Not so fandabidozi for a Krankie boss

WHEN tickets to see the Krankies in pantomime were won at a charity dinner by SNP spinner Fergus Mutch, it seemed perfect for a man who tries daily to inject a bit of fandabi into some pretty dozi Scottish Government policies. But how would he explain his evening plans to his boss Nicola Sturgeon, who must be heartily sick of being compared to Wee Jimmy Krankie, pictured? Luckily, rugby star Andy Nicol offered to buy the tickets from him – hence avoiding any potential embarrassment with Wee Krankie Nicola.

WITH only a 2.3 per cent pay rise to a measly £63,000 due in April, our MSPs have to count the pennies when Christmas shopping. A popular place for bargain hunting is the Scottish parliament shop, where Tory MSP John Scott was among those looking for gift ideas last week while Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing was spotted swinging a carrier bag from the same emporium. Our MSPs’ nearest and dearest may be weary of politics but it seems they’ll still be getting the same old Holyrood tartan and parliament whisky.

AS a former chief of staff to Alex Salmond, Geoff Aberdein was used to some pretty wild visions – but nothing like the side-effects of drugs to kill the pain after his recent hip replacement. Of the hallucinatory effects, he recalls: ‘I scored the winner for Aberdeen in the Cup Final and also formed a partnership with Gandalf the Wizard to fight evil.’