Rihanna resort for Eck’s retirement?

INTERNATIONAL superstar Rihanna may have stayed there, but a three-day skiing trip to an upmarket resort near Chambery in the French Alps fetched just £5,000 at auction at the Scottish Business Awards. ‘Madonna and Rihanna [pictured] stayed there,’ urged the auctioneer, then killed the bidding with: ‘And Alex Salmond has booked it for his referendum victory in September...’ As leading business figures turned pale at the thought, Mr Salmond himself seemed delighted, but his belly laugh was cut short when the auctioneer added: ‘Or more likely his retirement do.’ As one onlooker said: ‘You’ve never seen someone go from so happy to so sad so quickly.’ WITH Scotland’s top politicians all preoccupied with the referendum, there’s little for the troops to do at Holyrood – except enter pictures of their pets for a parliamentary display organised by SNP backbencher Christine Grahame. This now includes Labour MSP Elaine Murray’s horse called Twix. As Scots face the prospect of being bought and sold for Lottery gold, thanks to a £5 million donation from one SNP-supporting couple,will Mr Salmond put in a picture of a lucky dog called Winalot? IN her smart but severe trouser suits, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson is not the girly sort – but she admits she did once try to use her feminine charms on a policeman. He was slapping a parking ticket on her car when she attempted to play the ‘women card’, to no avail. ‘It failed spectacularly,’ she recalls. ‘So the “card” has since been retired.’