This year, @petermurrell and I have decided to spend our few days summer break at home, enjoying what our beautiful country has to offer - and which I normally only get to pass by on work-related travels. Today, as a birthday treat for this book lover, it was a trip to... 1/ 2/...the lovely @ExploreWigtown, where to thanks to @WigtownBookShop @BeltieBooks and others, I picked up some nice editions of some favourite authors...

Some quick thoughts on #chequers outcome...
1. There is more realism in it than we’ve seen before from UK government (though that’s not saying much!) - so, to that extent, hopefully a step forward. However... 2...still massive unresolved questions about acceptability to EU (it still reads like cherry picking and an attempt to divide four freedoms), deliverability (given the sheer complexities), and desirability (especially around impact on services - a real and profound concern)...

1/ Reading lots of interesting comments about the #GrowthCommission - which is good. So much better to be discussing how to build a successful independent Scotland than just resigning ourselves to managing the decline of Brexit UK. A few points worth underlining though... 2/ the report explicitly rejects austerity eg Part B p44 - “Scotland should explicitly reject the austerity model pursued by the U.K. in recent years” and recommends above inflation spending growth each year. A marked contrast to the failed Westminster approach.

To all those angered by latest developments on #Catalonia, please read @scotgov statement below. Our support for Catalan self determination and strong opposition to Spain’s decision to seek the arrest and imprisonment of independence supporting politicians is well established 1/ 2/ Under Extradition Act 2003, Scottish Ministers have no power to intervene in the process and our police and courts are legally obliged to follow due process. This does not change @scotgov political view...

Earlier in week, I said a Scottish Tory MP was talking nonsense on broadband delivery. In the interests of informed debate on an important issue, I thought I’d set out some key facts. This is the first chance I’ve had, so here follows a short thread... 1/ Scotland is on track to meet our target of 95% of premises having fibre broadband access by end 2017. If we’d left it to the market, only 66% would have access...