Nae Mates?

"A drop in the number of Christmas cards sent out by the Scottish Government this year has led to speculation that the SNP is losing friends. But a spokesman for Alex Salmond, the First Minister, said the reduction was merely a sign that the search for efficiencies even extends to the Christmas period. Last year, the Scottish Government sent a record 8,000 cards to people and organisations spending £6,858. But this year, only 5,000 cards were sent out at a cost of £3,282. There were also e-cards sent to other people, costing £2,150."

Were you lucky enough to get a Christmas card from the Scottish Goverment this year? Mr Smith got one by Air Mail.

Goodbye 2008.

Mr Smith has decided to have a blogging break and is heading for the Keys. He will return, hopefully with his batteries recharged, although probably not as run down, on 2nd January 2009. Have a good one.

Duff By Name.

Courtesy of the Herald Diary, "PRIME Minister Gordon Brown's Christmas tree at 10 Downing Street has been supplied by Buchlyvie farmer Euan Duff. That is not an excuse, however, for visitors to No 10 to ask about his "Duff Christmas tree".

Not just the Christmas tree thinks Mr Smith, given some of the UK Government's questionable decisions.

It's Christmas.

Mr Smith thinks Christmas begins with the delivery of that first Christmas card of the season, but have you gotten one from the First Minister Alex Salmond MSP yet? The design is a bit too contemporary for Mr Smith. He's a bit more of a traditionalist.

IT'S CHRISTMAS ... Not.

"IT might not have quite the same cachet as a personally-signed Christmas card from Scarlett Johanssen or George Clooney. But many people are pleased to receive festive greetings from their MSP – a special card from Holyrood, if not Hollywood. However, Scottish Parliament bosses have now decided to scrap the exclusive Christmas cards which MSPs can buy to send to their friends and contacts after a drop in sales. "

Mr Smith always used to look forward to receiving his MSP Christmas card, but if nothing else it will stop Murdo Fraser MSP this year coming out with his perennial complaint about the Scottish Parliament authorities taking the religious aspects out of the design for the cards.

Bah humbug to one an all.

Tis' the silly season.

It is well seen that it is the festive season with politicians of all parties unleashing on the great Scottish public all the ridiculous stories that they've been saving up all year safe in the knowledge that with so many journalists on holiday that there is a great chance that they will get some coverage that they otherwise wouldn't.

Two examples from today:

"THE Scotch pie is under threat because of a shortage of master bakers, it has been claimed. Bridies, butteries and plain loaves could also be threatened by a government block on food industry training grants. Labour finance spokesman Iain Gray said: "Traditional Scottish baking icons like the pan loaf, the plain loaf, the buttery, the bridie and Scotch pie could be threatened as the skills to bake them are not passed on."

"A call was made last night for Scottish banknotes to be legally protected in England. Alistair Carmichael, Scottish spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, revealed he had received a letter from Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, confirming that at present there was no requirement for shopkeepers and businesses to accept Scottish banknotes."

Do politicians think anyone except Mr Smith reads newspapers at this time of year, let alone cares about these stories? Journalists deserve holidays too.

Merry Christmas from No 10.

Shopping hours to Christmas.

Just a few shopping hours left to Christmas and if you are still looking for that special gift for that big fan of Gordon Brown or general political anorak, can Mr Smith suggest the "Gordon Brown 'Stand and Deliver' Jug ... A fantastic china jug of the great highwayman himself - Gordon Brown. Limited edition from Bairstow Pottery in Stoke-on-Trent" all at a cost of £95.

It's Christmas!

Who said the process of government wasn't rivetting and political power addictive?

Mr Smith notes one of the latest consultations which is being under taken by the Scottish Government on "the Eggs and Chicks (Scotland) Regulations 2008."

Mindless bureaucracy? It isn't Easter ... it's Christmas. But what did come first?

Dreaming of a white ....

Mr Smith had never fully appreciated just how much of a non-traditionalist Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond MSP actually was.

"The First Minister's official Christmas card is based on a specially commissioned painting by the artist John Lowrie Morrison, with the original to be auctioned for a children's charity in the New Year. It shows a JoLoMo painting of Linlithgow Palace reflected in the loch, depicting Alex Salmond's home town. The town was also the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots."

The again it might have something to do with the fact that our Alex still lives in Linlithgow, and the less well known fact that Linlithgow is populated by a very large number of Scottish Government civil servants. It's a bit too contemporary for Mr Smith.