I’d say most of the Scottish parliamentary action since Holyrood returned from its summer break has taken place in the committee rooms. Some of the committee members asking questions and the ministers answering them (or otherwise) have, to put it mildly, raised eyebrows.

But, “there but for the grace of God” and all that.  And, given how even seasoned parliamentarians can come a cropper, it was with some trepidation – and a big comfort folder full of figures – that I went up in front of MSPs on the Finance Committee to be quizzed about the forthcoming Scottish Budget.

Not a small subject – we’re talking about how to spend £68 billion – and we were straight in with a question about whether improved economic growth alone would be enough to tackle the impending £5bn gap in the St Andrew’s House coffers.

Now, I’d never pretend to be an economist, but I was able to point to the huge potential of Scotland’s small businesses to plug at least a decent chunk of that gap.

Small firms face 'death by a thousand cuts' in Scotland

There are, remember, 380,000 small businesses here, employing more than 940,000 people and turning over nearly........

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