Hamish Macdonell - money, money, money

EVERYBODY in the parliament is aware of the main business of the week, taking place tomorrow, the publication of the Scottish Government's transport package for the next ten years or so.
The key issue is the replacement Forth crossing, how much it will cost and, crucially, where the government is going to get the money from. Is it to be financed out of the block grant (hugely expensive and unlikely), the PFI (massively unpopular with the SNP) or by the Scottish Future Trust (untried and untested and subject of intense criticism)?
But there is another event tomorrow which will be more for political anoraks but is nonetheless important - the Finance Committee's report into the Scottish Government budget plans for next year.
This will not make amendments or anything else but it will set the agenda for the budget discussions and, importantly, it will start the intense budget process which will see bartering and brinkmanship from now until February as the SNP tries to concede as little as possible and the other parties try to get the government to accept as much as possible.
ends