites as evidence a recent OSCR decision to allow private schools to keep their charitable status, as well as a Transport Scotland paper on the future of Scotland’s railways.

This same paper has also got James at Better Nation blogging in incredulity at proposals which talk about an efficient, integrated transport system but suggest making passengers change trains more frequently, stopping sleeper services, forcing passengers to stand for longer and putting up prices. Oddly, the mainstream media seemed to miss all of this, focusing only on the possibility that drinking on a train will be banned. While I can understand that you might need a drink to contain your rage as you chug along at three miles an hour on an overpriced train, it seems that Transport Scotland have plenty of far worse proposals.

And that’s it – we’ve covered the past, present and future, and nothing further remains for me to do than to wish all a good night. Or, indeed, good morning. Toodleoo!