Foreign affairs

Interestingly, and as far as I can determine, none of the serious London newspapers has picked up the story of the First Minister's latest bold and daring intervention in foreign affairs whereby he has written to all 189 signatories (apart from the UK) to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, outlining his government's stance on nuclear weapons. Perhaps they don't take it seriously, or perhaps they just don't care.

The Times seems more concerned that Mr Salmond might decide to hold his own referendum on the EU Treaty/Constitution; you may consider that the First Minister has more than enough on his referendum plate for the moment, especially as Prime Minister Brown might respond by saying 'So what?' But The Times goes its own weary way (or perhaps that of Mr Murdoch) on these matters. Meanwhile, for no apparent reason, The Telegraph re-hashes the rather tired story of how English taxpayers will have to pay for the abolition of Scottish prescription charges. They do seem to be struggling to arouse anti-Scots feeling south of the border.

More oddly, the First Minister's foray into the icy waters of nuclear non-proliferation is utterly ignored by the Scottish Government's own website. I would have thought that such an initiative would have justified a press release but, as the story emerged over the weekend, maybe the boys and girls of the Executive's press office are simply not up to speed with the 24/7 demands of the modern news agenda. Perhaps there will be more to come in the light of today's anti-trident 'summit'.