Familiar ring to pigeon exclusive

IMITATION being the sincerest form of flattery, The Scotsman’s Scottish political editor, Hamish MacDonnell, will no doubt have liked seeing one of his stories being picked up by a rival newspaper.

Perhaps, though, he was not quite so pleased seeing his Thursday page three story, about baby pigeons being relocated from the Scottish Parliament, billed as an exclusive on the front page of the next day’s The Scottish Sun.