First things first… A hearty welcome to this brand spanking new blog. Come on in. Take your feet off. Put your shoes up. And we hope you have a good time, then haste ye back. (In other words, don’t forget to bookmark us.)

So what’s all this about being the World’s Best Small Country then? Isn’t that just a tad boastful, for a nation famed for its modesty, mutual mockery, and general all-round insistence that we’re rubbish at pretty much everything?

Well, if you haven’t ‘got’ the quotation, you can thank Our Great Leader, Mr Salmond. In one of his first acts on taking the reins of power Alex decided to dump this centuries (well, at least two years) -old greeting at our airports (created by his predecessor, Mr… erm… anyone remember?). He disliked the word ‘small’, we’re told. So now visitors are met with the jaw-droppingly inspired “Welcome to Scotland”. Fabulous.

Anyway, the jury is still out on the political impact this still newish administration is likely to have in years to come. And this blog is non-partisan. So we’ll watch and wait, and hopefully give him a chance to prove himself. But meanwhile we’ll be doing our own wee bit to remind ourselves, and the wider world, that for such a tiny (oops!) place we’ve actually got a lot to be proud of. So read on…