Shirley McKie's Left Thumb

I suspect this is not what many people would have expected me to blip today. And indeed it was not what I thought I would blip,

The launch of the Referendum Consultation was fantastic and moving , with a masterly , statesmanlike speech from the First Minister. I was pleased too that on this Burns Day our own educational initiative to ensure a Scottish text in the Higher syllabus got an overwhelmingly positive response. And I am now on my way to Greenock to delver a toast at the annual Burns Club event - particularly poignant as Greenock is the world's oldest Burns Club ( founded in 1801 , only five years after the poet's death).

But on a day of emotion what moved me most was two short meetings this afternoon that essentially brought to an end a constituency case that I have been involved with ( in and out of Parliament) since 2000 - the case of Shirley McKie and the fingerprint that never was.

It is too long a story to retell here but it had and still has a world wide reach. The Public Inquiry reported in December and now it is all over. She was always innocent - that was increasingly obvious. But for her sake and that of forensics the state had to admit that. For years, in the guise of the former Lib/Lab administration, it refused.

She and her family have had an awful time but at last it can be put behind them. And that, for me and her and her Dad ( who have become friends) is a memorable moment.

So as an epilogue, here is a picture of her left thumb, with which it all started. Taken in my Parliamentary Office this afternoon, on my iPhone.