The SNP Government has finally hit on a different plan to the one which has involved the repeated pressing of the self-destruct button for the past five years.

Ideas such as gender self-identification for rapists, deeply flawed packaging recycling schemes and every-vote-is-a-referendum have been left to gather dust. The Green Party assault on living standards has been paused. Not much is getting done but things are calmer.

Some of Sturgeon’s screw-ups will take time to fix. It will probably be 2026 before the good people of Arran have a decent ferry service and, if you think you will be driving all the way from Perth to Inverness on a dual carriageway in your lifetime you had better not be a pensioner already.

There are ferries and roads to build and also some repair jobs to complete such as actually looking properly at the latest exam incompetencies by the SQA. The good news is the hopper of stupid policies is not being as vigorously filled as was the case until recently.

Read more

There have even been some welcome U-turns. The appalling proposal to attack centuries of hard fought protections of freedom and fair justice by deleting juries from rape trials is thankfully gone. The farcical ban on woodburning stoves in rural areas has been carted back to the garage for a re-think too.

What these small mercies obscure though is how much is still wrong. The Scottish Government may have stopped firing new bullets into its feet but it is still pretty useless.

Despite higher taxes here and a generous funding settlement for Scotland within the UK our public service outcomes are poor. Our NHS staggers from crisis to crisis to the point where the public are losing trust in it to look after them and their families effectively.

Our once lauded education system has clearly been surpassed by an English system which has been more open to change rather than the central control, bureaucracy and mediocrity we tolerate here.

The list of failures is endless. To ferries, roads, education and health you can add an appalling record on drug deaths, an utter failure to understand business and a constant desire to meddle.

The root cause of these problems is the Scottish Parliament itself. Unlike some I believe a Parliament in Scotland is a good idea but it has clearly failed to deliver and there are three key reasons for this.

First, the Scottish Government for the last 17 years has been obsessed by one thing - separating from the UK - rather than doing a good job with the powers it has.

Second, the Parliament is stuffed with people who are not very good.

Third, the executive has far too much power to the point where the Parliament cannot hold it properly to account.

Rather than wringing our hands and sighing we need to start debating what to do about these failures. Here are some suggestions.

First, there should be primary elections for constituency candidates. Each party which wants to put forward a candidate in a seat for a Scottish Parliamentary election should have to nominate three potential candidates and the registered members of that party in the relevant constituency get to choose which one stands. That way you loosen central control and have a better chance of weeding out idiots.

Read more

Second, in order to stand as a List candidate you must also be standing as a constituency candidate in the same region. This lessens the scope for two allied parties to game the system as the SNP and Greens have done in the past. The lack of Green candidates in some constituencies has helped the SNP and then the SNP supporters vote Green in the List to get a second bite at the separatist cherry. Not on.

Third, all List MSP’s must while in office have another part-time job or do voluntary work for an average of at least 15 hours a week. We need more people who actually experience the real world to be our legislators and fewer who have done nothing but live in the political bubble.

Last, and this is the key one, List MSPs must only be able to serve one term. This would mean that the stagnant pool of politicians is constantly refreshed. It would require the parties to focus on looking for new talent. People who have done something else in life would have a much better chance of making a contribution to our politics. This change would remove the stranglehold of the party on the individual MSP.

Yes, the List member has been elected for a particular party but only being able to serve for one term allows them to vote for common sense and decency when another crazy proposal comes forward from Government.

The Scottish Parliament has failed to deliver - reform is needed.

Guy Stenhouse is a notable figure in the Scottish financial sector. He has held various positions, including being the Managing Director of Noble Grossart, an independent merchant bank based in Edinburgh, until 2017