Dateline Stornoway II

Just to prove Stornoway is the news centre of the universe two stories pop up on the radar with a Hebridean connection.

Watching the lunchtime news here my mother gasped as it was announced that US billionaire Donald Trump has won his battle to have his golf course in Aberdeenshire. She, of course, knows him as “Mac nighean Chaluim Alasdair UIlleam” (the son of Calum Alasdair William’s daughter) who came from the same village as she does. As part of his publicity campaign Trump dropped in on his late mother’s village of Tong earlier this year (9th of June my mother, who keeps a better news archive than Bill Lucas, tells me) He'd never found time to do so before. I wonder when we’ll see him next in these parts.

Then the news drops that Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy has joined the campaign to give the Stornoway Black Pudding European Geographical Protected Status.

There are imitation “Stornoway-style” black puddings flooding the market and it just isn’t good enough, or rather having been blind tasted, they aren’t good enough.

Now Highland MSPs want to give the “marag dubh” the same status as Parmigiano and Champagne and Metlon Mowbray pork pies. On his way to Iceland to extract the money that Scottish councils deposited there (not the Western Isles Council this time) Murphy stopped off in Edinburgh to endorse the campaign.

Stocking up on puddings this afternoon I chatted briefly to Iain "Barley" MacLeod, one of the local butchers. He reckons it will take ten years to get protected status. Great news for local freelance journalists, this is a story that will run and run.

I've just remembered that Jim Murphy is vegetarian so his endorsement is generous considering what goes into black pudding. He's on the way to Reykjavik but I suppose there's no chance of getting him to stop off at Sulasgeir to grab a guga for the pot.

Jim Murphy offers ceasefire to Salmond and "you'll have had your tea" welcome to hacks

I envy Alistdair Darling and his balti curry bail out. The Scottish pres corps at Westminster had no time for lunch today. The new Scottish Secretary had us round to his Dover House gaff straight after the Chancellor's statement.

Alas the Scottish Secretary offered us nothing except a cup of tea. I was "pure hank marvin", as they say in East Renfrewshire, while the new man outlined his ceasefire plans with the SNP government in Edinburgh.

Jim Murphy said he had called Alex Salmond within ten minutes of being appointed the other day and has spoken to him this morning about the economic situation. He's willing to brief Mr Salmond before and after meetings of the National Economic Council, the war cabinet, which he attends twice a week.

Mr Murphy said he wanted “honest, private conversations about how the UK government and the Scottish Government (he's relaxed about the terminology) can work together” to help families and businesses in a situation that will “affect every village, town and city” in Scotland. . Mr Salmond has responded positively, he said, and a meeting with the Scottish Secretary, the
First Minister, the Scottish CBI and the STUC is being planned.

This is a new Jim Murphy who was previously one the most acerbic Scottish Labour Mps when it came to anything to do with Mr Salmond. But, after dealing with 30 different governments across Europe in the last 18 months in his old job he thinks he can find common ground with one in Scotland. We'll see.

An early test of this new detente will be the Secretary of State's blog which he will maintain on the Scotland Office website - a brave move considering how top blogging Minister Tom Harris was dropped last week. The fact that the blog will be open to comments will no doubt delight the Pantone 300 ink brigade who have raised the poison pen letter into a digital art form on this and other newspaper sites.

“I've got my approach, they might have another,” said Mr Murphy. I'm off to going to buy him a packet of biscuits for his next guests.