Tartan Barmy.

The Scotland On Sunday reports that "AS FIRST Minister, Alex Salmond has cultivated a presidential style which exudes gravitas and statesmanlike poise. But a video which has become a cult hit on YouTube reveals that in the past the SNP leader was more willing to let his hair down. A video diary which has been posted on the internet shows Scotland's future leader partying with Tartan Army foot soldiers in the World Cup in France in 1998.In the film, which has never been broadcast on TV but has been watched by hundreds of people online, Salmond is pictured posing with his arms around fellow football fans on the day of Scotland's clash with Morocco in St Etienne.But despite clearly being in a holiday mood, the grinning SNP leader deftly bodyswerved being photographed with a potentially embarrassing flag."

Judge for yourself ... it's worth a look, but blink and you will miss him.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=52mm5219_t0

But it is also a salutory reminder to our politicians and everyone else that in these days of mobile phone technology there is no such thing as true privacy when you are "out and about."

Looking a gift horse ...

Mr Smith was very interested in the details of the gifts which First Minister Alex Salmond has received since becoming FM last May and the details of which have now been released to the public.

"ALEX SALMOND has received 72 gifts since he became First Minister, ranging from books to paintings and alcohol to crystal. Under the ministerial code, he can retain gifts valued at less than £140 and has decided he will keep 29 of them "for private use".The Scottish Government gave details of the four gifts which were valued at over £140. They included a painting from artist John Lowrie Morrison and a plaque from Scottish Power.But it only gave general categories for the other 68 – 12 were alcohol, four were food, two were glass or crystal ware, three were ornaments, one was jewellery, seven were art, 16 were books, three were china, five were clothing and 15 were "outside these categories".

So much for open government then, but a pat on the back to Labour MSP Lord George Foulkes for managing to make the time to ask the question in between his two other jobs. But Mr Smith is intrigued to know what the items of clothing were. Some underwear from M&S perhaps, in a Jeremy Paxman stylie?

Hello ... ?

"GORDON Brown was accused of being "stuck in the Downing Street bunker" after it was claimed that there has been no personal communication between the Prime Minister and the First Minister for almost five months."

So Alex Salmond and Gordon Brown haven't "spoken" in months.

Mr Smith wonders who has lost out more in that process? Answer: .... It isn't Mr Salmond.

He's in the money ...

So, "Grampian Credit Union welcomed its 3,000th member at the weekend, none other than the first minister. Alex Salmond joined staff at their premises in Belgrave Terrace, Aberdeen, on Saturday. On joining the credit union, Mr Salmond, said: "Credit unions play an important role in our communities."

Given that the First Minister is raking in well over £100K a year between his MP, MSP and Ministerial salaries, not to mention the automatic pension when he stands down from Ministerial office, does he really need to join a credit union?

Perhaps he is looking for the best rate of interest for his not unsubstantial savings? And this is one Union that Mr Salmond seems happy to support.

The X-Factor.

Spirit of Scotland.

ALBA highlights "ALEX Salmond could not resist a bit of a tease when he took the stand at the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards, hosted by Kirsty Wark. It is not that long since the BBC apologised for the "rude and dismissive" treatment of the First Minister in her Newsnight interview with him. "Well it's fantastic to be here, ladies and gentlemen, with Kirsty; particularly great to be introduced by Kirsty and get a word in edgeways," Salmond joked, as the two stood at opposite ends of the stage. Minutes later, he drew some shocked but amused gasps when he talked about the votes for the Top Scot award, which he handed out to charity businessman Mick Jackson. "The voting was close," Salmond said. "As close as a Scottish election - but this time we counted all the votes."

Abrasive Wendy.

Mr Smith asks who would want to work for Scottish Labour Leader Wendy Alexander MSP.

"SCOTTISH LABOUR'S new spin-doctor made a series of damning criticisms of his colleagues weeks before he accepted the job as the party's head of communications. Gavin Yates used his blog to describe Wendy Alexander as "abrasive", labelled shadow health minister Andy Kerr as "simply uninspiring", and blasted Jack McConnell for being a "lame duck leader" when in office. He also said the fledgling SNP government had a "long and impressive" list of achievements, while describing first minister Alex Salmond as "a great example of a politician on top of his game".

Wendy really ought to give up employing people who have such mixed views about the Labour Party as well as nationalistic inclinations. Will Wendy need to find someone else to fill the role of her spin doctor? Mr Smith suspects not ... after all she is running out of candidates. Scotland only has a population of five million after all.

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.

He won.

So First Minister Alex Salmond won the Herald's Scottish Politician of the Year Award last night.

Well deserved but not exactly a surprise.

Guess who's coming to dinner.

Mr Smith reads of the first guests to be invited by Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond to join him for dinner at his Official Residence of Bute House in Edinburgh.

"First Minister Alex Salmond was accused of misusing public funds after it emerged that several wealthy SNP donors were entertained at his official residence at taxpayers' expense. The dinner, which was held at Bute House in Edinburgh, was held to honour Sir Sean Connery, who has donated thousands of pounds to the party over the years. Sir Sean attended the event on June 29 with his wife, as did the bus tycoon Brian Souter and the Kwik-Fit entrepreneur Sir Tom Farmer - the SNP's top two donors. Sir George Mathewson, who has given financial backing to the SNP and is chairman of the Scottish Government's Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), also attended with his wife, as did Crawford Beveridge, the former chief executive of Scottish Enterprise, member of the CEA and Nationalist donor."

It does seem rather unlikely that so many SNP supporters all ended up having dinner with Mr Salmond at the same time purely by chance, but Mr Smith has no doubt that as time goes on more of Scotland's great and the good will be invited along to Bute House. Who knows Mr Smith may even get an invite in the inbox, but it does seem rather churlish of Labour MSPs to be moaning about an expenditure of £1,500 for a dinner for some of Scotland's top citizens especially given that the former Labour First Minister Jack McConnell hosted a lot of dinners at Bute House during his time, with many of the guests self proclaimed Labour supporters.

All bets are off.

Mr Smith reads that First Minister Alex Salmond MSP is up against his party counterparts Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney in the race to be this year's Scottish Politician of the Year.

We know that Mr Salmond himself famously likes a flutter, indeed he himself is a tipster, but Mr Smith suspects that our Alex would be hard pushed to find any bookie willing to bet against him winning the title given the SNP's success in winning May's elections and Mr Salmond's stellar performance since, by comparison with the previous incumbent Jack McConnell.

He will just have to console himself with winning the title on the night and not being able to profit from his victory more directly in his wallet.

Unparliamentary language.

Mr Smith highlights that the arrival of the "new politics" in Scotland has been accompanied by a commensurate reduction in the standard and quality of political insults on the part of First Minister Alex Salmond who has variously refered to: PM Gordon Brown as a "feartie" for not calling a General Election; and labelling former Sun Editor Kevin McKenzie as a "tube."

Very unparliamentary language which will probably not go down too well with the Scottish Parliament's Old Etonian Presiding Officer Alex Fergusson should Oor Alex choose to use the phrases in the Holyrood Chamber.

On your bike.

Mr Smith is reminded of the old adage, "do as I do, not as I say" in relation to disclosures about the travel habits of Ministers in the Scottish Government.

"SCOTTISH ministers have failed to cut their use of official cars, despite the SNP putting the environment at the heart of its political agenda. The slimmed-down Scottish Government made 137 car trips per member between May and August, compared to 135 under the previous Scottish Executive a year ago ... In total, the 18-strong SNP government clocked up 2,471 journeys compared to 2,711 by the 20-strong Labour-Liberal Democrat Executive last summer. Fewer than half of the SNP government travelled by train at all, including Mr Salmond and Ms Sturgeon. Stewart Stevenson, the transport minister, was the most frequent rail traveller, making six journeys, followed by Linda Fabiani, the Europe minister, with three."

It seems that the new regime has forgotten all of the criticisms it made of its predecessor. Mr Smith thinks if it is good enough for Tory Leader David Cameron, how about it Mr Salmond?

Visiting friends.

Mr Smith reads that "First Minister Alex Salmond spent last night as a guest of the Duke of Rothesay at Birkhall on the Balmoral Estate.Mr Salmond and his wife, Moira, drove up to Deeside yesterday and had dinner with Charles and Camilla.It was the second time that Mr Salmond had stayed over-night at the prince's Deeside retreat.The first time was in 1998 in the run-up to the first Scottish Parliament election.Last month, Mr and Mrs Salmond spent a night at Balmoral as a guest of the Queen."

Mr Smith thinks that the Salmonds seem desperate to spend as many nights away as possible from their official residence of Bute House in Edinburgh. Still too dusty obviously.

Clutching at threads.

If this really happened as described in the Herald, then Mr Smith thinks that Team Salmond need to think seriously about picking their battles more carefully. This one comes across as a bit of a joke.

"Alex Salmond complained to the Defence Secretary that basing Scottish infantry soldiers outside Scotland will undermine attempts to boost the population. The First Minister yesterday wrote to Des Browne saying it is "regrettable", as it "seems destined to lose Scotland, through marriage and other reasons, many of its young men who we would have hoped would make their long-term future after service life in Scotland". The SNP leader's concerns were dismissed by a Whitehall source as "the best demonstration we could have of somebody manufacturing a grievance"."

The "nationalist."

So, former Labour First Minister Henry "muddle not a fiddle" McLeish, who resigned after submitting erroneous expenses claims whilst a Westminster Member of Parliament, and who once described himself as a "small 'n' Nationalist," has accepted a second appointment from SNP First Minister, Alex Salmond.

"Former first minister Henry McLeish has accepted a second post from the new SNP government, overseeing the way courts handle a change in sentencing policy having previously agreed to serve as a member of the broadcasting commission that is looking at the way the industry is operating."

Mr McLeish seems to be doing better than most out of the election of the new SNP administration, certainly better than he did under the last regime of Jack McConnell, where he seemed to have been viewed as more of an embarrassment than he was an asset.

Happy devolution day.

Former Member of the Scottish Parliament, Brian Monteith, reminds us in the Scotsman of the almost unbelievable news that today marks the tenth anniversary of the referendums taking place which agreed the principles of devolution for Scotland.

Now Mr Smith can barely believe that it has been ten years since that happened, but also recalls during a recent visit to Scotland and to the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh that he came across a picture, presumably from the early 1990s, being used as part of a multi-media display which featured Alex Salmond and Jim Sillars, and a bunch of actors dressed up in American Independence garb, under the strap line, "Who ever celebrated Devolution Day?"

Well the world has moved on and Alex Salmond may not be celebrating devolution, but he is certainly in power, and there are very few politicos around today who would have predicted that ten years ago as they trotted down to the polls to vote "Yes, Yes" for devolution.

CBI's humble pie.

Mr Smith read Drumlanrig's disclosures in the Scotland On Sunday that apparently, Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond popped up as the guest speaker at last week's CBI Scotland Dinner in Glasgow, despite the CBI's warnings during the last Scottish Parliament elections in May about the SNP forming the next administration in Scotland.

So, Mr Smith asks: was it a major dose of humble pie for CBI Scotland or an opportunity for the First Minister to show the magnanimity that we have come to expect from the statesman that the First Minister now is.

Mr Smith suspects it was both, with extra weight on the humble pie. And the audience even gave him a round of applause.

Alex's eleven.

In the best traditions of a old-time bingo caller Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond MSP MP, has announced the detail of the eleven bills which the Scottish "Government" will be pursuing over the next session in the Scottish Parliament as part of its Legislative Programme.

Commanding the Scottish Parliamentary Chamber like a Bingo-nista Mr Salmond reaffirmed that the Scottish Government intends to "do less, better." It will make a nice change.

Mr Smith still has an open mind about this new administration, although he is amazed that they managed to come up with eleven pieces of government legislation.

Dark impact.

So, it's official, "Economic statistics do not add up ... Scottish ministers are making "stabs in the dark" in trying to boost the economy because official figures do not make sense, according to an economic report. It suggests the new SNP administration may already have achieved its key goal for the next four years. The intention of bringing the growth rate of the Scottish economy up to the British average is based on figures that show Scotland lagging badly."

Tell Mr Smith he didn't really know and wouldn't it be nice to have achieved a target four years before you set it ... over to you Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond MSP MP, who coincidentally happens to be ... an economist.