Highlight of the week was the send-off for Alan Roden, former Pol Ed of the Scottish Daily Mail who is now Scottish Labour’s top spin-doctor. Reflecting the high esteem in which his old paper is held by the party, more SNP MSPs turned up to the boozy bash than Labour ones. Or perhaps his new colleagues were still smarting from his ferocious lecture on how they must stop talking to the press now he’s boss. Little wonder he’s already nicknamed Roden of Iron.
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However those who stayed away missed a treat. To silence his doubters, Alan proved his Labour credentials with a gutsy rendition of The Red Flag. True, he half-read the lyrics from his smartphone, but at least he knew the tune. A better overall effort than Labour MSP Monica Lennon, who shrieked “I don’t know the words!” when asked to join in. We advise Googling them quick before Jeremy Corbyn is re-elected leader.
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Talking of which, Jezza’s endorsement this week by ‘80s reggae band UB40 raised eyebrows for all sorts of ironic reasons. Unspun particularly liked their declaration that the Labour leader was "incorruptible". Alas, this was also the term given to Maximilien Robespierre, who having been a leader of the French Revolution was ultimately consumed by it.
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Glaring omission of the week goes to Fulton ‘No Show’ MacGregor, the famously hustings-phobic MSP for Coatbridge & Chryston, who led a debate on bullying on Tuesday. No Show knows a bit about the subject, having been secretly recorded earlier this year saying he felt physically “sick” as a result of local aggro. Strangely, however, he failed to mention it in the chamber. Could it possibly be because the alleged bullying was inside his SNP branch?
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Much head-scratching in Whitehall about how to pronounce BEIS, the new department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Unspun hears. Early suggestions emerged that it was ‘bays’ as in bay or ‘bae’, young people slang for either ‘baby’ or ‘before anyone else’. Then No 10 pronounced it ‘bees’ causing confusion to reign once more. Now a BEIS insider has cleared up / worsened the controversy. “It is bays,” says our mole. “Rhymes with blaze”.
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Kickboxing, tank straddling, ex-squaddie Ruth Davidson boosted her hard-as-nails image further last weekend. Participating in a journalists vs MSPs cricket match, she stepped in to bat and promptly lamped the ball straight into the face of political hack and commentator Hamish Macdonell. With the fielder knocked doolally, an opportunistic Scottish Tory leader made a dash for it only to be run out by one of his teammates. Unspun hears news of Davidson's dismissal came as some consolation to Hamish after he regained his senses in A&E.
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