Alex Salmond was once referred to in an English broadsheet as the Chavez of the North.

It was not being entirely complimentary.

But the newspaper was correct. Oor Eck is in many ways a Scottish Hugo Chavez. We don't do charismatic up here but First Minister Salmond is as close as we get.

The revolutionary Venezuelan Chav had this mad idea that oil revenue should not just be divvied up between a few already wealthy citizens. He diverted the cash to the poor in the form of jobs, houses, education and health.

Our Chav of the North has similar policies. Free medicine, no fees for university students, no charge for old folk to have a hurl on the bus. Mr Salmond, in contrast even to Scottish Labour, is a dangerous left-winger. Put the North Sea oil money in Mr Salmond's hands and who knows what might happen. A National Health Service that works. Families who can afford to put on the heating. A population that is not blighted by alcohol and obesity.

The South American Chav stood against the evil empire, or the USA as it is also known. He took the imperialist Americans on in their own backyard and sent them homewards to think again.

El comandante Salmond seeks to remove Scotland from the yoke of the Westminster empire. Remember he and the SNP stood almost alone in UK politics when Tony Blair took Britain to war in Iraq.

Another similarity is that both Chavs gave their respective nations a distinctive voice. The Venezuelan fellow went a bit further than Alex Salmond. He had his own show on national radio.

Alo Presidente would be on air for six hours at a time. He would summon government ministers to answer listeners' questions and often sort out policies there and then. He even had Fidel Castro on the phone on one occasion.

Our Chav (not be confused with chav) is too democratic to hog the airwaves for himself. Which is a pity. A couple of hours of Hello First Minister on Radio Scotland would make a pleasant change from those interminable football phone-ins.

Maybe even get some Chavismo on the telly with "This is Scotland Today. I'm Alex Salmond. And later we'll have Nicola Sturgeon with good news about the Scottish weather."