WHEN DO 2 WRONGS MAKE A RIGHT? WHEN YOU ARE ALEX (THE SPIV) SALMOND THAT'S WHEN.

I suspect that the expenses issue has almost blown itself out as far as headlines are concerned but; now that it has died down a bit we are able to look again at those who have been desperately hiding and hoping it would go away. Chief among them is our slippery old friend Alex (the spiv) Salmond; chief not because of the extent of his fiddling; but because he is the first minister; he continues to display mendacity and hubris but, as the old Ayrshire plagiarist said ‘facts are chiels that winna ding,/An downa be disputed’ The facts are that he put in claims which required him to be in London to make them genuine and he was not in London, the word is fraud.

He has been challenged by the redoubtable Tory leader Annabelle Goldie to publish his diaries for this period and he is “outraged” here is his bizarre and brazen defence; He said: "I have never claimed I was in London during all of these two months - any such suggestion is absurd, and the Tories' trawl irrelevant. He wasn’t there but claimed expenses which required him to be there and he describes that as irrelevant! Apparently with him so is the truth! He digs himself in deeper with the following :-

"I am delighted to have my expenses judged by the independent audit of all MPs' claims, and make all information available to them, and am entirely confident that the position is rock solid - how many Tory MPs can say that?” Can your position be “rock solid” when you have made false claims on your expenses? What Salmond (the spiv) is really saying is when it comes to his involvement in false claims 2 wrongs do make a right. You can draw no other conclusion, he is guilty as charged but his Tory accusers were at it as well so that’s all right then! thanks for clearing that up Alex.

His shifty reply throws up another cracker; he now demands an apology from Tory leader Cameron for accusing him of benefitting from 2 jobs with this gem of rat like cunning "I wrote to David Cameron on 20 May calling on him to apologise for his misleading claims about me benefiting from two salaries, when he should know fine well that I donate my gross Holyrood salary to an independent charitable trust - now worth nearly £40,000, and which has benefited over 40 youth and community groups in North East Scotland. "I am still waiting for a reply, and in light of this recycled attack am stepping up the demand for a public apology. Absolutely ‘he haw’ to do with Ms. Goldie’s request or indeed the accusations about his expenses, I can think of a reply for him O.K. So in Alex (the spiv’s) world a politician donating large sums of money to a charitable trust bearing his mother’s name; also Salmond of course, does not benefit him in any way or; put another way £40,000 of good publicity on his own doorstep is not to his advantage” “at’s a cracker” as Frank Carson would say, the stench from (the spiv) is becoming overwhelming.

What does this tell us? 1/ he cheated on expenses. 2/ he benefitted from 2 salaries. He put forward devious; deceitful excuses designed to hide his culpability oh, and he’s Scotland’s First Minister. Lots of heads have rolled for less than this which tells us something quite disturbing about him and his party. Quite simply he is content in the knowledge that he can say and do anything he pleases; pull any stunt; he can treat his party with unconcealed contempt and there is not one single member, Councillor, MP, MSP or MEP who would dare to stand up to him, is this a healthy political party? Labour right now; warts and all; right here today is in far healthier long term shape than the SNP the comparisons could not be starker. Far better I think and far more healthy to belong to a party where members are not afraid to criticise and dispute with each other in public than be like the SNP members obsequious camp followers, terrified of the leader (the spiv) Salmond.