Simon Jenkins in the Guardian was his usual pompous self today, "... the 72 Scottish MPs seem a bizarre presence. There is no question but that their number must be reduced. If Brown were constitutionally honest, he would propose such a reduction now". Erm - that might make sense if Labour didn't already reduce the number to 59 at the 2005 General Election.

Meanwhile, the SNP MP widely regarded as the brains of the operation, Angus Robertson (Alec Salmond being the mouth, stomach, intestines, sphincter and most definitely the liver) has called into question his own inability to do basic arithmetic. This press release on the good things that could be purchased if a Trident replacement was not, clearly states...

10 new Secondary Schools x £16,500,000 each = £148,500,000 5 new Hospitals x £180,000,000 each = £720,000,000 30 Community Sports Centres x £5.7 million each = £165,300,000 Train 100 Dentists x £115,000 each = £11,385,000 (close but no gold star) Train 100 Doctors x £300,000 each = £29,700,000 Train 200 Teachers x £25,000 each = £2,475,000

I think the SNP should be required to show their working out notes in future. While it would be predictable to ask if these really the people you want running the Scottish economy, the press release helpfully indicates there would be "£42,500,000 remaining for contingency". Although in the SNP's case, that's contingency in the mathematical sense rather than in case of an emergency.

"Alec, Alec! An emergency's just occurred. Some bastid civul servant keeps insistin' that 2 plus 2 isn't 5. Shall we sack him and pay his redundancy from the Trident contingency fund?". To be fair, they have now corrected their arithmetic (or "sums" as they call them in the SNP whips office) on their website - but I still want to see their working out.

www.recessmonkey.com/