That age......

I suppose I am at that age when invitations are as often to retirement parties as to anything else.

Tonight’s was one I was keen to drop into , even though I had to do so only briefly , between the meeting that John Swinney and I had with the new UK Minister for , amongst other things, devolution David Lidington and my journey back to Argyll Ito prepare for a busy weekend in the constituency,

Neil Munro , with whom I was at University, was celebrating an incredible 43 years with the Times Educational Supplement Scotland , many of them as Editor. This picture includes his predecessor in that role Willis Pickard who made one of several tributes to him at the event.

I am a former columnist for the paper as well as a former Education Minister , but more importantly Neil is one of my oldest friends. And retirement (for a month so far) seems to be suiting him .