Asinine, inept rubbish from the Royal Mail - or Royal Cock-up

The other day I read that people in what is laughingly misnamed public service get about 43% more in pay and pensions than ordinary people like you and me.

Our reward for subsidising them is that they plan to make more of our lives a bloody misery than they are already by carefully planned strikes.

This would be insult enough if they weren't so utterly incompetent, as witness the evidence on this page. Just read the right hand bit. The items are only tracked after they have been delivered.

I guess the equivalent is, not "The doctor will see you now" but "The doctor will only see you after you have died."

The Royal Mail was "run" for a while by an ex-adman called Crozier. Clearly his experience in the land of "This shit is marvellous just because we say so" left a lasting impression.

Crozier has great career agility. He skips like a mountain goat from one overpaid job to another, leaving just before the sheriff. For the past 16 months he has been working his magic at ITV. Their revenues have just plunged by 20%.

Could he be a future prime minister? After all, he is a Scot.

Which brings me to a mystery that has been puzzling me for a while now.

Why does Scotland send us so many great men in so many fields but such utter shit when it comes to politics?

Think of it. From Adam Smith to Livingstone to Alexander Fleming or - rather different - Paisley, Busby and Ferguson. And goodness knows how many more. All excellent.

But in politics? Ramsay Macdonald, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown. And worryingly, Cameron is a Scots name.