Yet more reasons to be cheerful

It has been highly entertaining watching the unionist party hacks and press researchers try to find ways to chop the SNP down to size after their conference at the weekend, despite the nationalists enjoying a 40% public rating, a confidence-building series of independence polls and an army of well-known Scots from various backgrounds queuing up to compliment Alex Salmond and his cabinet in the Scotland on Sunday.

Amongst these public figures are well known unionists and labour backers who, albeit grudgingly, have said that the SNP are doing "surprisingly" well.

So with this in mind, the various blog entries smack of desperation and even a delusion that I am simply amazed hasn't worn off yet. I agree there is a place for effective opposition, even in the face of a good policy for the sake of playing devil's advocate, but an opposition without the "effective" adjective is reduced to someone just having a needless moan.

Top billing - Matt's Mic (who, to be fair, did an awesome compering job at the Obama rally).

Matt (Labour) seems to be swinging rather wildly at the SNP's track record hoping something will stick. 1,000 extra police, reduced class sizes and efforts to help first time buyers of homes incur his rather odd wrath. The more amusing complaint is the dumping of the student debt which he is waiting for as "promised" by the SNP. Of course, the fact that the SNP are in the minority and no other party supports this policy (including Labour who I believe Matt works for) then I guess there'll be a bit longer to wait to halt those student loan payments.

Two Doctors (Green) make a similarly odd choice of protest by focussing on Salmond's "make Westminster dance to a Scottish jig" line. Similar to the Labour/Lib Dem administration of 8 years, I don't understand why this Green party member is ashamed of fighting for Scottish interests? I'd go as far to say that the main reason for Salmond's tremendous popularity at the moment is down to the fact that he's taking Westminster head-on in areas where past administrations have just lied down to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown's wishes.

Scottish Tory Boy (umm, Tory) moves into even more bizarre territory by trying to claim that Alex Salmond is trying to stage a revolution! Despite the SNP's constant insistence that they have no problem with the Queen reigning over an independent Scotland, Tory Boy is concerned that a (somewhat trivial) picture of Alex Salmond on a fake £20 note suggests something more sinister. Perhaps the SNP should also be charged for counterfeiting?

Thankfully, the small (PR-conscious?) band of Lib Dem bloggers have seen sense and know that there's no point throwing mud when it just won't stick. There are no disparaging stories from their end of the blogosphere.

But to the rest I would say keep going, Mondays can be a difficult day but your light relief is certainly helping me keep a smile on my face...