A good day to bury bad news.

While all the hoo-ha is going on over the £33 billion Scottish budget or, as Margo MacDonald accurately described it, the allocation of the block grant from Westminster, the Scottish government has quietly released its booze bill for the last year.

You can see it in its full glory here and decide for yourself if you accept the plea from Ministers that they spent considerably less than the last lot on hospitality.

I'm disappointed that at the Christmas media reception esteemed colleagues in the Scottish parliamentary lobby only managed to slosh £471 of booze down their gullets. These people didn't join the lobby to show such restraint. Equally I'm impressed that the Justice department managed to lose the invoice for a reception for Sheriffs and JPs. Whose round was it?

Update: Some wag has told me that the "media reception" was actually the bill for drinks with my good friend Alan Cochrane but I don't believe that, the figure's still too low.