HAVE we reached peak photo-op? After Ruth Davidson mounted a buffalo in Fife last week (no sniggering at the back there), even some photographers say it’s gone too far. One fretful lensman tells Unspun the story behind the stunt. Ms Davidson had no plans to clamber on the beast, until a snapper goaded her by calling out: "Annabel Goldie would have done it..."

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MILES Briggs, the Tory hopeful in Edinburgh Southern, recently fulfilled an ambition to ‘trend’ on Twitter. And not just in the UK. He was even a hot topic in Indonesia. So what brought such global renown? A fix for the Middle East? A Churchillian defence of the EU? A blistering critique of the tax code? Er, a doodle of a duck that looks like a rabbit. Still, as Ms Davidson has taught us, if you’re a Tory in Scotland, grab any publicity you can get.

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THE SNP’s elusive Coatbridge & Chryston candidate Fulton ‘No Show’ MacGregor continues to make waves, if not speeches, after a series of missed hustings. Supporters wail he is the victim of a “vendetta”, while his brother/election agent Findlay claims the criticism of No Show comes from Labour’s campaign having “turned sour” in recent days. Then again, it could just be that the candidate who calls himself a “stronger voice” is actually a shrinking mute.

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TALKING of absent candidates, we hear churches in Edinburgh Eastern have tried in vain to secure the SNP’s Ashten Regan-Denham for a hustings. No doubt wholly unrelated to recent wooden performances. For instance, the moment candidates were asked for their name and one sentence on why people should vote for them. Ms R-D required to read out both from a piece of paper.

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SUNBED socialist Tommy Sheridan tried to roll back the years as he launched Solidarity’s manifesto. But while he can still thump tubs with the best of them, after 13 years without an election victory, not to mention a conviction for perjury, his chances of returning to Holyrood are approximately zero. Highlight of the launch was singer/songwriter/candidate Kevin Gore performing his pro-independence dirge Freedom Fighter, which includes references to Malcolm X, Geronimo and Robert the Bruce. Tommy was asked later whether Robert the Bruce would have given Solidarity his regional vote. “I didn’t know Robert personally but I think, as he grew, Robert the Bruce became more tactically aware of how to secure Scotland’s independence,” he mused.

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AT the manifesto launch, journalists were greeted with a cheery notice directing them to the event while informing representatives of News Group Newspapers, and specifically The Sun, to "p*ss off".

Also included was a tirade against Rupert Murdoch and his "reactionary, right wing, anti-truth empire" that "spews out lies on and industrial scale." What possible reason could Tommy have for harbouring such a grudge against the former publisher of The News of the World, the diary wonders?

The ban, the sign explained, was about showing solidarity with the people of Liverpool and their long battle for justice following the Hillsborough tragedy. Nothing at all to do with that perjury conviction, then.