Photos on Friday : Rubbish photo of the Queen edition

Long-term readers of this blog will of course recall the irregular 'Photos on Friday' feature (irregular in the sense that it appeared once). I thought I'd give it another outing to mark the occasion of me successfully managing to take the world's most rubbish photo of the Queen.

I had to be in Edinburgh anyway, so I decided to wander down to Holyrood to see the festivities, which basically consisted of a band called Whisky Kiss, a group of Highland dancers, a Robert Burns impersonator doing a reading of To a Louse, and umpteen pipe bands. I must say the whole thing seemed strangely under-rehearsed, as if it had been hastily thrown together at the last minute. But it was good fun all the same.

(Click the photos to enlarge)

You'll be encouraged to hear that it was saltires and Lion Rampants all the way - I did spot a couple of Union Jacks, but they looked very lonely among a sea of sky-blue and white.

Afterwards, I started making my way up the Royal Mile, but I noticed that people were still lining the street. I overheard a policeman say to someone : "I don't have a time, but soon. Stick around." From which I inferred that the Queen was coming, so I waited a few minutes to see what I could see.

In case you're wondering why everyone was looking at the car behind the Queen, it's because Kate Middleton (or the Cambress of Dutchton, or whatever her name is supposed to be these days) was in that one. I didn't get a photo of her, but I dare say the world can survive without one more of those. Nor did I get a snap of Princess Anne in the third car, although I imagine all I'd have to do to put that right is pop round to Murrayfield in November with a long-lens camera.

I'm slightly embarrassed to confess that I waved to the Queen as she went past. Having said that, if waving at someone is to be taken as an indication of political support, it should be remembered that the Queen also waved in the general direction of little old republican me. So it's swings and roundabouts, really.

SNP hypocrites must either allow cheap cider - or ban Robert Burns

As I noted on Twitter earlier, some absolutely dream coverage for the SNP government from the London-based media, all thanks to the bold plans to tackle Scotland's appalling record of alcohol-related deaths, crime and disorder. So much so, in fact, that Newsnight Scotland seemed to feel the need to balance things out by at least nominally presenting a more negative slant, which they did in monumentally contrived fashion. Apparently - see if you can follow this - the SNP are sending out mixed messages by supporting the year of Homecoming, which celebrates the anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns, who it is rumoured may have liked the odd drink or two. Indeed, he may even have mentioned drink once or twice in his poetry.

Is that it? I think even I could have come up with a more convincing example of "SNP hypocrisy" than that!