Unspun

IT WAS a case of back down to earth with a bump on Monday as the media turned up for the first briefing on forthcoming Scottish Government events. The first item was one to set the pulse racing - a contract award for improvements to the A82 Tarbet-Inverarnan road. Was there an alternative prospectus in case the vote had gone the other way a few days earlier - perhaps the foundation stone being laid for Scotland's new embassy in Paris or Washington?

Insensitive

ALSO on the first day back, and in that spirit of reconciliation, was it not a bit insensitive of the Scottish Parliament caterers to put Eton Mess on the menu at the staff canteen?

Membership boost

TWO SNP MSPs stumbled into this week's Labour group meeting in a room that doubles as a members' coffee lounge. When Linda Fabiani and Maureen Watt came out red faced but chuckling and it was pointed out to them perhaps Labour thought their unexpected appearance meant they too were getting a membership boost, the laughter level increased.

Poetry corner

KEITH Brown launched his bid for the deputy leadership of the SNP at the National Poetry Library just round the corner from the Scottish Parliament and up the close from party HQ. Fearful that something inappropriate might be visible on the stand of poetry magazines behind the lectern, minders ordered the display to be cleared.

Camera crews claimed the bare shelves made for a poorer backdrop, so the publications were replaced, including one with a Union Flag on the cover which was removed again at the last minute. Given Mr Brown's background in the Marines the magazines which survived the cut included The Bugle, Popshot, and the journal of the Wilfred Owen Association.

Bambi gets it

FIRST we had the kitten heels of Teresa May, now the Bambi heels of Angela Constance. In a week when Alex Salmond was stepping down and Nicola Sturgeon was stepping up we're sure everyone was delighted by the distraction of these goodie two shoes. But at £125? That's too dear, said a colleague in a double pun.

Take the floor

We are indebted to the Ross-shire Journal for highlighting the story of Charles MacRae . The returning officer in Plockton for the past six years has resigned following a complaint by a member of the public that he was playing Scottish country dance music at the polling station in the village hall during voting. A Highland Council official, who had received the complaint, phoned from Dingwall to advise him to switch it off.

The offending musical work was from a tape of Bobby MacLeod's Dance Band, which clearly somebody thought was prejudicial to the fair conduct of the vote. But it is not clear whether it was feared hearing Mr Macleod playing a Gay Gordon would make voters a more or less likely to vote yes.

Star struck lovers

INTELLIGENCE continues to arrive from the referendum counts. Once the result was in, Unspun spotted LibDem peer Baron Purvis of Tweed puffing contentedly on a fat cigar just outside the main hall at Ingliston.

"Romeo y Julieta," he grinned, referring to his smoke, "a symbol for the union, eh?" We assume he meant the true but forbidden love of England and Scotland. Perhaps he should brush up on his Shakespeare. When he was reminded the play was actually about two warring families and a double suicide, we could have sworn his cigar began to wilt.

Unspun can be contacted at

unspun@theherald.co.uk or

twitter: @Unspunherald