Question 1: Why do you persist in claiming our economic future should depend on the highly volatile and shrinking oil industry?

Question 2: Why do you and your young supporters repeatedly peddle the line that the oil "will last another 100 years" when you all know full well that that is just a best-case-scenario forecast NOT a guarantee...and there is almost zero chance that production levels will maintain even current levels let alone the 1999 peak levels?

Ans 1. You are right Oil prices are volatile, they keep going up with occassional drops, like now (around $125 a barrel).

Ans 2: We aren't peddling that line, Oil economists are. Yes that may be a best case scenario, but why should it be any different to the unionist doom and gloom scenario of Oil and Gas coming to an end next Thursday around 3.22pm?

Scotland's energy needs as you know are around 1/10th of England and wales which means that even dwindling supplies for Scotland's needs will last 10 times longer than any UK forecasts.

Combine that with the spectacular rise in Oil prices and a country the population of Scotland is sitting on a Gold Mine...or Oil Well.

BTW Scotsman, why should the SNP face a grilling? It's not the hugely UNpopular Labour Government doing this but the highly POPULAR SNP Government.

This is a meet the people and get their views exercise. This constant stream of negativity from you guys is as unhealthy for you as it is for us reading it....or in our case these days it's more tiresome than anything else, it lost its potency a long time ago. It's a failed philosophy.

No wonder you are losing sales. We are living in a 'Can Do' atmosphere these days with hope and aspirations as the driving forces.

Get with it guys for your sake more than ours.

More positive and innovative moves from the SNP to bring the government and the people together.

Compare this to the London system where the MP's avoid the general public whenever possible.

I think this is another bold and impressive move by Alex Salmond to make Scotland more democratic.

As for #1 London Nightie - More of the same nonsense.

Mmmm, grilled cabinet. With mozzarella cheese and red pesto.

Eh...'GRILLING'.....please some one tell me im not living in a parallel dimension. The SNP are a popular goverment in power (and so say most commentators) they have just turned around Labours massive majority in Glasgow (despite the Unionist press spin and lies), they are reaching out to the ordinary man and woman in the street to discuss their ultimate goal of Independence ( not break up or seperation garbage) ....... and they are going to get grilled !!!!

Either the Scotsman is living in more denial than Labour and muppets like Highland Mighty or the level of their Unionist spin reaches yet further lows .

Come on , give us a break its getting really tiring !!!

The Scottish National Party to face a grilling for what?

Travelling the country, speaking to the common man that most polititions would avoid?

The SNP are in full charge of grilling, thankyou very much, they have Labour on toast.

4. And how is Alex's prostate?

Question 3: How embarrassed are you that after claiming Labour's GERS were "highly flawed" and "wildly inaccurate" that your own GERS was almost identical?

Question 4: How did you seriously expect to get away with claiming a £837m 'surplus' by ignoring a whopping £3.5bn of your own spending?

Question 5: How many times did you have to be told and in how many different ways before it finally sunk in that the Council Tax Benefit was a DSS benefit payment to Council Tax payers and not part of your budget?

Question 6: We have not heard your oft-repeated complaint that "Scotland does not receive its full share of oil revenues" for a while now...since the GERS showed that Scotland DOES receive its full share, to be precise!
Instead of your old complaints demanding Scotland keeps all its money, will you now be offering to pay back the decades of subsidy to the UK Treasury and so let England keep all its money?

Question 7. Will you make any effort to correct the vast number of misconceptions among your young nats and also to finally remove that hilarious farce that is 'The Great Deception' from the WWW?

Question 8. Will you educate your astonishingly ignorant fellow MSPs so they don't humiliate themselves on national tv by admitting they know nothing about English culture other than morris dancing?

A brief comppilation from the nat bible that is Wikipedia:

"Well, apart from the world's most widely spoken language, there's also the world's most popular sport, the world's most popular league of ANY sport, plus rugby, cricket and tennis among others.
Literature-wise; there's Shakespeare, Chaucer, Dickens, the Bronte sisters, Jane Austin, Tennyson, Byron, Shelley, Keats, Blyton, Lewis Carroll, Pepys, Agatha Christie, DH Lawrence, Preistley, Hardy, Kipling, Defoe, HG Wells, Tolkein, Orwell, Beatrix Potter, Ian Fleming, JK Rowling, Graham Greene…
Music; The Beatles and the Rolling Stones through the 80s heyday of Duran Duran, Pet Shop Boys, Frankie Goes to Hollywood to modern day megabands such as Oasis, Radiohead, Coldplay, Robbie Williams, the craze that followed the Spice Girls…
Major cultural events include Wimbledon, Glastonbury, the FA Cup Final (watched by 800m people on average), the London Marathon, the Great North Run, Notting Hill Carnival...
Major inventions include the train, the jet engine (along with the jet airliner and the jet fighter), the electric generator and the electric engine, the gas turbine, the computer and the world wide web and of course the Industrial Revolution started in England and changed the world forever (as the computer and WWW are doing now)."

It is to be expected to celebrate Scottish culture...but to be so naive and ignorant of the culture of our nearest neighbour is depressingly shocking, especially if you expect us to let you run the country!

"Cabinet faces grilling as SNP goes on tour"

The response from the people in Dumfries, according to the mid-day news, is that they were very happy that the cabinet spoke to them and were pleased with the answers they got.

The Scotsman peddling mis-information again. Your sins always find you out Mr Editor.

Oh, we know how wildly popular the Gnat Government is. The Gnat spin machine tells us all so, about ten times a day.

Q1. "Will you implement all of your election promises, Mr Salmond?"

Q2. "How many have you implemented so far, Mr Salmond?"

Q3. "How many new schools have you built so far, Mr Salmond?"

Q4. "How many of the major infrastructure projects promised in your 2007 Manifesto have been financed by the Scottish Future Trust so far, Mr Salmond?"

Answers for the hard of thinking:

Q1. "Erm...ur...ah...we're popular, you know. We're standing up for Scotland. GIRUY, ya English. It's our oil"

Q2. "Erm...ur...ah...well, we abolished bridge tolls. And we're subsidising free prescriptions for the middle classes. And...er...well, that's about it really".

Q3. "Erm...none...nada...not a single one"

Q4. "Erm...none...nada...not a single one. But it's better than PFI, you know"

National conversation? Endless Party Political Broadcast for the Gnats, paid for with our taxes.

Can't have a conversation with King Smug, only ever listens to his own voice.

#13 Did you really ask 4 questions or were you just trying to get your name on the comments page.

How fantatic that we have a Scottish government that tours the country and wants to speak and listen to ordinary people.Labour could learn a lot from that example.

This rag can't even bring itself to put National Conversation, in CAPITALS, how pathetic is this paper?

STOP PRESS
Just watched Reporting North Britain, and guess what, EVERY single local in Dumfries interviewed thought it was a brilliant idea!
Can it get any worse for The North British Publications?

Just back from the meeting.. went very well.

A sad wee nipper kept wailing in the back. The sound was so loud that people kept asking if the laddie was hurt. Turned out it was not a wee nipper at all but some Labour plant remembering what happened in Glasgow East and couldn't contain himself.

One man said that the man was named George, but another said Dougie. Not sure who but he did make a scene.

I was very surprised not to see more Labour MSP's at the cabinet meeting today. After all , it is close as they are going to get to a real cabinet meeting for the next twenty years or so.

Question 1: Why do you persist in claiming our economic future should depend on the highly volatile and shrinking oil industry?

Maybe because Westminster has set against Scottish oil HUGE AMounts of capital borrowing. I think they know something you don't!

What you fail (even on the most simplistic terms to realise) is that twice the price of oil equals twice the forecasted production.

Idiot

Did the good folk of Dumfries ask the cabinet if they might be allowed to have some more on-shore wind-turbines please? Oh! Its just cupboard love!?

# 11 said:
'Question 8. Will you educate your astonishingly ignorant fellow MSPs so they don't humiliate themselves on national tv by admitting they know nothing about English culture other than morris dancing?'

What else is there to know?

"The job of government is to act on behalf of the interests of the people of Scotland," Mr Salmond said ahead of the trip.
Well Salmond when will you act on behalf of the people who you are supposed to represent. Within the last ten days there have been two attempted abductions of women, one crime involving a firearm, and a stabbing all within five minutes of your new constituency office in Inverurie. What about it Salmond what are you and your Justice Minister doing about it???????

"The job of government is to act on behalf of the interests of the people of Scotland,"
Their record so far is to act on behalf of the interests of Strathclyde?

the Scottish government are in for a grilling it says,
I cannot help but think they are a unpalatable lot,
if you know what I mean.!!!