David Maddox: John Farquhar Munro found (2)

Had yet another update from the Lib Dems on their missing pro-referendum on independence MSP John Farquhar Munro (pictured)- Holyrood's international man of mystery.
As you will have seen from the earlier blogs he is missing today's vote on the principle of a referendum, where he would have probably gone against the party anti-referendum line, because he has important business in Germany.
The original suggestion from the Lib Dem press office was that he was there for health reasons, which made chief whip Mike Rumbles rejection of his original request a look a little hard hearted.
But, the latest update is that he is in Germany to be a special guest speaker at the MDS foundation's European patient and family forum in Germany - it was arranged around Christmas time apparently.
According to its website the foundation is "a multi disciplinary, international organization devoted to the prevention, treatment, and study of the myelodysplastic syndromes."
For the non-medically qualified among you, myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a group of diseases in which the production of blood cells by the bone marrow is disrupted.
So he was there "for health reasons," but not his own health, which, although it is nice to know he is not seriously ill, makes it all the more surprising that he was given such an important parliamentary day off to go there.