I feel that we need to show some gratitude to our political class for showcasing Scotland as a land of opportunity. In the last week this has been shown to spectacular effect. Does any other country have as many opportunists running its affairs as Scotland?

In interviews with my most esteemed colleagues, two of this country’s top political influencers and decision-makers favoured us with their own personal blueprints on how to get ahead in Scotland.

In other, much stuffier and elitist countries, they insist on asking for demonstrable track records of achievement and experience if you want to attain high office serving the people. Sometimes they even go so far as to demand that you show personal integrity. But that’s not very diverse, is it? If you were always running around being full of integrity, people would just take advantage of you.

So, it’s three cheers for Q Manivannan, the new Scottish Greens MSP. Just a few years ago, the Indian national, here on a student visa, appeared to have been jouking about the black holes of Calcutta where life is cheap and the poor are trampled underfoot.

Now, this resourceful character has become the list member for Edinburgh and Lothians East at the Scottish Parliament, making laws for a land and a people which had once been far, far away.

This is something that made me very proud to be Scottish. Who knew that the history and politics of Scotland and her people was the talk of the sweatshops and flop-houses of downtown Calcutta? I was captivated by this rags-to-riches story and wondered what two actors would get to play Q Manivannan in the Netflix drama.

Manivannan: Abuse reinforced my belief to........

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