Spend a penny
THIS week's virtual National Economic Forum – attended by Nicola Sturgeon and other SNP bigwigs, and based around the theme of "transforming Scotland's economy" – featured subtitles provided by Wordly, a real-time translation software powered by artificial intelligence. It did a sterling job. Highlights included the First Minister boasting about "peeing out" grants for taxi drivers, while SNP minister Michael Matheson reassured firms the transition to net zero would "damage" opportunities for businesses.
Rockstar chic
SNP MP Pete Wishart is well-known for appearing at parliamentary committees with a background of gold discs adorning the walls of his Perth home, a reminder of his heyday in the bands Runrig and Big Country. He recently tried to recreate that rocker vibe while chairing Westminster's Scottish Affairs Committee. Realising he had forgotten his normal glasses, the only pair of specs the former keyboard player had with him were his prescription sunglasses... which he proudly wore throughout the session, ignoring the sniggers from fellow MPs.
MSBees
TRAGIC scenes in Holyrood on Thursday as staff tried to take advantage of the good weather by setting up a BBQ in the central garden area. By the time one excited hack made it downstairs for a burger, the whole thing had been packed up and moved inside. Not because of the weather, but because the parliament's resident honey bees - there are 11 beehives on site - were "everywhere". Sources say the atmosphere was buzzing while it lasted. (Sorry.)
Class war
AN outbreak of class warfare, as Green spinner Tom Freeman slagged the Scottish Young Tories on Twitter. "Obviously not getting taught how to pay attention in exclusive private schools anymore," he sniggered in response to one of their online barbs. "Sorry to break your illusion, but all of our board attended state schools," the pint-sized capitalists shot back. More than can be said for the Green MSP group, to be fair. In the party's defence, education spokesman Ross Greer fought his way to the top after surviving the mean streets of... Bearsden.
Euros madness
Scottish politics ground to a halt on Monday as Scotland played Czech Republic in the Euros. "Anyone else having problems with Zoom, work emails and phone signal? Getting increasingly worse…" wrote one SNP spinner on Twitter as the match approached. The best line went to the party's Westminster leader Ian Blackford, riffing on his usual Brexit complaint. “I say good wishes both to Scotland and England ahead of the football match on Friday evening," he said during PMQs on Wednesday. "But if I may say so, I do hope that we don't see Scotland being dragged out of the Euros against our wishes at the end of the week.”
Clarification
In a recent Unspun item, Salty Rides Again?, we reported speculation about the former SNP MSP Richard Lyle returning to the political frontline at next year's council election in North Lanarkshire. Mr Lyle has made it clear to us that he is retired and has not applied to SNP HQ to be considered as a candidate. We are happy to set the record straight.
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