Our Top Five most clicked stories of the last seven days were:

1. Tory who dressed as Maddie McCann given leading role in Europe group
2. Guido hanging petition to be struck off due to lack of signatures
3. Cameron: snatch £1,400 from disabled kids after Children in Need party
4. Fred Goodwin is 9th person to be stripped of knighthood since WWII
5. Boris Johnson’s council tax cut: enough to buy one onion a month

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In what has come as a huge blow for Glasgow City Council, The Simpsons writer Rob Lazebnik has revealed that Groundskeeper Willie — described by The Times as “the most recognisable Scot in the world” — officially hails from Kirkwall in Orkney. The news has prompted something of a diplomatic spat between Orkney Council and their counterparts in Scotland’s biggest city, who feature him on their list of famous Glaswegians.

The council were quickly backed up by their local MSP Liam McArthur. In what is doubtless a valuable use of parliamentary resources, a motion was filed in the Scottish Parliament:

*S4M-01921 Liam McArthur: Hands off Groundskeeper Willie — That the Parliament notes that it has been confirmed that Groundskeeper Willie of The Simpsons fame hails from Kirkwall, Orkney; understands that the revelation is made in an episode entitled The Daughter Also Rises, to be broadcast in America on 12 February 2012, where Willie confides in Bart that his father was a ‘doonie’ and his mother was an ‘uppie’, in reference to the two teams in the world-famous ‘Ba game’ … and calls on Glasgow City Council to renounce its claim to Orkney’s Groundskeeper Willie as a son of that fair city.

Scrapbook can now report that justice has been done, with the local authority updating their “famous Glaswegians” list as follows:

“Groundskeeper Willie – from the Simpsons.  Once claimed he was ‘the ugliest man in Glasgow’, but now says he is from Orkney.”

Other entrants on the list include Donald Duck’s uncle, erm, Scrooge McDuck.

It appears that traffic cameras aren’t the only way to track the historical movements of cabinet ministers.

We trust the new energy secretary maintained an appropriate speed in these poor driving conditions.

A cache of emails and private messages obtained by hacking group Anonymous reveal Nick Griffin may have had a meeting with Republican candidate Ron Paul at a conference in Washington DC. These messages from a white supremacist group are the latest blow to Paul, who has spent much of this week continuing to disavow racist newsletters printed in his name in the nineties.

Hackers infiltrated the website of the racist American Third Position Party (A3P) and an affiliated message board, WhiteNewsNow. The data dump which followed suggests Paul’s campaign team and A3P share more members than he’d like to admit.

In private messages, A3P webmaster, active Ron Paul campaigner and renowned white-nationalist Jamie Kelso boasts to supporters that he has a number of “buddies” in the Paul Camp, including Jeff Imbar, who he describes as Paul’s “#2 man in Illinois.” Imbar is a member of A3P and senior staff member at WhiteNewsNow.

In another message, Kelso outlines details of his plans to attend the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington DC with Nick Griffin, and that he/they would be meeting Ron Paul on the trip.

“We’ll be meeting up with Nick Griffin on Wednesday night … a few of us. I let Nick know about the CPAC … Nick loved the idea of getting to this … since there will be 10,000+ right-wing White folks [there] … Ron Paul will be there Fri. afternoon. Want to meet up with him?”

Kelso, who can be seen here trying to convert moderate Republicans to his racist worldview at CPAC 2011, acted as Griffin’s “fixer” for his 2010 jolly to the colonies. He paid for Griffin’s plane tickets and, according to one hacked email, tried to sneak his entourage into the conference on subsidised student tickets.

Paul has form when it comes to accepting help from racists. During his 2008 presidential run, he took a $500 donation from the founder of the white supremacist Stormfront website, whose motto is “White Pride, Worldwide” and ignored widespread pressure for him to return the cash.

Unfortunately for our Nick, it seems A3P’s affection for him has cooled somewhat of late, with one member complaining that Griffin was “being stupid with producers of granny porn.”

Scrapbook  has previously highlighted Boris Johnson trashing his election pledges on transparency — but it is instructive to examine hard statistics on the unaccountability of his administration. It has emerged that the mayor has failed to answer 85 official questions from Londoners and GLA members, with some as long as 18-months overdue.

The Greater London Authority Act 1999 clearly states that all questions should be answered within 3 working days. But scores of questions on a range of subjects have merely received the one-line acknowledgement: “Officers are drafting a response which will be sent shortly.”

He may not “do detail”, but surely Boris has read the first page of his transparency manifesto?

“If elected, I will aim to create a different style of government at City Hall by introducing a series of measures designed to make my Mayoralty more accountable, and spending more transparent.”

Perhaps the mayor should spend less time keeping Londoners in onions and more time answering questions.

With Huhne’s cabinet career now in tatters, could the fate of the member for Eastleigh also hasten the exit of the health secretary? Lobby hack James Macintyre certainly thinks so:

Tory source tells me Lansley is "toast" at forthcoming reshuffle the timing of which depends on Huhne verdict.

February 1, 2012 11:49 pm via Twitter for BlackBerry®ReplyRetweetFavorite

@James_Macintyre

James Macintyre

With the Health Bill the runaway winner for “most botched coalition legislation” , it’s surely just a matter of timing.

With the Crown Prosecution Service to announce whether they will prosecute Chris Huhne at 10am, let’s remind ourselves what the energy secretary was spinning eight months ago:

“These allegations are simply incorrect. They’ve been made before and they’ve been shown to be untrue”

… here comes the best bit …

“and I very much welcome the referal to the police as it will draw a line under the matter.”

Be careful what you wish for, Chris.

Four Liberal Democrat councillors have been taken to court for failing to pay £3,660 council tax. The quartet were named and shamed in court records after Cornwall Council refused to reveal the identities. The red-faced recipients of court liability orders ranging from £210 to £1,840 were quick to the draw with some bizarre excuses.

Jan Powell, a Conservative councillor at the time of missed payments, had a summons for £833.85. Her husband, former mayor of Launceston Tony Powell, claimed ignorance saying:

“We had no knowledge of any Liability Order.”

Likewise, Councillor Pascoe, with arrears of more than £1,800, explained that his father’s death had led to problems with the tax payments:

“During the year afterwards, due to the emotional turmoil and there was so much legal stuff going on at the time, that I overlooked it.”

Next up, Councillor Gillard-Loft, taken to court with arrears of £210, said:

“I got behind with one or two months because the person who owns the house, and who pays half the council tax, had an accident and was off-work.”

And last but not least, Councillor Folkes, who failed to pay £811 over three years claimed his problems with payments were because he, err, forgot. Apparently the council tax summons:

“slipped his mind”

Never mind the bankers, it’s councillors in the West Country that we need to keep an eye on.

Surprisingly given the folklore of his blonde mop, Boris doesn’t look too bad as a shiny slaphead. Osborne and Cameron, however, don’t seem to fare so well.

Given the volume of commentary on his growing bald patch, this does not augur well for the prime minister.

After Scrapbook wondered out loud as to the progress of CCHQ’s investigation into the Nazi stag do attended by MP Aidan Burley, the Birmingham Post reports that the prime minister will take sole responsibility for disciplining the “honourable” member for Cannock Chase:

“David Cameron will personally decide the fate of Cannock Chase MP Aidan Burley, once an inquiry into the Nazi-themed stag party attended by the MP reports its findings this month.”

Despite the prime minister’s remarks around Holocaust Memorial Day, one could be forgiven cynicism given that Cameron has already written to Burley asking his anti-union TURC campaign to prepare a “report” on activities by union representatives.

But this could yet become an issue in the French elections if Savoie prosecutor Patrick Quincy decides to charge Burley and his mates.