Helen Eadie MSP Committee Resignation

Helen Eadie, Labour MSP for Dunfermline East has resigned from the Equal Opportunities and Subordinate Legislation committees in the Scottish Parliament, citing the fact that the Conservatives are entitled to chair the Equal Opportunities Committee. Ms Eadie commented that putting the Tories in charge of Equal Opportunities was like "putting Attila the Hun in charge of care in the community".

There are some who may believe that the real reason she resigned was that in the last 2 terms (from 17 June 1999-31 March 2003 in the first term and from 4 June 2003-2 April 2007 in the second) of Parliament she served on the public petitions committee. On this occasion the Labour party selected a chairperson and overlooked Helen Eadie for the post. She is one of very few Labour MSPs who have served from the beginning of the Scottish Parliament who have never been a Minister, Deputy Minister or Committee Chair . Some might suggest that this latest snub was more than her ego could take so she spat the dummy.

Surely if she has such strong feelings about the Conservatives and their fitness to chair a Committee, she would not have voted for Alex Fergusson to preside over the Scottish Parliament. Records show that she did indeed vote for him to take up the position of Presiding Officer.

Libyans says Megrahi WAS part of UK deal

• Tony Blair meets Libyan Leader.
• BP get Libyan oil contract.
• Downing Street deny Lockerbie bomber deal

The Herald are reporting that Downing Street are continuing to deny that the man in prison in Scotland for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie was any part of a deal with Colonel Gadaffi, the Libyan leader. This is despite the fact that Libyan sources say that moving Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi out of Scotland was the main reason for the discussions.

Something doesn't add up here and when you add into the mix the fact that BP have secured a huge deal with Libya over oil, it does make you wonder what Libya are getting in return.

Kirsty Wark on Newsnight

I saw one of the worst and most clearly biased interviews of my life on Newsnight recently. Kirsty Wark was aggressively questioning Alex Salmond on his Libya statement and was not giving him time to answer the questions/statements posed. The tone of the interview was awful and Kirsty Wark betrayed her true feelings and her vitriol towards Alex Salmond, the First Minister of Scotland.

It is well known that Kirsty Wark is good friends with Jack McConnell, the former First Minister and that they have holidayed together in the past so the question must be: "Why is it considered appropriate for Kirsty Wark to interview Alex Salmond in these circumstances?"

Newsnight bleat that political leaders don't want to come on their show then the most senior politician in Scotland appears and is treated to a show of hostility and distortion of the facts by Kirsty Wark. Ms Wark appears not to have watched the statement she was supposed to be interviewing Alex Salmond about and appeared to have taken her briefing and lines of questioning directly from Downing Street.

There is no place on the BBC for such naked and blatant party political bias as that shown by Kirsty Wark in the interview with the First Minister of Scotland and I believe she should be barred from interviewing any Scottish political figures in the future as she obviously lets her emotions get in the way of her professionalism.

I include a YouTube clip of the interview below:

Let justice be done though the heavens fall

The BBC and the Scotsman report that the Cash for Honours inquiry has to date cost more than £750,000. The way it is reported makes it sound like a scandal that so much has been spent on a police investigation but you get what you pay for and the police have to be thorough in a complex case such as this.

It is important when investigating the upper echelons of government that justice is both done and seen to be done. Nobody should think themselves above the law and I, like many others, await the fruits of this investigation with interest. "Let justice be done though the heavens fall" as the Roman maxim goes.

Audit Scotland Investigate Tram Costs

According to the BBC, Audit Scotland, Scotland's spending watchdog have been asked by the Scottish Government to investigate the costs of the Edinburgh tram project.

This seems like an eminently sensible move by a government which is trying to avoid public spending disasters like those presided over by the Labour Party, notably the fiasco of the Scottish Parliament building.

If the financial implications of the the tram project are in line with the expectations of the Labour and liberal Democrat parties then they surely have nothing to fear from an investigation by a body which is independent of government yet they are responding in a hysterical manner, accusing the SNP of somehow undermining the independence of Audit Scotland by asking them to investigate. Quite how an independent organisation being asked to do it's job is undermining their independence is beyond me. Fellow blogger Richard Thomson appears to agree.

SNP scraps bridge tolls!

Well done to the snp for living up to their pre election promises to do away with bridge tolls on the forth and tay. It is a good, if slightly unsettling thing to see a government so intent on delivering on their promises to the people. We truly are living in a new time and this government are giving the people of Scotland the confidence that they are standing up for their best interests on a whole range of issues from nuclear power to oil transfer in the forth. Labour will bring down this government at their peril.