Labour's troubles

The row over the finances of the First Minister's local party continues. I think that McConnell needs to bring in a firm of outside auditors otherwise he may go the way of his predecessor. Perhaps best not to hire Arthur Andersen!

To me, a fascinating aspect of this saga is the existence of the North Lanarkshire Municipal Bank. Why anyone would trust their money to a bank operated by one of our most notorious local authorities is quite beyond me. It seems as if most customers are also employees of the local council:

North Lanarkshire Municipal Bank has approximately 11,000 active accounts and operates out of 11 local council offices. As the largest Municipal Bank in Scotland, anecdotal evidence of its customer base suggests that approximately 50% are council employees and the remainder are traditional working-class employees, over 45 years of age.

Do these employees know what risks they are running?