Prat.

Mr Smith reads "A TOP aide of Wendy Alexander resigned yesterday after he swore at Alex Salmond as he picked up an award. Matthew Marr, the Labour leader's official spokesman, loudly called the First Minister a c*** after he was named Politician of the Year at a ceremony. Marr, 27, apologised after guests complained but quit yesterday after only two months in the job. He had taken over after Alexander's previous spokesman quit after just six weeks. Marr said: "When people make a mistake they should be prepared to take responsibility for it."

It makes you wonder about the calibre of people left involved with the Scottish Labour Party. The incident says a great deal about someone allegedly earning a salary of £60,000 a year in working for the Peoples' Party and about the judgement of Wendy Alexander in giving him a job in the first place.

Scottish Labour has really hit the skids since they lost May's Scottish Parliament elections. It will be a long way back. A starting point might not be to make "mistakes" which they don't have to. At the hands of people who took student politics too seriously.