I was hoping to begin with a report from my body language expert on the above snap of Jim Murphy and Ed Miliband at last weekend’s Scottish Labour conference in Edinburgh. But apparently my assignment tipped them over the edge, and they’ve now retired to a hut on the Assynt Peninsula. So, instead...
“Sing a song of six-weeks-to-go, a pocketful of Ed...”
That charming nursery rhyme has been circulating my cranium ever since I spied the Conservatives’ latest attempts to bring the joys of photo-shop to a wider audience (left).
It did make me wonder too whether their advertising team have been watching Spitting Image re-runs for inspiration (below left). Though, right enough, neither of those Davids came off well in that wearer of pocket/sitter in pocket dynamic.
Still, Miliband was acting decidedly out of his pocket (can that be a thing? like outside the box? only with menswear...) last Saturday when he gave a rousing speech to delegates, accusing David Cameron of “running scared” from the TV debates.
It was noteable that both Miliband and Murphy barely mentioned the SNP during their addresses, let alone ruling out coalition with the nationalists, as some senior Labour figures have reportedly been urging them to do.
On Comment, John Harris warned that scaremongering about a Labour/SNP coalition might end up back-firing on the Tories.
This was rudely ignored by Cameron at PMQs, who described Ed Miliband as “weak and despicable” for wanting to “crawl to power in Alex Salmond’s pockets”.
Frankly, anyone who manages to propel themselves whilst inside someone else’s suit jacket as the other person is still wearing it gets my vote, but I’m guessing by the bemused look on your face that this was not Cameron’s main point.
Elsewhere, Scottish Labour candidate for Dundee East Lesley Brennan rejected a £1000 donation from Tony Blair.
And we reported on two surveys which found women significantly under-represented amongst candidates chosen to fight Scottish parliamentary seats in May.
I’ll leave this misogynist muppetry from the Sun on Tuesday to speak for itself.
On our Scotland blog, Owen Duffy reported on Edinburgh’s radical 20 mph speed limit plans. As a new driver, I’m in favour of anything that makes cars go slower, although I am sorry to report that my proposals for eliminating roundabouts from Scotland have yet to be taken seriously by Holyrood.
The latest Scottish government data showed that the economy suffered a financial deficit that was 40% higher than the rest of the UK last year, while the IFS predicted that Scotland could face a £6.6bn shortfall as oil prices plummet.
The Spectator’s Alex Massie explains here why the figures are disastrous for the SNP but won’t make a jot of difference to people’s beliefs about independence.
There was a interesting contretemps between rapper Loki (above) and Yes-in-space cadets National Collective about precisely how democratic and - y’know - independent the pro-independence artists’ movement really is: particularly now that one of its most prominent members is working for the SNP.
Andrew Eaton Lewis offers his own finely balanced assessment here.
The National revealed this how cabinet member Alex Neil and others have been left off the electoral roll in the seemingly endless guddle that is the move to individual registration.
Anyone in doubt can spend mere moments here checking your own name is registered. I did, and mine wasn’t. Weirdly, the National has yet to splash on this narrowly averted travesty.
As the Guardian first reported last month, STV is set to hold its own leaders’ debate on April 7th. But while the Scottish leaders of Labour, Lib Dems and the Conservatives will be present alongside Nicola Sturgeon (STV originally invited Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg and David Cameron), the Greens have been excluded.
Co-convener Patrick Harvie has already suggested the party may consult lawyers over a possible legal challenge to the debate, and an online petition to include the Greens has gathered support overnight.
But Glasgow University’s Politics Society pipped the TV stations with their own four-way leaders’ debate yesterday evening, in which all admitted to trying cannabis - though none were in favour of legalising it. I wasn’t young enough to get in, but David Torrance will be writing it up for politics.co.uk later today.
As usual, please leave additions, corrections and rants below the line...
