A tighter weave
On the face of it, an utterly unexceptional meeting. Routine. Standard. Apart, that is, from the fact that the participants have radically different aims and agendas.
The participants? First Minister Alex Salmond and Secretary of State for Wales, Paul Murphy. The topic? Reviving the joint ministerial committee structure which was designed to tackle blockages in devolution.
And those different agendas? Mr Murphy has been tasked by the PM with reviving the JMC in response, substantially, to the SNP鈥檚 election victory.
This is an effort to ensure that the UK dimension of politics is not neglected in Scotland.
Alex Salmond's aim? He wants formal recognition for his administration and, perhaps, to create a model of cross-border diplomacy which might survive independence. Council of the Isles, anyone?
Now, of course, there is hard, practical governance here too. The JMC was designed to create formal links between Whitehall and the devolved territories: Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland.
Tighter weave
It fell into abeyance largely because busy ministers and civil servants by-passed it, working directly across administrations on a daily basis without the need for posh 鈥渟ummit鈥 meetings.
That will still happen. That is still happening. But there are now Nationalists in power in Scotland and (partly) in Wales. There is a revived devolution structure in Northern Ireland.
It鈥檚 felt, on both sides, that this panoply of political colour requires a slightly tighter weave.
So the JMC, if and when revived, will be a forum for resolving disputes between administrations: for example, where it鈥檚 felt London has intervened in Edinburgh鈥檚 affairs or vice versa.
As with the exploratory talks in Edinburgh, it will have more than its share of mundane moments.
Below par
But still those varying agendas persist. Just look at the separate billing for today鈥檚 discussions. The Wales Office in the UK Government reckons Paul Murphy 鈥渕et with First Minister Alex Salmond鈥.
By contrast, the Scottish Government says that 鈥淔irst Minister Alex Salmond has today hosted a bilateral meeting with Secretary of State for Wales Paul Murphy鈥.
鈥淏ilaterals鈥 are customarily held between two states: for example, member states of the EU. In politics, language is seldom accidental.
PS: Did you miss me? A couple of weeks leave followed by a couple of days blighted by man-flu. Actually, I鈥檓 still notably below par. Sympathy, I suppose, would be too much to expect.
PPS: Finally saw a production of Black Watch. Magnificent, simply magnificent: contriving to portray the soldiers鈥 innate pride in their regiment blended with their shame at the particular Iraqi conflict.
I'm 
Comments
brian nice to have you back.
Man flu? Stop being such a hypochondriac.
As for who hosted the meeting if it was in scotland then of course the First Minister hosted it and the mr murphy met him.
Anyone brian you of course missed having a blog on the polls that showed the trend is now that the majority of scots now support independence.
Just thought you might like me to mention it.
Good to see you back Brian.
Hope that you are over the flu very quickly.
Paul Murphy??? Has GB sent a boy to do a man's job?
More importantly, what's your take on recent polls indicating the Union has had its day? Slainte Mhor
Glad to have you back, Mr Taylor - hope the lurgy clears up quickly.
Hope you had a lot of toddies to help the recovery. Parliament seemed subdued today, no major nonsenses, no eyes to heaven from Wendy, and Alec Salmond his usual lucid self,talking sense and substance. Is the revival of theJMC a wee Girning Brown fifth column charged with keeping an eye on the nasty Scottish and Welsh nationalists.
Did I miss you?. Of course; and you have my sympathy, as I had a spell in hospital, throwing up and ejecting a foul substance from the other end!!.Nasty. But don't get a swelled head just because you were missed.