Everyone's against Poor Alex Salmond: now it's the BBC 'Nazis' After all, he is not known for mincing his words about his opponents. But all those who are demanding that he apologise shouldn't waste their breath. He won't; it's not in his DNA to say 'sorry'. If we go back to the bare bones of this story it is plain that the real villain - twit might be a better word - of the piece is not Ric Bailey, the BBC's political advisor, but Carl Hicks, BBC TV's head of sport. It was Mr Hicks who said that Mr Salmond could appear on the telly in the pre-match build up to the Scotland-England game on Saturday evening. He apparently believed that it was appropriate, in the midst of a highly-charged political debate about the constitutional future of Scotland, to have the leader of one of the factions - and only one - burbling away in what would effectively be a free party broadcast. As such he was naïve in the extreme and his action confirmed the view of many that sports people think the world extends only as far as the white lines of their playing surfaces. And as for Mr Hicks accepting Mr Salmond's assurances that he wouldn't use the programme for politicking purposes; don't make me laugh. Maybe Mr Hicks thinks the earth is flat, too. It was, as they say, a "stick-on" that the wiser counsels of Mr Bailey would prevail when the matter was raised with him. As he rightly ruled, the "heightened tensions" in Scotland's political world at present should ensure that politicians of all parties shouldn't be given free rides. And that precisely's what Wee Eck would have got if he'd made it to that rugby studio. So, full marks for Mr Bailey and a dunce's cap for Mr Hicks for being stupid enough to invite Mr Salmond onto the programme in the first place. In my experience, politicians are for ever angling to get onto TV programmes that have nothing to do with politics. Sitting around on squashy studio sofas, chewing the fat with presenters who wouldn't know a PSBR from an MLR makes them look almost human. From what I can gather Mr Salmond's acolytes are no slouches at encouraging innocent and non-political TV presenters to have their man on their programmes. It also helps if the TV executives in question are in London, as it seems to be the case that most there believe that Mr Salmond is the living embodiment of Scotland, rather than just another politician on the make. Mr Salmond says he is going to complain about his treatment and about anti-SNP bias to Lord Patten, chairman of the BBC Trust, when the latter visits Scotland this week. Excellent news; I just hope that the noble lord is able to stay awhile to hear all of the complaints about pro-SNP bias on the BBC, too.