It strikes me that there are a couple of important, issues to emerge from the Stage 3 debate on the Alcohol Bill that are not related to alcohol.
As I write, the internet in our office and the surrounding area is currently down. It contributed to a few searching questions, the most pertinent of which is: how did we, or anyone else, manage to do our job without the internet?
Higher education is likely to play a central role in campaigning in the run up to the Holyrood elections. The issue of funding is controversial, particularly in times where public spending faces a tight squeeze. For a nation so proud of its free education, the prospect of charging students leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.
The prevailing wisdom at the moment is that next May’s Holyrood elections are Labour’s to lose. They have a healthy poll lead, buoyed as they were by their remarkably strong showing at the UK general election. They are sensing weakness in their SNP rivals, and they are of course no longer hampered by the contradictory position of being in opposition in Scotland at the same time as being the government in London.