Hi folks! Hot on the heels of Tuesday’s look across the Atlantic, we now home in on a corner of the Kingdom of Fife, where polls have closed in an election which might not have been quite so successful in capturing the world’s imagination but has captured a lot of attention in the blogosphere.

And just as the challenging party in America had enough momentum for some commentators to paint Barack Obama as a quasi-incumbent, so the media have viewed the SNP (who came second in 2005) in the same way. And just like Obama supporters on Tuesday, SNP tails are up. IndyGal, Anseo and Julie all hail the number of SNP activists in the constituency.

From a more neutral perspective, David Farrer dives right in to citizen journalism and gets a surprising level of access at the SNP’s campaign HQ in Markinch.

James, however, isn’t too impressed by the SNP’s attempts to compare itself with the Obama phenomenon, while Stephen Glenn accuses the party of trying to massage bookies’ odds. I just hope that anyone who did put a tenner on the SNP when their odds were slightly longer knew enough about betting to take the price they were being offered and get it written on the slip, as the odds have since come in. Stephen also comments on suggestions that Peter Grant doesn’t want to stay at Westminster for too long, while Jeff points out that he doesn’t want any Scottish MP to stay there beyond 2010.

For Labour, reports are not supportive. Mainly as they’re written by supporters of their main challengers: Calum Cashley accuses Labour of panic. BellgroveBelle questions the wisdom of deploying Sarah Brown in Glenrothes, while Anseo understands that Labour may have been using automated phone calls, which would be rather naughty. Ian Hamilton condemns the Labour staffer who warned journalists that they’d get shot if they got any closer to Mrs. Brown, while Jess the Dog reveals that Gordon Brown’s part in the campaign took place within a 500-yard radius of Labour’s HQ. And North Britain suggests an alternative reason for Labour not to stray too far from home too often, and to carry guns when they do.

Tom Harris, meanwhile, takes time out to mention an unfortunate canvasser who found herself on the wrong end of a very cheeky prank.

For the LibDems, reports are mixed. Caron compares the parties’ literature and concludes that the LibDems’ material comes out on top. Calum Cashley reports that the LibDem priority is to save the party’s deposit. Caron, however, prefers to talk about saving local post offices.

Stephen brings up various moments of inter-party bonhomie.

West World saw the candidates on STV, and was less than impressed with what he saw.

Jeff notes that neither Labour nor the SNP tried to keep expectations in check.

Now it’s prediction time:

Anseo tips the SNP.

Holyrood Patter calls it for the SNP, while remarking on how little of the Labour campaign can actually be dealt with by the winner of the Westminster By-Election.

Jess the Dog compares the two main campaigns and favours the SNP as the winner.

Steve Green predicts that the SNP will win, but that the damage to Gordon Brown will be limited. On a similar note, The Nameless Libertarian predicts that Labour will only consider the result to be important if it’s a Labour win.

Angus Nicolson predicts a close result, but hears that the SNP are ahead. He also points out that the victory won’t be all that sweet for whoever wins, while whoever comes second will face an unforgiving press.

Ewan Aitken predicts a close result, but puts Labour in with a chance. Luke Akehurst, however, has resigned himself to a Labour defeat.

Push Jelly, however, forecasts a shock swing to a certain Mr. B. Obama!

So that’s your lot: the regular schedule resumes on Sunday (I hope!), and I have a darkened room to lie down in. Bye-de-bye!

Hi folks! Following on from Sunday’s tease, I’m in the hotseat for what promises to be a night of high emotion. Already, officials in Virginia have announced that about a third of registered voters showed up in the first four hours of polling, and that Petersburg has seen half-mile-long queues to the polling stations. Despite the fact that the Scottish blogosphere doesn’t have a vote, it has mobilised, and all year long, the Roundup has charted the successes and failures of America’s Presidential candidates. We are now in the last lap.

Most Scottish bloggers who expressed an opinion have come out for Barack Obama. Bill Cameron looks at the Obama 30-minute infomerical, and compares it with the McCain advertisements. His verdict is that the Democrat represents hope versus the Republican’s campaign of fear. Kevin Williamson produces a stronger verdict still: that an Obama win would be the triumph of hope over racism. Fraser Macpherson backs Obama, but is simply relived that the Bush administration is on its way out. Holyrood Watcher thinks that if the Senator for Illinois approaches office the way he’s approached the campaign, he’ll be remembered as a great President.

And there have been last-minute discussions of the campaign itself: Tom Harris MP asks whether the 30-minute infomercial last Tuesday might actually be counter-productive, especially as it caused the start of the World Series game to be delayed. Ewan Watt, meanwhile, is displeased that some of Obama’s supporters argued that to oppose their candidate was to be racist. Alex Massie argues that timing has been Obama’s strong point, and that the unique set of circumstances in play this year mean that it’s 2008 or never for the Senator. Malc notes that an element of complacency may have crept into the Obama camp. Meanwhile, Bernard Salmon reports on an endorsement that might spell trouble for the Democrat.

On the other side, Neil Craig offers his support for John McCain and Sarah Palin. But the Senator from Arizona doesn’t get much of a look-in from Scottish bloggers: most of the attention is on his Alaskan running-mate, and it’s not positive.

Malc suggests that McCain’s selection of Governor Palin was a mistake; Bernard Salmon notes that the McCain camp has started to shift the blame onto his Vice-Presidential nominee. James finds Palin’s record on issues surrounding Native Alaskans somewhat wanting, while Bernard notes her association with Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens, who is seeking re-election but last week was found guilty of corruption.

Staying with Palin, and a smile was raised when the former Mayor of Wasilla was hoodwinked by a Canadian prank-caller (theirs appear to be classier than ours), who managed to persuade her that he was Nicolas Sarkozy. Bill Cameron reckons it reflects awfully on her. Ewan Watt, however, feels that the BBC have made a meal of the story, and argues that it shows a pro-Obama bias in the UK MSM.

Speaking of which, Alex Massie finds Jon Snow’s reporting for Channel 4 sanctimonious and patronising. Personally, I thought that was C4′s remit. And Holyrood Watcher notes the UK media scrum, with the BBC, ITV and Sky all providing through-the-night coverage. Malc reckons that the US media has been pro-Obama, while Flying Rodent has his own views on the campaign, as viewed through the prism of the MSM.

Looking back, Bernard asks readers who ran the greatest post-war US election campaign, while Caron answers that it was Bill Clinton in 1992.

Silversprite is Our Man in the US, reflecting on his experiences in the thick of it.

Caron is trying to resist the temptation to stay up, while Holyrood Patter is pondering his likely sleeping patterns for the night. Malc assures us he will be up and blogging.

And now it’s prediction time: Andrew Burns sees an Obama landslide. So does North Britain. And Jamie Cooke. Jeff goes one further, raising the possibility of a clean sweep.

Last Year’s Girl simply asks her American readers to vote, while it’s right to leave you with these final thoughts from Mr. Smith

And that’s your wrap for now: I’ll be putting up links to liveblogs tonight, and don’t forget to join me again on Thursday, when I’m back to cast my eye over your views on the Glenrothes By-Election. Bye-de-bye!

The polls have closed and now we just have to wait a few hours for the result. By the time you read this I will be getting on with something much more important — I’ll be down the pub. But I have spent the day diligently gathering the best online commentary about Glasgow East from the past few days. So here is a round-up of the last-minute campaigning and predictions.

Mr H braced himself to delve into the murky waters to review each of the candidates. But the election was really always about the battle between Labour and the SNP.

A reader of Will Patterson’s blog wrote a comment asking if there was much of a comparison between this by-election and the Glasgow Garscadden by-election of 1978. Will Patterson looked to see if the comparison stood up.

Kezia Dugdale found herself in a spot of bother again this week. This time she was stung by a reporter for The Sunday Times. As you would expect, Kezia is not very happy about it. But Scott at Love and Garbage wonders if the piece was as bad as she made out.

Related to this, one of the running themes of the by-election has been how “desperate” the Labour campaign apparently is. Stephen Glenn reports on some desperate — and rude — telephone canvassing from Labour. Meanwhile, Indygal felt that some of Labour’s negative campaign literature was a gift to the SNP.

A lot of the commentary surrounding the by-election has focussed on the implications for Gordon Brown’s leadership. Tim J at Conservative Party Reptile thinks that defeat for Labour in Glasgow East will mean little. For him, the party has already been so stunned by previous defeats that another one won’t spur them into action — not least because there are no obvious replacements.

Life-long Labour member Alex Finnegan thinks the Glasgow East by-election is the wake-up call his party needs. And boy do they need a wake-up call. Fraser Nelson — whose reporting has been excellent throughout this by-election campaign — reported that Glasgow East’s former MP David Marshall took his voters for granted so much that he had zero data on them!

North Britain looks at the Westminster Government’s proposals to lower the number of unemployment and incapacity benefit claimants and how it would affect Glasgow East.

Beau Bo D’Or illustrates Scottish Labour’s woes in his inimitable fashion.

But Sky’s Niall Patterson reports that in private Labour believe they’ve done enough to win this election. Meanwhile, the SNP are saying that private polling shows them 4 points ahead. Labour MP Tom Harris scoffs at this.

But amid all the claims and counter-claims about levels of support, ASWAS points out why parties should not pay too much attention to canvass returns.

Stephen Glenn has criticised the leaking of postal vote results by some activists.

On to the issues, and Alasdair reports on Psycho Steve’s attempts to convince you to vote Labour.

The Telegraph’s Jonathan Isaby reckons Margaret Curran’s refusal to move to Glasgow East in future should be giving Labour some last-minute jitters.

Lib Dem activist Andrew Reeves is not very impressed with SNP candidate John Mason who “is rarely left on his own now”.

Richard Havers was not very keen on Alex Salmond’s decision during a press conference to display a photograph of Gordon Brown and Margaret Thatcher together.

On a lighter note, Richard Thomson highlights the difficulties he has had bring from Edinburgh and trying to make himself understood to Glaswegians.

And following her dog bite scare, Bellgrove Belle was back in action this week.

Julie Hepburn claims to have met a voter who was reluctant to vote for John Mason because he was too good.

Conservative Councillor Iain Lindley has not seen much of Glasgow since his childhood, but reports on his thoughts campaigning for the Tories.

Scottish Tory Boy has heard that there are fears within the Lib Dems that they may finish fourth and lose their deposit.

Meanwhile, where are the Greens? Both Two Doctors and Adopted Domain wondered why the party was largely ignored by the media.

Ah, the media. That brings us on to another running theme — how posh media types have been casting their gaze upon Glasgow and how the city’s residents have reacted. Guido notes that Guardian reporter Helene Mulholland got chucked out of a café for referring to it as a “greasy spoon” while liveblogging.

And Jennifer doesn’t mince her words about a piece written about Glasgow East by A. A. Gill.

Related to A. A. Gill’s piece, Shuggy looks at the ‘Catholic vote’ and concludes that it doesn’t exist.

Holyrood Watcher was similarly downbeat about the election a couple of weeks ago, but has been impressed by the effort all the parties have made all the same — as was Jeff. But Ideas of Civilisation wonders if this kind of campaigning actually works.

Louise Hector reviews the campaigns as a whole and provides her last-minute predictions. So does Political Dissuasion, who confesses that he probably won’t care about this election in a month’s time.

Bill Cameron thinks Labour will get a bloody nose, but will manage to hold on to the constituency. And I posted some of my own last-minute thoughts as well.

And that’s it! Phew. The roundup will be back as usual on Sunday with the aftermath of the Glasgow East by-election plus all the week’s other great blog posts. So don’t forget to get your suggestions in by emailing scottishroundup@gmail.com or by using the contact form on the right.

Hi folks! As you’re probably tired of hearing by now, 2007 saw some significant changes, with the formation of an SNP Government, and Gordon Brown’s long-anticipated ascent to the Premiership (having beaten Stoke City in the play-offs, boom boom), so, as Duncan promised, I’m here to look at how Scottish bloggers have adapted to the changes.

Let’s be paradoxical and start at the end – of Jack McConnell’s tenure, that is. Take a look at this post by Tartan Hero, in which he suggests that Labour have done nothing for the East End of Glasgow while in power. IndyGal, meanwhile, looks at Labour’s record on poverty, while Richard Thomson runs the rule over Labour’s record on education. This is something you’d expect: a government is coming to the end of its term, so it’s a good chance for opposition parties to get in there and take those in charge to task over their performance in administration.

Now, this is where the problem starts: as Roundups throughout the year will testify, the Scottish blogosphere suffers from a paucity of Labour blogs, so there’s very little opportunity for the governing party (or in Scotland’s case, the lead governing party) to put its case across online. And when it does, it has an almost ‘oppositionist’ feel to it. This post over at Ridiculous Politics is essentially a look at SNP policy shifts over the years – no positive content. By contrast, Kezia Dugdale does point out the Labour Party’s stance on green issues. However, even in that post, she makes it clear that she is unimpressed with the Greens. And the SNP.

So it would appear that the blogosphere was a pretty venomous place before the election, but then, with an ugly campaign, it’s only natural that the online battle would reflect that. And the long campaign itself generated a lot of interest: when LibDem MSP Jamie Stone accused the SNP of xenophobia, the reaction by SNP-supporting bloggers was swift, and hostile, as we can see over at Tartan Hero. Criticism then spread to Nicol Stephen, as this posed by Richard Thomson exemplifies.

Nicol Stephen was far from the only leader to cop it though: back in February, Davie Hutchison was noting Jack McConnell’s absence from campaigning efforts, while Kezia Dugdale had a pop at the SNP for registering “Alex Salmond for First Minister” as an alternative name with the Electoral Commission.

So this was a negative campaign, and the blogosphere picked that up, though there were some voices of exasperation – mine included. However, Kezia Dugdale gave me plenty of food for thought when she presented a highly credible, and well-argued, case in favour of the tactic.

Despite that, for some, the blog was an important campaigning tool, and some used it as an excellent way to get their message and policies across. The best example of this is undoubtedly Julie McAnulty, an independent candidate in Coatbridge & Chryston, standing in protest against planned changes in NHS Lanarkshire which would leave Monklands Hospital without its A&E Department. A browse through the archive of her blog will give you a good idea of the issues she was (and still is) campaigning on, and what her position is.

So in many ways, the election was more of a blessed release than anything else. Or at least it should have been until it became a stramash of epic proportions, and anyone who was anyone was reading Mr. Eugenides on election night.

But despite the uncertainty of the result, an SNP minority government emerged, and by the time Parliament – having got round to choosing a Presiding Officer – met to select a First Minister, the election of Alex Salmond was widely expected.

The thing was, though, that for bloggers, very little did actually change. Yes, the SNP achieved in government at Holyrood, but Labour are still in power at Westminster. The upshot of this is that posts like this one by Mark McDonald in March, criticising the then Home Secretary John Reid, can be followed in July by a post like this one from Osama Saeed, taking an unhappy look at Gordon Brown’s security policy.

Even so, the other Holyrood parties still take pelters: take a look at this recent post by Calum Cashley, looking at Wendy Alexander’s position on the constitution, or this one by Osama Saeed on the LibDems’ differing approach to Wendygate and Trumpton.

One last note on Holyrood: the egg-throwing blogs. World of Jack was basically an online method of pointing and laughing at Jack McConnell. Obviously, the blog is now obsolete (and there is as yet no sign of ‘World of Wendy’ or ‘World of Gordon’), but HolyroodBelle had a way with Photoshop. After the election, Labour (and the blogroll makes it blatant that it’s Labour’s doing) tried their hand at a similar tactic at A Little Fishy, though the humour content was lower and the last post was in August. A parallel attempt (again, made by Labour) is over at Parliamentary Questions, which sounds like it covers politics in general, but markets itself as “The spin tackling, political angling, line untangling, politician baiting, murky water trawling, Salmond farm cage rattling blog” and is utterly in line with the expectations raised by the marketing. It has survived (unlike Fishy), but sadly, is remarkably po-faced and a little bit of Photoshoppy goodness wouldn’t go amiss. Also, I don’t think it’s really all that effective at this stage in the Parliamentary cycle: come late 2010, it’ll have its place, but it’s too soon for it now.

Then there was Westminster. In many ways, I can’t really dress this up as a change, as there was, since the Labour Conference in 2006, a grim inevitability about Gordon Brown taking over before the Autumn of 2007, and so it proved, with Blair handing over the reins of power in late June. This meant that people had their thoughts ready about Brown before he even came to power: IndyGal, Caron and Julie were all unimpressed.

And with one election over with, another seemed in the offing: IndyGal was ready for an Autumn election, as was Jeff at SNP Tactical Voting. So when Gordon Brown pulled the plug, Kezia Dugdale was disappointed. Reactionary Snob felt somewhat more strongly than that. From there on, it was downright hostility, and Roundups passim chart bloggers’ hostile reaction to practically everything emerging from Westminster, particularly on Northern Rock and the lost HMRC discs.

So, nothing seems to have changed: Labour are still seen as a bogeyman among Scottish bloggers, and there’s still that element of venom involved. Luckily, we’ll still be here to deal with the venom in 2008, and Reactionary Snob will be your host on Sunday. All the best!

Having missed most of the excitement of Weegies being interrupted heading off to the sun by some loony Al McQuaeda and his buddy Singe Majeep and their single handed effort to reduce the number of Four Wheel Drive Gas Guzzling Carbon Emitting Vehicles, one car at a time, I am forced to look for more uplifting material. Well at least some optimistic stuff. I am a Scot after all and that may be difficult.

OK Had to settle for funny. And now for the serious stuff.

Richard Havers has started a new blog, Airline Confidential. Nothing to do with the disruption at Glasgow Airport, but he does have a funny story about the day Robert Mugabe came to Edinburgh Airport. Is that an AK47 in your pants or are you just glad to see me. You can also learn really useful stuff like the fact that a 747 takes off every 30 seconds somewhere in the world. That is a real killer for the dinner table. How come mine were always in a 40 minute queue?

Continuing along the airport theme comes the New Scottish National Anthem, named after our new national hero. Groanin Jock has us singing along with an alternative to Flower of Scotland. We’ll need all of John’s energy when the Italians come to Hampden in the Autumn. Sing with Drunken Gusto.

O John of Smeaton
When will we see your like again
That fought and panned in
Two Al Qaeda men
And set about them
Osama’s army
And sent him homeward
Tae think again

The airport’s bare now
And cherokees lie burnt and still
O’er land that is saved now
Which brave Sir Smeato held
And set about them
Osama’s army
And sent him homeward
Tae think again

Those days are passed now
And in the past they must remain
But we can still rise now
And be a nation again
That set about them
Osama’s army
And sent him homeward
Tae think again

Speaking of Terrorism, Lady McLeod has an interesting Dubya chases Osama option for those early birds looking to stuff their kids Christmas Stockings. Or is this an adult joke present?

Flying Rodent also weighs into the War on Tetrirism. Clearly there are just so many Tetrirists plotting the downfall of the world as we know it. I mean we have all been trained in the mechanics of the evil game.

Dr Maroon in his inimitable style pays tribute to the United States and how it got away. Most people probably think that it is not such a bad thing, given the way some of the political leadership are behaving over there. Editors Note: The author would like to apologise for that completely unwarranted condemnation of current US policies. I am having anger counselling and it just slips out sometimes. Scottish Roundup has no assets, so don’t expect too much if you sue.

Pat the Chooks likes to get out into the wide open spaces. Nice weather. Not what I remember from many miserable, windy, sleeting, foggy, raining…. days that I spent on Scottish hills. I forgot that you have this sort of weather back in Scotland.

If getting out into the great outdoors is not for you or if you are just bored with your life, there is always Scotland in Second Life, where you can now talk in real time, with the enabling of voice in parts of Scotland. That will rumble all those quasi Scots, masquarading around with their L$1,000 Highland Outfits. Latest buys available for raunchy wannabee Scots include the

** “STRIP ME” KILTS
The Tartan shop now has a new line of “Strip Me” kilts that can allow your partner to rip off that kilt in a moment of (virtual) passion. Custom-ordered a kilt for L800 or just the script alone for 300L.

I think I will stick with the real life version.

In real life, true Scots stand to be harrassed by EU Sporran Polis. David Farrer reviles the impending regulation of the hairy sporran. Me too. Luckily I am in Australia.

Redemption Blues documents a recent Scottish Blogmeet, where the rich cultural diversity of contemporary Scotland was on view. I am not sure that I would be that keen to meet other bloggers since some of the jenesaisquois of the blogging experience may be lost. That said, having met some bloggers in Second Life at the Blogpower Awards, there is some merit in getting to know them a little. The photographs of the Maasai are spectacular however. There is something incredibly incongruous about the Maasai, with all the colour with a dour Edinburgh stone building in the background.

Addressing issues of cultural perception Robert Sharp has some thoughts on the non PC aspects of Tintin. Based on his writing, Tintin was pretty progressive compared to my grandparents generation.

I’ve read Tintin in the Congo, and it is indeed appalling. In addition to the obvious racism, it is also distinctly environmentally unfriendly. Tintin blows up a rhino with a stick of dynamite, shoots an entire herd of impala by accident, makes a snake gobble its own tail, performs a summary execution of a chimpanzee, attempts to shoot a crocodile in the face, and poaches an elephant for its tusks.

Where to begin with the racism in the book? Throughout, the Africans are portrayed as simpletons, who idolise Tintin and Snowy and fetishize anything western they can get their hands on. The chief of one tribe has a rolling pin for a sceptre.

We have certainly come a long way in our world view. The current Australian Labor leader, Kevin Rudd is very succesfully portrayed as Tintin by Bill Leak, one of the leading cartoonists here in Australia. I am not sure that he would share Tintin’s political outlook however.

Besom Abroad a Scottish student in Texas covers a lot of material on life in Texas with the interestingly titled post Testicles and Eggs .

One of the reasons I am such a Scottish nationalist is because it is quite sickening the way Scottish culture gets subsumed by English culture all the time. Americans seem to be very aware of Ireland and Irish culture, but they haven’t got a fucking clue when it comes to Scotland. A lot of the time, Americans will use the word “England” when they actually mean “Britain”. I’ve even heard professors at UT say this, which is disgusting. In the English department at UT (and I imagine in plenty others across the US) they hold classes called “The British Novel” but, if you look to see what writers are included, there’s never a single Scottish one there (or Welsh or Northern Irish, for that matter). They should just call the class “The English Novel” because that’s what it is. Scottish has such a thriving literary culture and yet hardly any Scottish novels are taught in the US. “Irish Studies” on the other hand is a field. If you study Irish literature, then you can join the “Ethnic and Third World Literature” interest group. It pisses me off that the Irish get to be “ethnic” and not me!

In a master stroke of positioning an American from Texas has his Beer Blog placed on the list of Scottish Blogs. We can only assume that this is a function of the importance of beer to our culture. The Scottish angle is not clear, but WTH. Perhaps Mr Smeaton can use this to help clear his bar tab.

Bloody Bus has a very entertaining look at late night Scottish Culture, focussing on a gentleman who had probably tried one of each from the Beer Blog. Who would be a late night bus driver? It certainly doesn’t seem to be like this.

Speaking of drugs, Richard Leyton mourns the end of a dear friend. These kinds of coffee makers were very popular in America when I lived there. Personally I prefer to plunge it myself. I wonder if they have the equivalent of needle exchanges for retired coffee makers.

Gordon McLean muses about social networking sites. Good and Bad. How many of these do we really need to function? Gordon has an amusing quasi legal disclaimer.

Site is copyright © Gordon McLean (1998-2007)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. Basically if you use any of the material here without permission, I’ll hunt you down and spork you to death.

This site is best viewed on a computer screen. Any attempts to view this site on a wet haddock are not supported (for, as everyone knows, a slightly damp aardvark is better).

And if that is not depressing enough, head to Glastonbury. Peter Urwin maintains a very nice Edinburgh Photoblog. His blog is a little difficult to navigate, but the photographs are great. This one on the front page Glastonbury #4 reminded me of my trips to Manila without all the people, the Jeepneys, the houses, the pollution, the rubbish, the San Miguel, the people….

Speaking of grim living, Gareth Saunders has a plea for support for homeless people. A very worthwhile cause.

You see the solution to the homelessness problem isn’t in pouring money into hostels to remove these ‘inconvenient’ homeless folks from the streets: out of sight, out of mind. The solution, surely lies in investing time and money in trying to help transform these people’s lives.

And finally, on more upbeat note, Mr Eugenides is considered funny in Australia.

Until the next time toodleoo from Adelaide.