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[DIARY + ONTHEDESK]
Findlay, choose to state their opposition to the monarchy, before being forced to pledge their allegiance to the monar- chy. Ross Greer, on the other hand, went with the normal oath, but with a clenched fist. Some did their oaths in
Crossing the floor
Pauline McNeil was surprised to find herself back in the Scottish Parliament after being placed fourth on the Glasgow list but Whollyrude wonders if the surprise was so great that she forgot which party she was representing when we spotted her in the SNP MSPs’ group picture. Te diminutive McNeil can just be spotted at the top right of the picture being told by Stewart Stevenson that she was in the wrong place at the wrong time…Labour’s story all over, really.
Land reform begins at home
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www.holyrood.com 23 May 2016
drink in the pub with fellow newbies, the Tories’ Adam Tomkins, Oliver Mundell and Miles Briggs, at the end of the first day of parliament. Not the most expected of BFFs for the veteran land reform cam- paigner, you might think. “I think he’s getting up to mis- chief,” Daily Mail Scottish political editor Alan Roden told Whollyrude. “He already knows how much land they all own.” Tackling land reform from the inside?
Swear words
New Green MSP Andy Wight- man was spotted having a
Gaelic, Humza Yousaf did his in Urdu and Peter Chapman went for Doric. As you might expect, Scots was also pretty popular, at least until it was discovered that the Parliament didn’t have the oath written down in the language. Now Whollyrude certainly isn’t one to judge the few MSPs who were forced to perform an early U-turn and just stick to Eng- lish, though you might think that if they spoke the language they might be able to actually, well, speak it…
No, Minister
The Scottish Parliament swearing-in process is one of the most important days in the parliamentary calendar, and MSPs have been known to take a wide range of differ- ent approaches. Some, like Neil
McLeish, the honour does not extend to actually getting inside the Scottish Parliament building, with staff put in the awkward position of whether or not to evict McLeish, after he wandered straight into the building with editor Mandy Rhodes without a security pass. At least the staff were convinced no harm had been intended and the mistake was genuine, leaving the former FM to claim, not for the first time, that it was a muddle, not a fiddle…
An apple a day
A former First Minister joins a highly exclusive club after serv- ing as the head of the Scottish Government, almost becoming part of the very fabric of the Scottish Parliament. But sadly for former FM (and esteemed Holyrood columnist) Henry
Scotland’s Secretary of State for Scotland is sporting a cast on his left hand which is reminis- cent of Alex Salmond’s injury that he sustained during the independence referendum as a result of much hand shak- ing. So, has the surge in Tory popularity during the Scottish Parliament election taken its toll on David Mundell…no, he explained, he had tripped over the kerb taking an empty apple juice carton to the bin. So, it’s not true that an apple a day keeps the doctor away…
DIARY WHOLLYRUDE
All the chat and none of the chit
Illustration by Charlie Gilhooley
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