Wendy Alexander to stand down...

The BBC is reporting that Wendy Alexander is expected to resign as leader of the Labour party in Scotland this afternoon.

This is quite interesting, and I don't fully understand it. Why now?

Ms Alexander has been embroiled in an election funding scandal since the late autumn; it has dragged on and on.

The Scottish Parliament standards committee voted to censure her on Thursday - the last day the Parliament sat before its recess. The punishment - a one day ban from Parliament - needs a full vote of the Parliament before it can be implemented, which means it has to wait until Parliament next sits, in September.

Ms Alexander has "toughed it out" since the Sunday Herald (I think it was the Herald) broke the story.

The time to go would have been early on. By staying on, she has been distracted, and not the best opposition to wiley Alec Salmond. Resigning now means that there will be no leadership for the Labour Party in Scotland for the next three months. (True, it is possible nobody will notice.)

It will be interesting to see how this progresses...

Edit: The Beeb was right - Wendy Alexander has resigned.

Wendy Alexander to stand down...

The BBC is reporting that Wendy Alexander is expected to resign as leader of the Labour party in Scotland this afternoon.

This is quite interesting, and I don't fully understand it. Why now?

Ms Alexander has been embroiled in an election funding scandal since the late autumn; it has dragged on and on.

The Scottish Parliament standards committee voted to censure her on Thursday - the last day the Parliament sat before its recess. The punishment - a one day ban from Parliament - needs a full vote of the Parliament before it can be implemented, which means it has to wait until Parliament next sits, in September.

Ms Alexander has "toughed it out" since the Sunday Herald (I think it was the Herald) broke the story.

The time to go would have been early on. By staying on, she has been distracted, and not the best opposition to wiley Alec Salmond. Resigning now means that there will be no leadership for the Labour Party in Scotland for the next three months. (True, it is possible nobody will notice.)

It will be interesting to see how this progresses...

Edit: The Beeb was right - Wendy Alexander has resigned.

Politicians and learning...

And whilst I am carping on about politicians and their ongoing funding scandals, Donald Clark has written a timely post about politicians and learning - he designed an e-learning programme to teach Labour politicians about the funding rules....

I like the line

"Politicians, it turns out, are always carping on about skills and training, but refuse to accept the idea that they also need to learn."

Politicians and learning...

And whilst I am carping on about politicians and their ongoing funding scandals, Donald Clark has written a timely post about politicians and learning - he designed an e-learning programme to teach Labour politicians about the funding rules....

I like the line

"Politicians, it turns out, are always carping on about skills and training, but refuse to accept the idea that they also need to learn."

Some things I don't understand...

Why is a scanned image of a table from an article in the Scotsman the second-most viewed image of mine in flickr?

I used it to explain some of the intricacies of the voting system in the Scottish elections.

And yet every week, many people look at this picture.

It is just strange: this is people actually clicking on the image to look at it. Weird.

Some things I don't understand...

Why is a scanned image of a table from an article in the Scotsman the second-most viewed image of mine in flickr?

I used it to explain some of the intricacies of the voting system in the Scottish elections.

And yet every week, many people look at this picture.

It is just strange: this is people actually clicking on the image to look at it. Weird.

The Leith Shuffle

I had supper in the Vaults with an old friend. Walking back after a couple of whiskies – including a very fine Caol Isla in the current list – I saw this sunset over Leith.



My iPod played a really wonderful sequence on the shuffle, which really resonated with my mood…

• Until the End of the World – U2
  
• Charlotte Street - Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
  
• Birdland – Patti Smith (1975)
  
• Perfect Blue – Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
  
• God, part 2 – U2
  
• Baba O’Reilly – the Who

This filled the whole of the journey, and was truly brilliant.

The Leith Shuffle

I had supper in the Vaults with an old friend. Walking back after a couple of whiskies – including a very fine Caol Isla in the current list – I saw this sunset over Leith.



My iPod played a really wonderful sequence on the shuffle, which really resonated with my mood…

• Until the End of the World – U2
  
• Charlotte Street - Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
  
• Birdland – Patti Smith (1975)
  
• Perfect Blue – Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
  
• God, part 2 – U2
  
• Baba O’Reilly – the Who

This filled the whole of the journey, and was truly brilliant.