Newsweek Scotland: In a Peaceful Place...

I'm struggling to keep my eyes open after a long shift yesterday and a late night, a kicking in bed from a two-year-old and an early start to Friday. I haven't had time to stretch out with the papers over a leisurely coffee accompanied by Mr Handel in the way a man at my stage of life should expect. Now I've been reminded to write this blog when I clearly would rather be doing something else. Sound familiar? Wouldn't it be nice if you could just say to the world: Not today, thank you. You see, I'm much more productive when I'm contented.

Which brings me to one of our topics for the week. The global index of peace has found that if you live in a peaceful place it will also be a prosperous and happy place and not enough countries work hard enough at this. The world could save enough money to pay off all our debts if it was only 25 per cent more peaceful. Why don't we teach peace as a subject? We'll talk to the bloke who runs the index. And that links nicely to the opposite effect which is that inequality in society is ruinously expensive and socially divisive. Our economy and the way it's being run is exacerbating the gulf between have and have-nots and there is trouble ahead, according to the economics editor of the Times, no less. So it's no left-wing rant. We'll speak to him. He reckons Alex Salmond and Ed Miliband - now there's a team - may be on to something in talking about either the squeezed middle or in Mr Salmond's phrase, Children before State.

The Great Helmsman of course was in London on lobbying duty this week and met the foreign press. No, not the English media. We hear from two overseas journalists who were present and who are interested in political events here, one from Norway and the other from Catalonia. And we'll have a discussion about the Salmond agenda announced this week including his reference to our oil and gas reserves being filched. Is he right? We'll let you decide. If I can keep my eyes open I'll see you tomorrow at 8.