Glasgow

Joan McAlpine's column in the Scotsman this week is uncharacteristically unpersuasive. Since she decided to defend the SNP's plans for so-called anti-sectarian legislation she was backing a losing horse from the start. Still, it speaks well of her loyalty. Nevertheless, her piece is useful since, in large part, it outlines a kind of consensus that is deemed to exist and from which it is unwise to deviate. Certainly it is hard to think of many opposition politicians who have distinguished themselves in this affair. Even those who question the SNP's plans do so on grounds of efficiency, not ethics or principle. If the government's plans are woeful; the opposition remains fearful. How can it be otherwise given they also subscribe to the dreary theory that Something Must Always Be Done?

Sectarianism, we are often told, is "Scotland's Shame" though there's also ample evidence it's actually "Scotland's Pleasure". For some at least. The prosecution and conviction of Stephen Birrell for comments he posted on a Facebook page entitled "Neil Lennon should be Banned" marks a new low. Not because of anything Mr Birrell wrote - his fevered outpourings being merely the ravings of a disturbed mind - but because Scotland now imprisons people for the crime of disliking other people and making that dislike apparent in any kind of public forum. This is a shameful moment that demeans the country far more plainly than anything said, sung or written at or about any damn football match.

Neil Lennon, the Celtic manager, is not normally an especially sympathetic figure. But so what? Here's the big news from Scotland today: Three prominent figures associated with Celtic Football Club have been sent potentially lethal home-made letter bombs. Celtic manager Neil Lennon, his QC Paul McBride and the politician Trish Godman, a Celtic supporter, were each sent a package containing improvised explosives with the power to kill or severely wound the recipient. Can we agree that this is getting out of hand? Assassination attempts - which is what this is - open a new front in football's most depressing rivalry. At this point it's customary to blame both sides and appear above the fray. But no-one's sending bullets and parcel bombs to Walter Smith are they?

Of all the criticisms* of David Cameron's Big Society, the one that makes least sense is the notion that while it might be fine for wealthy parts of the country it's of no use in poorer communities. Nothing could be further from the truth. If it's anything the Big Society is about untapped "social capital" and there's more of that, in more communities, than the scoffers and titterers on the News Quiz would have you believe. Nor, really, is it a new idea. Take this example cited by Lesley Riddoch in her Scotsman column today: In 1988, Glasgow Council was given £6.6 million to refurbish this run-down estate on its southern outskirts. West Whitlawburn had hard-to-fix high rise flats.

Meanwhile, in other Glasgow news the city's evening paper makes its readers an offer they can't refuse. I believe this exhausts my annual quota of posts making gentle fun of Glaswegians.