THE FM held Christmas drinks for the media at Bute House on Thursday.

Not only was the venue an improvement on past years - Alex Salmond used to corral hacks in the basement of St Andrews House - but so was the entertainment, with special adviser Ross Ingebrigsten battering out the Star Spangled Banner on the drawing room piano. At the end of a week in which it emerged the Queen had worked for a No in the referendum, was he trying to tell us something with this anthem to the US republic?

HOW many people actually read election manifestos? Precious few, judging by new information released by the Electoral Commission this week. One telling invoice shows the SNP printed just 100 copies of its manifesto for May's European elections. We suspect that was 99 too many.

HAVING all chuckled at the acronym for English Votes for English Laws, Evel - you read it here first - we may now have to get used to another one thanks to the helpful intervention of the First Nationalist Sir* Alex Salmond, who suggests that the SNP might suspend its self-denying ordinance of not voting on English-only matters to keep Ed Miliband in power in a Nationalist confidence and supply arrangement should Labour become the largest party after the General Election. The quid pro quo being that the Labour leader hands over even more powers to Holyrood.

This turn of events would become known as Svel, Scottish Votes for English Laws.

Speculation is growing wee 'Eck will celebrate his 60th birthday with a knighthood in the New Year's Honours list. Some might even think it will be just compensation for HMQ helping the pro-Union cause in the referendum. Allegedly.

IT seems some in the Labour ranks are more keen than others to impress the new boss. Tuesday saw the big reveal of Jim Murphy's new shadow cabinet, with the chosen MSPs making their way out of Holyrood to appear before the media. Among their ranks was a slightly dishevelled Neil Findlay, beaten to the leadership by Murphy days previously, who had to pull an emergency tie (pre-knotted) out of his pocket moments before unenthusiastically posing for pics.

ON the subject of the Labour top team, Mr Murphy had a hard act to follow just weeks after the FM won praise from the UN for selecting Scotland's first ever gender-balanced cabinet. But he broke at least some new ground by reshuffling his deckchairs. "It will be interesting to see two Dundonians go head to head, that'll be a new characteristic in Scottish politics, I'll enjoy that" he said, after selecting Jenny Marra to shadow Shona Robison on health. The message from the UN must have been delayed in the Christmas post...