ALEX Salmond has laughed off the Tories latest poster, which plumbed new depths by depicting him as a black-clad pickpocket.

He told Sky's Dermot Murnaghan: "I actually thought I looked like, remember the man in the Black Magic adverts all these years ago, debonair, dashing, dressed in black." A good line. But doesn't he mean Milk Tray?

ACTOR Martin Compston was pressed into service to give the SNP's youth manifesto launch a bit of celebrity pizzazz. But there is no bigger star than Nicola Sturgeon these days. She stole the show balancing bravely on a beam and swinging skilfully from a bar at the Jump Gymnastics Club in Cumbernauld.

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RUTH Davidson, a former signaller in the Territorial Army, has taken to describing her party in military terms. The Scots Tories she said were "the best regimented, best resourced and certainly the best recruited that we have had since 1992". She claims "Tartan Tories" are flocking back to the fold from the SNP.

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IF the Tory pickpocket poster is as negative as they come, the the latest Lib Dem effort is so positive it stretches credulity. "Winning Here," is the slogan that will appear in former Lib Dem strongholds up and down the UK. Nick Clegg will unveil it in Eastleigh today but will any of his Scots candidates have the confidence to order a few copies?