This is an ex-hooter...

...and what a fine proboscis it was too! Belonged to a fine man called James Gillespie, an architect in the 19th Century responsible for a whole range of amazing buildings.

This particular bust sits in the Merchants Hall in Edinburgh, where I was at an event this evening to launch the Carnegie Trust report "More Than GDP: Measuring What Matters". I'll admit it's not the catchiest title in the world, but it's a really fascinating subject, especially in relation to how flawed an indicator GDP actually is, yet almost every country in the world thinks it is THE single most important one. It's patently not. For instance, did you know that if most people use public transport, fly less and use computers more for tele-conferencing/skype etc, that will lead to a reduction in GDP? But it's actually all vital in order for us to continue to live on this planet. But, if it goes down, we introduce measures to put it back up again - which because it is based on the old industrialised model of society, means making more stuff for people to consume!

Anyway, complex but really interesting. You can find out more on the Carnegie website here - worth a read.

Oh, and this is info about James Gillespie