Unlikely Pin-Ups

I was amused to receive a link to the 'sexy MSP' website. However, Scotland being Scotland, political pin-ups are pretty thin on the ground and I can only assume that the whole thing is some post-modern exercise in irony. All the same, if I were my friend Shabnum, I would be pretty upset to have been pipped to the post by veteran Nationalist terror Christine Grahame ...I'm afraid I don't fair much better, coming in behind everyone's sexiest grandma, Margaret Mitchell. Pete kindly pointed out that I might move up the rankings with a picture but, given I've always maintained that I look better 'in action' (ie uncapturable by photographic devices) then perhaps it's a blessing in disguise.

In any case, I'm glad that the elections have given all those normally dour souls something to chuckle about - even if it's not the Nationalists' pie in the sky policies, whose sheer lunacy appears to have gone unnoticed by a public whom, if opinion polls are correct, is ready to vote for them in droves. The Lib Dems should be careful not to be forced into coalition with nationalistas. After 8 years in government we're in danger of looking power-hungry rather than principled if we simply take up with them after proclaiming we wouldn't - even if they drop their independence referendum idea.

Not only do their spendthrift policies play to the populist gallery but they are happy to overlook the fact that Scots are extremely generously subsidised by the Westminster exchequer, whose continued generosity is likely to be the only way their promises can be paid for. The irony... Furthermore, the myth of an independent Scotland in Europe, modelled after the success of Irish integration, fails to recognise we would benefit from almost no cohesion or structural funds, which are currently going to the Poles, Bulgars, and Romanians to help them climb out of a Communist era economic blackhole. I think it's a good idea in the long-term, but it's no cure-all and smacks of auld-alliance thinking rather than europhilia per se.

My personal aim is to secure more than 7 votes in my constituency on Thursday - since that's the number of party members we have - to help shore up our national vote. Any fewer and I'll assume I've even managed to make some enemies in my absence from the campaign trail..Fingers crossed!