Drumlanrig: Singing from independence song sheet

QUESTION Time viewers were regaled last week by singer Eddi Reader’s unique take on political events in Scotland, and which kept Twitter entertained for a good 24 hours thereafter (t-shirts with her adamant declaration “I LIVE HERE!!!” are surely only a few days off).

Singer Eddi Reader. Picture: Donald MacLeod

Crueller members of the commentariat declared that Reader should have stuck to singing – which is what she did. Nicola Sturgeon, a fellow panellist, revealed that when a lighting problem stopped filming halfway through, Reader piped up with a ditty to keep the audience entertained. Maybe she is a politician after all....

… but struggles to find the right TV key

THE twitterati were also asking questions about Eddi Reader’s “passionate” performance, which saw her raise the interesting prospect of her “granny’s bingo party” becoming a political force in an independent Scotland. The singer (right) took to Twitter to give some insight into her unique style. “Tour tired & conjunctivitis put paid my relaxed wish,” she said, perhaps conceding she didn’t appear quite as laid back as she’d hoped. “I was told to interject and interrupt or I’d never get a word in … cameras made me nervous but fk it,” she added, philosophically.

Murray would be ruled in for sporting award

IT MAY have answers to about 650 questions, but the Scottish Government’s White Paper has plenty of omissions. For example: if Scotland were independent, would Andy Murray and other Scots sports stars be eligible for BBC Sports Personality of the Year which the tennis star is likely to win this month? A Beeb press officer points us to the rules. People are eligible if they are citizens of Great Britain and Northern Ireland or – if not – where they are resident in the UK and play “a significant amount of sport in the UK”. Murray – who lives in England – would therefore qualify for the gong after independence. But if Scotland captain Scott Brown didn’t keep his British passport, he’d get the overseas award. Which may, we acknowledge, be something of an academic point.

Dimbleby goes to pieces over finishing on time

WHITE Paper week was full of historical references. Without a hint of hyperbole, the SNP MSP Christina McKelvie said: “There is a strong argument that it is the most important political document to be produced since the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320.” Another to get in on the act, perhaps unwittingly, was David Dimbleby. While winding up Question Time, Dimbleby appeared to imagine himself as a modern William Wallace. “I have got to stop now or I will be hung, drawn and quartered, which I would not like,” he said.