Whittlemania
TORY troubadour Brian Whittle whipped out his acoustic guitar to twang at bemused MSPs in the Holyrood bar on Wednesday evening. His repertoire was suitably royalist, featuring lots of Queen. Alas, it was “bad Queen, not good Queen”, according to an audience member. A Nat MSP also asked bluesman Brian what the new national anthem should be in an independent Scotland. “He just slowly put the guitar back in its case,” they reported. Another MSP boasted disturbingly afterwards that they had been “#jamminwithWhittle”. Yoiks.
Terminal boredom
SNP megadrone Stewart Stevenson out-did himself at a committee on ScotRail, flourishing his trainspotter knowledge to the company’s boss. “This week, I will be on 12 trains - two HSTs, one 170 and one 158, as well as eight 385s, which are absolutely lovely trains…. lovely, quiet, comfortable and more spacious”. The comments had others wondering if Mr Stevenson might take one to the end of the line and never return.
No Show business
MUCH gnashing of teeth from Coatbridge Nat Fulton MacGregor after he featured in another newspaper’s diary column. As is traditional, it called him ‘No Show’, a nickname bestowed because of his gift for missing hustings. The tag has enraged him ever since. So, out of charity, we offer an alternative. Also famous for being late, Fulton’s SNP colleagues have now christened him ‘Full-Time MacGregor’. We hope No Show likes it more than No Show.
Crisis management
MEANWHILE, Full Time’s local branch continues to be the most dysfunctional in the land, with the SNP’s national executive agreeing to keep it in “special measures”. The latest feud is over SNP HQ imposing a hasty online ballot to elect office bearers, many of them Full Time’s pals. Angry members then passed a vote of no confidence in the process, but HQ airily told them it had “no effect”. Is it any wonder insiders call it the Coatbridge & Crisis branch?
Weed all about it
SCOTTISH Enterprise took flak this week for spending £100,000 to help its bosses take ‘brave’ decisions. But it’s small beer next to the £450,000 it's also spending to rid the Caledonian Canal of New Zealand pigmyweed via its Can Do Innovation Challenge Fund. Rather awkwardly for SE boss Steve Dunlop, the non-native plant invaded the waterway when he was head of, er, Scottish Canals. If only braver action was taken at the time…
- Fidelma Cook: Grey men in suits will gather and agree that wherever there’s a woman, there’s a problem
Rugger chuggers
CHRIS Law, SNP MP for Dundee West, keeps a clean nose at Westminster, hardly ever accepting freebies. However the latest register of interests reveals he was tempted by two tickets to a Six Nations match “and associated hospitality”, a package worth £400. Then again, the donor was Heineken. Evidently it refreshes the MPs other beers cannot reach.
This just in
NEWSFLASH of the week came from Green MSP Patrick Harvie in finance committee. He informed Brexit Secretary Mike Russell: “While you were speaking, a UK minister was on television and said that ‘There is absolutely no point in Theresa May meeting with the SNP over Brexit’. To which the interviewer said, ‘We’re just hearing that May is to meet Nicola Sturgeon today’, and the minister replied, ‘That’s fantastic news’.” Mr Russell smiled: “Mr Harvie, you have illustrated perfectly the world in which we live.” Ain’t that the truth.
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