Back On The Chain Gang.

You really couldn't make this up.

"IN MATES in Scotland's biggest prison should be let out to work on major construction projects including new facilities for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the justice secretary said yesterday. Kenny MacAskill said it was "ridiculous" that there were 1,500 prisoners stuck behind bars in Barlinnie jail when they could be used to fill the labour gap in the construction industry. He said that instead of using prison gates as a "revolving door", offenders should be required to do "hard work" on building and engineering projects that could be hit by labour shortages."

Ignoring the fact that we are on the brink, if not already in, the worst economic recession for a generation which will hit the construction industry harder than any other industrial sectors, are we really happy with the average inmate from the Bar-L being let out even if they are doing hard labour? People are sent to prison as a punishment, and if you let them out on some weird kind of day release to sledgehammer some rocks what kind of message are we sending them?

Mr MacAskill MSP is fast reinforcing his position as the John Prescott of Scottish politics. Mr Smith thinks the Justice Secretary should recognise the seriousness of the role he occupies and engage his brain a bit more before he comes out with these ridiculous pronouncements which undermine the credibility of his office, if not his own.

New boy.

Over to Brian Currie at the Evening Times.

"IT'S accepted that bringing the Commonwealth Games to Glasgow will be good for the whole of Scotland. But LibDem MSP Liam McArthur is surely pushing optimism too far. He's asking how the government plans to encourage competitors to use Orkney as a "training base". Wonder how quickly he thinks the athletes can get from Kirkwall to the Kelvin Hall? Mr McArthur is a Holyrood new boy and it's not known whether he has a sense of humour."

God loves a tryer.

Bugging him.

Mr Smith reads in the Herald Diary that "FIRST Minister Alex Salmond was speaking at a Scottish Business in the Community conference last week when he went into a coughing fit. Recovering, he told his audience: "Clearly the Commonwealth Games weren't the only thing I picked up in Sri Lanka."

Big Eck is well and truly on a roll and it makes you wonder when it will come to an end.

Fun and Games.

So, how many Scots does it take to attend the award ceremony in Sri Lanka announcing who has won the 2014 Commonwealth Games? The answer is 46.

"ALEX SALMOND has hit back at claims the team behind Scotland's Commonwealth Games bid are wasting public money by taking a delegation of 46 to Sri Lanka ahead of Friday's crucial vote. The First Minister, who will fly out to Colombo tomorrow, insisted every member of the travelling party had a role in the final stages of lobbying ahead of the ballot at the General Assembly of the Commonwealth Games Federation."

Sounds like a bit of a jolly to Mr Smith - all at the tax and council tax payers expense.