WHEN the Electoral Commission published the latest party donations on Wednesday, the headlines were about Labour and the Tories. But deep in the small print was the biggest ever donation to the Scottish Socialist Party. Remember them? Late peace activist Ronald Mackay did, leaving a bequest of £34,492, practically doubling the SSP’s annual income. No doubt the Trots’ current object of concern, misunderstood Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro can expect some readies in the post. Or possibly a fact-finding mission?

FORMER Labour MSP Lesley Brennan was very taken with a Financial Times article this week called “Why do so many incompetent men win at work?”. She even posted a link on her Facebook page with a quote from the author. Why the interest in duff blokes? We’ve no idea. But by pure coincidence, Ms Brennan is chief of staff to Richard Leonard.

SNP opposition councillors in North Lanarkshire were mad keen to oppose Labour’s budget on the authority, even producing a video featuring new business manager Jordan Linden bragging about their intent. Alas, Cllr Linden’s first big test as whip saw one of his own councillors skip the crucial vote. Remarkably, the absentee was the previous whip, Allan Stubbs. It seems Cllr Linden has inherited all his, er, unique talents.

JAMES Kelly suffered another blow this week. For once, it wasn’t to his reputation as Scottish Labour finance spokesman. Instead, he lost trusted staffer Kenneth Watt, who has a new job at Oxfam. As one Holyrood wag put it, he’s going from one charity case to another.

SO where was Mr Stubbs when his colleagues were voting? Our mole reports ‘Stumbles’, a self-styled former “security consultant”, was training for a new gig as a civilian police worker. As he already works for local MSP Fulton MacGregor, questions are now being asked about how many second jobs the councillor’s constituents will tolerate.

STUMBLES also got it raw at Wednesday’s meeting of the Coatbridge & Chryston SNP branch, we hear. The outfit is synonymous with infighting, even spawning a recent Court of Session defamation action. When Mr Stubbs suggested the convener should quit, activists said he should go instead for admitting in court he may have called a colleague a “twisted bitch”. At which the standard pandemonium broke out. You can’t buy respect like that.

UBIQUITOUS LibDem Alex Cole-Hamilton likes to pose as a chummy, bloke-of-the-people. But is it an act? He was overheard in the Holyrood canteen saying he was feeling “out there” over his menu choice. For the first time in his 41 years, the Edinburgh Western MSP had deigned to eat - gasp! - a pie, chips and beans. His body survived the encounter. We can only pray the psychological wounds heal soon.

EVERYONE knows Yessers love a good flag, preferably if it’s a Catalan one being waved at random by two men and a dog outside Holyrood. But Scottish Labour also has the bug. Until recently, their parliamentary corridor featured a giant Palestinian flag in Pauline McNeill’s room. Now Kezia Dugdale has planted a whopping EU flag in her office. It’s certainly raised eyebrows - everyone assumed Kez would be rallying round the TIG standard.