Back From Conference

That's me back from SNP Conference, with several more visits to our Glenrothes campaign rooms under my belt. It was a thoroughly enjoyable conference and great to catch up with old friends whom due to my sojourn in London, I haven't seen too much of over the past year or so.

If last year was a case of pinching yourself that May's election of an SNP government had actually happened, this year was more of a 'down to business' conference. The feelgood factor still abounds, and none moreso than for those delegates who took in the speeches of the ministerial team.

Of course, the dark clouds of the financial crisis loomed overhead. If some commentators and politicians of other persuasions seemed almost gleeful in their recent dismissals of independence, they were swatted aside by Alex Salmond's Sunday afternoon demolition of Gordon Brown's partisanship and the toxic economic legacy he will leave.


My duties this year were light, except to chair what was possibly the busiest fringe event of the conference - a London Branch organised debate on the economics of independence, with John Swinney and Stewart Hosie as the speakers. Almost 300 delegates, and not a few journalists too, packed in to hear then put questions to the two speakers. The claustrophobic conditions and rising room temperatures proved too much for one delegate, who temporarily passed out. Luckily, he made a swift recovery, and was able to get to his feet soon after.

I can't complain too much about the resulting press coverage either. If the worst you have to deal with is Magnus Linklater being his habitual sniffy and disdainful self about the SNP, then it's usually a sign of our vitality and health - a bit like a cold wet nose on a labrador.

Anyway, next year is the Year of Homecoming and to help mark it, singer Sandi Thom will be recording a version of Dougie MacLean's 'Caledonia'. Here's a sneak preview which I took on my phone.

And no, it wasn't shot during an earthquake - I just had to use the zoom to get up close.

Echo Chambers

I'm sat backstage in the press room at the SNP conference at Heriot-Watt university. The auditorium is packed right now, in anticipation of Nicola Sturgeon's big speech.

My only gripe is that we don't have a closed circuit feed from the hall, which leaves us somewhat reliant on BBC Scotland's webcast of proceedings. While our internet access is much better than it has been at similar events in the recent past, we're kind of struggling a bit trying to keep up with events on our laptops.

All our laptop speakers are puny, and the webcast feed is a bit on the erratic side, occasionally cutting out and always reaching different computers at different times, leading to a bizarre echo effect round the room. I wonder if there's time to run back to my room to pick up a set of headphones?

The Most Expensive Weekend Of The Year

Has just started for me. Yes, folks, it's SNP conference time again, and the orgy of argument, agreement, eating out and drinking till all the hours discussing who's up and who's down, is now underway.

I flew up from London yesterday afternoon, arriving in Aviemore just in time to see Aberdeen lose to Panathanaikos. Anyway, things improved thereafter, as familiar face after familiar face burst through the door of the Cairngorm Hotel as the night wore on, turning it into a kind of 'This Is Your Life' occasion. Of course, for lots of us footsoldiers, the Conference is a big event in our lives. Quite apart from the politics, it's a chance to let your hair down a bit and catch up with the folk whom you haven't seen for months or even years.

There's over 1,000 delegates registered to attend this year, which has made getting a seat in the auditorium difficult. There's a couple of debates I want to speak in tomorrow, but before I can, I'll need to get hold of some of the Gordon Constituency representatives so that I can get registered as one of their delegates. There's also the North East reception tomorrow evening, at which myself and Banff & Buchan candidate Eilidh Whiteford are going to be saying a few words. An hour or two back at the hotel to gather my thoughts may be in order.

Anyway, there's more nonsense planned for this evening. A good dinner needs to be had (there's an extra hour to be had in the pub tonight, after all), and then I think it'll be back to the pub to chew over the day's events. I'm also told that there's a picture of myself and Alan Cochrane of the Daily Telegraph in conversation from last night, for which captions are now being solicited. The best one to date has been: 'At last, Cochrane meets someone more right-wing than he is'.

It did come from my good friend and Convener of our Trade Union Group, Chris Stephens, so these things are all relative... :-)

Conference Dispatch - Sunday

Rather surprisingly for being the morning after the night before, delegates seem unusually invigorated today. However, that might have something to do with the gale force winds and near-horizontal hail which scoured us all as we arrived at the conference this morning. A few intrepid smokers are huddled outside, looking thoroughly miserable as they get blasted by the elements – I suspect they may not be the most enthusiastic of attendees at this afternoon's health debate!

The papers seemed mostly favourable for the SNP this morning, a few amusing brown-trousers-and-bicycle-clips pieces aside. The Sunday Herald has, disgracefully in my view, tried to stir it up over Brian Souter's donation, despite the fact he got no favours at all from the SNP during the repeal of Section 2A. What inference are we being invited to draw? That the SNP is tainted, while Labour and the Lib Dems, who started the Section 2A repeal process then ran and hid from the ensuing brouhaha instead of making their case, are worthy of our continued support? Eejits.

The main event this afternoon will be Alex Salmond's speech. It's being spun that he will be unveiling the SNP's proposals for government, but it wouldn't be a Salmond speech if he didn't have at least one rabbit to pull out of the hat. The actual conference hall is a bit too small for all of the people here, so I suspect I'll end up watching it on the TV in the breakout area instead.

Overall, there seems to be a sense, even amongst the most hardened of SNP-sceptics in the media, that this might really be it. The polls are all good for the SNP; the party is winning big-hitting endorsements left, right and centre; while Labour are left to fight a relentlessly negative campaign, torn tactically between wee Jack's gang on one side and the 'Brownies' on the other. I have to confess that the grim faces of Labourite journos Angus MacLeod of the Times and Magnus Gardham of the Record have been an absolute joy to behold! 46 days and counting...

Conference Dispatch

I've made it through to Govan, and despite the greyness of the skies and the awfulness of the result from Ibrox, there's a lot of cheer to be had at the SNP conference in the Glasgow Science Centre. The conference, already on a high thanks to yesterday's endorsement by George Mathewson, has been positively buzzing with the news that long-time supporter Brian Souter has donated £500,000 to the SNP election fund.

This matters on two levels. First, it represents yet another endorsement of the SNP's policy stance, albeit from a long-standing and high-profile supporter of the party. Perhaps as significantly, though, it will put the SNP on an equal financial footing with a Labour campaign which will be heavily bankrolled from London.

There's more conference business tomorrow, and rumours have persisted all day of yet another big announcement to come. However, it wasn't in Nicola Sturgeon's generally well-received address to conference, so if it's coming we'll have to wait now until tomorrow to find out if there's anything in it.

Sadly, there'll be none of the usual après-conference shenanigans for me, since rather foolishly I've already taken a gig to play at a wedding tonight in Fintry. Easy enough to get to from Glasgow, of course, but with a midnight finish I'll be lucky to see my bed by 2am. Nothing unusual for an SNP conference, I'll grant you, but tomorrow will doubtless be spent looking like a half-shut knife and facing allegations from friends of drunken excesses which won't have taken place. The joys...