Scotland and the special relationship
For some reason, the election of a US President whose mother was born in Scotland isn't proving entirely welcome. Nevertheless, the uncomfortable connections between Holyrood and Donald Trump go back a long way, and a few people have had to distance themselves from him over the years, just as many Republican candidates for lower office did during their campaign. Back in 2005 Labour First Minister Jack McConnell met Trump to assure him he could develop a £1bn golf resort in Scotland, and by 2006 allegations of bias were already swirling. Even so, that year McConnell made Trump a GlobalScot ambassador, something inconceivable these days.
When the SNP took over in 2007, if anything the relationship deepened. The local authority rejected Trump's plans, and then - just one day after then First Minister Alex Salmond met Trump privately, Scottish Ministers called in that refusal. This led to a Committee investigation into the First Minister's activities, a public inquiry, and eventually in November 2008 the approval that everyone expected.
The relationship finally cooled when Trump objected to an offshore wind project which could just be seen from his development. He and the Scottish Government fell first into a war of words and then a court case, which he lost in December last year, leading to Salmond using one of Trump's favourite insults against him. Just a week before that result was announced, Nicola Sturgeon stripped him of his GlobalScot title, and the parting of ways was complete. By the time the formality of a congratulatory statement rolled round this week, the First Minister instead pointedly said "I hope that president-elect Trump turns out to be a president very different to the kind of candidate he was, and reaches out to those who felt vilified by his campaign."
And that £1bn project? It will come to no surprise to anyone who has had a Trump development near them, but it turned out to be an investment of just £30m. America: we have had a tiny taste of what you're about to go through.
You Brexit if you want: the lady's not for Brexiting
In the aftermath of the High Court ruling that only Parliament, not the UK Government, can trigger Article 50, UK Ministers quickly announced the inevitable appeal to the Supreme Court. In a move which won't exactly smooth relationships between Holyrood and Westminster, the First Minister announced this week that her lawyers will join the appeal on the other side, arguing that the terms of the devolution settlement mean the Scottish Parliament's consent should also be sought through what used to be called a Sewel Motion.
It seems a stretch to bring in arguments which weren't heard in the High Court, but Scotland does have an abundance of good lawyers, so the Scottish Government must think they've got a chance. Or is there a deal in the offing? You withdraw from this court case and we'll devolve the right to hold another independence referendum, no questions asked?