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Do not be scared to add the comment function to your articles my children. Fortune favours an honest mistake here and there. However, deals to keep Labour out? They have already fallen.....on what? Remains to be chin-rubbed at.

"Mr Salmond said as largest party, the SNP had the moral right to form the government. If it is good enough for Holyrood then it should be good enough for West Lothian. Who is refusing to play fair now?.

I've voted Labour all my long life but it would be great to see them out of power for a while in East Ayrshire. The Labour councillors I know are so arrogant and I know they don't have one O Grade between them.

I agree Johnnie. I voted Labour. For 2 of the votes in the council section, However I voted for the independent candidate on my third choice as Im sick of "Elaine Dinwoodie". Im disgusted at her being re elected. I have lived less than a quarter of a mile from her for 3 yrs, and I have never seen her. She never replies properly to e-mails. She is a complete waste of time. And a disgrace to Labour. I still want a labou=r led council, but with Din "who" de

Sorry, I should have ended my last post......... But with Din "who? de long gone.

JK - There is nothing to stop Labour at Holyrood trying to form an administration, just as there is nothing to stop Labour in West Lothian trying to form an administration. Aside from the fact nobody would touch them with a bargepole, that is. Reaping the harvest of decades of malfeasance and crappy governance.

Bigger paragraphs too my children.

SNP in deal to keep Labour out - more fitting.

i want a smoke of whatever newscum is having. Wonderful news that labour will only control a couple of councils. 4 years to undo decades of arrogance, partisanship and ignorance

The real face of the SNP is on display at last. Trying to take over in areas where Labour is the largest party and has the most votes. Building alliances with the Tories. And remember, every single one of these deals will have been ratified by the SNP national executive. That's right. The local Nats can't enter any coalition without their party bureaucrats giving them the go-ahead. So much for local people deciding who runs the council And so much for 'moral authority.'

JTB - I was wondering when you'd arrive, full of fake outrage and bluster at those terrible Nats and their political ways. Were you as distraught when Labour entered coalition with the Tories and LibDems in Perth & Kinross? Face it, your party have left local government in a shambles after years of crookery and malpractice - if giving some Tory heid the baw a shiny necklace and golden stick for a couple of years is the price we have to pay to keep the dobbers out and start improving things, that's a price worth paying. Glasgow's next in four years by the way. Taxi for Purcell!

Well said Brian Blessed :)

As a recent re-locatee to Texas, all I can do is marvel at the hypocracy of the Labour politicos in Scotland who have been found out at last for the charlatans and shysters that they really are....... Soar Alba

In case some folks haven’t noticed, life isn’t fair!!! The ballot process was a bit of a shambles, but they did show where PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION is taking us. That means changes. The votes show that change is required. Why should JTB be whinging about other parties ignoring the Labour majority in East Lothian? If my memory serves correctly, Labour, both north and south of the border, have entered into these tactics in the past to ensure their continued rule, and that was in first past the post elections. Why the howls of unfair, because others have taken a leaf from the same book. Get real. Politics is not played by Marquis of Queensbury or any other rules. Democracy translates into majority. That majority are banding together to rule. There was no clear mandate for anyone with an outright majority to crown themselves and rule in West Lothian. Get a life, the play ground bullies now have opposition. I ask, would Labour stop short of doing this? Not in a heart beat if they could find enough lemmings.

Funny. According to Labour apologists like Jock Tamson's Bairn, the SNP actually lost the election and shouldn't be **** at everyone else's obstructiveness because "70% of people didn't vote for the SNP". By that same standard, 70% (or whatever) of the people of West Lothian didn't vote Labour, so why should the council be controlled by them? You can't have it both ways, Labour whiners.

Disgruntled like Johnnie, Ayrshire. Typical Labour, would vote for a dung beetle if it wore a red rose. Labour has done nothing for Scotland in over 50 years but the numpties still believe they are on their side. Labour are only interested in themselves and whatever they can get in way of "expences"

Fred .. (and anyone else who attempts to make political capital about SNP unofficial arrangements with lone Tories) - it obviously hasn't dawned on you yet that the UK has had a Tory Prime Minister in Tony Blair since 1997. Try reading Animal Farm by George Orwell and apply it allegorically to recent times rather than Stalin's Soviet Union. Margaret Thatcher was one of the very first "celebrities" to be invited round for tea when Blair was first elected. [bold]FACT: New Labour = Old Tory[/bold] Alba Gu Brath

Well said Brian Blessed in reply to JTB. I wonder if that is really meant to stand for "Just Totally Bitter"?

What is amazing is the positive attitude people still have to voting in Scotland.The illusion that Scots live in a democracy and their vote will COUNT. Positivity is something everyone should promote as it saves souls that maybe have been sapped by the stress of living in the society we have at present.Our group have more than anybody in Scotland have faced the most horrendous abuses at the hands of the political and legal mobsters we survived ONLY because we had that positive drive.Many were not so lucky and loss their lives due to the most evil psychological games played on them by a small faction who control our legal structures for their own financial ends while destroying peoples lives.That is the REALITY of what we are living NOT the illusion portrayed by the political and legal perspectives that dominate our media. The TRAGEDY is that this DEMOCRACY ,we are told constantly by the media,we are living in is only an ILLUSION.Our political system has been controlled for centuries by a shadow government that operates in secret .It controls every aspect of our lives UNDEMOCRATICALLY. All the ESTABLISHMENT parties which include the SNP have sworn oaths which if broken are set up and blackmailed if they move from the agenda that the shadow government have set in place to keep Scotlands people in permanent enslavement and will continue to ensure the inequality between the haves and have nots will continue. Scotlands people have been voting for the SAME bunch of MSP's that have been in the Scottish Parliament for years and our group have vast experience that shows time and again they have ignored serious abuses of many of Scotlands victims of the political and legal mobsters. The SNP or indeed any other party that is bankrolled by millionaires will make no difference to the direction that agenda is going and is only for the benefit of a self appointed elite who are pulling the wool over us all and who operate the most sinister control over our lives which the political and legal mobsters are ALL party to. The attached gives an indication as to how that works.For those who still believe Scotland is now about to see a miracle and major transformation ,come back in four years and prove us wrong. LJPR LEGAL JUDICIAL POLITICAL REFORMERS http://www.ljpr.cjb.net THE SECRET COVENANT An illusion it will be, so large, so vast it will escape their perception. Those who will see it will be thought of as insane. We will create separate fronts to prevent them from seeing the connection between us. We will behave as if we are not connected to keep the illusion alive. Our goal will be accomplished one drop at a time so as to never bring suspicion upon ourselves. This will also prevent them from seeing the changes as they occur. We will always stand above the relative field of their experience for we know the secrets of the absolute. We will work together always and will remain bound by blood and secrecy. Death will come to he who speaks. We will keep their lifespan short and their minds weak while pretending to do the opposite. We will use our knowledge of science and technology in subtle ways so they will never see what is happening. We will start early on, when their minds are young, we will target their children with what children love most, sweet things. We will render them docile and weak before us by our power. They will grow depressed, slow and obese. We will focus their attention toward money and material goods so they many never connect with their inner self. We will distract them with fornication, external pleasures and games so they may never be one with the oneness of it all. Their minds will belong to us and they will do as we say. If they refuse we shall find ways to implement mind-altering technologyinto their lives. We will use fear as our weapon. We will establish their governments and establish opposites within. We will own BOTH sides. We will always hide our objective but carry out our plan. They will perform the labor for us and we shall prosper from their toil. Our families will never mix with theirs. Our blood must be pure always, for it is the way. We will make them kill each other when it suits us. We will keep them separated from the oneness by dogma and religion. We will control all aspects of their lives and tell them what to think and how. We will guide them kindly and gently letting them think they are guiding themselves. We will foment animosity between them through our factions. When a light shall shine among them, we shall extinguish it by ridicule, or death, whichever suits us best. We will accomplish this by using hate as our ally, anger as our friend. The hate will blind them totally, and never shall they see that from their conflicts we emerge as their rulers. They will be busy killing each other. They will bathe in their own blood and kill their neighbors for as long as we see fit. We will benefit greatly from this, for they will not see us, for they cannot see us. We will continue to prosper from their wars and their deaths. We shall repeat this over and over until our ultimate goal is accomplished. We will continue to make them live in fear and anger though images and sounds. We will use all the tools we have to accomplish this. The tools will be provided by their labor. We will make them hate themselves and their neighbors. We will always hide the divine truth from them, that we are all one. This they must never know! They must never know that color is an illusion, they must always think they are not equal. Drop by drop, drop by drop we will advance our goal. We will take over their land, resources and wealth to exercise total control over them. We will deceive them into accepting laws that will steal the little freedom they will have. We will establish a money system that will imprison them forever, keeping them and their children in debt. When they shall ban together, we shall accuse them of crimes and present a different story to the world for we shall own all the media. We will use our media to control the flow of information and their sentiment in our favor. When they shall rise up against us we will crush them like insects, for they are less than that. They will be helpless to do anything for they will have no weapons. We will recruit some of their own to carry out our plans, we will promise them eternal life, but eternal life they will never have for they are not of us. The recruits will be called "initiates" and will be indoctrinated to believe false rites of passage to higher realms. Members of these groups will think they are one with us never knowing the truth. They must never learn this truth for they will turn against us. For their work they will be rewarded with earthly things and great titles, but never will they become immortal and join us, never will they receive the light and travel the stars. They will never reach the higher realms, for the killing of their own kind will prevent passage to the realm of enlightenment. This they will never know. The truth will be hidden in their face, so close they will not be able to focus on it until its too late. Oh yes, so grand the illusion of freedom will be, that they will never know they are our slaves. When all is in place, the reality we will have created for them will own them.This reality will be their prison. They will live in self-delusion. When our goal is accomplished a new era of domination will begin. Their minds will be bound by their beliefs, the beliefs we have established from time immemorial. But if they ever find out they are our equal, we shall perish then. THIS THEY MUST NEVER KNOW. If they ever find out that together they can vanquish us, they will take action. They must never, ever find out what we have done, for if they do, we shallhave no place to run, for it will be easy to see who we are once the veil hasfallen. Our actions will have revealed who we are and they will hunt us down and no person shall give us shelter. This is the secret covenant by which we shall live the rest of our present and future lives, for this reality will transcend many generations and life spans. This covenant is sealed by blood, our blood. We, the ones who from heaven to earth came. This covenant must NEVER, EVER be known to exist. It must NEVER, EVER be written or spoken of for if it is, the consciousness it will spawn will release the fury of the PRIME CREATOR upon us and we shall be cast to the depths from whence we came and remain there until the end time of infinity itself.

The Labour mafia and their apologists cry "It's nae fair!" Didn't you lot even hear? Are you deaf? Numptyville is finished. Now p*ss off and stop whining. And spare us the lectures about democracy, it's because we care about it that we kicked you out.

So much for the election promises from the leader of the indigenous Conservatives that her party's policy would be to refuse to entertain any form of local or national coalition with the Nationalists! Whilst Labour, Lib-Dem and Tory Unionist councillors lick their wounds they have allowed the Nationalists to take the initiative! Lachie Todd

9.09am eh?

[italic]A dinnae ken hoo oany o yeez kin tak intae yur heids oany wurds thur politeeshins say . Ye ken when thur liein, THUR LIPS UR MOVIN' They AW ulreddy selt afore, an thull dae it again, an dae ocht fur po'er. Thus AW a shower o back stabbing chanchers.[/italic] Fareweel to our Scottish fame, Fareweel our ancient glory; Fareweel ev'n to the Scottish name, Sae fam'd in martial story. Now Sark rins over Solway sands, An' Tweed rins to the ocean, To mark where England's province stands- Such a parcel of rogues in a nation! What force or guile could not subdue, Thro' many warlike ages, Is wrought now by a coward few, For hireling traitor's wages. The English steel we could disdain, Secure in valour's station; But English gold has been our bane- Such a parcel of rogues in a nation! O would, or I had seen the day that Treason thus could sell us, My auld grey head had lien in clay, Wi' Bruce and loyal Wallace! But pith and power, till my last hour, I'll mak this declaration; We're bought and sold for English gold- Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

Lackey by name.... Johnny in Auchinleck, do you know if the criminally corrupt Jim Kelly was returned for the Muirkirk ward?

What's this nonsense about "keeping Labour out of town halls"? The Scottish term is "town house".

Think of the councils as a consolation prize. Since Ming and Gordon appear to have decided on an 'unofficial unionist majority shadow government' in Scotland, the SNP have to take what they can get. Read this (depressing) article that tries to work out why Nichol Stephen has such rubbish reasons for not forming a govt with the SNP: [bold]http://tinyurl.com/2ydu4a[/bold]

A lot of administrations that have been Labopur for generations are going to be turned over & a lot of ugly creatures are going to be exposed to the light of day. Long overdue. Unfortunately Glasgow will be one of the few Labour fiefdoms left. I have still to hear any explanation as to how 5 miles of motorway in Glasgow can cost £500 million while the Norwegians are building hundres of kilometres of tunnel at £7 million a km.

There will be some SNP voters who will be horrified that SNP councillors are willing to form a coalition with Tories. Equally, there will be Tories who will be horrified at the thought of their elected officials doing a deal with the SNP etc. There will be some Labour voters who are horrified that despite gaining the majority of positions they will not control their council. As I stated yesterday PR delivers a government or local authority that nobody actually voted for.

i wonder if their mascot, sean connery will return to scotland now the snp are in. for a snp mascot, the old man is an embarrassment, not only a tax dodging wife beater, but this man who "wanted" independence for the country he has left behind, couldn't wait to fly over to buckingham palace and kneel, yes kneel, before the queen to get his precious knighthood.

Any coalition that removes corrupt labour councils (90% of them) is good. All Labour councillors where i live are generally regarded as corrupt and arrogant.

Interesting article Angus and probably correct in his assumptions.

Poor the Shaun Brown, quivering at the knees at the thought that a retired actor might actually be more important than him.

This article shows the hypocrisy of the SNP. They claim they have the "moral authority" to govern Scotland as they have 1 seat more than Labour. They also say any attempt by Labour to enter into coalition with other parties to govern would be a travesty to the peoples will etc However in Council areas, where Labour have more seats and votes, they are doing deals with other parties to ensure Labour do not govern the local areas. The SNP can't have it both ways. They can't claim the moral authority to govern Scotland, and then over-rule the electorate in local elections giving moral authority to Labour to govern by entering into deals with other parties especially Tories. Hypocrisy, don't you just love it! PS. I am not a Labour voter. Before the usual mud slinging starts.

[quote][bold]Big Tam[/bold] wrote: Poor the Shaun Brown, quivering at the knees at the thought that a retired actor might actually be more important than him.[/quote] eh? anyone knows what this means. answers on a postcard please.

In Inverclyde the leader of the Labour group, Mr. McCabe, talks of taking power. BUT he does not seem to realize that if the others parties joing together they can take power and they will be in opposition. Mr. McCabe is either "at it" or is downright stupid. In truth, its probably both. The other parties are not daft. As for his plans for schools, the Audit Commission will be involved at an early stage. The public, in law, must recieve "best value". I hope he realizes what has already happened in one of the Dunbartonshire councils.

Oh dear Old Labour in the west does not get it...you have lost your hegemony over Scotland courtesy of your own numpty Joke and his deal with what's his name of the Lib Dems (STV). Joke was more interested in keeping his nose in the trough than what was best for the 'Old Labour' party, possibly he was so arrogant that he thought Labour will still win the councils. The open sore that was Labour lead West Dumbarton Council is simply the public face of Labour Councils - the mix of councilors now sitting better reflects the actual political landscape in Scotland rarther than at any time in the past 20 years. Labour grow up you lost, accept that and move on as your own Prof John Curtice has tried to point out to you the voters hate a bad looser and punish them even worse next time around.

# Ryan If Jack McConnell could get bthe Lib Dems to support him continuing in office that is what would happen. He can't-so Labour are out. That is the reality-accept it.

[quote][bold]Macuistean[/bold] wrote: Disgruntled like Johnnie, Ayrshire. Typical Labour, would vote for a dung beetle if it wore a red rose. Labour has done nothing for Scotland in over 50 years but the numpties still believe they are on their side. Labour are only interested in themselves and whatever they can get in way of \"expences\"[/quote] Dung beetles are hard working, canny creatures that do us all a great favour recycling a rather unplesant substance for free. To suggest that one would run as a Labour candidate is a great disservice to them. Let the Tories have their little trinkets, pomp and circumstance. 3 tories versus 14 nats? It's clear where the real power will lie in that council. It's about time Labours' hegemony in local politics in Scotland was shattered. They've taken us for granted time and time again, delivering very little at enormous cost. Given the choice between a labour candidate and a dung beetle, I'd happily vote for the latter.

Scotland's democratic shame Neal Ascherson 9 - 5 - 2007 The fallout of Scotland's messy election may be a London-centred deal that corrodes the democratic potential of Britain's post-devolution politics, reports Neal Ascherson. Scotland has a rich vocabulary for disastrous failures. Much of it has come into use in the aftermath of the elections to the nation's parliament in Holyrood, Edinburgh on 3 May 2007. When Robert Burns remarked that "The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men / Gang aft agley", he was well aware how his country's grandest designs have a tendency to end wheels-up in the ditch. And he had the words for it. Some commentators described the elections as a guddle (a fine word, derived from the splashy mess when you try to catch fish with your hands). Others spoke of a fankle, the word for a hopeless tangle of loops and knots in a fishing-line. And others again called the scene a bourach. That can mean a lot of things, starting with a rope-fetter to stop a cow kicking, but here it is a heap, a tumbled mess, a wagon which has overturned and shed its load all over the causeway. This particular bourach consists of two tumbled messes, one upon another. The first is the utter confusion of the poll itself, which was so ill-conducted in so many different ways that its verdict scarcely carries authority. The second, far more important for the political future, is the failure of Scottish politicians to make a new government out of the election results. When the chaos of the election process became clear, many Scots felt humiliated. "The world will be laughing at us". Three guddles had added up to a terminal fankle. Firstly, postal votes went undelivered by the thousand. Secondly, the new computers hired to replace manual counting and give a faster result broke down all over Scotland. Many declarations were delayed by up to twelve hours as returning officers sent their exhausted staff home for the night. But thirdly, and gravest of all, the voters failed to cope with the revised ballot-papers, redesigned from their familiar form because the governing Labour Party felt that the old lay-out discriminated against their own candidates. The Holyrood tunnel So a bungled election leads to a tragic political impasse. Tragic, because this should - even for those who are not tempted by the idea of Scottish independence - have been one of those "glad morning" dawns of change. For the first time in about fifty years, the Labour Party has lost control of Scottish politics - at both national and local level. For the first time ever in its eighty years of existence, the Scottish National Party has broken through to become Scotland's leading political force, the winner of a democratic election. There is no question about it: the SNP won the campaign, and its leader, Alex Salmond, emerged in the last few months as the most convincing figure in Scottish politics. Equally, it's beyond question that Scottish Labour lost the campaign, putting up a sullen, negative showing under the leadership of the decent but increasingly bewildered Jack McConnell, the outgoing first minister. In contrast, the SNP slogan "It's time" seemed to catch an impatient readiness for change. But winning campaigns, even winning elections by a whisker, does not always add up to winning power. The SNP now finds itself in a trap. It has no overall parliamentary majority at Holyrood. And its chances of finding enough coalition partners or allies to allow an SNP government to govern suddenly look remote. Alex Salmond is reduced to the prospect of a minority government, living from day to day, at the mercy of its enemies. In the two previous Scottish parliaments (1999-2003 and 2003-07), the Liberal Democrats were junior partners in coalition governments with the Labour Party. Now that Labour has been defeated, the Lib-Dems are the only plausible partners for the SNP. And yet they have flatly refused all Salmond's approaches. Their leader Nicol Stephen insists that negotiations are pointless until the SNP gives up its intention to hold a referendum on Scottish independence by 2010. [bold]There is something very odd about this. At first, people thought Nicol Stephen was bluffing, trying to raise the price for his support. But he is not. And yet none of the reasons for his refusal make sense.[/bold] It's worth looking at the Lib-Dem case in detail: 1. "We are a Unionist party, and can have no part in any independence project". This is ridiculous for two reasons. Firstly, because the Lib-Dems are actually a federalist party, not really a unionist one dedicated to the preservation of a centralising British state governed from London. They demand sweeping increases in Holyrood's power over finance, which under the British system would almost inevitably lead towards full independence. Secondly, the grounds for opposing a referendum don't hold water. If the Scots do want Scotland to become an independent state, then blocking their opportunity to say so is a violation of democracy. If they don't want independence (and at present most do not) then a "unionist" party has nothing to fear from a referendum. 2. "The only referendum that counts is the vote on May 3rd - and by voting mainly for Unionist parties, the Scots have already rejected independence". This is a quite childish view of politics. "Independence" was not on the ballot-paper, and constitutional matters hardly ever direct people's choice between parties at elections. In Scotland, every politician knows that party loyalty doesn't tell you about a voter's views on the union. For many years, the biggest single block of pro-independence Scots was composed of committed Labour voters - although their party was rigidly unionist. 3. "The SNP won't compromise on their referendum; it's their only policy". Nobody believes this. Salmond, who originally wanted a one-question, yes-or-no ballot, now repeats that he would accept a multi-option referendum (making an absolute majority for independence almost impossible). He makes clear that the poll could be delayed for years. Finally, he would consent to parking the whole independence / referendum question with a cross-party constitutional convention, leaving the parliament free to get on with normal business. The convention idea was also in the Lib-Dems' manifesto. Neither is the "one policy" gibe true. The SNP does in fact have a detailed programme of reforms - many of which are close to the Lib-Dems' own. As well as the constitutional convention, the SNP shares the Lib-Dem demands for expanded powers for Holyrood and a local income tax. Labour and the Tories would not touch either notion. 4. "The suspense of an independence referendum would overshadow the whole parliament, making coherent reforms impossible". There is no evidence whatever for this, especially since it's common knowledge how unlikely a "yes" majority for independence is at the moment. In any case, a referendum has to be decreed by Holyrood, and the SNP - even if it did form a coalition - would probably lose that vote. The power of suffocation [bold]It follows that, given the feebleness of Nicol Stephen's arguments, there must be some other reason for his stubborn refusal to seek a deal. In Scotland, a rather convincing conspiracy theory is gaining ground. This reports that an ambitious bargain has been struck between the two "big beast" Scots at Westminster: Menzies Campbell, leader of the British Liberal Democrats, and Gordon Brown, soon to become Labour prime minister in succession to Tony Blair.[/bold] [bold]The terms would run like this. In Scotland, the Scottish Lib-Dems will boycott all contacts with Alex Salmond and instead join an unofficial "unionist bloc" of Labour, Tories and Lib-Dems at Holyrood. The bloc (already nicknamed "the unholy alliance") would treat the SNP ministers as outlaws, despite their democratic mandate. It would oppose and frustrate every attempt they made to govern until the SNP-led Scottish executive collapsed and the minority government resigned.[/bold] In return, Gordon Brown would look kindly on the Liberal Democrats if - as seems possible - the next United Kingdom elections in 2009 destroy Labour's absolute majority and produce a hung parliament at Westminster. Then there could be a Lib-Lab coalition at the British level; and - if Brown is feeling especially grateful - some assurance that proportional representation would be introduced for Westminster elections. And in Scotland, a third Lib-Lab coalition executive would be constructed. The Nats would be shown, once and for all, that they were aliens and intruders with no right to govern Scotland. No referendum would be allowed, and the independence idea would be discredited for ever. End of story, with everyone happy... [bold]Could this frightful scenario really be taken seriously by anyone? It seems that it could. And yet it is not only a democratic disgrace. It is a script for uncontrollable political upheaval at some point in the future.[/bold] The desire for change in Scotland is authentic. A steady current of opinion is moving towards wider self-government for Scotland, including fiscal autonomy - extensions of devolution which the UK framework and Prime Minister Gordon Brown may be unable to tolerate. [bold]Pretending that all this isn't happening by suffocating its messenger - the SNP majority in the elections - is suicidally daft. The implication is that devolution amounts to a sham, and that the important decisions about Scotland - not just policy decisions but even the choice of which party governs in Edinburgh - are still taken behind closed doors in London[/bold] . What conclusions are Scottish voters supposed to draw from that? So Alex Salmond is left with no alternative. It's minority government or nothing. Westminster tradition sees this as un-British. In fact, there were two minority British governments as recently as the 1970s, both Labour. Harold Wilson ran one in the immediate aftermath of the February 1974 elections. After Wilson resigned in March 1976, the narrow parliamentary majority of his successor James Callaghan became ever tinier thanks to a series of by-election defeats over the next three years. To keep the wheels of government turning he had to rely on "arrangements" with the Liberals and - as it happens - the then sizeable SNP contingent to get its laws through. It has to be said that neither was a success story. Wilson gave up after a few months, and called fresh elections in November 1974 which gave him a working majority. Callaghan struggled on, until his failure to ratify Scottish devolution in 1979 moved the SNP MPs to bring him down. But minority governments can survive, even get things done. All depends on the tolerance and responsibility of the opposition parties. And those who planned the Scottish parliament in the 1990s had a vision of a new sort of democratic assembly, far removed from obsolete Westminster patterns, whose watchword would be cooperation rather than confrontation. Party boundaries would be relaxed and party whips would not dragoon their flocks. Some of that - although far from all - has become reality at Holyrood. But will the opposition parties remember those cooperative dreams as they close in on the helpless SNP? Alex Salmond's hope, even more urgent than holding that referendum, is to show the Scots that the SNP can govern sensibly, effectively and constructively. It does not look as if he will be allowed that chance.

Brian Blessed You weren't 'wondering,' you were waiting. Morning, stalker. All I am saying is that the SNP have demonstrated total hypocrisy. They said before the election that they wouldn't do any deals with the Tories at either national or local level. After the election they said the largest party was entitled to govern. Perhaps they should re-assess the situation as follows: 1. The SNP will do no deal with the Tories [bold]except where the SNP can take control of a counc[/bold] il 2. The largest party is entitled to govern [bold]provided it's the SNP[/bold] I am also concerned that the SNP national executive is deciding who can and cannot control local authorities. Other parties don't so this. The SNP executive is elected by no one but SNP members. Finally, there is the future to consider. In their current triumphalism the SNP is neglecting to think ahead To take one example, if the SNP think it's a smart move now to impose a Tory provost in East Ayrshire where the Tories have just three councillors then they will be in for a nasty surprise. I'd like to be a fly on the wall in the pubs of Kilmarnock or Cumnock when SNP activists try to explain that one away

The SNP are simply playing by the rules that Labour have forced upon them. I'll say it again - you can't have it both ways. If that's how you think democracy should work, then let's hear you castigate the Lib Dems for not forming a Holyrood coalition, and Labour for not accepting their defeat. So what ARE your opinions on those subjects? Come on, JTB. We're all waiting. Are you a man, or a bairn indeed?

David, you clearly favour the First Past the Post system. I think you're wrong in saying that PR delivers a government nobody voted for. In fact, more people have their political views taken into consideration in a coalition. It is always a compromise situation but that does not mean that in a compromise nobody's views count; on the contrary, it means that there is an attempt to taken into consideration the variety of opinion. You might also have said that PR delivers a system everybody voted for. Obviously, you would prefer a return to the minority dictats of the Labour party which ran Glasgow Council for decades on a relatively small percentage of the vote.