I’ll keep this updated regularly – if you want a blog adding, drop me a line through via MacNumpty so I can post it here! Anyway, I’ll be around, as will the following:

Alex Massie

BellgroveBelle

Bernard Salmon

Caron

Holyrood Patter

Malc in the Burgh

Keep checking here for more, as and when they emerge!

Don’t worry if you’re looking for this week’s roundup. I’ve had a busy weekend and busy-ish week, so the roundup will be a bit late this week. I anticipate to have it up by this evening.

In the meantime, I’m going to share with you some information on an event that you might find interesting. I’ve already posted this on my personal blog, but some people reading this might be interested so I’ll mention it here too. Thanks.

I’ve recently been doing little bits and pieces helping out with the organisation of a very interesting event called ScotWeb2. It will take place on 31 October from 1000 to 1600 at the Holyrood Campus of Edinburgh University.

It will be an informal barcamp / unconference-style event. It’s being organised by Alex Stobart who works at the Scottish Government. Dave Briggs is also helping out and the event will be backed by BT.

I’ve mostly been trying to drum up interest among bloggers because it could also be a good opportunity for some bloggers to meet up and talk shop a bit. But it will be about much more than that. It will be about the application of web 2.0 technologies in general, in government, in the private sector and in the ‘third sector’.

Among the speakers will be Simon Dickson of Puffbox; Ross Ferguson of Dog Digital; Iain Henderson from MyDex; Stewart Kirkpatrick, former editor of Scotsman.com, now at w00tonomy; James Munro of Patient Opinion; and someone from BT to talk about Tradespace.

The best news is that attendance is open to anyone who is interested and it is free. All you have to do is sign up through Eventbrite and print out the ticket.

If you’re interested, keep an eye on the ScotWeb2 website. It’s not quite finished yet but it will be fleshed out soon enough.

More information from the Eventbrite page:

Web 2 seminar hosted by Edinburgh University, supported by BT and for all those interested in learning about Web 2 from practitioners, government and business users.

An informal, bar camp style event allowing participants to listen, network and share experiences with those who have designed and are managing Web 2 services.

Speakers and workshop leaders from Health, Business, Web design, Colleges and Universities, Social Enterprises, Social Media, Journalism, Government and Civic Society…

Other from Web 2 companies, Web 2 social enterprises, Web 2 designers ( public and private sector ), Not for Profit organisations, Academia, Business and the public sector will be there to run work-shops and explain their experience of Web 2…

There will be talks, opportunities to break out into discussions and to mix with those speakers who have used and built web 2 applications, and who are wishing to see change in the way users interact with their service providers and elecetd representatives.

There is an e-mail list here

If you are interested in web 2 as a subject covering communications, marketing, consultation, participation, engagement or service provision then this event will be of interest.

This is just a little post about some of the plans for Scottish Roundup over the next little while.

By-election special

First of all we are going to have a Glasgow East by-election special to be posted when polls close on Thursday. That roundup will contain all the last-minute campaign and pre-poll thoughts and will be edited by me. Sunday’s roundup will cover the reaction to the result as well as all of the week’s other top posts as always. That one will be edited by Will P.

Non-political roundup

Longer term we will be experimenting a bit with the format. All too often non-political bloggers get perplexed whenever their post is included in what is ostensibly a ‘political’ roundup. So for a trial period of three months we will be keeping the weekly roundups for political posts. For non-political posts, there will be a monthly roundup which will be posted on the third Wednesday of each month.

It is just an experiment and might fall totally flat on its face, so all feedback will be appreciated! Any help with compiling it would also be greatly appreciated, as I know that I often struggle to cover the wide world of the Scottish blogosphere adequately enough outside of the political blogs.

All suggestions as always to scottishroundup@gmail.com, or you can use the form on the right. It would also be helpful if someone would be up for guest-editing a non-political roundup.

Spring clean

I’ll also be tinkering with the design a bit. Nothing major — just enough to refresh it and stop it from looking a bit tired. Is anyone particularly attached to the MyBlogLog thing? I’m thinking of getting rid of it.

Update: I also forgot to say that I will be deleting the user accounts of everyone who hasn’t been a guest-editor. The user accounts are only there for editors — you don’t need an account to comment. And a lot of the ‘users’ are spammers and the like so I’m going to delete them all. So if you signed up for a legitimate reason, don’t be alarmed if your login doesn’t work. Like I say though, everyone who’s been an editor in the past will keep their account.

As I start writing this we are just recovering from having two consecutive days of rain here in Adelaide. A very unusual occurrence in our current drought affected climate. The rain dancers have clearly done their job and the farmers are hoping to sew a crop. My kids were moaning and groaning about not being able to go outside to play and were incredulous about my stories of my early years in the land of the wind and rain. Sunday started off with bucketing rain, some cloud, brilliant sunshine, some overcast… and so it went on. You get the story. Anyway it put me in the mood to craft another high quality Scottish Roundup. Thank you for your indulgence as I take at a look at some of the stuff that caught my eye this week. Oh and thanks Duncan for your suggestions.

Richard Havers joins in with the majority of the population of England and Wales and sticking the knife in to Gordon. Nae Balls would seem to be the theme. (Perhaps he should get rid of Mr Balls instead?) Angus Nicholson highlights the benefit of burying bad stories. Perhaps Gordon could change the law? Casillis tries his hand at political advertising. Don’t look yet Gordon, things are still looking pretty bad (remember John Major?). Doctor Vee on the other hand has just had it with politicians in general.

Meanwhile back in Scotland, the Anything Except Independence Committee is launched. Callum Cashley disects the great and the good who will ponder what extra powers to give to our friends in the Scottish Parliament. Based on recent polling it seems that Scots are happy to have a bet each way. Perhaps they are concerned about the declining oil supplies in the backyard. Councillor Andrew Barns Really Bad Blog (what a great name for a blog) examines the different agendas and responses to the poll. Speaking of empty strategies, Groanin Jock finds a way to boost Scotlands technology industry based on experience in the US. More empty promises? Adam Smith Was A Socialist throws in his 10p worth. Holyrood Watcher weighs in with more, although he seems more concerned about the demise of another Scottish business, sold off to global crap beer specialists based in Holland. Speaking of crap beers, more Tartan Special anyone? I used to love the smell of that brewery as I walked to the rugby at Murrayfield. Sick I know, but Just don’t get caught sniffing in public. Your political career will sink faster than El Gordos.

Speaking of more democracy, Kezia Dugdale pitches in to the How come China is not playing fair after we gave them the Olympics line.

However, with little more than three months to go before the Beijing Olympics, few substantial reforms have been introduced that will have a significant, positive impact on human rights in China. Recent measures from the authorities to detain, prosecute and imprison those who raise human rights concerns suggest that things are just getting worse – the promised, positive ‘Olympics effect’ hasn’t materialised.

And it won’t I doubt. The best that can be hoped for is for a blow torch to be shone on the real China during the countdown to the games. Mr Eugenides runs the numbers. As expected hypocrisy rating very high.

Onto other more uplifting things, Callum Carr continues to document the appalling service from the NHS that Mrs Carr is receiving. Let’s hope he plays Grand Theft Auto rather than taking matters into his own hands. Having had my fair share of wacky medical advice, better to take it out in computer games and virtual blog world therapy.

As a Scottish Cricket Fan living in the land of cricket tragics, it was good to read that there is at least one other Scottish Cricket fan. Allmax describes his love affair with cricket and digs up this amazing fact from the time that Freuchie were UK Village Cricket Champions in 1985.

Also emerging in the wash during that time was the quite extraordinary, but apparently true, statistic that more Scots, as a proportion of the population, played organised cricket during the summer than did the English.

Based on my own experience, cricket teas were very good and hanging out on a summers afternoon, even if it was raining was better than doing housework.

Ideas of Civilisation tackles James Bond and class warfare. My own kids example suggests that that smaller the class size the better. My other connection with James Bond and education was that Sean Connery was a nude model when my dad was at Edinburgh Art College. Scotland strikes me as a cold place for that career path. No doubt that is why he moved on to bigger and better things.

Silver Sprite tackles twitter. I am rather surprised that there is a blog post of things to say about twitter. My wife thinks it is the most moronic thing and looks at me in a suspicious way whenever I am on the computer. Blogging she can tolerate, but for Twitter “What is the point????” I generally have no good answer. Twerpy Twerpy Tweet Tweet.

And in a bid to become famous, Clairwill will be appearing live on her neighbourhood CCTV. Fame at last. And talking of crime fighting measures, Bishop Hill reckons some of our European Friends should be sent to jail immediately. Auld Reekie Rants confirms that being there might not be a sufficient punishment.

And in the if you have nothing better to do department, Grant analyses the new film, Iron Man. I wonder if there is an Irn Bru angle?

And now back to the important business of politics, Tom Paine, writing in the last ditch is often one to skewer the Scots, especially Gordon and the boys. Seems all it takes is a new Maserati and some good Scottish weather to mellow his ways.

On the other hand, honorary Scot for the day, Sally in Norfolk is doing it the hard way. Not quite as luxurious as Tom’s path, but more what I remember of touring Scotland. My trip to the top of Ben Nevis was classic Scottish hillwalking. Glorious sun and warm weather at the bottom and howling wind and snow at the top. And that was May.

And that is about it from sunny and Tartan Special Free Adelaide. Until the next time. May all your beers be good.

A slow news week had me sifting through the tumbleweed and potentially grasping at straws. What with Tartan Hero taking a well-earned break and Kezia Dugdale with too much on her plate to blog properly for now, there was a chance it would be slim pickings in the run up to Easter.

Thankfully, Iain Dale helped us Scots out by pontificating about a potential Nats – Tory coalition. This caught the attention of news-starved bloggers with Scottish Tory Boy taking up the story initially and seemingly being in favour of steps in that direction though he disputes the 27 seats that the SNP’s Angus Robertson optimistically predicts his party will take. J Arthur McNumpty is less sympathetic to the suggestion and is unequivocal as to why. Malc in the Burgh sees the opportunity as a potential route to a coveted independence referendum. Kerron Cross thinks it’s a joke and the Conservatives and Unionists would be selling out on their name. My own take at SNP Tactical Voting is that subtle collusion is all the SNP can afford when dealing with the supposed ‘nasty party’, notwithstanding the clause in the nationalist constitution preventing working with the Tories. Richard at Scots and Independent provides a thorough rundown of how this unholy union could be formed. He then goes on to debate “redolent confusion” and “weird flukes” in an interesting comments section. 

Even if a formal coalition fell through, the SNP working with the UK Tories on a ‘case by case’ basis would have a delicious perversity given the reverse relationship that currently exists north of the border.

This week saw the recovery of Shannon Matthews. There was a curious mix of relief and suspicion after this event. Still Not Grown Up questions the role of the “self-indulgent neighbours” and wonders how close to the Matthews they were before this incident. Meanwhile, Craigblog believes the police deserve more credit for their efforts, and more time to work out what exactly went on during those 3 weeks.

In the last 7 days, the credit crunch bit further. David Farrer is horrified by some plans to avert it. Holyrood Chronicles discusses some of the dubious trading/gambling practices that go on. SNP Tactical Voting gives a brief update on how we got into this mess in the first place. Two Doctors believes a moral hazard has been reached if investors are being bailed out with public money.

So our finances are going to hell in a handbasket but on a cheerier note, Happy Birthday to the Iraq War, 5 years old this week. At Anything Caron Can Do, celebration was reserved for the number of votes in favour of a public inquiry into said War. Consideration was also given that these good vibes could lead to better relations between the Lib Dems and, em, the ‘Gnats’. For Flying Rodent, a ridiculously good post celebrates the anniversary with a commemorative Monopoly board game, albeit with some eyebrow-raising new rules:

At the start of the game, The Banker (aka The US Government) immediately awards all Properties, control of the Iraqi Army and complete independence to The Iraqi Government, while still retaining ownership of all Properties, the Iraqi Army and The Iraqi Government.

An  anonymous comment was raised during the week regarding Jo Swinson’s suggestion that You Tube could be used to reconnect Westminster with the public. Obviously the mere mention of Ms Swinson made me think there was a massive clanger coming but, for once, no. A valid suggestion from the youngest MP there.

The Local Income Tax debate continued to rumble on. Julie Hepburn accused the opponents of scaremongering and wonders if rich Scots may be more civic-minded and happy to pay more tax than others give them credit for. Stephen of the Linlithgow Lib Dems believes the Labour attacks are all over the place.

I couldn’t let this post finish without mentioning the MRUK poll which puts clear daylight between the SNP and their nearest rivals. Calum Cashley happily fills his lungs with the good news regarding ”the SNP’s excellent start to government”. Malc in the Burgh is equally delighted but for his noticing, and worrying, that despite all of Labour’s woes, they have held their share of the vote since May. Scottish Tory Boy is concerned that the Conservatives still lose a seat despite their good showing in the past year. Separate to (or perhaps because of) this disappointment, STB suggests the poll should be discredited given MRUK’s poor polling before the 2007 election.

A selection of ‘others’….

Reactionary Snob and J Arthur MacNumpty to name but two are trying to get Alastair Darling barred from all UK pubs in retaliation for the jacking up of booze duty.

Surreptitious Evil stands up for seals by choosing to club “moron” MEPs.

Andrew Burns believes the Scottish Government has lost direction with regard Scottish school infrastructure. 

Bernard Salmon believes the loyal and brave Ghurkas deserve justice with equal rights to the rest of the nation’s armed forces.

Jim Millar is frustrated that a silly councillor spat has been allowed to take up so much time and expense. But then, Jim doesn’t seem too concerned about the return of those rapists and pillagers The Vikings!

The unwelcome Devine intervention was considered further with some more heated comments (18 at last count) on Kezia Dugdale’s blog. A typically intelligent post from QC Ian Hamilton notes that the good Bishop is being selective in his deliverance of the Bible’s Word. 

Cameron Rose notes that Edinburgh University presidential election ended in chaos. The phrase involving ’students’, ‘organise’, ‘piss-up’ and ‘brewery’ springs to mind but Cameron is too classy for that type of language.

Comment on Tibetan riots was made by….  noone that I could find. It seems China suppression of free speech is far-reaching!

And Post of the Week? For me, well, the eagle-eyed This is Alba spotted this gem on CNN.

So that is all for this week. A bit of a quiet one all in all really. For all those Christians out there, enjoy your Easter period. For everyone else, don’t eat too much chocolate.

The Round Up will rise again in 7 days but I for one don’t know who will be rolling back the stone.

Cheers!