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The big news this week will be the finale to the long-running Scottish Labour leadership race...we won't have the result because it happens three or four hours after we come off air and it isn't a soviet-style stitch-up which can be leaked in advance (at least not to Newsweek). But we will have full analysis of what is going on inside Labour and what the new leader needs to do next. We'll expand that into the wider movement because, let's be honest, Ed Miliband really ought to be registering more highly with voters by now. It seems that, like the party leaders at Holyrood, he can't get the better of his oppo at . And is Labour rhetoric enough? They talk of support for public sector strikes yet don't give support...they decry Cameron's EU veto yet admit they wouldn't have backed the Euro club either. (Not that Mr Salmond sounded committed one way or the other).

There was an eye-popping opinion poll recently showing the SNP on 51 per cent and nearly double the Labour total and yet take look at one or two other events and wonder... murder figures up quite alarmingly...unemployment rocketing...eerily deep divisions over both same sex marriage and anti-sectarian legislation...more surveys showing support for EU membership - dear to the Nats - down at 40 per cent in Scotland...and a majority calling for an early referendum on independence. You may think it odd that a government with what sometimes looks like a creaky platform should be increasing its popularity. For what it's worth, it perhaps confirms my own somewhat dyspeptic view that we back some politicians or parties almost despite policy. We actually identify with them, their generalised message, their approach and character and pretty much forgive everything else. Think back. When the SNP were in minority they ditched, shelved or failed to meet commitments from the manifesto and seemed to suffer no backlash.

A lot of Scots just happen to like the Nats and don't even seem to support their principal policy. And surely the unimpressive quality of the other parties at the moment squares the circle. If all that is right then it shows how fragile is the bond between public and politician. Can it sustain itself without genuinely successful policy and economic acumen?

To many it will seem blindingly obvious that a reinvigorated Labour picks up Devo Max and surfs the wave to a referendum No and renewed popularity. (Oops, sorry that last sentence was a cut and paste from the Labour press office) We'll debate with among others, , and Paul Sinclair.

WE hear about widespread systematic abuse in Syria and how injured protestors no longer go to hospital because the military go in and remove them. Instead they are treated by freelance medics who risk their own lives.

We debate the future of Europe - sounds very grand, doesn't it? We're in Kenya and we hear about the part-time jobs market which is booming. (Maybe Labour should do a leadership job share)

Join me tomorrow at 8.