Another one bites the dust

Now none of us saw this coming! Nicol Stephen resigning for family reasons, I know it has caught even some of the most season hacks off guard, even those who pride themselves of having ears so close to the ground that they need surgery to remove them.

I can say with some conviction that, if it is family that are the reason for this, and I have no reason to doubt that, then he will have made the right decision.

No matter anyone achieves in political life either in terms of position or practical outcome, nothing will ever be more significant that being with family, nothing will buy back the time you couldn't be there for important events or even just to do the bed time story, nothing will replace the energy you didn't have to play with them when they were full of fun and you were knackered.

I write this not for sympathy, far from it. Politicians at all levels should go into politics with their eyes open about the demands on time and energy. But nothing can buy time with yer weans....