ALEX Salmond was at his modest best in Brussels this week, merely comparing himself to a hero of the French Revolution. Accepting a gong from a think tank, the former FM thanked his host thus: “You spoke about my perseverance. You might have added audace, audace, toujours l’audace.” This was a mangled version of Georges Danton’s famous cry “Il nous faut de l'audace, et encore de l'audace, et toujours de l'audace", or “We need audacity, and yet more audacity, and always audacity”. Monsieur Danton’s big gob, we note, got him guillotined.

MR Salmond is also a frequent visitor to Euroland as a member of the Westminster delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, a cosy junket that meet four times a year in Strasbourg. The SNP’s Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh is also a member. Now Labour’s sole Scottish MP, Ian Murray, is joining the club. Our mole tells us he can’t wait to see how Eck and his ex-Tory protegee go about “grandstanding on the European stage”. As if...

REGULAR readers wondering if we’re too harsh on Labour spindoctor Alan Roden can rest easy. We’re so not. On Tuesday he was the guest of one Glasgow tabloid in the morning, and landed a bottle a pink champagne. Then in the evening, bottle drained, he was the guest of another paper at the SECC Hydro for Rod Stewart. Judging by his Santa-coloured face the morning after, the theme of the day wasn’t so much “We are Sailing” as “I am flying”.

TALKING of hangovers, we fear the Scottish Government is exploiting the fragile seasonal state of Holyrood’s press corps. Not only was the budget held the day after the hacks’ Xmas night out, when the last thing folk wanted was a blizzard of statistics, but next week’s big Brexit plan is the day after a famously lavish lunch and Labour’s media bash, so the nuances of EU diplomacy may suffer in the ensuing fog. Please! Show a little charity at Christmas.

THE budget also shone a fresh light on the SNP’s Fulton ‘No Show’ MacGregor, hitherto best known at Holyrood for dodging election hustings in Coatbridge. It seems he has a new talent -sycophancy. After Derek Mackay delivered his statement, No Show asked him to autograph his copy of the budget. Not one to disappoint a toady, the Finance Secretary duly obliged.

THE funeral of the much loved Tory MSP Alex Johnstone took place yesterday at Glenbervie. But Alex being Alex, it wasn’t an entirely sombre affair. As Ruth Davidson pointed out in her eulogy: "He mandated that his funeral be held on a Friday, when the parliament wasn’t sitting, so the SNP wouldn’t win any votes while Tories were here." A whip to the very end.

NOT all Ms Davidson’s events go as smoothly. On Monday she pitched up at a festive charity shop in Glasgow where Nicola Sturgeon and Judy Murray were helping out for the cameras. However it seems the Tory leader wasn’t meant to be there until Tuesday. Awkward.