Witching Hour
Witching Hour
THERE has been some debate around protocol regarding next week's First Ministerial handover. Alex Salmond will tender his resignation to Parliament on Tuesday afternoon but will still attend one final event as First Minister on Tuesday evening when he takes in the Scotland v England football "friendly" at Celtic Park.
Nicola Sturgeon, visiting the Edinburgh "sick kids hospital" the following morning, is described as doing this in her capacity as "First Minister-elect" ahead of the formal vote in Parliament on Wednesday afternoon. So at what precise point does the baton change hands? No-one is quite sure but if Mr Salmond dallies in Glasgow celebrating a victory over the Auld Enemy it could be that at midnight as he speeds back along the M8 his ministerial limo will turn back into a pumpkin.
Memory Lane
MSP George Adam was taking a trip down memory lane this week prompted by the milestone of his party leader standing down. "Ah, he said, 1987, what a year. Alex Salmond won Banff and Buchan to become an MP for the first time, I joined the SNP," and he added, eyes glazing over, "St Mirren won the Scottish Cup".
Mental arithmetic
LABOUR'S James Kelly sought to give Ms Sturgeon a hard time over the Scottish Government's bail-out of Prestwick Airport, pointing out that it had been losing £800,000 a month when it faced closure. How much was it losing now? The Minister said the accounts would show a loss in the first year of £5 million. Ah, Mr Kelly responded, the losses are worse than ever. Er, the last time we checked £5 million was less than £9.6 million.
Pedalling facts
Duncan Ross, chairman of the SNP's biggest branch Glasgow Kelvin, called for greater legal protection for cyclists in a speech to the party's conference in Perth. He took a bit of ribbing from the Nats' chairman, Derek Mackay, after jokingly describing himself as a "finely tuned athlete". But the laugh is on Derek. Duncan is a seasoned cyclist who completed the tough Etape Caledonia and Braveheart races this year.
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