Scottish Roundup

Whatever the songs and rhymes you learnt at school would have you believe, you’ll be much safer taking your chances with the ghouls and witches tonight than you are dipping your toes into the black waters of the Scottish blogosphere – at least, that is, if the disquieting goings-on that have been reported to the Roundup of late are anything to go by. Helen McGinn had to exorcise the “evil anonymous pifflers” who have been haunting her blog in a scary bid to sell her readers “bizarre liquids” and “adult chickens”. And if you’re a male celebrity blessed with a desirable body part (Sir Chris Hoy, I’m looking at you) please steer well clear of Jinedin – she’s busily plotting a Frankenstein-style operation to construct her Perfect Man.

Our next spine-chilling port of call is to the door – quite literally – of SGMarinova. She recounts the horrifying tale of how a man trying to sell her cheap gas and electricity came calling, and asked to come inside. Her every instinct screamed “murderer” and “serial killer”. Then the phone rang, and at the other end was a person making very little sense indeed. Her every instinct now screamed “subterfuge to assist the murderer”. Were her worst fears realised? You’ll just have to read the post in full to find out, but to give you a sneak preview – no, they weren’t, really.

Now, you might be complacent enough to imagine that, if there’s one safe haven from all this terror to be found out there, it would be in the inspiring realm of shared experiences and mutual support that it is the British Mummy Blogging community. If so, you’ll want to brace yourself before taking a look at this parting shot from Clinically Fed Up as she takes her leave of the scene. The phrase “permeated with a sense of fear” will give you a taste of what to expect.

And what bigger fright can there be than a swift, clinical kick to the solar plexus when you least expect it? If you want to avoid that fate, I recommend that you tread very gingerly in the company of Dawn, aka The Moiderer. I honestly thought I was reading a straightforward, uplifting account of how she had decided to make the day of the in-house manager at her local Starbucks, who had complained that they never received any positive feedback. She reproduces the full letter she sent to the Customer Care Team, in which she waxed lyrical about the delights of Starbucks in general – “I am No. 1 Starbucks fan”, “I also run a little club on Twitter”, “the new stores in Welcome Break Services…are brilliant!” – and of her local store in Dundee in particular. She then reproduces in full the letter she received in response, which purred that “it is lovely to learn of your enjoyable experiences at your local store in Dundee”, that “your feedback will certainly be appreciated” and that “I hope you will continue to enjoy our coffee for many years to come and we look forward to welcoming you back to Starbucks”. And last but not least, Dawn offers her own verdict on this oh-so-rare exchange of mutual appreciation in an otherwise cynical world…

“What I find interesting is that I know for a fact when you write to complain they send you vouchers in compensation. Interesting that when you write with positive feedback you get nothing! That is not good Customer Service in my opinion.”

Ouch. Didn’t see that one coming.

I, for my part, am determined not to be cynical today, so when Nick Johnston says that the armed forces have a glittering future ahead of them in an independent Scotland, I take him entirely at his word and detect no sarcasm whatsoever. On a related subject, Lolaferrola has just returned from a holiday near to the doomed RAF Kinloss, and the “sombre” mood she encountered has spurred her to issue a rallying-cry to her readers to “get out there and support local communities”. In a rather unforeseeable twist, it’s an Ice Cream Road Trip she has in mind.

The BBC’s Question Time made one of its occasional forays to Scotland on Thursday evening, and a number of bloggers were deeply troubled by what unfolded. The central focus for controversy was presenter David Dimbleby’s treatment of Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. Joan McAlpine gives this account –

“During a discussion about the comprehensive spending review, she [Sturgeon] tried to explain this crucial aspect of her party’s solution to cuts in Scotland. Her point was ruled out of order by David Dimbleby who more or less told her to be quiet. “This is for a UK audience!” said Dimbleby imperiously…It became even more extraordinary a few moments later when, during a discussion about the use of torture, Dimbleby himself raised the unrelated issue of Megrahi’s release from prison, and asked the panellists – except Nicola – whether the Scottish government made the wrong decision. She did get to make her point, briefly, but not at the invitation of the chairman. It was eye-boggling to behold.”

Alex Massie at the Spectator’s Coffee House issues the disclaimers that he didn’t see the programme and doesn’t agree with all of Joan McAlpine’s views on the subject, but nevertheless observes that “Dimbleby’s attitude – assuming it has been reported correctly – reflects a London-based parochialism that does neither him nor the Corporation any credit.” One valuable thing to emerge from the incident, however, is that it has sparked off a lively debate about how Scotland’s authentic ‘voice’ can ever be meaningfully accommodated within a London-dominated UK media environment. McAlpine isn’t convinced it can be, due to the simple structural fact that the vast bulk of UK residents live in England, and thus have little interest in hearing about distinctively Scottish issues. Gerry Hassan reaches a similar conclusion, for slightly different reasons –

“I don’t think it is possible for the UK media, political class and elite opinion to develop a nuanced, subtle, informed understanding of the UK; it just isn’t going to happen; they believe that their bunker-like Westminster mentality is a rich, pluralist, cosmopolitan view of the world, unsullied by the unreconstructed lumpenproletariat who live out in the sticks.

Change can only come from without. That requires taking action, and in Scotland’s case it means creating our own media spaces to develop our national conversations and debate.”

Meanwhile, Mhairi McGregor hits a nerve in the nationalist blogosphere by suggesting that a movement which is broadly left-of-centre, internationalist in outlook and pro-immigration should not be “giving a platform to” or “promoting” pro-independence bloggers who oppose multiculturalism. The examples given are Dark Lochnagar and Subrosa, both of whom show up to defend their views vigorously in a lengthy and explosive comments section.

Elsewhere in the political world, as Labour and the coalition government continue to battle it out for the mantle of Britain’s ‘progressive’ force, Pamela at Spirited Voice considers whether the term even has real meaning any longer. Neil Craig recounts an online exchange he had with Norman Tebbit about the declining importance of party conferences. Tocasaid reveals that, according to the Legatum Prosperity Index, countries from Alex Salmond’s famous/infamous ‘arc of prosperity’ still outperform the UK. And on the day that the clocks went back, there could hardly be a better moment to ponder the age-old question of whether the UK should switch to Central European Time. John Ruddy counters the oft-heard suggestions that an “extra hour of daylight” would save lives and boost tourism.

Political Innovation are continuing to promote their forthcoming event in Edinburgh – I know from my own mailbox that Mick Fealty has been inviting every Scottish political blogger he can track down, so expect to see the world and his dog there on November 13th! Duncan Stephen is particularly keen on the prospect of a free lunch (although my mum always taught me there’s no such thing).

At Thoughtland, Pat Kane reflects on the homecoming – in tragically very different circumstances – of “two brilliant young women of the Scottish diaspora”, Shirley Manson and Linda Norgrove. The article also appears in the Caledonian Mercury. Elsewhere, Pat can be seen in a video at The Play Ethic discussing “future scenarios for Scottish education and technology”.

Gordon Johnston takes on the myth that women are more likely than men to suffer from depression, and explores whether men’s greater reluctance to seek help can be blamed on the increasing “feminisation” of doctors’ surgeries. Of course another huge health challenge facing Scotland is the high percentage of adults who smoke, although Angela Harbutt’s concern is about the cost to the taxpayer of the public funding given to anti-smoking body ASH Scotland, and what she sees as its ill-conceived proposals to incentivise retailers for not selling tobacco.

Quite a few ‘campaigning’ posts have been nominated this week. Green MSP Patrick Harvie wants to save Glasgow’s atmospheric Otago Lane, while Fraser Denholm is concerned about the prospect of redundancies at Grays School of Art. Crafty Green Poet is drumming up support for the fundraising drive to save Edinburgh’s Forest Café, a “volunteer run, not-for-profit arts and events space and veggie café”.

As ever, there have also been some terrific photo and video related nominations. Wendy at A Wee Bit of Cooking tempts your tastebuds with a bird’s eye view of spaghetti with slow roasted tomato and basil. Euan Robertson captures some stunning Glasgow ‘traffic trails’, Lisa lifts the veil on the stylish homes of American fashion designers, while Scotland for the Senses has a number of wonderful shots of Arbroath Abbey in the sunshine.

Maggie Whyte reposts a slightly blurred photo from a fellow Tumblr user – and you’ll be relieved to hear that, contrary to how it might appear from a cursory glance, the woman in question is not looking pleased as punch because she’s just bought Boris Johnson’s 2011 Calendar. Over at her other blog, Maggie provides gratuitous pictorial evidence of a chocolate feast that unexpectedly dropped through her letterbox one day. Do these sorts of thing actually happen in real life? And if so, where did I go wrong?

AndyG has a video on his blog billed as “an epic battle between Grappa The Crazy Killer Demon Dog From Hell, and a stuffed Octopus”, although I must admit to my untutored eye it looks more like forty seconds’ worth of footage of a long-suffering dog being subjected to verbal bullying by the stuffed octopus, followed by an admirably restrained revenge attack by the dog.

Turning now to matters of law, this was of course the week of the earth-shaking Cadder ruling at the UK Supreme Court, although oddly enough there were no nominations relating specifically to that subject (unless I dropped them behind the fridge). But a post from Lallands Peat Worrier reflecting on the differences between the English and Scottish jury systems does receive the nod. In particular, he highlights the lack of a requirement for a qualified majority north of the border, meaning that it’s perfectly possible to be convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment on an 8-7 split – it sounds like a coin toss would do the business just as well. And in the week that Cardinal O’Brien came out in support of an inquiry into the safety of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi’s conviction for the Lockerbie bombing, Robert Black releases a statement from leading criminal case solicitor Len Murray, setting out the reasons why he found the original trial verdict at Camp Zeist incomprehensible.

Let’s move on to some superb reviews of TV, film and theatre. One of my dark secrets is that I’m a closet Doctor Who fan (Troughton and Davison are my favourites, since you don’t ask) so I’m horrified to discover I overlooked Matt Smith’s guest appearance on The Sarah-Jane Adventures – although I may not have missed much if Thumbcast’s review is anything to go by. Elsewhere, Statler casts his eye over Ian Low’s play One Gun, while ReelScotland carries a review of the film Burke and Hare in the entertaining form of a conversation between three people who have just been to see it.

A few poetry-flavoured posts : Mairi Sharratt enthuses about TraVerses poetry night in Edinburgh, Andrew McCallum Crawford presents his own poem ‘Dodgems’, and Christine McIntosh pays a highly personal and moving tribute to the late Edwin Morgan.

Misssy M’s sister had a cat go AWOL recently, sparking off memories of the time Gillian’s own cat Molly went missing for a month. You’ll be relieved to hear that both stories have happy endings, with the important caveat that Gillian doesn’t actually tell us if her ‘Meeester M’ suffered any long-term ill effects from nibbling on cat biscuits while out on the hunt for Molly.

Laura McIntyre had an enjoyable overnight escape to the ‘Bonnie Banks’ a couple of weeks ago, and shares three photos with us, along with a touristy YouTube video, plus a plug for the guest house where she stayed – before swearing blind she wasn’t bribed to do the write-up. On the whole, I’m inclined to believe her, in which case I’d like to invite her along to a highly selective guided tour of my own neck of the woods one of these days – it’s a losing battle, but some free propaganda probably wouldn’t hurt.

If you’ve had any setbacks in your life recently, I find it always helps to think of someone less fortunate than yourself. In fact, let’s get down to specifics – I invite you to think of Kevin, husband of Slugs on the Refrigerator blogger Kat. He’s been waiting patiently (actually, not all that patiently by the sounds of it) for his wife to knit him a hat, only to discover when it was finally finished that it was far too big and made him feel like Darth Vader. To add insult to injury, the wool was really, really expensive. Kat is duly contrite. (And before anyone mutters anything about gender stereotyping, I just work with the material I’m given, OK?)

Now, a few miscellaneous nominations to round things off : Steven Aitchison offers some advice on how to “stand out from the crowd when there is so much noise in the world”, Happy Science explores whether science can teach us anything about cooking, and Belinda at Freedom-2-Choose takes up Gillian’s recent call-to-arms, with a post promoting Scottish Roundup. Oh, and if you live on Islay or Jura and fancy a spot of chess, bridge or even belly dancing over the coming weeks, you’ll find a comprehensive diary of activities at the website of The Ileach, an independent newspaper for the two islands.

Well, that finally bring this week’s roundup to a close – it’s been a bumper edition, because Gillian’s exhortations for more nominations did the trick, and quite a few gems had to be carried over as they couldn’t be crammed in last time. So my challenge to you all is to keep those nominations flying in, and ensure my successor has an equally mammoth task next Sunday! Until then, have a great week.

Be gentle, dear reader, for this is my first round up and I apologise in advance if it’s pants.  I’m not good at following rules so will only have myself to blame for your ire, given that I cherrypicked my way through the nominations and just don’t really do whimsical.

But hey, we weren’t exactly in whimsical mood this week.  Boy did we want Osborne and co to feel our anger and it translated into some fantastic posts.  Not for we Scots bloggers the obvious path of retreading the cuts announcements but lots of quirky, off piste angles and thoughtful analysis.  Made me proud to be among youse.

Bella Caledonia set the tone wondering if Scotland will find its mettle and reject “the shock in the shock doctrine”.  Bright Green fired off its anger for doomed youth with a post analysing the impact of cuts on future generations and Caron’s Musings asked “who will speak up for the poor now” in a post that considered the good and the bad in the measures announced.

The Ben Lomond Free Press discussed the consequences of the cuts for his area and for micro businesses like his, while the Misssy M Misssives provided a fantastic family sized microcosm of the economic challenges facing us all. Freedom-2-Choose Scotland explored ASH Scotland’s plea to be insulated from the cuts.  Suitably Despairing highlighted the potentially catastrophic impact of just one of the Spending Review’s many measures, but Craig Murray took a different view of “the Left’s irrational addiction to high public spending”.

Scotland Unspun (also published by Newsnet Scotland) detailed how Britain’s sterling crisis is distorting Scottish GDP – warning: this excellent post needs a clear head to do it justice!  But there is hope: Shopaholly showed that there is an alternative by living smaller and learning to love saving.

The Liberal Democrats’ culpability for the cuts came under close scrunity from Scotland’s bloggers, with Michael Moore in particular getting a bit of a doing from Go Lassie Go.  And Another Thing ruminated over the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats’ failure to keep their manifesto promises while Scot Goes Pop! wondered “at what point do they (Lib Dem members) say ‘up with this we will not put’?  Elsewhere, the Will Patterson notebook analysed the ups and downs of the Scottish Green vote since 1999.  And Gerry Hassan lamented the lack of big ideas to create a bigger Scotland; fortunately, he posits a few top class ones of his own.

The defence review and the HMS Astute incident also provided fertile blogging ground.  Malc at Better Nation pondered the impact of the RAF base closure on the small town of Kinloss. Sub Rosa highlighted the alarming but also very funny case of the sub that ran into Skye while Set in Darkness – Life considered it a disaster, though “thankfully not a nuclear incident”.

Some of the myriad Nationalist bloggers explored Alex Salmond’s speech to the SNP’s annual conference, including Munguin’s Republic and Lallands Peat Worrier, who,in a separate post considered if the young Salmond deserved the epithet of “infant Robespierre”.  The new SNP campaign choon prompted Sean McP’s Blogfeast to travel through a lifetime of “working together” for the SNP

All things womanly featured in a number of posts.  The meaning and relevance of feminism was expertly dissected by an extremely articulate teenager in the Higher Plane Diaries, while Change your thoughts, change your life made the case for female entrepreneurs being better than male ones. Kirsty Logan wrote an open letter to drunk dudes in bars and The Absurdist mused poignantly on being a year older and why she’ll never regret another birthday.

Reconstruction of Scottish football is on the menu again – Jim Spence considered the pros and cons while Dear Scotland applied Chinese numerology to SPL reorganisation and concluded that “turd + polish = turd”.  But there’s more to sport than football, as eloquently demonstrated by Skip Cottage Curling who recounted a bizarre criminal scandal to hit Canadian curling and the Drum Up which featured a series of posts on Graeme Obree, a greatest living Scot if ever there was one.

Another greatest living Scot, Dame Evelyn Glennie, inspired Beyond the Dragon’s Breath’s wonderful poem.  A particularly riveting and enthralling jaunt through Edinburgh from Shootin fae the Shin took us from the Abbotsford Arms to Barefit Park, with a shocking murder along the way.

As usual, Scotland’s wondrous natural resources inspired bloggers and photograhers alike. In a bundance celebrated the delights of Mull, Islay Natural History Trust posted a fantastic photo of the common buzzard, the novelty of snow in October was framed perfectly by Beefy Lorelei and Martin Third captured this amazing cloud formation over Linlithgow.

Some more photies to delight you – this of the Lewis Chessmen currently on display in Aberdeen (from daisyglaisy), Ben’s View of a well stocked gantry (it might be the nearest some of us get to malt whisky for some time) and eh, this spotted in the Meadows in Edinburgh by MVP Photographs.  A gorilla busking.  And if that wasn’t surreal enough for you, try Balloon man gets on a bus, captured by Adelaide Green Porridge.

On the music front, Aye Tunes promoted Edinburgh Popfest this weekend:  the line up certainly whetted my whistle, and tickets are still available for Sunday;  Amy McDonald was captured on stage in Aberdeen by Day of the Tripods ; Song, by Toad challenged his own prejudices against exclusives and remixes and Peenko provided a damn fine smattering of Friday freebies.  Have fun at dinner went record shopping with Neil Pennycook from Meursault who revealed he just wants to get on stage with his top off…

The soap opera that is the Tommy Sheridan court case continued, with Absolvitor posting this very funny summary and the Sheridan Trial giving a blow by blow account of each session.  There will be more lurid stuff laid bare (no pun intended), I’m sure.  But no Love and Garbage this week due to illness and work overload – get well and come back soon, we miss you!

One final round of wonderful posts for you, from parents of children with support needs, highlighting the injustices they face daily and the maelstrom of emotions they endure.  As I marched yesterday against the cuts and for a better way, it was families like these who were at the forefront of my mind.  If any group deserves protection from the coalition’s cuts and a better way from decision makers and service providers, it’s them. But no pity required, thank you.

Oh Mammy; Clare, Derek and the Twincesses; Gallus Effie; Soft Thistle; Jacqui’s Blog Off

The Scottish Roundup has two aims; to give Scottish bloggers a platform and to showcase the best of Scottish blogging every week.  Like its cousin The British Blog Roundup we want to show our readers the diversity of blogs out there in Scotland.

However, we need your help. In short we need blog readers and blog writers to start getting more involved. Here’s what we think the roundup needs:

1.       A wee bit of showing off: We need everyone to stop being so shy about nominating their own posts. If you think you’ve written a good post, then tell us about it. Nominate yourself- no-one will think you are up yourself! We strive to include anyone nominated (unless their posts are offensive). So do it- put your posts forward, no one need know you did it yourself. We won’t tell!

2.       Variety: Never think that something isn’t up our street. We want the Roundup to be diverse. Scottish Roundup had a tendency to include a lot of political posts but this is changing. We only draw the line at pornography and offensiveness. Everything else is our bag- so nominate it! We like art, photography (incl Blipfoto- we think that’s blogging), food and drink. Poetry, music, fiction, sports, science, technology, news, ecology, fashion, personal blogs, film reviews – everything. We want it all, as long as it’s :

• Written by anyone in Scotland OR
• Written by a Scot living anywhere in the world
• About anything relating to Scotland

3.       Editors: We need more volunteers to help edit the Roundup. We have a core team of volunteers who administrate the site but we like our editors to be different every week so that each roundup is decided by a range of people. We are not a clique, we don’t know each other in real life and we’re not snotty or scary. All we’d need you to do is email us and say something like “Hi, I’d like to edit the roundup one week, I am a fully functioning member of society and I promise not to use the F word too much” and then we’ll get back in touch and tell you how to go about it. You don’t even need to be a blogger. You can just be a gentle reader. And you can edit the Roundup as many times as you want- no pressure.

4.       Feedback: we’d like it. Start telling us what you’d like. Do we post the round up too often? Do you want more arts stuff, more sports stuff, more stuff from ex-pat Scots? What did you like about past roundups? What did you not like? Do you want to get more involved? Could be doing anything to make Roundup better?

5.       Link love: We’d really like it if everyone mentioned in the roundup each week pimped us out a little bit. That way you will all get more readers and maybe Scottish Roundup will grow and people like Andrew Marr might shut his face about how unimportant bloggers are! Retweet our links, facebook them, tell your friends, link to us on your blog- anything. if we all fly the flag then being included in the Roundup might become an even greater thing as the site grows.

There are heaps of ways you can get in touch with us. You can use that little form on the right hand side, you can Retweet us/follow us @ScottishRoundup, you can email us at scottishroundup@gmail.com or you can leave a comment in the comments box. We’d also be grateful that if you’ve ever been included in the Roundup if you let us know your views and pass on the link to this post. We’ll be following up on all suggestions and letting you know how the feedback has gone.

So, any thoughts?

Misssy M (Gillian Martin)

On behalf of the Scottish Roundup Team

There is an event coming up that will interest a lot of Scottish political bloggers. Political Innovation is taking place on 13 November at the University of Edinburgh’s Informatics Forum.

The Political Innovation project is a series of free-to-attend practical events at which people with ideas on political innovations can meet up with technical experts, journalists, bloggers, politicos and others with an interest in politics and public affairs. The event will allow to find about about innovative projects like these ones. You may even want to get involved in one of them.

It sounds pretty good to me and I plan on attending. It will be a good opportunity for bloggers to meet up and chat with others that are interested in this sort of thing.

As far as I know, it has been a while since there was a bit meetup of Scottish bloggers, and from time to time people ask me when there is going to be another meetup. The political focus of this event might not appeal to everyone, but it sounds like the ideal place for some of us to catch up, as well as meet other interesting people and discuss innovative ideas. Best of all, they will be supplying lunch.

“A lot of bloggers seem to be socially inadequate, pimpled, single, slightly seedy, bald, cauliflower-nosed, young men sitting in their mother’s basements and ranting. They are very angry people. OK – the country is full of very angry people. Many of us are angry people at times. Some of us are angry and drunk. But the so-called citizen journalism is the spewings and rantings of very drunk people late at night.”

So quoth the BBC’s Andrew Marr, this week. As a snapshot of some of Scotland’s blogging efforts, if Marr’s thesis is correct, no doubt we’d find a rum-soaked series of gutter smears, anointed with language redolent of a hairy-arsed docker and critical engagement with the affairs of the day boasting all the intellectual backbone of a particularly floppy invertebrate.  Andrew Reeves takes Marr’s slights somewhat personally, insisting that he’s socially adequate, at most mildly seedy, romantically connected and categorically not the ghoul in residence in his mammy’s cellar. Happily, having a thumb through what other folk have been writing about, we find plenty here to rebut jug-lugs’ smug  indictment.

One of the big issues prompting lushly ire this week was the Browne review into the funding of higher education, raising the spectre of students being charged theoretically unlimited tuition fees if they wish to study in English universities. Former PPC Stephen Glenn has been courageously expressing his dissent from the new party line all week, kicking off with a post in which he articulates his strong disagreement with Nick Clegg under the telling image of Stephen signing the NUS fees pledge. Thinking through the implications of Browne for Scotland, Ideas of Civilisation asks - where are the big Scottish ideas on education funding? While at Bright Green Scotland, both Alasdair Thomson and Adam Ramsay vigorously assail the proposals.

Benighted Paul Freeman of Set in Darkness posts the conclusion of Delhi’s Commonwealth Games and the hooch-skirling, Nessie-heavy handover to Glasgow.

Dean McKinnon-Thompson detected divisions in the party before the SNP conference this week in Perth.  Poacher turned gamekeeper Joan McAlpine Went-Lassie-Went to Perth and blogs from the conference, on everything from fringe events to the Fair Maid of Perth. Allan the Paisley epistler writes about how the party’s fortunes went astray in the 2010 Westminster election and offers remedies which he suggests can restore their fortunes. James Kelly thinks differently, styling it the SNP’s “away game” problem. Others have been commenting on the party’s new party political broadcast, whose soundtrack is furnished by the young band Jakil, singing “Let’s work together”. Perched judiciously atop her dry stane dyke, ane Corbie carks - right message, wrong melody, caw caw!

Scotland boasts many jaggy thistles. Marylin must be one of the few Soft Thistles in the clump. You may also be interested in the new hyper-local Craigmillar & Niddrie Media blog, run by folk from that part of the world, promising a gallimaufry of interesting material.  Neil Craig analyses a response from the Scottish Government on the Forth Road Bridge, contending that:

“…the cost proposed for the Forth Bridge is still 13 times that of the similar first bridge, 1,000 times what tunnels can be & have been built for & 4,000 times what recabling would cost.”

Alan McIntosh writes at Morally Bankrupt! - a Scottish blog on debt-fuelled poverty – on the coalition Government’s cuts to consumer organisations, warning:

“…unless a new robust system of proper regulations is introduced, it may be the beginning of a new era of consumer abuse unlike anything we have seen before.”

Peter Cherbi strikes a similar note of concern.

Better Nation host a guest blog from Labour MSP John Park, who asks “Can we find a cure for asbestos-related conditions?” Kezia Dugale, who is ranked second on Labour list in the Lothians region for the 2011 Holyrood election, makes a plea to the SNP on the Edinburgh tram project.

Dundee Coonciller Fraser Macpherson writes about attempts to memorialise the 1879 Tay Rail Bridge Disaster. Andy Wightman thought feudalism was dead and wonders what the Lord Lyon King of Arms’ daffy looking pursuivants are hingin’ aboot for.  Over at his Lockerbie Case blog, Robert Black enumerates some of the weel-kent faces that have signed the Scottish Parliament’s Justice for Megrahi petition.  Meanwhile, the blogger formerly known as J Arthur McNumpty writes about what he styles the  “brief hysteria that whirls around the Scottish LibDem blogosphere”, specifically on the issue of prescription charges and the indictment of universal benefits as governance for the rich and not the poor. On the same subject, Subrosa rounds on the Taxpayer’s Alliance’s failure to understand devolution. On more coalition schemes to cut public spending, Martin Kelly hopes that Remploy are unionised and describes plans to close its factories as a “financial assault upon society’s weakest people”. Voting down proportional representation, about-facing on tuition fees, increasing the cost of rail travel – James suggests the Liberal Democrats are buried under their own increasingly bad news.

Dear Scotland has an interview with Stuart Murdoch of Belle & Sebastian. Theatrically, the View from the Stalls review the winner of the Tron’s Open.Stage playwriting competition, Abigail Docherty’s piece set in WW1 Sea and Land and Sky. Elsewhere, Favourite Son and Oxjam Present.

As ever, the best place to start if you want to get a sense of the continuing trial of Gail & Tommy Sheridan in Glasgow’s High Court is James Doleman’s blog. In the Scottish Review, Kenneth Roy examines discrepancies in how different newspapers are reporting the proceedings, entitled the Two Trials of Tommy Sheridan. The same issues of language inspired this post from myself, on Taggart and the absence of representations of Scots legal distinctiveness on the telly and in our popular culture. When he isn’t preparing to cross-examine witnesses, Mr Sheridan had a thought or two to spare on the news that the miners have finally been liberated from their long-confinement in the Copiapó gold and copper mine in Northern Chile.

A suitably cheerful point, methinks, to end this boozy, raging, baldy, basement-whittled edition of the Scottish Roundup. Do please nominate any new blogs or vivifying posts you come across on your sojourns. We’re always interested in new material. Cheerio for now!