Drumlanrig: Liam Fox makes mischief in cunning declaration

Raise a glass, Orcadians and Shetlanders, for your new champion: darling of the Right and former Secretary of State for Defence, the Rt Hon, Dr Liam Fox.

At his alma mater, Glasgow University, on Friday night, addressing its Conservative Association, Fox said it was time the rights of Scotland’s Northern Isles were heard in the coming independence referendum, saying they should get an opt-out if they so choose.

Noting how the SNP had so far declined, he went on: “Nicola Sturgeon said they’d get no referendum because they’re ‘not a nation’ – I wonder what her reaction would have been if anyone in London had dared say anything so patronising about Scotland?”

His concern will be touching for all those in Lerwick and Kirkwall. But it wouldn’t have anything to do with the oil off their coast would it?

Devo Plus campaign looks wide of the mark

The Indy debate may have already got the national spleen working overtime with its mix of abuse, heckling and tribal political hatred, but it has also seen the development of some odd political alliances.

Devo Plus now informs us its campaign for a new reformed Union has won the combined support of Murdo Fraser, possibly Scotland’s driest Tory, and Dave Watson, organiser at the union Unison and officially Scotland’s leftiest Englishman. Broad churches were never meant to be this wide.

Adamson strikes a note of enthusiasm

Thanks to Scotland on Sunday’s campaign to bring free music tuition in schools, we learned a lot last week about the musical ability of our MSPs. At a Holyrood debate sparked by the campaign, we discovered that the SNP’s Nigel Donn is a brass instrumentalist, Stuart McMillan is a “very talented piper” and Clare Adamson a “budding clarinetist”.

Although, Adamson (above)modestly admitted, her musical journey was “an endeavour of enthusiasm over talent”.

Scott’s failed bid to add another string to his bow

One person who will not be performing in the Holyrood orchestra is the Lib Dem Tavish Scott, who, as a proud Shetlander, spoke up for his constituency’s remarkable fiddle tradition.

“Thousands of Shetland bairns have learned the fiddle – although, thankfully, I am an example of a much-needed quality control check in 
primary school.”

Self-deprecatingly, Labour’s Patricia Ferguson said she had learned the violin and guitar “for more years than I would like to admit to before eventually deciding that I simply did not have a talent for it”.