Cock-Up?

Mr Smith sees that the SNP seem to be coming very close to alleging election fraud in last year's Glenrothes by-election because of the fact that the marked register for the by-election has gone astray.

"THE official register of all those who voted in the crucial Glenrothes by-election in November was lost within days of being handed over by the returning officer to the sheriff clerk in Kirkcaldy, it has been revealed. The loss has prompted an investigation by the Scottish Court Service, but Tricia Marwick, the SNP MSP for Central Fife, yesterday called for an independent inquiry."

It is a major cock-up by the Courts Service, not the first, but does anyone seriously believe that someone forged a few thousand votes in order to let Labour win a by-election that it wasn't expected to, and all in Fife which is actually controlled by an SNP-Liberal Democrat Council which had responsibility for running and overseeing the election? Mr Smith is known to believe in the odd conspiracy, but this isn't one of them.

Mr Tambourine Man.

"THE SNP recriminations over the Glenrothes by-election intensified last night when one of the country's most influential Nationalists cautioned against the party continuing to govern as a "one-man band". Jim Sillars, the former SNP MP, claimed too much power had fallen to Alex Salmond, adding that the party leader did not like having people around who might disagree with him."

Mr Smith doesn't think it is that bad ... yet, although Oor Eck was getting a bit too smug for his own boots.

And you do have to take whatever Jim "I've been in more parties than you've had hot dinners" Sillars says with a pinch of salt.

Yes We Can ...

Er ... no you can't.

What a difference forty eight hours makes. It's no wonder it is being described as Salmond's "Kinnock" moment.

Against All Odds.

Mr Smith thinks it has been one of those weeks for major political upsets and the rewriting of political history both foreign and domestic.

First we had Barack Obama being elected the first black President in the United States, and only the third Democratic President in the last ten American Presidential elections ... and then we had Lindsay Roy holding onto the Glenrothes seat for Labour in yesterday's by-election.

It is difficult to decide which is the bigger achievement, given that most political commentators thought that an SNP victory in Glenrothes was certain with only the size of the majority being in doubt. The eventual outcome of a seven thousand vote majority for Labour is a a clear sign of one thing however, and that is that with a possible Scottish Government independence referendum as little two years away that the SNP's case for independence has taken a major political dent in light of the UK Government's hundreds of billions of pounds' solution to the current economic and banking crises. A solution that would never have been open to an autonomous Scottish government.

The Glenrothes by-election result wasn't so much the end of the SNP's political "honeymoon" in Scotland. It was probably also the end of the SNP's independence dream at least for a generation.

A Life Less Ordinary.

Courtesy of Drumnlanrig, "Gordon Brown has made a habit of appearing before tough, impartial audiences while campaigning in Glenrothes. During his first appearance in an industrial estate he bravely met six handpicked Labour supporters. On his second visit, at the Bowhill War Memorial Hall, he addressed what one hack described as "ordinary, undecided voters like Helen Eadie". Ms Eadie, is, of course, the Dunfermline East Labour MSP. There she was sitting beside the Labour MSPs Claire Baker, Marilyn Livingstone and John Park."

Worse than that. Mrs Eadie can't even vote in the by-election, given that she lives in Dunfermline East. Which member of the fourth estate was it?

Tradition.

"GORDON BROWN will hit the campaign trail in the crucial Glenrothes by-election. He has insisted in the past that he supports the tradition of Prime Ministers not getting involved in by-elections. But in the wake of a rousing conference speech, he is set to campaign in the constituency before a date for the contest - believed to be November 6. That way he will not be breaking the tradition."

Tradition probably doesn't apply when you are the Member of Parliament for the seat next door. Tradition will be even more difficult for the voters to understand when Labour loses the seat. Then again Labour losing elections is actually becoming a bit of a tradition.