U-Turn.

As Mrs Thatcher once famously said, "you turn if you want to ... the lady is not for turning."

Well Alex Salmond and the SNP Scottish Government obviously don't share Mrs T's perspective. Amidst all the bluster from John Swinney MSP about why the Government had to back down, the fundamental reason, which he didn't mention, was that the Scottish Parliament didn't actually have the power to introduce a local income tax under the terms of the Scotland Act.

"Alex Salmond stood accused of the most humiliating U-turn of the devolution era after the Scottish Government yesterday ditched its pledge to replace the council tax with a local income tax. Finance Secretary John Swinney blamed the economic downturn, Westminster cuts and Holyrood arithmetic, but Labour called it "the most humiliating climb-down since devolution" and evidence of a "government in meltdown". Mr Swinney told the Scottish Parliament the government would not be proceeding with its plan to introduce a Local Income Tax before the next election in 2011. Instead, he railed against the Treasury and plans for £500m of cuts, and attacked Labour and the Conservatives for being opposed to the plan."

Sorry.

"FINANCE secretary John Swinney last night apologised for the petty squabbling between parties that saw Scotland's £33billion budget hit the buffers. He admitted: "I don't think it was parliament's finest hour."

That was nice of him, but at least he recognises his partial responsibility for the shambles.

Reserved.

You would think before embarking on trying to deliver its plans for a local income tax, the Scottish Government might actually have bothered to check that it had the legal powers to do so.

"The Scottish Government is to be told there is "no legal basis" for its plans to introduce a local income tax, it emerged today. The SNP Holyrood administration plans to introduce the charge to replace the council tax. Finance secretary John Swinney has said previously his preferred option is for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to collect the tax. But it emerged David Hartnett, the head of Revenue and Customs, is to send a letter to Scotland's top civil servant Sir John Elvidge, the draft of which states: "There is no legal basis for a local income tax along the lines outlined in the SNP consultation document." A spokesman for Mr Swinney today insisted: "We have every right and ability to scrap the unfair council tax and replace it with a fair local income tax to fund local authority expenditure."

Mr Smith isn't a constitutional lawyer, but he tends to think that the powers on this issue are reserved to Westminster and as such the Scottish Government doesn't have a legal leg to stand on. What next Mr Swinney? And in how many other areas of policy which the Scottish Government is hoping to legislate on doesn't it have the powers to do so?

Swinney's Savings Account.

Mr Smith has some difficulty understanding this one.

"JOHN SWINNEY, the finance secretary, has declared he has found £600 million of savings in the Scottish budget this year, £66 million more than his target. But about two-thirds of the savings have yet to be identified by councils, health boards, universities, colleges and other public bodies which face an across-the-board 2 per cent cut."

How is it possible for Mr Swinney to declare £600 million worth of savings when two thirds of the savings haven't yet been identified ....? When is a saving not a saving? When it is "unrealised" which is exactly what his £600 million figure is at the moment. What is the point in giving public bodies budgets and then arbitrarily top slicing their budgets to generate "savings"? Welcome to the world of Scottish Government finance. It makes no sense to Mr Smith.

Umbrella.

So the curse and arrogance of being in power has now struck the Scottish Government's Finance and Climate Minister John Swinney.

"RED-FACED Finance Minister John Swinney has been caught taking a chauffeur-driven limo on a 200-yard trip - to avoid a walk in the rain. The government's climate campaigner even left his engine running for 20 minutes as he popped into the BBC studios."

He obviously doesn't like Pina Coladas and taking walks in the rain. And all for the lack of a decent umbrella which he could have bought for as little as a tenner on the SNP's own shopping website. A small price to pay for saving the planet ... and Scotland's little bit of it.

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.