Yet another scandal involving Edinburgh’s shamed former council leader Cammy Day should mean Labour’s chaotic administration of the capital city should be brought to an end, argues Herald columnist and ex- Edinburgh councillor John McLellan.

As entertaining as it was savage, my fellow Herald columnist Kevin McKenna eviscerated the state of Scottish public life on these pages recently and only the most ardently loyal SNP follower could disagree.

In the light of new developments at Edinburgh Council, it is worthwhile repeating his conclusion because the poisoning does not begin and end at Holyrood, and far from the popular trope of snouts in the trough, it is a moral degradation which should concern us all.

“Conduct which would previously have led to instant dismissal is now rewarded. Politicians who consistently fail are promoted. Chief executives walk away with massive financial settlements, having dragged their organisations through the muck,” McKenna wrote.

Surely not Edinburgh Council, where the chief executive retired after a tumultuous period?

“We’re living in a dystopia where no arm of public government or administration holds itself accountable,” McKenna added.

The charge sheet is extensive; the Sandie Peggie tribunal and the harassment of an NHS nurse, and in dismissing more than half her claims the tribunal judge made extraordinary blunders which must surely be career ending. Then there’s the scandal of the chaotic management, or lack of it, at Historic Environment Scotland, the denial of wrong-doing by justice secretary Angela Constance who quite clearly misled parliament into thinking grooming........

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