Wake up and smell the Kofi

A fair bit of 'liar, liar, pants on fire'-style stuff in the media and blogosphere over who said what over the Kofi Annan affair. Predictably, both sides are trying to make political capital out of the issue.

However, it's now transpired that the Scottish Government have admitted to "crossed wires" over the episode, which is perhaps as near as politicians and officialdom ever come to candour.

Of course, this will no doubt strengthen the argument that Alex Salmond blatantly lied about Mr Annan "requesting" that he visit Scotland to deliver a lecture on Robert Burns, while nationalists will see it as merely deepening their suspicions of a Unionist conspiracy.

But what does an objective analysis of the facts reveal? That Kofi Annan was due to visit Scotland to make as speech on Adam Smith seems to be undisputed.

Late last year Alex Salmond wrote to Mr Annan, inviting him to come to Scotland to deliver a lecture on Burns as part of the Homecoming celebrations. Mr Annan replied:

I would like to travel to Scotland to deliver a speech later in the year.

Despite not mentioning either the Homecoming or Burns, Mr Salmond's aides claim that Mr Annan's response has to be seen in the context of the initial invitation, and to that extent the First Minister said, at a Burns supper last weekend:

I have a letter from Kofi Annan in which he requests, if it would be appropriate, that he could come and deliver a lecture during the Year of Homecoming in tribute to Robert.

Thus - and despite the fact that Mr Annan's reply was presumably referring to his visit for the Adam Smith lecture - is it unreasonable to take at face value that Mr Salmond honestly thought Mr Annan was referring to a speech on Burns? Or that Mr Annan's response amounted to a 'request', particularly if his reply was misconstrued in the context of Mr Salmond's original request?

Assuming that the conspiracy theorists are incorrect in their claim that Mr Annan was complicit in setting some kind of Unionist Salmond-trap, the problem seems to lie in the lack of clarity in his reply to Mr Salmond's letter, which perhaps reflected diplomatic language used lest a blunter refusal to the invitation be regarded as a snub to Scotland/Mr Salmond, and a specific mention of the Adam Smith lecture be seen as an endorsement of Gordon Brown - "I would like to travel to Scotland...", seems rather deferential phraseology for referring to the previously arranged speech in Kirkcaldy, and if this was a reference to a later but currently unfinalised Burns lecture then Mr Salmond was materially correct.

Thankfully, it seems that Mr Annan will indeed come to Scotland later in the year to deliver a lecture on the bard. Which in turn perhaps confirms the most surprising thing about this whole affair; not the cock-up, not the consequent conspiracy theories and political machinations, but that Kofi Annan is a Burns aficionado!

Mr Annan's office said: "This has all been blown out of proportion." A storm in a Koficup indeed.