Alex Massie

One of the problems with the Scottish parliament is that all gathered there must pretend it is more influential and vital than it really is. In fact, as has been observed often enough, it has few powers that were not previously available to the Secretary of State for Scotland. What the parliament did, then, among other things, was establish a clear and plainly Scottish link between the electorate and the people charged with those responsibilities. Now the parliament is here there is a tendency to argue about, for example, the annual budget as though the Finance Minister at Holyrood is in some way comparable to the Chancellor of the Exchequer at Westminster. Thus Ken MacIntosh - remember him, Mr Miliband?

According to Nick Cohen Ed Miliband is Britain's Greatest Leader of the Opposition. Blimey, that's quite a statement. He's a plucky wee chap too: Ed Miliband is a geek, a failure and a loser. All the press says so, so it must be true. Yet the apparent no-hoper retains the ability of the boy who confronted the naked emperor to change the terms of debate. But what debates has he changed? Nick suggests Miliband was brave to stand-up to Rupert Murdoch and that he's been right to lead the way in banker-bashing. Perhaps so. But few people outside Westminster (and parts of north London) actually care very much, if at all, about Rupert Murdoch even if they do deplore (or pretend to deplore) the tabloids. It's not a vote-harvesting issue.

For some time now we have been told - by the editor of this magazine among other, less distinguished, commentators - that David Cameron and the Downing Street machine view Scotland as a rum, far-off place about which they know little and which, on the rare occasions they pay attention to it, perplexes them mightily. One would like to think this were not the case but it seems a dispiriting and accurate appraisal. Why - indeed why-oh-why - do Conservatives abandon the principles of Conservatism when discussion turns to Scotland? On Sunday "sources close to the Prime Minister" apparently ruled out any talk of fiscal autonomy, devolution plus, devo max or anything else you care to call the useful accumulation of greater revenue powers at Holyrood.

Miliband Attacks Cameron Over Chocolate Oranges might win a prize for the headline that best summarises Ed Miliband's stewardship of the Labour party. In case you still can't believe this is the case, let me repeat it: Miliband Attacks Cameron Over Chocolate Oranges. It is so dire, so naff, so excruciatingly hilarious that I thought it had to be a joke. But no, this is the BBC not the Daily Mash. Here's what Brave Sir Miliband told the House magazine: Ed Miliband has attacked David Cameron for failing to stop the sale of cut-price Chocolate Oranges - something the PM complained about in opposition. In 2006, Mr Cameron criticised WH Smith for discounting chocolate rather than fruit despite the UK's obesity crisis.