Tomorrow sees a Scottish council by-election up in Gilmerton following the death of councillor Tom Buchanan. The SNP’s leafleting tactics are somewhat interesting:

Guido is all for freedom for Scotland, but telling voters it is an “SNP by-election” and that they have to “find a replacement SNP councillor” is surely a step too far…

One for Will Smith then. This is what happens when you lower the voting age…

Via Kebab Time.

Who said that the Scottish Parliament was a spectacular waste of money and devolution is hampered by not being able to tackle the big issues? They should take a look at the level of debate last week:

Parliamentary Cat

Christine Grahame (Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale) (SNP):

4. To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will consider procuring a resident cat as a humane mouse deterrent. (S4O-02228)

Members:

Miaow!

Linda Fabiani (Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body):

No. The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body has no plans to procure a resident cat.

Members:

Shame!

Shame, indeed.

Via Mark Brown.

Not the finest hour for the Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson. Asked about referendums and leadership challenges the former BBC journalist seems to have forgotten her TV training. Fairly painful viewing…

The uphill struggle in the fight for freedom for Scotland is getting steeper. This morning’s Ipsos Mori poll has just 31% of Scots saying yes to freedom, with 59% of Scots now saying they would vote to stay under the cruel yolk of English oppression. The battle will be long…

Much has been made of the Scottish Sun’s apparent decision to say no to freedom for Scotland over recent days. The Indy reported that “Rupert Murdoch’s interest in winning independence for Scotland has ended” as the paper “will not be backing independence”. It seems they’ve jumped the gun. Today the Scottish Sun have released a statement insisting it is “far too early” to make a decision on whether to back the yes or the no camp. One to keep an eye on…

Crunch time for boundary reform today. The LibDems will be ditching collective responsibility to vote against the Coalition for the first time, and defeat is on the cards for Dave unless SNP and DUP MPs can be persuaded to help. Tory rebels are made up of the three Davi(e)s: David, Philip and Glyn. A deal with the DUP would bring the government eight votes closer to the 326 target, but would likely mean exempting Northern Ireland from the review. The SNP insist no deal will be done though that hasn’t stopped their MPs openly flirting:

Boundaries vote tomorrow. Because of unequal size of constituencies across the UK Lab has a start of up to 30 seats in next UK election—
Pete Wishart (@PeteWishart) January 28, 2013

Boundaries vote tomorrow. Should we give Labour 30 seats of a start to help keep Scotland free of Tory Government?—
Pete Wishart (@PeteWishart) January 28, 2013

It would come at a very high price but works in both the SNP and Tory interest. The unlikely deal has four hours…

UPDATE: It’s over Dave.

Angus Robertson to confirm SNP WILL vote against the Govt and the boundaries review tonight. That's the final nail.—
Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) January 29, 2013

Via Pam Nash

Labour MP and expenses piggy Ian Davidson lost the plot live on air last night accusing Newsnight Scotland of being biased in favour of the Yes campaign for Scottish independence. Alleging that the BBC were in cahoots with the SNP, Davidson repeatedly referred to the programme as “News-Nat“, before the furious presenter Isabel Fraser demanded an apology. TV gold…

FOI data released by the Scottish Tories has revealed that Scotland has spent a staggering £14 million on ‘pilgrims‘ – taxpayer funded trade union officials – in the last five years. Scottish councils are paying the wages of dozens of employees who spend 100% of their time on trade union work, with many more working part-time. Almost £3 million of taxpayers’ money was spent on the £27,000 per year wages of Scottish pilgrims in 2011 alone.

If only Francis Maude were a Scot…