Talk of the Town: Networking leaves user disconnected

TWITTER has become something of a cultural phenomenon, and there's no denying its ability to help organisations keep people up to date with their activities.

It's not all plain-sailing, however, and the Scottish Storytelling Centre has discovered the drawback of Twitter usernames, which must be written without spaces between words.

It has now changed its name from @scotstorycentre to @ScotStoryCentre after a plaintive request from one follower, who wrote "Please consider using capitals? I keep wondering why I am following the Scots Tory Centre!"

Neil blows a breath of fresh air at Holyrood

POLITENESS may not be the first characteristic associated with politicians.

However, it seems not all our elected representatives are cut from the same cloth - new Lothians Labour MSP Neil Findlay has proved his good manners and due gratitude by tabling a motion in the Scottish Parliament thanking staff for their "approachability, responsiveness, professionalism and the help provided to the members, especially the new members".

And just to make sure he stays on their good side, he has also praised their conduct in carrying out their duties as "exemplary".

Broken news

SHARP-eared Good Morning Scotland listeners might have done a slight double take yesterday morning when the headlines from Tuesday's Guardian newspaper were read out for a consecutive day.

It seems Hayley Millar might have been handed the previous day's edition by accident, leading listeners to believe the London paper might have caught the scandal surrounding the Fifa elections a day later than the rest of the world.

That was, of course, not the case. Perhaps it was an early morning too many for the show's sleep-eyed researchers, who usually do a sterling job.

Who are latest Darlings?

IN yesterday's Talk of the Town we reported that Alistair Darling had scored well on sexymp.co.uk.

But we've been reminded that, as with so many inventions, the Scots got there first.

Back in 2007 we reported that Shirley-Anne Somerville had topped a poll of the country's sexiest prospective MSPs - and the now-disgraced MSP Tommy Sheridan was considered the sexiest male MSP.

With a whole host of new faces at Holyrood now, perhaps it's time for a fresh poll?