The sale of The Famous Grouse Scotch whisky brand has certainly been among the most eye-catching developments in the last week, from a Scottish perspective, on the business and economic front.

There has been plenty of other noteworthy news, including relatively good Scottish gross domestic product figures and, turning to more demoralising things, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s refusal to address the colossal economic damage being done by Brexit in his speech to the Labour Party Conference.

Glasgow-based Edrington’s decision to sell The Famous Grouse and Naked Malt Scotch whisky brands to William Grant & Sons came out of the blue but was not, as highlighted in my column on the deal in The Herald last Wednesday, a surprise.

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The sale price has not been disclosed but there is no doubt that it is a very significant deal in the Scotch whisky sector.

Edrington, which has in recent years invested very heavily in The Macallan single malt, declared it was the “right moment” for it to exit the blended category as it announced the deal with William Grant & Sons last Monday.

For its part, William Grant & Sons said of The Famous Grouse: “The brand has potential for innovation and international growth in a number of markets, and we’re excited about what the future holds.”

My column noted: “Edrington has not been wary in the past of selling big-name brands if it has felt this has suited its strategy.

“It sold off Cutty Sark, a famous brand going way back which earlier in the current millennium had its profile raised as a favourite tipple of fictional advertising executive Don Draper in television drama Mad Men.”

And the column observed that “it has seemed that Scotch whisky distiller Edrington has in recent times been making much less noise about The Famous Grouse than it did in the past”, adding: “This meant that, while its deal to sell this famous blended Scotch whisky brand to William Grant & Sons and declaration that it was the ‘right moment’ to exit the blended category came somewhat out of the blue on Monday, it was not a surprise.”

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The article declared that “the deal unveiled this week by Edrington and William Grant & Sons, which is subject to regulatory approvals, could easily enough be seen as good for both parties”.

Hopefully, for the sake of employees, the two highly successful companies, and the Scotch whisky sector and broader economy north of the Border, this will turn out to be the case.

There seem to be good grounds for hoping that the deal can be very positive for both parties, as they pursue their individual strategies, especially given their impressive track records and long-term approaches. These approaches are most refreshing in a world that seems increasingly driven by short-termism, with change for the sake of it all too prevalent in the corporate world these days.

Both Edrington and William Grant have made plenty of big moves in their time, but in a considered and strategic way.

Turning to the Scottish economy, official figures published last Wednesday reveal Scotland outperformed the UK as a whole in July by achieving economic growth.

Scottish Government figures show the economy north of the Border grew by 0.3% month-on-month in July on a seasonally adjusted basis.

The UK economy stagnated for a second consecutive month in July.

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes highlighted the growth in manufacturing, and in information and communications services revealed in the July figures as “encouraging”.

The Scottish Government chief economist directorate observed both of these sectors “contributed 0.1 percentage points of growth to headline GDP”.

There is no doubt that Scotland’s growth is being achieved against a tough UK economic backdrop.

Lamentably Sir Keir, while claiming again that economic growth is the key priority for his Government, continues to fail to offer anything that suggests he is going to drag the UK out of its malaise and deliver better times.

On the contrary, his overall message remains truly miserable, and continues to look very much like that delivered by former Tory prime minister David Cameron and erstwhile Conservative chancellor George Osborne back in 2010 when they embarked on their incredibly ill-judged austerity programme.

Crucially Sir Keir, seemingly for political reasons, continues to shun the one thing that could help the UK economy greatly and in short order, if it could be achieved: doing something significant to halt the damage being done by the Tory hard Brexit.

Of course, he has made it clear that he will not be doing that, having ruled out rejoining the European Union, the single market or even the customs union.

My column in The Herald on Friday observed: “Sir Keir Starmer mentioned ‘Brexit’ just once in his speech to the Labour Party Conference this week - in the context of immigration. It was unsurprising, given the Prime Minister’s track record of ignoring the same elephant in the room about which he previously shouted so loudly when he vehemently opposed Brexit back in late 2019.

“However, it was dispiriting nonetheless. Sir Keir did not mention ‘Europe’, or the ‘European Union’, in his speech.”

It is a most curious state of affairs, from a rational economic perspective.

Perhaps it makes sense to the politicians but who knows?

One thing is for certain though - politicians burying their heads in the sand on Brexit will not make the damage go away.