SAD to hear of the death of former Scottish Education Minister Sam Galbraith who, as a former neurosurgeon, was one of the brightest politicians in Scotland.

He did have to put up with calls for him to resign when the exams folk in Scotland had a bad year and sent out the wrong Higher results to thousands of pupils.

This allowed Tory William Hague to claim: "I got two letters from Scotland this week. One from the CBI asking me to speak at their conference, and one telling me I'd achieved an A in Geography."

Sam was furious someone like Mr Hague could have a joke at his expense.

Seat of learning

AND a reader recalls then Scots Secretary Donald Dewar opening the Gaelic School in Glasgow and sitting in a tiny chair to talk to pupils. "When Sam Galbraith came here he sat on the floor," one teacher remarked. "Sam's a small man," Donald amiably replied "I'd never get up again if I tried that."

Incidentally, Donald asked the tiny ones what an armadillo was, and he should have guessed someone would say : "It's a big building on the Clyde."

Top class mistake

MANY schools are back of course. Pupils now have problems that their parents never had at school it seems. One Glasgow south side school announced on its public address system that one pupil had left the sun-roof open on his car and the rain was getting in.

Holes in the argument

AMY Vansant poses the question: "How come when mothers don't want you to go somewhere, their prediction is you'll 'End up in a ditch'. Where are all these ditches they're going on about?"

A write mystery

OVER at the Edinburgh Fringe, Justin Moorhouse tells us: "Reviewer in tonight, who dropped her notebook because she was laughing so much it slipped from her grasp." But then added: "Or perhaps she threw it down in anger."

Tweet nothings

TRULY the reach of social media is a long one. Herald chief reporter David Leask, bored with all the celebrities pitching in with their views on independence, asked on Twitter if anyone had asked what Rita Pavone's views were - a reference to an obscure Italian singer who got to 21 in the British charts in the sixties with little known song You Only You.

A few days later David received a tweet from Rita in Italy, now approaching 70, stating it was not for David Leask to assume he knows what she thinks about independence. So that's him told.

Other side of the coin

SOMEONE who has been listening to the independence debates was a young woman in a pub in Paisley. The pub manager tells us: "There was a discussion going on about what currency Scotland would have when she piped up, 'So what would happen to all the pound shops then?'"

An Almighty question

TALKING of pubs, a punter in a Glasgow pub who was driving had asked for a glass of water. After taking a swig he asked: "Why is water so bland? You could have done better God."

Not hedging its bets

SO Celtic can go ahead with their Euro tie after Legia Warsaw's appeal against disqualification was thrown out. We don't think Irish bookmaker Paddy Power is taking Celtic's prospects that seriously as yesterday it tweeted: "Court of Arbitration rejects Legia Warsaw appeal, which clears the way for Celtic to be knocked out in the next round of the Champions League."