In the Herald today, the above apparent concerns limiting the number of requests to five at any one time. We’re not talking about just five a year, five a month, five a week or five a day, just five at any one time. This is a perfectly reasonable response to the increasing use of AI by oppositions politicians and their staff and by journalists.

If the Herald gave its readers the full facts, they’d get it, I feel sure. Here they are:

Before AI:

From Largest number of Freedom of Information requests made by a single person in one day: FOI release, published today:

For the year 2023, the largest amount of FOI’s made to the Scottish Government in one day by a single individual is 43. For the year 2024, the largest amount of FOI’s made to the Scottish Government in one day by a single individual is 80. For the year 2025, the largest amount of FOI’s made to the Scottish Government in one day by a single individual is 21. https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202600501630/

Each request currently costs the Scottish Government and you as a taxpayer, around £300 up from around £234 ten years ago. https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/bulletins/consumerpriceinflation/january2026 https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-19-00357

According to the Law Society of Scotland referencing the Scottish Information Commissioner’s (SIC) annual statistics, there were 68 156 FOI requests over the last ten years costing up to £20 million!!! https://lawscot.org.uk/news-and-events/legal-news/foi-performance-improving-commissioners-annual-report-reveals

How many of those were made by the Scottish Cons, Labour and Lib Dems? Alex Cole-Hamilton must be responsible for a few. That young guy at the Scotsman? The unions?

Why don’t you do an FOI and find out?

After AI:

These are not FOI requests but they impose similar administrative burdens on civil servants and have been framed in media and political debate as abusive or vexatious use of official channels and reveal how AI might be used to overwhelm the system:

• Douglas Lumsden (Scottish Conservative MSP for North East Scotland): In early 2025, he faced significant criticism for submitting nearly 1,000 written parliamentary questions in January alone (987 according to reports, out of a total of around 1,938 from all 129 MSPs that month). These included seemingly trivial or broad queries (e.g., about salt and pepper sachets, flagpoles, lightbulbs, deckchairs, gift shop honey jars, and electric hand dryers). Critics, including the SNP, accused him of using AI to generate them, estimating costs to the public purse at around £100,000 for that month alone (with broader yearly estimates up to £185,000+). Lumsden denied using AI but said he would consider new tools to hold the government accountable. https://news.sky.com/story/tory-msp-denies-using-ai-to-bombard-scottish-parliament-with-frivolous-questions-at-cost-of-100-000-13306654
• Stephen Kerr (another Tory MSP): In 2026, he was similarly accused of using AI to generate hundreds (or over 1,400) of questions, with costs estimated at over £200,000 in one year. facebook.com