Eck tells Bella where to go

...in which the Eck in question is Alex Salmond, and the Bella (there can only be one Bella!) is Annabel Goldie, who has called on the SNP to work with the Tories informally after 2007.

Salmond, though, has re-stated SNP policy: that they do not do deals with the Conservatives. He is, of course, trying to seal the confidence-and-supply deal with the Greens, while also performing the rather precarious balancing act of wooing the LibDems as potential Coalition partners (the LibDems themselves have hinted at this following the Labour internal poll I mentioned yesterday, which would give the two groups combined a majority in Holyrood) while attacking them for being Labour's partners and trying not to lose votes to them.

On second thoughts, the 'balancing act' is entirely the wrong metaphor. I should perhaps have gone for something involving yoga.