Workers in the private sector would be carpeted for this, but Holyrood allows Michael Matheson to not pay a penny back from his own pocket.

The Parliament is sticking two fingers up at the public.https://t.co/VnvLBXjJUahttps://t.co/VnvLBXjJUa

— Paul Hutcheon (@paulhutcheon) November 10, 2023

I know something about this. I’ve worked for both a Constituency MP and a Constituency MSP, I have friends who work for both. I know what sort of things happen every day of the year, in their offices.

Hutcheon either knows nothing of a key political arena or pretends not to know for cheap attacks on a man doing a demanding job he could never tackle.

MPs and MSPs have typically around 4 staff – an office manager, a research/communications person and maybe two case workers.

From the 200 000 or so constituents, the office gets hundreds of emails every week from constituents asking the MP/MSP to speak or act on an issue that concerns them, from such as the current bombing in Gaza, to their desperate need for help to get the benefits they are being denied by the DWP, and a thousand other issues in between.

The office staff do much of the work for the MP/MSP but, in they end, they must see and make the final decision where that is not straightforward and where, often, it might lead to complaints, legal challenges, and leaks to so-called journalists.

This means that they are never, ever, off-duty and if they take a holiday they will continue to monitor and advise on those difficult cases.

A minister retains all of those constituency responsibilities and must add ministerial duties on top. They get additional staff support but, in the same way, the buck stops with them and staff will need to contact them at any time and on any day when an important decision looms.

Michael Matheson was operating at the highest level, has an ipad just as Hutcheon and most other children have one. Busy beyond Hutcheon’s imagination, he made a trivial mistake and a brainless twit posing as an expert on politics, reveals that he is nothing more than a gossip-monger.

Yes, I am angrier than usual today. It’s no bloody wonder.