Sturgeon's headline grabbing is light on facts for NHS contract cleaners.

Health Minister and deputy SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon was left with cleaning fluid on her face amid new figures from NHS hospitals. In October 2008, The Health Minister was quoted as saying "I think everybody in Scotland, virtually without exception, believes that the privatisation of hospital cleaning services has been disastrous". She went on to say "I think that by bringing cleaning services back into the NHS family, we can drive standards up and drive hospital infections down and that is my top priority."

However this shameless spin and doctoring of facts has been exposed this week. NHS Lanarkshire's hospitals, which are largely cleaned by private contractors, are among the cleanest in the country and significantly, privately cleaned Hairmyres and Wishaw General Hospitals fared better than the in-house cleaned Monklands hospital. Adding insult to injury, a Freedom of Information request showed that every hospital where there has been a fatal outbreak of the superbug C-diff. was cleaned by in-house staff, not private cleaning contractors. Jackson Carlaw MSP tore into the MSP for Govan branding her 'prejudiced' and 'simplistic' in her ideology for her slanted view and skewed facts.

At the time of writing, the SNP had not yet published a reaction to the news but politicians should all be aware. Where shameless grandstanding, bandwagon jumping or general corruption is in the air, Real Politiks Online will be there.

SNP energy policies dubbed 'impossible' by Industry leaders

Sir Ian Wood, Chairman of Scottish engineering firm Wood Group Ltd has hit out at 'impossible' Scottish Government energy policies. Reacting to the Nationalist's programme of sole reliance on renewable energies such as wind and wave power, he dubbed the science behind the policy laughable “Although renewables will generate a significant amount of energy, they will hardly keep pace with the increased demand."

Sir Wood is not alone in his criticisms as MSPs lined up to criticise a Government report which was selective in the use of the facts and heavily favoured renewable energies without looking at other options such as nuclear. Conservative deputy leader Murdo Fraser added his voice to the throng saying "It is the SNP's blinkered dogma which is threatening to turn out the lights across Scotland by refusing to consider continued nuclear power as part of the energy mix".

However Alex Salmond appears to be going against the advice of Government experts "Alex Salmond's own Council of Economic Advisers has also constantly warned that Scotland needs to consider all types of energy for the future". However the nationalists seem oblivious to this, rather pursuing the policies which they believe will be most popular with the electorate rather than those based on good science.

SNP Education Policies in Chaos after Torrid Week

Alex Salmond's government was in choppy water after a bad week in office. Fiona Hyslop was made a scapegoat over repeatedly failed policies with regards to education. Whilst the National Party were promising larger class sizes on the one hand, teaching training budgets were being cut and primary schools being closed by Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop. The promises of 2007 were a step too far for the beleagured MSP.

However it was not all bad news for SNP politicians. Sir Sean Connery, long term supporter and financer of Alex Salmond was on hand to comment from his villa in Barbados "Instead of uniting for this stupid recession where we see things disintegrating, everyone is squabbling."

Thanks Sir Sean, for your words of wisdom, now go back to your martini on the beach, and the people of Scotland will go back to trying to survive the recession and getting our children the best education possible.

Apathy the only winner in Glasgow by-election

Scottish Labour were enjoying a hollow victory this evening in the Glasgow East by-election. In what has been dubbed 'the safest Labour seat in Scotland', Willie Bain, was declared the winner by an impressive, but unsurprising majority.

But any triumphalism is short lived in the context of woeful electorate turnout with figures pushed to rise above 30%. A mixture of discontent with the big political parties, a negative campaign from both SNP and Labour as well as good old fashioned apathy is reportedly to blame. Worrying reports also surfaced at the count of foul play when several voters arrived at polling stations only to find their votes had already been cast.

SNP failed to make a dent in Labour's majority, with Labour pundits claiming policy failures from the Nationalists were to blame. Jim Murphy MP (Labour), speaking on BBC 1, taunted SNP over independence and their silence on the issue during the campaign. SNP's Health Minister and MSP for Govan, Nicola Sturgeon was on hand to comment but instead conceded defeat in what was a disastrous night for the Nationalists.

Hearld photographers walk out over poor working conditions

Freelance photographers working for Scottish newspaper group Herald-Times have voted with their feet over delays in payments and low fees. Several photographers have vowed to stop working for the Herald-Times and a few individuals have started a petition to raise awareness of their plight. This comes following the Newsquest/Gannet owned paper's decision to merge its picture desks into a 'Multi-media desk' and claims that it is forcing it's staff photographers to go freelance.

This is not the first time that Herald-Times, who publishes The Herald, Sunday Herald and Evening Times, has come under fire from this angle. Photographers appealed to the National Union of Journalists back in August 2008 when these plans first came to light. It seems that as a result, the Herald-Times has fallen out of favour with professional photographers. A freelancer exclusively told Realpolitiks Online "I used to work for the Herald, but I would never dream of it now. Getting payment from them was like trying to get blood from a stone. Several photographers have started a petition [to discourage others from working for them].... They have been reduced to employing students [to take pictures] at £30 a snap."

The original story from last year can be viewed here:

Devine doesn't know when to quit in expenses debacle.

Disgraced Labour MP for Livingston, Jim Devine decided to try a desperate attempt to salvage something from his shattered political career. Following Sir Thomas Legg's conclusions on MPs expenses last week, Devine announce that he intended to appeal against his deselection for parliamentary candidacy.

Mr Devine told the Times newspaper that he had "a lawyer who is foaming at the mouth to challenge the Labour Party for submitting someone to the star chamber.” This comes as Sir Legg hinted that MPs would be required to refund back dated expenses in the light of his findings. However it seems that even if Mr Devine's claims were legitimate, they would not be covered by Sir Legg's enquiry. In a letter to Mr Devine, Sir Legg wrote "My findings do not deal with any payments which to my knowledge are under separate investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, by the police or by HM Revenue and Customs.” Nice try Super-Jim but no cigar.

Since his unceremonious exit from mainstream political life, Mr Devine's career has unravelled even further when he managed to insult members of a campaign group from the Farepak fiasco, taking credit for the success of their hard work. Thank you to the members of the group who made this known to Realpolitiks Online.

Salmond Brands Sturgeon 'Difficult to Control'

Super-smug Salmond revealed what many have suspected for a while in his speech to the party conference in Inverness earlier today. Health Minister and MSP for Govan, Nicola Sturgeon is difficult to control. In an opening 'comedy moment' which only earned scattered tittering from his party, Alex Salmond made a weak joke about the length of Sturgeon's own speech, noting that he would now struggle to watch the football. He concluded "Nicola has always been difficult to control". Many a true word spoken in jest perhaps.

Salmond's speech was full of motivational back slapping, support for much maligned Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop as well as triumphant spin over police numbers, crime figures and the old horse, frequently flogged, of the saved Accident and Emergency units.

Comment on the scrapped Glasgow airport link, the Edinburgh tram debacle, failed targets on classroom sizes and reduced budgets in teacher training was notable by its absence.