On the stump

I clearly need more training in walking purposefully towards a camera ... the picture above shows me learning this skill from David Martin, Jim Murphy, Secretary of State for Scotland, and Anne McGuire MP for Stirling.

Following a day campaigning in Glasgow Drumchapel on Wednesday - where there is a Glasgow City Council by-election on the same day as the European poll - I took part in the Scottish Environment Link hustings in Edinburgh. The Conservatives, SNP, Liberal Democrats and Greens joined me on the panel. While the organisers had refused a slot on the panel to the UK Independence Party - choosing only to invite those parties currently represented in the Scottish Parliament - UKIP sat in the audience to make their slightly mad - and surprisingly angry - points known.

There was a general question from the audience about what the parties are doing to engage voters in the European elections. Panelists all made similar points about how hard the parties and candidates are working right across Scotland. I allowed myself to talk about the role of education and the decline of civic engagement more generally.

And then there is the media. Is there a politician who has never complained about the media and the fact that they don't write or broadcast the stories we want them to?

At Monday's launch of Scottish Labour's European manifesto, Jim Murphy (above) put Labour's case for jobs and the economy and also warned of the dangers of the British National Party. He then left the launch to play a charity football match at the home of Glasgow Rangers and wore a Rangers strip for the occasion. This was of course very photogenic as Jim is open about the fact that he is a lifelong Glasgow Celtic fan.

One of these two stories involving Jim on Monday got 7 times more coverage in the Scottish press than the other.

As the Americans say, "go figure".