Diary Holyrood chat Well dressed


Dapper QC Paul McBride may have had his hands full the last few weeks grappling with tales of orgies and swinging – all in a day’s work - but we hear that the poor man has been so busy that he has had to call in Santa’s little helpers to ensure he is fully prepared for Christmas Day by shelling out over £100 for a fully decorated Christmas tree to be delivered and installed to his home, just in time for Santa’s visit. Now, that’s what we call style, M’lud…


Ingredients for success


Parliamentary Researcher for the SNP’s Dr Ian McKee,Toni Giugliano, was spotted on Channel 4 on Come Dine with


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intimately acquainted. Under the headline ‘No More Freeballing Under Your Kilt’, Perez relates a London Times story which asserts that “for the proud Scots who go commando under their kilt, the Scottish Tartans Authority wants you to stop.” Te STA’s director Brian Wilton calls the act of freeballing both childish and unhygienic, adding: “Te idea that you are not a real Scot unless you are bare under your kilt should be thrown into the same wastepaper basket as the idea that you are not a real Scot unless you put salt on your porridge.” Devout panty wearer and Scottish politician Jamie McGrigor is also anti- commando: “I have normally worn underwear with my kilt. In the West Highlands, midges can


two cases of beer from Peroni to Scottish veterans at Whitefoord House in Edinburgh. Jackie Baillie said: “I was pleased to receive a case of beer from Peroni, but decided to donate it to the residents at Whitefoord House. At Christmas it is particularly important that we remember our veterans and serving men and women wherever they are.” Richard Baker added: “Much as I enjoy the occasional tipple, these guys deserve it much more than me. I hope that they have a happy Christmas and a good New Year.” Wonder what the Peroni people wrote on the gift tag? “Tanks for killing minimum pricing,” perhaps?


Silent but deadly


Henry McLeish for kicking the SFA into touch


Me cooking up a storm with his Italian/Scots fusion menu of haggis ravioli and panna cotta with whiskey sauce. Te show brought out the romantic side in him as he purred: “It’s a love affair between the aubergine, who meets the tomato and then discovers cheese,” he explains, making his parmigiana. “Toni’s really set himself up,” says fellow diner Andy. “I’m expecting a lot from him.” Te researcher did in fact win the £1,000. La dolce vita.


Action man


While FM Alex Salmond may still be smarting from the realisation that Scotland’s green policies haven’t made it onto the radar of US policy types, this post from US celeb blogger Perez Hilton featuring a quote from Holyrood’s own, Jamie ‘devout panty wearer’ McGrigor, shows the two countries are far more


76 Holyrood January 2011


Vince Cable for being naïve at the very least


mount alarming and unexpected attacks on so-called true Scotsmen.”


Older people and tech


From whenparentstext.com … Mom: What’s that site you like to find jokes on? Noodle About? Me: Stumble Upon.


Stringing them along


Some debates in the Scottish Parly are truly music to our ears but even we can’t understand why SNP MSP Bill Kidd should say during the winter weather debate: “It is no fun playing country and western music when your ukulele is frozen to your leg—I have tried.”


Thirsty work


Labour’s Jackie Baillie and Richard Baker have donated


So Tom Harris, Dr Who fan and MP for Glasgow South, has given up blogging. It didn’t stop him blogging about it, though. “I won’t make a habit of writing new posts to explain why,” he wrote, “but I really need to assert a few truths.” Apparently, he wants Labour to win the next election “and I want to make some kind of contribution to that victory, even if that contribution is simply shutting my face.” Here, here.


It’s snow fair, Minister


Tey say that as you get older you become obsessed with the weather and the same was true for newly installed transport minister, Keith Brown, who last week spent his birthday keeping Scotland moving during the freezing temperatures and snowy weather. Even his children’s efforts to deliver his birthday pressies to him were interrupted by constant weather checks and travel reports.


Top Tweets


Kevin_Maguire Worst joke ever? “For Xmas dinner I’ve paid £500 for eight legs of venison. Is that too dear?”(As told by a lobby hack)


clare solomon SOAS by Phelimmac Q: What’s the difference between the Big Society and the Big Issue? A: nobody buys the Big Society


Eye Spy MP Osborne in the House, sat in a way that reafirms the theory about big feet.


MattChorley #PoliticalAdventCalendar Day 16: Bob Ainsworth wrapping presents with a street value of £1.5 million mz2 Best ever train announcement: “We need to stop at Stevenage to collect a crowbar. A passenger is stuck in a toilet and we cannot get him out.”


Quote


“Can I be very frank with you, and I am


walk out and bring the Government down”


Vince Cable to undercover reporters


SPOTTED Helen Liddell in Waitrose on Byres


Road, Glasgow…Veteran actress Edith MacArthur at Sainsbury’s Craigleith, looking effortlessly elegant… Frank McAveety MSP cycling into the Parliament car park in full cycling gear… Murdo Fraser MSP’s aide Sam McMillan dressed up as Wagbo at the Tory Xmas bash…


weapons. If they push me too far then I can


have a nuclear option; it’s like fighting a war. They know I have nuclear weapons, but I don’t have any conventional


not expecting you to quote this outside. I


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