Drumlanrig: Fun and games for John and Alex

Ministers last week held one of their meetings in Fort William on the Cabinet's summer tour around the Highlands - a trip that told us a good deal about the athletic prowess of those in charge of the country.

Fitness-fanatic John Swinney, right, tweeted that he took the opportunity to have a run along the Caledonian Canal tow path. Alex Salmond's sporting activity was restricted to meeting the heavies at the Arisaig Highland Gathering in West Lochaber.

According to local press reports, the First Minister examined the light hammer, but "declined" to toss the caber. Shame.

MILIBAND SWERVES A MURDOCH MIX-UP

Ed Miliband has had a good month, having out-manoeuvred David Cameron in the hacking scandal. But he has also been lucky.

Last year, his loyal press aide Katie Myler decided that she was going to move on to pastures new and quit Team Miliband not long after Ed had won the leadership race. Just as well, what with Dad Colin being the former editor of the News of the World and all that. In a parallel universe, one imagines that Ed's attacks on David Cameron's connections to News International might have lost a bit of their sting had Myler jnr still been on board.

GRAY DETERMINED TO BE ON HIS WAY

Despite having led Labour to inglorious defeat in the Scottish election, there is still little sign of a replacement for Iain Gray. One thing that is looking increasingly clear, however, is that Gray is not - contrary to rumours - likely to stay on as a caretaker leader for the next year or so. A well-placed source tells us that, although this option is not completely off the table, the Gray man, not surprisingly, has had quite enough.

SKY MISSES A BEAT ON ROYAL WEDDING

IT'S not often that an English World Cup winner gets a rousing cheer on the streets of Edinburgh. But that's what happened to Mike Tindall, below, yesterday when he got out of his car on the Royal Mile before he married Zara Phillips.

There can't have been many cheers in Scotland, however, during Sky's coverage of the happy event. Not only did royal "expert" Alastair Bruce refer to the Canongate Kirk as the Canongate Church, but he described minister Rev Neil Gardner as "the vicar". If he wasn't safely ensconced in heaven, John Knox would have been birling in his grave.