The Ministerial in-tray

There is no shortage of problems beginning to pile up and these are likely to require decisions sooner rather than later.

First up, we have the problem of the Edinburgh trams which the SNP is apparently committed to abandoning. Does the incoming administration follow up that pledge, despite the overwhelming support for the trams demonstrated by the Edinburgh electorate? How does that look in the new context of a flexible, consensus-building administration, especially when your Green 'partners' are keen on the trams? But the administration is in desperate need of the resources that would be freed up by cancelling the trams.

Second, there is Monklands A & E where the SNP is committed to reversing the decision of the previous administration's to close the facility. But there are implications for other hospitals in Lanarkshire and - again - resource considerations to take into account.

Third, there is the replacement of the Forth Road Bridge. According to The Scotsman (here), there may already be a three year gap between the de-commissioning of the existing bridge and the availability of the new one. The latest engineering reports are due shortly and early decisions (eg on the line of the bridge and on whether to use PFI) will be required on what will perhaps be the biggest procurement project in Scotland for donkeys' years.

Then there is the private prison proposed for the Low Moss site. The SNP is against more private prisons in the prisons estate but can it afford to proceed down the traditional public procurement route?

All difficult decisions, made more difficult by the likely minority position of the administration. A harsh lesson for the SNP in the brutal realities of decision-making, assuming of course that they become the new administration.

And what's that clucking sound? Could it be the sound of chickens coming home to roost?