A diplomatic silence on Donald Trump?

Hail to the Chief. Anyone know the next line? Don't bother inquiring at Holyrood where the anthem traditionally welcoming an American president is, if deployed at all, mostly hummed these days with grim irony.

Which is, in itself, ironic, given that the anthem's origins lie in Scotland. More precisely, in lines written by Sir Walter Scott in his poem, The Lady of the Lake.

(Sir Walter, as you will recall, was a renowned versifier before he turned to writing some of the most innovative and outstanding novels we have witnessed. Indeed, so brilliant were these works that Jane Austen also resorted to irony in declaring: "Walter Scott has no business to write novels, especially good ones….he has fame and profit enough as a poet.")

Back, reluctantly, from my literary hero to contemporary politics. And to hailing the chief. For the next line, I like the version used by Jack Lemmon, playing a caustic ex-president in a movie. It was: "Hail to the Chief. He's the chief - and he needs hailing."

More modern lyrics, apparently, there are - although they are seldom sung. But the band will soon be striking up the tune for Donald John Trump, the President Elect of the United States of America. Whose origins also lie in Scotland, at least in part.

That election left Nicola Sturgeon, like many politicians, treading a relatively fine line. She would not, she said, preserve anything approaching a diplomatic silence with regard to Mr Trump's failings.

Lest the chamber be in any doubt, those proclaimed failings had earlier been helpfully listed by the Labour leader, Kezia Dugdale. Ms Sturgeon repeated the charge sheet, including racism, sexism, misogyny and intolerance. The FM described some of his comments as "deeply abhorrent."

So was he a president up with whom she would not put? Not quite. She accepted the outcome of the election and would seek to sustain relations between Scotland and the USA, in particular seeking to develop trade links.

In essence, she sought - as others have done - to draw a distinction between Trump the candidate and Trump the soon-to-be president.

She declared her intention, as others have done, of continuing to foster higher values and thus, she hoped, encouraging the new leader of the free world to eschew some of the more blunt remarks delivered during the course of a bruising election campaign.

The relationship between invective and trade - perhaps the tension - also surfaced in exchanges over the memorandum of understanding for potential investment, signed with two Chinese companies.

An MoU now disavowed by the Chinese. Why? Because, according to the first minister, of an unhelpful political climate surrounding the initiative.

You will perhaps recall that it emerged there had been concerns about one of the companies raised with the Scottish government by Amnesty International.

This caused a considerable row - not least because the MoU had not been openly disclosed. Today, Ms Sturgeon faced attack on two fronts, enabling her to triangulate her response to some extent.

For the Conservatives, Ruth Davidson attacked the secrecy surrounding the memorandum - and its abandonment. However, she offered to help to resurrect any prospect of trade with China.

In response, Ms Sturgeon accused her of "staggering hypocrisy" and "double standards on stilts". This rhetoric relied upon the fact that the UK government has given an assurance to Nissan to secure investment in the north-east of England; details as yet undisclosed.

From another angle, enter Willie Rennie of the Liberal Democrats. He had previously called for the memorandum to be cancelled, citing the concerns voiced by Amnesty International and others about human rights.

Nicola Sturgeon signed a deal with two state-backed Chinese firms in March

Mr Rennie was palpably furious. Over the memorandum itself. (And perhaps because he had earlier been lampooned by Ms Davidson who suggested that the Chinese Communist party was unlikely to be quaking over an attack by the Scottish LibDems.)

He said that, by citing the political environment, Ms Sturgeon was in effect seeking to blame the opposition for the collapse of the deal. Had she checked out the companies in the first place? Had she picked up the phone when the deal appeared to be in jeopardy?

Ms Sturgeon was having none of it. There had been simply an outline agreement. There had been no detailed deals - which would have involved due diligence.

And she suggested that it was a bit rich of Mr Rennie to blame her for lack of endeavour in rescuing an agreement which he had condemned from the outset.

It was deft. But the FM did not look entirely comfortable over the episode. To be fair, she said that the SG would examine its own role in the memorandum of understanding. Its genesis and its exodus.

At which point, every MSP rose and joined in a spirited chorus of "Hail to the Chief". Inserting their own words, according to taste.