COUNTING and numbers and stuff have never been a strong point for the SNP. Just look at their claims for 1000 extra police, the so-called fiscal surplus and the fairyland numbers behind their “local” income tax.

And when it comes to polling, they are past masters at thinking of a number and then doubling it. No doubt they will be at it again with polling numbers in the next few days of the by-election campaign.

But it’s not the first time in the campaign they’ve shown a less than rigorous approach to number crunching.

Last weekend they claimed they had 500 supporters at a rally in Glasgow East in support of hard-line nationalist John Mason (the man who takes the fun out of “fundamentalist” then bores it to death). But a careful study of pictures of the event reveals just 147, with perhaps three behind a poster, trying not to be seen (and who can blame them?).

There’s really no excuse for this level of innumeracy (I blame the “government”). The problem, of course, is that the media eat it up every time, so you can hardly expect the nats to be more honest with their figures when they know they’ll get away with it every time.

* According to a calculator nicked from SNP headquarters