Corroborated?

THE BEST jape yet has emerged in the fierce debate over abolishing the ancient Scots legal principle of corroboration. With the formidable Justice Convener Christine Grahame pitching herself against the equally robust Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill in a bit of Nat on Nat hostility, and with the full might of the legal profession engaged, it is shaping up to be quite a battle. Ms Grahame mused, cleverly, that were she to bring a motion on the issue to the Chamber, under their terms why would she require a seconder?

Pointy fun

WE CAN but salute the pointy heads of the Bright Club, the boffins who gather to pretend to be stand-ups. The thinking person's variety night recently featured experts in geology, media, literature, chemistry and law.

But the best joke came from a chemist: "A chemist examined the future of the chemical industry in an independent Scotland. He commented that Scotland's main chemical export - whisky - isn't the solution to a successful economy. It's the solvent."

Red, white and blue

UKIP were delighted by their showing at the recent Govan council by-election, coming above the LibDems, Greens and Solidarity and "making progress in Scotland just as they are down South". We reserved judgment, suspecting this may have been linked to a particular element to that constituency. Sure enough, come the Dunfermline poll, UKIP lost its deposit and saw its hated Tory foes increase their share of the vote.