I AM enjoying the refreshing quality of the SNP government. I think its talents may be only one man deep but so far so good. It is true Alex Salmond shares the fallacy common to all Scottish politicos - the belief everything is bettered by subsidies.
Even those with pure SNP affections will have to agree that, with the tenuous majority plus the fact so many substantive powers remain in London, the new regime has barely any legislative or fiscal possibilities.
Where Salmond and his ministerial colleagues have almost limitless discretion - a euphemism for power - is in administrative matters. As Edinburgh ministers, they have all the levers of the civil service to pull and push.
There is a vast, perhaps nearly limitless, opportunity to de-regulate Scottish business.
I am always uncomfortable that so many Scottish companies appoint "compliance officers" to ensure close obedience to every regulation - however petty or daft. I urge them to appoint countervailing "defiance officers" to find ways to get around pettifogging nonsense.
The SNP could reap a huge harvest of popularity - and contribute to the flourishing o