" Putting a kilt on " a news story.

"There's a time honoured tradition and technique in the Scottish Press known as “putting a kilt on it.” It means creating a Scottish dimension that turns a story that had little or nothing to do with Scotland into a Scottish news story. Usually, it’s harmless enough"

(Brian Wilson, former Labour Minister)

" SNP ‘asleep on job’ over horse meat scandal "

"Yesterday, Claire Baker, Scottish Labour’s environment spokeswoman, said..."the horse meat scandal has had an impact on Scotland, so it is disappointing that the Scottish Government has not shown any leadership and has taken so long to make a comment on the issue.....he has been asleep on the job [Scotland's food standards minister, Richard Lochhead] and has not been focused on the issues in his brief.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said..... lying low at a time of need is not what the minister should be doing."

Yes, the horse meat scandal is now the Scottish governments fault apparently. Nothing to do with the EU taking over food safety and the closing of hundreds of local abattoirs that failed to come up to EU 'standards'. Food inspectors sacked in their hundreds while we're unable to control what enters the UK from Europe. Our meat now shipped around the world and re labelled and re stamped willy nilly by a myriad of different countries. From Mexico to Romania. The Food Standards Agency washing their hands as usual. Nothing to do with us guv despite being established in 2000 after the bse in cattle crisis in order to prevent another catastrophe to UK beef ( asleep on the job ?). The Labour Party and the Lib Dems are putting a question mark over Scottish beef in order to attack the SNP. This is after the Scottish beef industry has spent years building up a reputation for quality.

Some more nice tartan horse pics..

Name that tartan..

(UPDATE 1..... 10th Feb 2013...The link to 'The Scotland on Sunday' article above has now changed it's headline to "Horsemeat scandal: Anger at Scottish Government " from this mornings headline which read "SNP asleep on job over horse meat scandal". The Lib Dem and Labour statements condemning the SNP have been removed and Tory MP Anne McIntosh is now asking for a ban on the import of beef from the EU until order is restored. More info here.)

(UPDATE 2....11th Feb 2013...'The Scotsman' are running the story "Horsemeat scandal: Consumers urged to eat Scotch beef" and have re introduced the SNP "falling asleep on the job" quote but attributed the quote to 'opposition parties' rather than Labour MSP Claire Baker who was directly quoted in the original Scotland on Sunday article .)