CONFESSION of the week was at the Commons on Wednesday when SNP Brexit minister Michael Russell was pub-quizzed in committee by Tory Michael Gove. To Mr Russell’s growing irritation, the Gover flummoxed him with queries about obscure EU directives and regulators. Eventually, Mr Russell snapped. “I’m quite prepared to provide a list of things I do not know,” he huffed. “It will be quite a long list. There are many things I do not know.” No!
HOWEVER Mr Russell also got in his own barbs. Asked to name one particular Eurocrat, he told Mr Gove: “I’m not looking at my smart phone, unlike you, so I can’t look up who it is, but I’m quite sure I could were I to use Google.” Later, Mr Russell even channelled George Bernard Shaw, when he suggested Mr Gove, whose treacherous Tory leadership bid ended in disaster, should talk to his friends in the UK government “if you have them”.
P&J hack Andrew Liddle is already dressing to impress for his new role as a Scottish Labour spindoctor, we see, strolling into his leaving bash on Thursday in black suede slip-ons. They were, it seems, a courtesy to his new boss, top spinner Alan Roden, who is famously unable to tie his shoelaces. “I didn’t want to bamboozle Roden,” he sighed, as if about a child.
THE colleagues also share a love of music. On changing jobs, Mr Liddle, a self-confessed “Uber Blairite”, switched his phone ringtone to that New Labour ear-worm Things Can Only Get Better. Red Roddo meanwhile has just been to see Evita. Why he was drawn to a show about a doomed female politician is a mystery. But perhaps he could help Kezia Dugdale get over losing Edinburgh Eastern last year with a few bars of Don’t Cry for Me Craigentinny.
THAT’S where the duo’s similarities end, however. Roddo possesses eerily porcelain limbs, hence the hurtful office nickname ‘Lady Arms’. But Mr Liddle is shaggy as a highland cow. The comrades have now been dubbed Jacob and Esau, after the mismatched sons of Isaac in the Book of Genesis. To quote the King James Version: “And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.” Uncanny.
WHAT is it with LibDem Mike Rumbles and superfast broadband? Last week, he erupted after Nicola Sturgeon mentioned its rural roll-out. “Despite new technologies and speeds for some getting faster... residents outside Scotland’s cities have too often been left behind,” fumed the North East MSP. He’s also tabled seven written parliamentary questions on the subject. A sheepish LibDem mole offers a clue: “Mike’s just got really bad broadband.”
THESE wacky new computer thingies seem to be hard going for Inverclyde Council’s Labour boss Stephen McCabe. Last week he haughtily upbraided SNP opposition leader Chris McEleny for discussing unpublished budget proposals he had not seen. “How bizarre,” he tweeted. Mr McEleny patiently replied: “You stored them in the shared drive”. D’oh.
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