The Magnificent Seven?

So, Scotland's Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and all of Scotland's main political parties have all united to try and stop moves to cut the number of MEPs representing Scotland from seven to just six.

Mr Smith would be tempted to say "suprise, surprise," but it isn't really a surprise. Turkeys gave up voting for Christmas many years ago when Mr Bernard Matthews arrived on the scene.

More seriously, the question needs to be asked whether Scotland could survive with six MEPs as opposed to seven, given the lack of interaction the average MEP has with the average voter. Mr Smith doesn't really think we need answers on a postcard to that one, but for the avoidance of doubt the answer is yes, especially when some of the current seven like SNP MEP Alyn Smith seem to spend every summer on some strange kind of work experience, most recently he was serving behind the bar at the Open and then popped in to the Edinburgh International Conference Centre for a couple of days to help out.

At least if there were only six of them we might have an easier time remembering who they actually are.