Welcome back.

Mr Smith was wondering what had happened to Sunday Herald Political Editor Paul Hutcheon and his welcome blasts at the political establishment at Holyrood. He went quiet for a while but came back to life with a loud bang in a column in this week's Sunday Herald entitled, "Holyrood ill-serves everyone but MSPs."

"... Don't read any further if you are expecting any solutions: I've nothing to offer, except to say we are stuck with the current batch of MSPs for decades. However, a few haphazard thoughts spring to mind. Number one: if we halved the number of MSPs from 129 to 65, the clocks would not stop. Number two: if MSPs' allowances were reduced by 60%, nobody in Scotland would be worse off. Except for the politicians. Number three: imagine a Scotland in which ordinary people, encouraged by a government that promoted personal responsibility, did not depend on politicians to improve their lives. In other words, the notion of voters as empowered citizens, rather than clients of a government that hands out free prescriptions and other rewards to people who behave themselves."

Welcome back Mr Hutcheon, we have missed you. But you had better be careful, Wendy Alexander will be offering you a job at this rate.