MUCH gnashing of teeth this week over the proposed boundary changes. One of the biggest losers is Scottish Labour’s answer to Robinson Crusoe, Ian Murray, whose Edinburgh South island sanctuary is split in two. He now faces a 2020 fight against a sitting SNP MP. So watch out Joanna Cherry QC in Edinburgh South West, as the seat includes the Hearts FC ground. Mr Murray is not just a massive jambo, he’s a non-executive director of the club. Handy.
ONE surprise from the review was the resurrection of a name from the dank depths of Labour history. Coatbridge, Chryston & Bellshill is to be renamed Monklands West. Back in the day, Monklands was synonymous with Labour intrigue, but is now best known for SNP infighting, with one Nat faction dubbed the Monklands McMafia. As our Lanarkshire mole puts it, “Monklands West has a certain ring to it. But they should really call it Little Sicily.”
SO farewell then Adam Clarke, the Scottish LibDem spindoctor who left Holyrood this week to work for the Russell Group of universities (Motto: More fees please). The hacks bought him some beers. Because frankly nothing could match his going away present from colleagues in a previous job - a bespoke onesie featuring the giant face of MP Alistair Carmichael. Classy.
Unspun hears that wasn’t the only item of intimate apparel that earned ‘Clarkey Cat’ his slinky feline nickname. One mate vividly remembers being in a conference hotel room a few years ago when Mr Clarke materialised in just a pair of skin-tight Union Jack undies. He then pointed at the jumbled contents and declared “Better together!” The poor chap tells Unspun he remains traumatised to this day. “It was as if they were painted on,” he recalls with a shudder.
THE new Commons register of interests gives a fascinating insight into the parliamentary pecking order. Three MPs declare a night’s hospitality at Gleneagles on 8 September: speaker John Bercow, ex-FM Alex Salmond and his SNP pal Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh. Mr Speaker’s freebie for himself and a staffer came to £2815, for Mr Salmond and his missus £1495, and for Ms Ahmed-Sheikh and guest a footling £715. Oh the shame of such cheap digs.
SCOTTISH Labour pulled off quite a coup by persuading Nicola Sturgeon’s poverty tsar Naomi Eisenstadt to attend its “cross-party” summit on inequality. Deputy leader Alex Rowley urged parties to put tribal differences aside and unite to tackle the issue. Alas, this is Holyrood we’re talking about. Most unchuffed with Ms Eisenstadt’s moonlighting, the SNP snubbed the event, as did the Tories and LibDems, while the Greens sent only a lowly staffer.
WHENEVER the Nats come under attack from Labour, they rush to bring up Labour’s shambolic running of Wales. So what bonkers new policies did Welsh Labour unveil in their budget this week? Extra cash for the NHS, 30 hours of free childcare a week, council cuts and, erm, a fund to boost attainment in schools ie the full SNP bhuna. What an outrage!
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here