D'you want a Flake with that Budget?

Today the Budget Bill for 2014-15 was passed in the Scottish Parliament. This is the first time I've missed the passing of a Budget in 10 years or so (albeit through a self-imposed absence) so while feeling a little blue, I perked up hugely upon discovering the Bruntsfield outpost of Nardini's. What does Italian ice cream have to do with the Budget, I hear you say?

Every year the Finance Committee, as part of its Budget scrutiny, decants to a different part of Scotland in November where it invites members of the public to see the Committee at work. It's a bumper day of finance, since the Committee also grills the Finance Secretary on his Draft Budget proposals.

A few years back, the Committee landed in Largs. I had only been in the Finance Private Office for a few weeks, so my colleague P made the trip. I subsequently discovered that, once deliberations were complete, Parliament and Government repaired to Nardini's, where the most obscenely over-the-top gelaterian concoctions were hoovered up.

So today the Budget has been passed by the Chamber. It is the result of months of many people's blood, sweat, tears and - in my case - some stray salt and vinegar (oops).

99s for everyone!