Waiting Lists at FMQs

Well well...

Just when it seemed like Nicol Stephen may have shed his robot-like performance and actually landed a punch on the First Minister for, well, the first time ever, he goes and shoots himself in the foot.

It appears that the Lib Dems leader has fibbed again. You see, he raised, quite legitimately the case of a woman who had been removed from a waiting list to reduce the numbers on the lists.

But what he omitted to mention - and removed from the letter when released to the press - was the date of the letter. This date was the 21st of December which, as my good friend Scottish Tory Boy points out is BEFORE the SNP began to enforce the waiting list targets they've put in place to improve waiting times.

Thus, this patient's removal from the list was not as a result of the SNP's policy, but of the policy of the previous administration - the previous Labour & Lib Dem executive.

Now I'm sure the Lib Dem leader didn't mean to "intentionally" mislead Parliament by blaming the First Minister for something that he was partly responsible for. But he remains culpable for his actions.

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Florida

Two massive pieces of news in the wake of the Florida primaries - the bowing out of the Democratic race of John Edwards and the pending Rudy Giuliani announcement that he will do the same.

I'll get to them in a moment, but first let me comment on the result.

With the Democratic race rendered meaningless by the disallowing of delegates to the Convention (Hillary won this non-race) it fell to the Republican race to deliver the headlines. And it did.

John McCain won the primary, narrowly, from Mitt Romney. But it didn't matter how narrow the margin was, as his victory was both symbolic and substantial. Symbolically, it was a chance for McCain to prove he could win the Republican vote in the south - and in a state with a large number of delegates. Substantially, because of Florida's winner take all system, McCain swept all 57 of the state's delegates, giving him a large-ish lead (93-59-40) from Romney & Huckabee going into Super Tuesday.

But that was overshadowed by how badly Rudy Giuliani performed. Pinning his hopes on Florida after skipping the early states, Giuliani has blown what was a double-digit lead as the Republican front-runner last year and now looks set to exit the race - and endorse his friend John McCain. Embarrassing times indeed for the man dubbed "America's Mayor."

John Edwards announcement that he will no longer contest the Democratic primary - a race in which he has been squeezed out of from day one by the two "firsts" Hillary & Barack - is unsurprising. What is unfortunate is that he is a man that had the potential to be the candidate that the Democrats could win with. Now the fate of the party lies with whether they think America is ready for a female or black male President.

John McCain must be smiling in his sleep.

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Happy Burns Night!

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o the puddin'-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy of a grace
As lang's my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o need,
While thro your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An cut you up wi ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like onie ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!

Then, horn for horn, they stretch an strive:
Deil tak the hindmost, on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve
Are bent like drums;
The auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
'Bethankit' hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout,
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi perfect sconner,
Looks down wi sneering, scornfu view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As feckless as a wither'd rash,
His spindle shank a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit:
Thro bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread,
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He'll make it whissle;
An legs an arms, an heads will sned,
Like taps o thrissle.

Ye Pow'rs, wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies:
But, if ye wish her gratefu prayer,
Gie her a Haggis!

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Hanging on...

The news from Westminster is not good for the Labour party in Scotland (which is not Scottish Labour – and I won’t call them that). It seems that their esteemed Secretary for Work and Pensions (and Secretary of State for Wales) has – FINALLY – decided to resign from the cabinet in order to “clear his name” regarding the £103,000 of undeclared donations to his campaign to become deputy leader of the Labour party.

There are – as Nick Robinson points out – clear differences between the case of Peter Hain (over £100,000 ) Harriet Harman (£5000 from a proxy donor) and Wendy Alexander (£950 from someone who was not a permissible donor).

But I’ve spotted another difference.

Peter Hain clung on as long as he could (and claimed he was “too busy” to lodge the donation) but resigned when the police got involved.

Harriet Harman is still there, guilty more of insufficient checks on donations.

But Wendy? Well, the Electoral Commission will report back next week. But having already admitted that she committed a crime – albeit unintentionally, which doesn’t make it any less of a crime – and with the police also investigating her, her future as leader of the Labour party in Scotland, and indeed, as an MSP, must be in doubt.

That, plus the fact that there is no one - apart from maybe Nicol Stephen - who could do worse than her at FMQs...

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