Great to join the Burnturk and Kettlehill Community Trust this weekend for their semi-annual litter pick. A huge thank you to everyone who gave up their time to help keep our local area looking its best. It was a pleasure to lend a hand alongside such a dedicated community.

I was pleased to see safety improvements at Lower Melville Wood this week. But identifying the cause of the fire remains essential. Local communities deserve answers, which is why I’m calling for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to publish its investigation findings.

Great to meet with Scott and Steve from Cycling UK today to discuss how we can make cycling safer, more accessible, and more attractive across Scotland and the wider UK. It was encouraging to hear about Cycling UK's new report, The Route Forward, highlighting experiences of cyclists across the UK.

I was glad to attend the annual conference of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists Scotland this week and to discuss the important work they do, political leadership and how they can be positioned closer to the communities that they serve.

The Scottish Government announced plans for an 'East Coast Arc' between Aberdeen, Dundee and St Andrews to link research business and universities, but the business minister was vague about what practical difference a new 'cluster development organisation' will make.

We need to rebuild our relationship with Europe, improve our transport system, reform the planning system, support young people who are economically inactive, and invest in the skills of people across the country.

Scotland is a good place to do business but there are issues that we need to address if we are going to get out of the sluggish growth that the Scottish economy has been experiencing for many years now.

...ferry hasn't run on natural gas since the incident, but the minister couldn't give the transport committee any further information.

The transport secretary seemed unaware of an incident on the Glen Sannox ferry last year where 700kg of methane gas escaped in an uncontrolled release and some was sucked into the ship's ventilation system. It was described by CalMac as a "critical failure" and the...

Now the economy secretary has claimed that the company is acting in 'bad faith', but that raises more questions than it answers.

Scottish Government ministers have been reluctant to say anything about their interactions with Sanjeev Gupta's companies which they used public money to support, despite the Dalzell steel plant being inactive for two years and the government loan allegedly being transferred elsewhere.

The cumulative impact of offshore energy cables is putting the prawn fishing industry in North East Fife under real pressure and threatens its future. Some offshore developments have provided compensation to the fishermen who have been affected, but others haven't.

The murder of Stacy Hunter by her estranged husband who was on bail has left many people in the local community shocked and devastated. It has also raised real questions about the use of tagging and how technology could be used better to protect people in similar circumstances.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats secured funding in a previous budget to better support people with conditions such as long covid, ME and CFD. I questioned the health secretary about the implementation of that work and the creation of dedicated clinics.

I asked the social justice secretary to be open about long waiting times for applicants for Adult Disability Payment and to address recommendations from Audit Scotland.

There are still uncertainties about the bus fare cap in Scotland even as it is about to be expanded, including what it will mean for the number of bus routes and future investment. The transport committee will continue to look at these issues and will question the transport secretary next week.

I responded to the Programme for Government and emphasised the need to deliver improvements in people's daily lives. There were some encouraging signs, but I urged the government to be cautious about sweeping structural change which could get in the way of work for services to work together.

I have written to the government asking them to clear up a number of questions about this situation, and questioned the First Minister today, but he did not shed any light or indicate when the loan would be repaid.

The Scottish Government provided a £7 million loan to support the Dalzell steel mill, but the plant hasn't been active for two years and the money was allegedly transferred elsewhere.

It was great to visit the St Andrews Farmhouse Cheese Company last week and to see up close the hard work which goes into making their award-winning cheeses.