Neil McIntosh Editor of The Scotsman

Hello Voornaam,

Good day from Edinburgh, where we have beautiful blue skies and a dusting of snow on the rooftops, but where - my goodness - it's chilly. I hope you're managing to stay warm and toasty wherever you are. From the relative comfort of our offices we'll be keeping an eye on the weather, and the implications for transport, on Scotsman.com today and into next week.

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A little like my heating, it feels like a lot of things aren't working especially well at the moment. We are well into a winter of industrial discontent - waves of strikes that make it hard to plan when (or how, or even if) you travel, or see schoolchildren once again having to miss classes.

The spirit of dysfunction even seems to be seeping into the SNP group at Westminster, which has replaced Ian Blackford - who resigned last week - with Stephen Flynn. By Wednesday, he was busy rearranging his front bench team, with some incumbents resigning and Pete Wishart MP, in particular, parting with a decidedly frosty resignation letter. All this could make for a change of direction for the Westminster group - more forceful, perhaps, and maybe also less friendly towards the Holyrood-based leadership. Joyce McMillan, writing today, calls on the SNP to make the practical, persuasive case for independence - rather than deploy the more divisive nationalist rhetoric.

But the image of frustrated, plotting parliamentary colleagues isn't a great one for the once-disciplined SNP, and it does raise the question what exactly that block of MPs can achieve in Westminster. I suppose that, if nothing else, we can at least admire the SNP's swift means of change, and compare it unfavourably with the various means the Conservative party has employed this year while changing Prime Minister, twice.

Elsewhere, the (absolute) state of Scotland's NHS also continues to cause concern, with some of that manifesting in First Ministers' Questions yesterday, junior doctors set to vote on strike action, and further evidence of a system at breaking point emerging almost daily.

Looking towards lighter matters, tomorrow's magazine offers a few diversions and useful tidbits of advice: Emma Corrin talk about Netflix's Lady Chatterley's Lover, Rose Murray Brown uncorks a dozen cracking white wines for your Christmas feasting, and travel looks at options for wellness and relaxation on Ibiza.

With the temperatures where they are, that feels like a very tempting idea indeed.

Thank you, as ever, for your support, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Neil McIntosh

Editor, The Scotsman

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