Big Government.

Mr Smith was interested to read the latest figures relating to public sector employment in Scotland.

"THE number of Scots working in the public sector has risen by nearly 50,000 since devolution. As new figures revealed unemployment creeping up, statistics also showed nearly 576,000 people worked in the public sector in the second quarter of this year."

That's 576,000 people that don't have to worry about losing their jobs in the forthcoming economic recession, at least compulsorily. But does Scotland really need a public sector that big?