"Has it [the Scottish Parliament] made a difference?" he asked rhetorically. "Yes it has. When the Parliament started one in five children in this country lived in poverty. That's now one in three. That's significant progress."

MSPs have been branded "dishonourable" after almost 50 of them snubbed the Queen and stayed away from the parliament's tenth birthday celebrations. While Her Majesty shrugged off a slight cold to deliver an uplifting speech in the Holyrood chamber, many MSPs went on holiday and others found better things to do.

[...] Just 62 per cent of the 129 MSPs were there, with 48 missing... eight of the 16 MSPs based in and around Edinburgh failed to turn up. Instead, embarrassed parliamentary staff were hurried into the main chamber to fill seats left vacant by MSPs. [...]

Excuses ranged from being on holiday to constituency business, from moving office to family commitments. Some offered sick notes, while many others gave no reason at all.

Conservative Gavin Brown's wife gave birth the night before, while SNP MSP Stuart McMillan's wife was expected to give birth on the day.

One of the weakest reasons given was by Green MSP Patrick Harvie, who said he was moving his office in Glasgow instead. He was the only party leader to snub the Queen.

Another Tory, Liz Smith, is in charge of a school cricket tour, while Labour Lothians MSP Lord George Foulkes preferred to be in the House of Lords.

SNP chief whip Brian Adam – who decided to go on holiday to Argyll – instead complained that MSPs had only received two to three months' notice to make arrangements.

In reality they were told that there would be a special event on 1 July in October last year and had the full details at the beginning of April.

But Mr Adam continued: "This is a parliamentary recess and politicians are entitled to take holidays."

Greece has introduced a ban on smoking in hospitals, schools, vehicles and all public places.

Those who break the new law face fines of up to 500 euros (£428), and businesses risk losing licences after several offences.

Just one day before Greece is due to introduce strict regulations to crack down on smoking in public places, in line with European Union law, the Health Ministry yesterday still had not issued the official decision explaining the obligations of bars and restaurants.

According to the new regulations, bars and restaurants larger than 70 square meters must create separate sections for smokers, while owners of establishments smaller than 70 square meters must decide whether to declare the premises exclusively smoking or nonsmoking.

The City of Athens yesterday said that it had received 400 applications from establishments smaller than 70 square meters for the special sticker that will establish them as nonsmoking premises. These 400 bars and restaurants represent about one in 10 of establishments of their size in Athens.

If you're reading this, Ed (and I suspect you will be) then we have a serious point to make. Five years ago, you could lie like this on the radio and get away with it. Space is tight in newspapers, no one would devote hundreds of words and graphs - as we did - to expose a lie for what is. But the world has changed now. Blogging has brought new, hyper scrutiny. Blogs have infinite space, and people with endless energy, to expose political lying - no matter how small. Your claims can be instantly counter-checked, by anyone. If you stretch the truth, you can be exposed - by anyone. And if you plan to base a whole election campaign on a lie, as you apparently intend to do, then you're in for a rude awakening.

My friends couldn't imagine their parents using this monstrous box, but there was interest in what the thing was and how it worked. In some classes in school they let me listen to music and one teacher recognised it and got nostalgic.

It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape...

Local residents will be given priority over immigrants and people from other areas on council housing queues, Gordon Brown will announce as he attempts to relaunch his flagging premiership today.

In a shift in emphasis on public services which sees central targets replaced by new "entitlements", patients will also receive a legal right to hospital care within 18 weeks, along with free check-ups for the over-40s and guaranteed access to cancer treatments.

In addition, parents are due to receive a "statement of entitlement" telling them what they can demand from their child's education.

The Prime Minister's Building Britain's Future document is designed to underline Labour's continued commitment to public sector reform, which was seen to have drifted under Mr Brown in contrast to the enthusiasm of his predecessor, Tony Blair.

Gordon Brown and David Cameron have both said they are "saddened" by the death of pop legend Michael Jackson.

The prime minister's spokesman said the singer's death at the age of 50, after he suffered a suspected cardiac arrest, was "very sad news" for his fans. "This is very sad news for the millions of Michael Jackson fans in Britain and around the world," a spokesman said.

Mr Cameron said: "I know Michael Jackson's fans in Britain and around the world will be sad today. Despite the controversies, he was a legendary entertainer."

No display of ass-hattery will be judged excessive in the coming days. If Blair himself read a prayer at Jackson's funeral then led the congregation in an embarrassing dance, I would hardly wince.

Your scribe will be off on further travels for the next week or so, and so blogging levels will be somewhere between Michael Foot and Gordon Brown until the end of next week. Τὸ γὰρ ἡδύ, ἐὰν πολύ, οὐ τι γὲ ἡδύ, as a wise man once said.