Tavish's Tree Climb for Comic Relief

Another thing this poxy Glandular Fever is making me miss is this year's Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference which takes place this weekend in Perth. We usually go as a family and it's one of the highlights of our year. I have mixed feelings about missing it - it's the best programme I can remember and it looks like it's going to be really busy, so I'm gutted not to be there. Realistically, though, I know I wouldn't last half an hour so there's no point in whinging.

So, I am just going to stay home and watch Comic Relief while my colleages attend fascinating fringe meetings and consume vast quantities of free booze. And before Malc gets on his high horse, I'm sure they have alcohol at SNP Conferences too.

I did wonder aloud on Twitter this morning what I could do to raise money for Comic Relief while stuck here and the only thing I seem to be any good at just now is sleeping. I had a couple of suggestions - one was seeing how long I can stay awake. That's not a good idea given that if I push myself too hard, I wipe myself out. The other suggestion was that I see how much chocolate I can eat - sounds delicious but my appetite is not what it was, which is probably a good thing.

I have tried to do my bit,though, first my sponsoring the Mountain Climbing Fools (see opposite, and didn't they do well? Fearne Cotton is my new heroine), then by donating the price of a round in Perth to BBC Technology Editor Rory Cellan Jones who is doing a fundraiser by Twitter.

I thought I'd done, but then today I discovered that Scottish Liberal Democrat Leader Tavish Scott has not forgotten Red Nose Day and is attempting to raise money for the cause by doing Scotland's tallest tree climb in Perthshire. Please follow me and sponsor him here.

I will be be following Tavish's progress and the gossip from Conference via Twitter and the web. There is precious little tv coverage this year, unfortunately. However, I have been promised all sorts of gossip and news from my friends.



LibDig This!

Sponsor the Red Nose Day Climbers

I obviously have a thing for throwing money at fools who do crazy things - remember Team Hopelessness, anybody?

Anyway, I have just sponsored the idiots who are off to climb Mount Kilimanjaro with the aim of raising at least £1 million for Comic Relief. I have been following the preparations of @fearnecotton and @chrisdjmoyles on Twitter for some time and they are not for the faint hearted.

The climbers, also including Girls Aloud's Kimberley Walsh and Cheryl Cole, former boy band rivals Gary Barlow, Ronan Keating, West End Star Denise Van Outen, GMTV's Ben Shephard and the fantastic Alesha Dixon, set off for their marathon trek at the end of this month. They have clearly given over a significant amount of their lives to this effort.

Even in form, I'd be hard pushed to get up Arthur's Seat so I applaud the fact that they are willing to endure untold pain, suffering and possibly danger and discomfort for the benefit of other people.

Good luck to them all - their exploits will keep us going until Fraser, Gavin, Matt and Graeme get going again later this year.

And if you want to watch their exertions in the comfort of your own home, the brains behind Red Nose day have commissioned some wine so you can drink a wee toast to them as you lie on your sofa.

LibDig This!