Lesley the Grinch

Cancelled Christmas panic.
Marcus Rashford, free school meals, and Tory intransigence.
The SNP Rural Stimulus Plan.
The Conservatives plan to take on the SNP and "save the union"
The US Presidential Election
Awards season

It's been a week of mounting  Christmas panic across the media and Lesley, bravely, takes on the role of The Grinch in asking for just a wee bit of perspective, not just for this year, but on an unhealthy obsession with Yuletide.

I ,in keeping with the pantomime theme, am Grumpy when looking at the state of child poverty in the UK and use some very unparliamentary language about Tory MPs.

Deeside and Upper Donside SNP members have written a 24 point "Rural Stimulus Plan" which will be put to party conference. Is it a much needed starting point for discussion or simply another set of well intentioned proposals going over old ground and doomed to be kicked into the long grass?

Tory "thinkers", like Tim Montgomerie, have been coming up with wizard wheezes to roll back the tide of nasty Scottish nationalism. We say, aye right, and bring it on.

As the American Presidential Election looms ever nearer are you, like The Clash, bored with the USA or would a Trump loss be of major significance for the rest of the world?

All this plus, awards season, Nordic Horizons, and an update on my footwear.