It’s an ill wind and all that, so somebody must benefit from the grim state of international affairs. Step forward the army of “experts” whose opinions are now sought on every news programme about the knotty problem of how to handle Donald Trump.

The advice is of variable quality. I heard one such “strategist” interviewed on Good Morning Scotland about options following the Oval Office meltdown. His suggestion was that President Zelensky should resign, to be replaced by “the blonde lady” who might play better with President Trump’s emotions.

This could have been a reference to Yulia Tymoshenko, a brave former Prime Minister and leading light in Ukrainian democratic reforms for over 20 years. Deploying her as “the blonde lady” seemed a bit unfair while the mechanism by which she could be elevated went unexplained. I hope this “strategist” wasn’t being paid for his wisdom!

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While there is no shortage of armchair strategists, few of us would envy the challenge which faces those who are actually required to deal with Trump. The certainty last week was that, whatever approach Keir Starmer took, it would be the wrong one in the eyes of his most acerbic critics, particularly here in predictable Scotland.

The wider consensus seemed to be that Starmer had done pretty well in difficult circumstances - and they don’t come much trickier than trying to keep Trump onside at a personal level in order to maintain the influence and unity upon which our interests, not to........

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