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So the move that I have been talking about has taken place. The new place is Scottish Roundup. You can catch today’s and all future roundups over there.

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SBR 25: SNP on the rise; independence not so? Plus, Jack McWhatsit

Hello there! As you can see, I’ve decided to experiment with that mid-week roundup idea. Just an experiment for the moment, mind. What swung it for me was the number of great posts that caught my eye over the past few days. Sorry if this has caught you by surprise, but I’m sure you’ll find that there is plenty to sink your teeth into. We’ll see if there is enough left over for Sunday…

Most recently has been the big news of some very encouraging poll results for the SNP. For the constituency, the Times / Populus poll shows the SNP standing at 38%, with Labour only on 28%. Overall, the prediction is that the SNP will get 50 seats come election time.

What the SNP bloggers haven’t been quite so quick to point out is that, as James Graham notes, the same poll shows levels of support for full independence at an almost unbelievably low 27%. This story fits my personal view that the SNP’s current ascendancy is mostly down to the need to have somebody — anybody — other than Labour in power, not necessarily because everybody’s suddenly gone in favour of independence.

At least you wouldn’t expect any SNP members to get Alex Salmond’s name wrong. Patricia Hewitt managed to elevate some mysterious figure called Jack McDonnell to the position of First Minister during an interview with STV. Tartan Hero Grant Thoms has uploaded the footage to YouTube and the video has spread across the Scottish blogosphere like wildfire.

The Conservatives have caught a bit of attention for their odd stunt designed to show how powerful their voice is… by using megaphones without batteries in them. Brian Taylor said it was surreal and looked like a Pink Floyd album cover.

Anastasia Beaumont-Bott was one of those with a megaphone, and has criticised the press for missing the point. But Bookdrunk is as nonplussed as the media.

The relatively new blog Waxing the Lyrical considers Labour’s failure to reduce child povery.

Another new blog is Red Squirrel’s Lair, with a perspective from the left. Korakiuos has a cynical view of the SNP’s proposed referendum question on independence.

On that same subject, Holyrood Watcher is unconvinced by The Scotsman’s claim that multiple referenda would be needed for Scotland to gain independence. As he points out, “Since when did constitutional change ‘require’ a referendum?”

Kevin Williamson is even more unimpressed by it, although I’m not at all sure about his suggestion that people have “never heard of” John Curtice. I don’t watch an awful lot of the television news any more, but he always seems to be as omnipresent as Scottish political commentators get.

My own guess would be that any UK-wide referendum would be met with mass indifference south of the border. Ask English people what they think about Scottish independence and I guess most would probably just give a shrug of the shoulders.

Richard Leyton has given a broad overview of the positions of the major parties from the perspective of a floating voter. He’s disappointed at the lack of distinctive choices, and it’s no wonder the SNP are so far ahead.

Richard Thomson has noticed some strange goings on at the Solidarity offices in Holyrood. What are they trying to hide?

Jeff at SNP Tactical Voting is not entirely sure about the SNP’s generous offer to dump all student debt. He considers the interesting system used in Australia.

Are the Conservatives really passionate about the union? Mcgellie at Scotswahey has an interesting theory:

The underlying electoral logic remains overwhelming. If the Tories ‘respect’ the ‘yes’ vote of Scots in a referendum for Indpenedence, they will conveniently dispose of 40 Labour MPs for the cost of one Tory – and look at the quality/threat of some of those MPs – Handy! You get to resolve the West Lothian question and you get to laugh as Gordon has to choose to further his commitment to ’serve’ in the Scottish Parliament or find a seat in England (oh the humiliation!) so he can still play with the big boys.

Angry Steve has a typically swift response to the news that the expenses procedure for MSPs will be overhauled.

British sailors have found themselves in a spot of bother in Iran. David Farrer has an interesting take on what the future might hold.

Away from politics, Robert Sharp has a few thoughts on the photographs people use as avatars on social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo. I have to admit that I hate avatars with more than one person in them. But I’m afraid my Facebook photo is one of those “wacky” party photos. In my defence, it really is the only decent photograph of me from about the past two years…

Finally, Colin Cameron brings us a sneak preview of what to expect from the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

And that was the first mid-week roundup! How did it go? Sunday’s roundup might be at a new home (see the discussion in the comments to the post below). But I’ll make sure to let you know about it. In the meantime, get those nominations in at scottishroundup@gmail.com. Seeya later!

Some changes on the way (+ suggestions wanted)

Okay, so I’ve decided to move away from WordPress.com. I mentioned some of the difficulties that it was causing for a blog like this, so I’m going to give the roundup its own website.

I also see this as a bit of an opportunity to change Scottish Blogging Roundup’s name, as I’ve got the impression that the name hasn’t really caught on. It is pretty clunky, and I usually refer to it just as the ’roundup’ or ‘SBR’, while others call it still other things. ‘Scottish Blogging Roundup’ is just too many syllables and letters for us lazy interwebs folk.

So, are there any suggestions as to a new name? ‘Scotblogs’ has been suggested, but I’m not sure about that. It is a little bit close to the already existing (and excellent) Scottish Blogs.

Also, any ideas for new features? I’m thinking of doing roundups dedicated to certain kinds of blogs. For instance, some time before the election I will take a look at politicians’ blogs. Any ideas for other features? I think as the election nears we might go for having more than one roundup per week, as the amount of blogging will obviously increase and the news will be changing all the time. Please do suggest away in the comments!

Don’t forget also that the roundup benefits from your suggestions. If you send us a suggestion to be included in the roundup — even if it is your own — it will almost certainly be included. Also, suggestions for potential guest editors (even if it is yourself) are welcome.

SBR 24: Trident, the budget and… RSS

WordPress issues have been a bit of a pain whenever we’ve had a guest editor here (that’s why guests’ contributions are sometimes late). This week we’ve decided just to skip all of that bother, and I have been emailed this week’s roundup and pasted it below. It has been written by Shuggy. Many thanks to him for doing this week’s roundup!

Greetings all and welcome to the Scottish Blogging Roundup for this week. In my case, can’t really claim it as a ’roundup’ as such; more just a few things that caught my attention.

First up is Curious Hamster who has been asking how getting brand new shiny nukes here is compatible with our position as signatories of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. It’s a reasonable question and Mr Hamster seems a little put out – miffed, you could even say – that he hasn’t received an answer to it. My own view would be that it’s a mistake to take it so personally; it may simply be because there isn’t one.

Gus at 1820 isn’t too keen on renewing Trident either but the post I want to draw your attention to is one where he deals with the PM’s response to George Matthewson’s endorsement for independence:

“Bambi’s furious. This was supposed to be another one of those moment where he ‘personally’ goes and takes the thing by the scruff of the neck and sorts out the campaign. It’s how he likes to act.

“You talk to real businesses, talk to the types of people I have just been addressing, and look at the impact of separation on real businesses and real families” he squealed yesterday.

What, the Royal Bank of Scotland isn’t a real business? I mean they’re charlatan cheating scumbag capitalist bankers like the rest of them, but they’re a real business aren’t they?

In fact they’re the world’s fifth biggest bank.”

Which is pretty big. It is worth more than Coca-Cola. This would qualify it as a ‘real business’ by most people’s definition. The real thing, you could even say. Sorry.

Meanwhile, Doctorvee has been pre-occupied with other matters:

“I have been thinking a little bit about RSS recently…I have had an up and down relationship with RSS.”

It’s when you are this stage, you should stop to think, “But what has become of me?

On another tack, the Reactionary Snob describes the government’s latest raising of the school leaving age wheeze as “absolutely f***ing bonkers”. A reasonable assessment, in my view.

Ian Hamilton has a post by Angus MacNeil MP, which is worth reading. For those who might be unaware, he is the MP who first raised the questions that led to this government’s present “loans-for-gongs” embarrassment.

Finally, the Flying Rodent on the national pastime of feeling persecuted after Budget Day:

“The Chancellor’s a slippery little toad and no mistake, but he could’ve given us each a hot air balloon full of high-class prostitutes and we’d still have called him a cad and a f***faced oaf. Complaining is the national pastime, and on such days the average Briton spends an average of six hours whining like a fork scraped across a plate.”

Yes but this one was bad enough to be worth complaining about, surely?

I’ll just add a couple of wee notes. Firstly, BBC Scotland’s political editor Brian Taylor will be blogging in the run up to the election as part of the BBC’s Election 07 blog.

Also, keep an eye out for Holyrood 2007. It’s not live yet, but I’ve heard a few bits and pieces about it and it sounds like it could be worth a look. No idea when it will be launching yet, but it will probably be soon.

We will be back to normal at last next week, as I will actually have the time to write a roundup. Hooray! But please remember that I’d still love to get some more suggestions in, so send an email to scottishroundup@gmail.com if you find anything interesting over the week. Seeya later!

SBR 23: Whoops

Sorry, it’s all very busy at the moment and I’ve arrived home to find that no roundup has been posted! How awful! I’m afraid I don’t have the time to post a proper roundup with words and sentences and stuff, so here is a list of links instead. Seriously just click them, there are some good posts there. There is no meaning in the order by the way, but they are grouped by vague subject.

• Ian Hamilton QC: All the Prime Minister’s Men? — a post by Angus MacNeil about cash for honours
• SNP Tactical Voting: A Prime Minister’s rebuttal — what are unreal businessmen?
• Freedom and Whisky: Has the SNP hit the jackpot? — a nice little mini-roundup of the SNP’s big news this week
• Scots and Independent: By George! — yet more on George Mathewson’s announcement
• Bishop Hill: One size fits all — or not
• The Select Society: New Entrants to the Political Game — looks at some of the new political parties in Scotland. I hadn’t realised that YouScotland is actually a political party! *hand slaps forehead*
• A Big Stick and a Small Carrot: Irresponsibility — Trident stuff, with a couple of lists looking at who has nukes and who doesn’t (guess which is bigger?)
• 520 votes for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth: Trident Debacle Points the way to Independence
• Councillor Angus Nicolson: How to regenerate the islands? — a very brief look at the problems facing the islands
• Between the Hammer and the Anvil: The Art Of Running The Circus From The Monkey Cage — sarcastically looking forward to Brown vs. Cameron
• Tarland Mad House: Hackers Heaven – Opening near you Soon — “The words “Government”, “NHS”, “Security” fill me with dread.”
• Shuggy: SNP unveils scheme to replace council tax — unimpressed by the SNP’s new local tax plans
• Kezia Dugdale’s Soap Box: SNP Approach to Maths — neither is Kezia Dugdale
• Holyrood Chronicles: It’s not very convincing, to say the least — nor Holyrood Watcher
• Musings of a reactionary snob: Mundell
• The Devil’s Kitchen: The Scottish Executive have lost their minds — on the Edinburgh Airport Rail Link, when there is already a tram line being built
• Mr Eugenides: Grade A twat — Mr Eugenides quotes a classic Chris Morris line, this time in relation to Michael Grade’s weak defence of television phone-in quiz shows

It looks as though next week’s roundup will be done by Shuggy. Hopefully it’ll be better than this one. Seeya later!