Glenrothes gift for Brown!

Who'd have thought it? Well, not the pundits, the SNP and the Blairites. They all thought Glenrothes was a gonner for the Labour Party. They were wrong, as were most of us, it seems.

Credit where credit is due. A win in elections is a win. By one or or million, it doesn't matter. And to be honest this win was quite considerable. OK there was a swing away from Labour to the SNP, but enough people decided to back Labour.

Now I'll revert to type! I don't think they voted FOR Labour so much as they were voting AGAINST Salmond and his independence fantasies. One word came up - ICELAND!!! - and Salmond was stuck like a limpit on a wall, fearful to come out and say what was what. Can you imagine the idea of Icelandic savers losing their money in Scottish banks? No, and so that was uppermost in many Glenrothes voters' minds.

The truth is that Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling have been absolutely appalling in this crisis. They blame everyone but themselves, they claim to be in charge but each day sees more woes, yet they got off the hook in Glenrothes. If it had been a Labour seat in England it would have been a whole lot different. There's no Salmond strutting about, there's no bogeyman to blame or to be wary of. I'm all for fair devolution (having been a staunch Unionist) but independence means separation however much it may be dressed up as a different form of a cosy relationship.

Brown will be dining out on this until the New Year. I'm beginning to think he's a better dissembler and obfuscator than Blair. At least with Blair we knew he was telling porkies. Brown makes it all sound like he's a Stanley Baxter incarnation of a Presbyterian minister trying to calm a family dispute. Far more dangerous to my mind.

Come the New Year we can console ourselves with the thought that "by the end of next year he will be gone!". We too need a change.