Labour's Scottish flavour in Government accentuated

Whatever one might think of the development, it is undeniable that our 'United Kingdom' Government has taken on even more of a Scottish tone (to coin a phrase - geddit?) than it had before:

- Tony Blair himself - PM - depending how you look at it;

- John Prescott - Deputy PM. A good solid Englishman, but he loses all departmental responsibility, in the wake of the humiliating revelations about his personal life (quite apart from being useless at any of the departmental tasks he has been given);

- Margaret Beckett - the first female Foreign Secretary (well done!) and a good solid Englishwoman (I am trying to be positive here);

- John Reid - but at least the Home Office remains in the 'safe' hands of a former Marxist;

- Des Brown - och, we all know 'the jocks' are best when it comes to fightin' ye ken (irony alert, to a certain extent - Ed)

- Alan Johnson - Education. Not bad for a former postman (even if he was educated at the very swanky-sounding "Sloane Grammar School, Chelsea") - a true Englishman;

- Alistair Darling - Trade. Let's hope the spirit of Adam Smith lives on in his psyche!

- Douglas Alexander - Transport and Scotland. (Might come in useful come the revolution, if the voters ever decide to send him packing back up the A1! To be fair, he is a bright individual - through gritted teeth)

- David Miliband - DEFRA. A true Englishman and academically a bright individual. Sometimes spoken of as a future PM - gawd help us!

And of course there's Gordon Brown, Lord Falconer and Ian McCartney, all in senior positions - just how senior in the case of McCartney is questionnable, though.

Read the complete picture here.

Summary - quite obviously I have no objection whatsoever to so many fellow-Scots being in senior Government positions, so far as it goes. I do wonder, though, just how sensible this is politically for the future stability of the 'United Kingdom', over 90 per cent of whose residents reside in a little corner called 'England', even if by no means all of those residents might absolutely classify themselves as sons and daughters of that particular patch of soil. Just sayin' ...

Will Tony still be PM this time next year?