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?

Some entrance.

Mr Smith reads the latest insight obtained by Labour MSP Lord George Foulkes in the House of Lords.

"Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour) asked the Chairman of Committees: What is the total cost of the new visitors' entrance to Parliament; and when it is expected to be opened."

Lord Brabazon of Tara (Crossbench): The forecasted cost of the visitor reception building is £11.2 million split 60:40 between the Commons and Lords. It is expected that the building will be opened in early 2008."

That's some entrance ....

Save the whale.

"A North-east politician is getting behind a campaign to stop Japanese whaling, by adopting a humpback whale.Sir Robert Smith, MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, has adopted Bluebell, one of the species which the International Fund for Animal Welfare says is being targeted by whalers in an internationally recognised whale sanctuary.Sir Robert said: "I am very happy to support IFAW's campaign to protect the whales by adopting Bluebell."

They say there is a tendency for pets to begin to resemble their owners, or is it the other way around. But what is the resemblence between Sir Robert and Bluebell?

My name is Shamu ... and I'm a killer whale.

Tony and Barney.

Mr Smith wishes to highlight the latest example of the "special relationship" between former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W. Bush ... the annual Whitehouse Barney Cam footage.

During the clip, Tony even owns up to something which the average Scot probably knew but wished to dis-believe namely his comment to Barney that "As someone born in Edinburgh, Scotland, it's always good to see the Scots doing well. (Barney looks at the camera, tilts his head and a "boing" sound effect is heard. Barney's daydream ends and he's sitting with Miss Beazley on Mrs. Bush's lap in front of the Christmas tree in the Blue Room.)"

Cheesy. But one thing is very certain, it is very unlikely that current British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will feature in W's last Barney Cam spoof next year. They may share some initials in their names but that is about as far as the "special relationship" goes between George and Gordon.

Law breaker.

So, MSPs are apparently queuing up to join Scottish Labour's Leader Wendy Alexander in declaring themselves law breakers.

The latest is Conservative MSP and Deputy Leader, Murdo Fraser who is the subject of the story ... "Seventeen years after the man himself walked free from prison, the Nelson Mandela TV Lounge plaque is also free. The deputy leader of the Scottish Conservatives has finally made a belated contribution to the truth and reconciliation process by admitting stealing a university memorial to the former ANC leader."

For "appropriation" read theft ... can law breakers (even in student jest) ever be law makers? Especially if they are members of the party of "law and order." Flog him.

Write off.

Mr Smith reads that "Highland Liberal Democrat MSP John Farquhar Munro is celebrating his escape from a road accident, but mourning the loss of his trusted car.He and his wife Celia were rescued unhurt when their car skidded off the road near Fort William then careered down an embankment into two feet of water.But the crash left the MSP's 20-year-old Mercedes Benz, which had completed more than 578,000 miles, in "a bit of a mess", resulting in it being written off by insurers."

578,000 miles. But how many of those were run up using the Scottish Parliamentary mileage rate?

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.

Happy Holidays.

Mr Smith reads that "Holyrood authorities were accused of "outrageous" pandering to political correctness by scaling down the religious content of the Scottish Parliament's annual carol service. Murdo Fraser, the Tories' deputy leader, said the "PC brigade" were "taking Christ out of Christmas" without consultation with MSPs or staff."

Murdo was just hoping to be able to "appropriate" a few mince pies at the event.

What about a bit of brotherly love (unless of course it involves a Nelson Mandela plaque)? Or is that too PC?

Scots Natty Party.

Sometimes you can't better the story. This time it is Mark Aitken in the Sunday Mail. The story is reported in other newspapers but you can't beat Mark's slant, if a bit Labour biased towards the end for no good reason.

"NICOLA STURGEON'S haircut for the Holyrood election campaign cost more than £300 and designer suits for Alex Salmond came to more than £3600. The SNP also spent £420 on a taxi for Salmond from his home in Strichen, Aberdeenshire, to Hampden and back to watch Scotland beat Georgia 2-1 in March. Styling and make-up for Salmond and Sturgeon for political broadcasts cost another £700. Overall they spent £1.4million on their election campaign. Electoral Commission figures show Labour spent £1.1million. That included £50,000 for chartering private jet planes to bring Tony Blair to Scotland to campaign. The SNP ran a slick, professional campaign to beat Labour by a single seat at the Holyrood election. Their campaign was funded by donations from bus tycoon Brian Souter, businessman Sir Tom Farmer and Sir Sean Connery. A Labour spokesman said last night: "It's good to see that Brian Souter's cash wasn't wasted - every penny spent on making Alex and Nicola seem more presentable was money well spent."

Taxi for Salmond? For £420? Did that include the tip? But Nicola really needed that new hair do.

Christmas drinks.

ATTICUS says "Holyrood's hacks were amused to received their passes to Christmas drinks at Bute House with the first minister. The event is traditionally well attended, and equally well lubricated. "It would be helfpul to know if you require wheelchair assisted access" said the invites. No, came the massed reply from the parliament's press tower, however "wheelchair assisted egress" is another matter ..."

Should be a fun party.

Flying visits.

So, "SCOTTISH Labour spent a staggering £48,520 flying former Prime Minister Tony Blair to Scotland during April's election campaign."

As the article points out each of Tony' three visits to Scotland probably cost the Scottish Labour Party more votes than it won them. And he was on his way out anyway.

Very expensive way to make a meaningles point, and what about the carbon footprint?

The people have spoken.

Mr Smith notes that in response to the current online poll on the Sunday Herald's website, "Should Wendy Alexander resign?" that 87% of respondents say "Yes" and just 13% say that Wendy should stay. Time to go Wendy.

And what's this about losing another spin doctor? This time before he had even started ....

"Wendy Alexander has lost her third spin doctor in three months. Kerron Cross, 29, had accepted the offer of a job. But yesterday it emerged he is NOT joining her team - and a union is to fight the case. An SNP spokesman said: "To lose one spin doctor may be regarded as a misfortune, to lose two is carelessness. To lose a third is a calamity".

Not again ....

Mr McLaughlin.

Given his previously declared American predilections, Mr Smith highlights the "prediction" from US American political commentator of longstanding John McLaughlin on his programme the McLaughlin Group that "in this coming year, 2008, Scotland will declare its independence from the United Kingdom ...."

This is probably not unrelated to recent visits by Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond to the US, but Mr Smith feels obliged to point out the prediction of the self same Mr McLaughlin in advance of May's Scottish Parliament elections during his programme broadcast the weekend of 29-29 April 2007 that "I predict that nationalists in Scotland will fail in their attempts to create an independent nation."

.... Er ..... emmm .... Mr Smith thinks he got something wrong somewhere ...

Any honour? Left?

"A defiant Charlie Gordon made clear last night that he would not be resigning as an MSP, dismissing breaches of the electoral law as no more than "a fuss". The former Glasgow Council leader also defended his conduct in civic life as he implied that his past performance in the city was now being used against him."

No .... really?

Not Mr Gordon .... who in 2007 solicited a donation from a businessman he had previously nominated for an honour, despite being allegedly advised two years before that a previous attempt to obtain a donation from the same person would breach the law, which it then did, refusing to resign from his post as an MSP, carrying a salary of £60K per annum. It would never happen in Scotland. Never. Never.

The Alexander camp seem to believe that all they have to do is huncker down and in four years at the next election everyone in Scotland will have forgotten ... they underestimate the Scottish voter. What about honour?

The best democracy ....?

"Alex Salmond's SNP outspent Labour for the first time in May's Holyrood elections by more than £280,000 as the Nationalists almost trebled their campaign spending to a record £1.4m, not far short of the statutory limit. Figures released by the Electoral Commission yesterday revealed that the four main parties spent a total of £3.4m this year, more than double the £1.6m they spent in 2003. Backed by wealthy donors such as transport tycoon Brian Souter, who, according to the commission's register, gave the Nationalists £625,000 in the first part of the year, the SNP spent £1,383,462 in May's poll, up from £473,107 four years ago, which represented a rise of 192.4%."

Mr Smith thinks .... the point is ... that all of it was within the law ... and declared.

Lucky Jack.

Drumlanrig says "One Labour MSP who doesn't seem to be overly concerned with the chaos engulfing Wendy Alexander is her predecessor Jack McConnell. After spending the last six years of his life under the spotlight, McConnell was seen happily wandering around the Scottish Parliament on Thursday last week, chatting to friends and generally enjoying himself. One hack shouted out to him that he should stay by the phone just in case a new leader was required. McConnell was about to offer a reply before thinking better of it and grinning - a smile which said it all."

He must be glad to be out of it.

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."

The temperature's rising.

Labour MSP Charlie Gordon is obviously feeling the heat over the Wendy Alexander donations furore.

"LABOUR MSP Charles Gordon was warned TWO YEARS AGO it was illegal to accept donations from tax-exile Paul Green. Green offered to support Gordon's by-election campaign in Cathcart in 2005. Gordon turned him down - but later took two donations from him, including one for Wendy Alexander's Labour leadership campaign. Asked to comment last night, Gordon snapped: "Jesus Christ! Give me a break will you?" He then slammed down the phone."

No need to swear Charlie.

Meanwhile over at the Scotsman they happily name the donors to Wendy's non-campaign:

"A total of £16,600 was raised for her fighting fund, including ten contributions of £995 and one of £950 - all just below the £1,000 threshold, above which donors have to be named. The £950 came from Paul Green. One of the £995 donations, thought to be organised by Mr McCabe, came from David Pitt-Watson, of private equity firm Hermes Focus Asset Management. He had previously given money to Gordon Brown's leadership campaign. Mr McCabe also raised money from other business people, including Neil Davidson, the former solicitor general, and Willie Haughey. Mr Whitton is understood to have organised donations from John Lyon, a former Labour MP, while Ms McNeill brought in a donation from businessman Brian Dempsey, and Ms Baillie organised a donation from Harry Donaldson, a senior union official. Seven Labour peers - Lords Robertson, Maxton, Boyd, Elder, Sewel and Moonie and Baroness Adams - gave £2,500 between them. Ms Alexander is understood to have been responsible for securing a donation of £400 from long-term Labour supporter Mary Goudie. Nick Kuenssberg, a Glasgow businessman and also the part-time deputy chairman of the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, was also a donor and is thought to have given £995 to the campaign."

Some interesting names on that list.

Cell culture.

Staying on the theme of the Police ...

"POLICE officers across Scotland are spending hours driving suspects around in patrol vehicles because there are simply not enough cells for prisoners to be held in."

And then we wonder why the public have such little faith in this country's policing system? In Tayside the cops involved would probably get an even bigger bonus for having to "interact" with the public at the same time as driving.

Maybe we should just bring back the Stocks.

Picking up the Bill.

"THE Christmas pay packets of more than 100 Tayside police officers are set to swell by £2000 each because of the demands of “direct contact with the public.” In total, 141 lead constables pick up the ‘special priority payment’ in their December wage in recognition of their work in “particularly demanding areas” such as public interaction."

Hang on. There was Mr Smith thinking that interacting with the public was a bit of a given for the average copper and can "interacting" with the public be any more "demanding" than pursuing or arresting someone? This seems ridiculous to Mr Smith.

The Curious Case of Wendy.

Mr Smith has to do a lot of things he would rather not do in the name of blogging. The latest was to look at under siege Scottish Labour Leader Wendy Alexander MSP's website, http://www.wendyalexander.co.uk/, which features amongst other things a very amusing picture gallery of our Wendy in various poses out and about with the lumpen proletariat of Paisley and beyond.

Strangely enough given her recent illegalities a number of the pictures feature Wendy with the cops wearing a rather strange and forlorn facial expression.

But Mr Smith also noticed that one link on Wendy's website entitled "Donate" takes the clicker to the Scottish Labour Party's secure donation webpage, https://secure2.labour.org.uk/scotland/donate, where it states very categorically in the Terms and Conditions that:

"In compliance with party funding laws, if I am donating more than £200, I understand that my details will be checked to ensure I am registered on a UK electoral register (this applies to overseas residents as well as UK residents). If I donate more than £1,000 to a Labour Party unit (e.g. Constituency Labour Party) or more than £5,000 to the Labour Party nationally in the course of a calendar year, I understand that my name and the amount of the donation will be reported to the Electoral Commission for publication on their public register of donations to the Labour Party."

Curiouser and curiouser. As well as writing a thank you letter to a Jersey resident businessman who couldn't lawfully make a donation, and having her husband question the donation on an email database for Wendy's campaign, we now also have the Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from her own website referring donors to a website where the law which Wendy herself broke is clearly explained to anyone who can read. Time to say goodbye Wendy.

Oh no she isn't ...

So, Labour's Scottish Leader has spoken.

"Wendy Alexander intends to carry on as Scottish Labour leader, despite continued pressure for her to quit over a donation to her leadership campaign. It follows suggestions in the press that her campaign team knew there were question marks over a donation from Jersey-based businessman Paul Green. Ms Alexander rejected any suggestion of "intentional wrongdoing" and was "confident" of being exonerated. She said she still had a contribution to make to the lives of fellow Scots ... In a statement, Ms Alexander, ... said: "I deeply regret the damage which recent publicity has brought to the Labour party. However, I reject any suggestion of intentional wrongdoing on my part. I intend to address these matters with the Electoral Commission, with whom I am co-operating fully. I am confident when all the facts are known I will be exonerated of any intentional wrongdoing."

You broke the rules Wendy. Do the decent; the honourable thing; and go. Otherwise you will become the laughing stock of Scottish politics. More than you already have. Starting to feel the heat from the boys in blue yet?

She's Toast.

Today's newspapers are full of calls for Labour's Scottish Leader Wendy Alexander MSP to resign, following further disclosures about the dodgy donation by Jersey business man Paul Green to her Leadership Election campaign and the fact that Labour MSP Charlie Gordon had already nominated Mr Green for an honour which he did not receive.

The only argument for Wendy not resigning is that if she does it will probably inevitably lead to Labour's UK Deputy Leader Harriet Harmen MP having to do the same.

That isn't really a good enough reason for Wendy not to go when whatever else happened she clearly broke electoral law. Ignorance is no excuse, especially when the law places the onus on the person receiving a donation to satisfy themselves the law has been complied with.

Mr Smith was no great fan of Wendy Alexander and her "non-election" as Scottish Labour Leader. But is she has any principles left she should do the decent thing and resign. It is then for others to consider their own positions.

Never ending elections.

So, "ELECTIONS in Scotland might be held over several days under a plan being considered by the Electoral Commission" according to the Scotsman.

Isn't having a campaign of several weeks and voting on one day enough? After all we have too few people at the moment turning out to vote. Do we really believe that giving people even longer not to vote is a good idea?

Adults only.

Mr Smith reads that "CITY MP Nigel Griffiths today announced he will put a Bill before the Westminster parliament to ban junk food advertising aimed at children. He wants a 9pm watershed for television advertising of items such as burgers, crisps and fizzy drinks, and an end to the promotion of unhealthy food to children in magazines and on websites. Mr Griffiths, Labour MP for Edinburgh South, won seventh place in the annual ballot for Private Members' Bills, which gives him a good chance of getting a new law on to the statute book."

But hang on ... most kids are tucked up in bed anyway at 9 pm and therefore they won't be able to see any advertising full stop. Is that what Mr Griffiths wants? Presumably so.

But the effect will be that adults won't be able to see any of these adverts either before that time, along with their kids so that they can talk to them about food issues, and anyway who gets to decide what is "unhealthy." The calorific and sugar content of a smoothie is probably just as bad for kids as anything else.

Does Mr G really have nothing better to do with his time? Nanny State here we go ... again.