£30bn buys a lot of ice cream

Budget day arrives. Well, strictly not. It's only the "general principles" that MSPs are being asked to endorse today. I'm sure that won't stop Labour voting against it. I'm not sure how they object to the general principles of the £30bn budget. If you look at it in a certain way, a large chunk of it is their budget, what with the inherited spending commitments and only 0.5% increase to make new ones. Ships of state can take a while to turn.

Odds are it'll pass. Odds are the viewing figures for the four hour debate will be the number of people actually inside the chamber. Odds are the fight really begins at Stage 2.