Well, we’re not exactly "rolling aboot the flair" but System Three shows an improvement on both last month and the Scottish election results; we are up 2 points on the constituency vote and 1 point on the second vote from last month, and level pegging on the constituency vote and 2 points up on the second vote from the election result. Labour are the same on the constituency vote as last month, and 3 points on the second vote, and are up 1 point on the constituency vote and level on the second vote since the election; the Tories are the biggest losers, only down 2 points on the first vote since last month, but down 6 points on the first vote and 5 points on the second vote since the election. If this continues, their 18 seats will be cut to 9, but I don’t trust the Tory figures; they are a sneaky lot.

A modest improvement then for next year, but what about Westminster? Labour up 2 points from last month, and 5 from the last General Election, and ourselves same as last month but up one from the General Election. Liberals and Tories both down 3 points since the General Election, but as I commented above, I never trust the Tory figure; they are devious people, the greedy ones, and will not admit publicly to being Tories, but like consenting adults in private, once they get into the polling booth they cast their vote for avarice and greed.

The critics of John Swinney within the SNP, the ones who dare not speak their names, must be singing a wee bit small this week; at Aberdeen last week, and in sundry "unattributed" quotes, we had "them" saying John Swinney would be facing a challenge if the SNP did not do so well in May 2003. Well, shiver me timbers, the above System Three poll shows that the SNP would obtain three additional seats if the election were held now! As the "ghost" critics are apparently yearning for the return of Alex Salmond, one should wonder what their raison d’etre is now that John could win more seats than Alex did at the height of his power?

All this is, of course, utter nonsense; the very fact that no names can be named is very significant, and it could be that if there were any plotters looking for the return of the prince, then Alex Salmond would give them short shrift. People forget that Alex was not deposed, but voluntarily stood down, and did say that he would be back, so what’s new? The incident at Aberdeen where certain MSPs were not in the chamber when John Swinney did fluff his lines (as can happen to any of us) was because the petitioners for Peterhead Prison had arrived, and was not orchestrated. John recovered well in the afternoon at First Minister’s Questions, but of course this was not widely reported; I wonder why?

From what I can see and hear, John Swinney made a barnstorming speech at the SNP National Council last Saturday, and really enthused the troops; this is fundamental to success. The party cannot enthuse the electorate unless it itself is enthused, and John did this in no uncertain fashion. On the Holyrood programme, he was questioned about "pushing people out of his road" and asked if this meant people within the SNP as well; John said he was put there to do a job, and he would not let anyone stop him from doing it. I’m with him.

HOIST WITH HIS OWN PETARD

John Swinney, SNP leader, asked him if he would back Tricia Marwick’s PR Bill; somewhat taken aback, as this is an issue that the Executive, including their Liberal toadies, wish to bury, Mr McConnell said Mrs Marwick’s Bill had been promised last November but had not appeared. Now the Bill is quite a complex one, involving the Representation of the People Act and various local government acts, but it was denied any parliamentary assistance in being drafted; this was not unexpected as the "promise" of local government reform has been dangled since the Parliament was reconvened, but the last thing the Executive wants is for it to be debated. A lot of Labour MSPs are "apparently" in favour, and the Liberals consider it their Holy Grail, so how surprising that no one from these parties could be found to give support for parliamentary assistance in drafting the Bill - makes you think of of promising politicians - but only when in opposition - in power they duck and dive.

Anyway, a challenge like that thrown at Tricia Marwick (Whose mother was a Lynch - but no relation) was not the cleverest thing to do; a draft Bill will be on the table this week, and it will be nice to see how quickly Mr McConnell’s "good ideas" initiative will bite the dust. Tricia points out that it is not right that in Midlothian Labour have 95% of the seats with 49% of the votes, and in Angus, the SNP has 72% of the seats with 45% of the votes. However, under proportional representation, Labour could lose control of many of the fiefdoms they presently hold on a minority of votes, and their local government gravy trains will meet a collective Railtrack. I confidently forecast the Executive’s regret that Tricia’s Bill will not be a "good idea"!

Now that Labour is in power, the fat cats making loads of dosh out of privatisation are Labour’s pals, changing friendships with governments, and the sole concession to their ex-principles is a renaming of the schemes to Public Private Partnerships! Two Scottish local councils have now challenged the schemes foisted on them, West Dunbartonshire, and Falkirk; coincidentally, both of these councils were formerly Labour run, and charging ahead with PFI (to keep its correct name) but due to by elections and disputes within the Labour groups have now become coalitions. The present councils are saying that the whole thing is a con, and that future taxpayers will be left with enormous bills and no assets to show for them. Significantly, in April, a survey of the most senior finance officials in the public sector in Scotland showed that 59% of them said that PFI was not necessary to deliver capital spending improvements. The City (London financial institutions for Labour readers) loves PFI/PPP; lawyers make millions in fees negotiating the contracts, bankers make millions providing loans, and the construction companies borrow money at the high rate, set up to charge the customer (us) at that rate, then re-negotiate the financing, get a lower rate and pocket the difference while the customer (us) continues to pay at the high rate.

In the health sector, the NHS is now forming 50/50 partnerships with the private operators, which is an admission that PFI, which has seen hospitals built by the private sector at enormous cost, has failed to deliver value for money. With this in mind, how can councils, with the backing of the Scottish Executive, still persist with PPP/PFI, or is it the case that it "is the only game in town?" Labour councillors are against the schemes, Labour MSPs are against the schemes, Liberals are probably setting up a committee to think about them, the trade unions are strongly opposed to them, and on the issue of private prisons political pressure is forcing the Labour/Lackey coalition to think again; maybe they should have had their second thoughts first..

We will watch with interest the progress of West Dunbartonshire and Falkirk, and it is becoming very obvious that the way to put some principle back into politics is to change the colour of the administration.

LET JOY BE UNCONFINED

London went mad, a million turned out to watch the spectacle, and it was certainly a spectacular event, if all a bit puzzling to us Scots. This has been rather a Royal year, has it not? First we had the very low key treatment of Princess Margaret’s death and funeral, followed by the pomp and ceremony of the Queen Mother’s funeral; the latter was meticulously planned and no expense was spared, the Queen Mother had done the planning and we carried the expense. Somehow, they managed to find servicemen from everywhere, and in an odd way it reminded me of one of my old aunts, a spinster, whose remarks about her impending funeral were "If I couldna get one man when I was alive - how I am to going to get eight when I’m deid?" (the number of cords on a coffin, for the uninitiated)

In any event, that occasion (the Queen Mother’s funeral - not my aunt’s) was a fitting prelude to the Jubilee celebrations, and people forgot about the looming Armageddon between India and Pakistan, but not about the World Cup, the sun shone on the righteous, Concorde and the Red Arrows flew overhead, the band played "Land of Hope and Glory", and the massed crowds sang enthusiastically along "God who made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet". (How very English.) It was an occasion for rock and pop, and not the Royal Philarmonic Orchestra, and for curtain calls for the Royal Family, expressions of undying loyalty and affection, all to my mind more than somewhat overdone, but that’s show business.

I could not help thinking, watching the displays, about the mass hysteria at the time of Princess Diana’s funeral, and that a recent poll among 40,000 members of the public in conjunction with the BBC TV series about 10 Great Britons, had listed Princess Diana as one, but neither the Queen nor Lady Thatcher! So this week the Establishmen gave us bread and circuses, and the effect at the end of the day on the lives of us will be just as ephemeral as the passing of Diana - zilch.

It is only a week since Stephen Byers, the English Transport Secretary (we don’t have one) handed in his resignation, but it seem a lot longer ago than that; in this he was certainly following the lead of his former spin doctor, Jo Moore, whose email about a good day "to bury bad news" started the process on 11 September last year. When he resigned, the Westminster Parliament was having a holiday - again- the World Cup was due to begin in a day or two, and the Queen’s Jubilee Tour was well under way; well forget the last - she was in Scotland, so the media were not all that interested. Incidentally, someone remarked that she was able to get about Scotland very easily, a tribute to our public transport links, which made me think that I had better nip out and catch the local helicopter to Dunfermline!

It would seem that Mr Blair must have had all his plans made, as he issued his edicts in jig time, which leads one to think that Mr Byers did not jump, but was pushed when the Blessed Tony was good and ready; no doubt he will be re-instated at a later date in another department, when he has tholed his Assize. His replacement by Alastair Darling, and John Prescott, was an admission by Mr Blair that the department was too big and unwieldy for one man; too bad that Scotland’s First Minister did not do the same with Wendy Alexander’s portfolio, but then he tried to palm it off on to Liberal Jim Wallace before stitching up Iain Gray.

So what was the reason behind him shifting George Foulkes, Minister of State at the Scottish Office? He has been replaced by Anne MacGuire, Labour MP for Stirling, but she has been made an undersecretary of state, rather than a full minister, a subtle downgrading; we’re not entirely sure what Mr Foulkes has done wrong, but we know his current seat will disappear in the boundary changes at the next election and as he is 60 years old it could be that the Blessed Tony wants him out of the way. On the other hand, maybe he will be spending his time rubbishing the SNP in the run up to the 2003 election, but he won’t be paid as much for doing that as he has been in the past.

It is interesting that Alastair Darling is seen as a safe pair of hands, which is exactly what was said about Stephen Byers, and he very cleverly managed to disguise the fact that he was the Pensions Minister when OAPs were awarded the miserly 75p rise; he also brought forward the "MOT" scheme for the disabled forcing them to attend job interviews or lose their benefits. Mr Darling is a former Edinburgh councillor, and was at one time the transport convener. Let us all hope that he has learned from these mistakes, for Edinburgh citizens are still putting up with them.

O! GIN I WAR WHAUR GADIE RINS
John Imlah