"It was a historic day in Scotland yesterday. Again. Some of you may yawn. These historic days are like buses, you may say. Nothing for 300 years, then they all come at once."Alex Salmond, understanding that he isn't going to be able to get any legislation through by weight of parliamentary majority, went for the 'common weal' line. According to Robert McNeil, Labour MSPs - who generally loathe Salmond with an impressive intensity - responded as you might expect. Salmond, in his acceptance speech, said:
""We are not divided. We have a sense of ourselves, a sense of community and, above all, a sense of the common weal of Scotland." "In some ways," he said, "we are not even a divided parliament".He's got himself, as Jack McConnell said, a tough gig here.
But on the faces of the Labour ranks, who'd sat stony-faced through the SNP leader's jokes, were written the words: "Oh yes, we are!""