“But scottish politics is pretty much the same game (aside from the labour introduced reforms on parliament and electoral system) up there as my Brother-in-law often moans to me.”

Yes, and we have the same weather as the Canaries this week, (aside from the sunshine).

Saying that the Scottish Parliament and its electoral system were created by Labour betrays your predjudice that it must therefore be flawed. Except that it wasn’t created just by Labour, and is approved of by most Scots.

“For that he blames squarely the awful Salmond and Swine – ney: who he says are hated much more than the UK PM.”

I know that Labour and their friends in the Scotsman are conducting a hate campaign against MacAskill and Hyslop,but I wonder who it is that hates John Swinney.

He seems to me to be a politician that some would call bland and even boring. He was this years politician of the year because of the difficulty of the finance brief.

Labour supporters do hate Salmond. He comes acoss as smug and, considering the quality of debate from the Labour opposition, and the fact that he usually outclasses them. He can do the PMQ things with Labour and then turn to Annabel Goldie or a LibDem and deal with a serious question in a serious way.

It is none of these ministers who is building support for the SNP, but Richard Lochead, who is hardly known at all to urban voters, but whose many initiatives on rural issues, fishing, and agriculture are admired in the places where the SNP have support, is one.

Nicola Sturgeon has the other ministry which has an impact on almost the whole electorate.

She may be the most successful health minister and the most admired within the NHS (or the least disrespected perhaps) in either system since I began working in the NHS and is probably the most committed to its principles since Barbara Castle.

There NHS is a big employer. People talk to their families and friends about their dissatisfactions at work. Patient satisfaction is high and rising. NS has made a difference by doing some quite simple things.

“He has remarked on Brown going back home and running Scotland.”

For a start, GB would see it as a comedown. He would miss the international networking, and has seen how TB has been able to operate since standingdown. Then there is the litte matter of his party not having the largest number of seats.

The Murphy scenario is much more credible.

“Is there a chance of having a separate ‘Scottish Polling Report’ site? So a certain very sad little individual can go and play all by himself !!!”

There is. Exactly the same chance as the chance of independence.

Farage damages his party in the same way that any politician damages his or hers by adhominem nastiness.

I find it difficult to ignore insidious nastiness. That’s why I couldn’t do it myself, I’d just end up ridiculing partisan unreasonableness like I do now and then.

Absolutely.

I think some of our more sensitive friends feel that the Brownian approach is more becoming perhaps?