21 July 2006

Where's Jack?

The First Minister cannot win. I criticise him when he flirts with celebrities and I criticise him when he is posted missing. Yesterday, for example. The Herald has the story:
"Nicol Stephen, enterprise minister, supported the UK government's relatively liberal stance on stem-cell research after sharing a platform with the brother of US President George W Bush, who on Wednesday said using embryo cells was murder...
Stephen was commenting after addressing a conference to promote links between the biomedical sectors in Scotland and the US state of Florida. The state's governor Jeb Bush, the president's younger brother, was also a speaker. Governor Bush said officials in Florida shared the executive's belief in the potential for success in the field of biomedical development to provide an important driver of economic growth in the future."

If I were a labour party supporter, I might be slightly miffed at Mr McConnell's willingness to allow Mr Stephen (who, as well as being Deputy First Minister, is a competitor in next year's elections) to indulge himself in the high-tech glamour of one of Scotland's sunrise industries in the company of the brother of the world's most powerful man. But I suppose being on holiday in Mull or Arran (or wherever) is more important for the First Minister.

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