Mind the curtains.

There was a time when being convicted of a criminal offence and spending several months in Saughton Prison at Her Majesty's Pleasure would have spelt the end of someone's career in politics, even at the margins. But not it appears if you are former Labour MP, MSP and Labour peer Lord Mike Watson of Invergowrie who once famously set fire to a set of curtains after an event at Prestonfield House Hotel, an offence he admitted in court.

Mr Smith notes in today's Sunday Herald that the "disgraced" peer has apparently made a return to the work of Scottish politics by working as a consultant with Edinburgh public affairs consultancy Caledonia Consulting.

Mr Smith isn't sure whether Caledonia's clients are aware of Lord Watson's wide range of previous experience, but for a consultancy which seeks to advise clients on how best to win friends and influence people, there is the feeling that perhaps they should be taking some advise themselves before offering it to others.