Uncertain emotions force an uncertain smile

As someone said on the recent 5 Live debate, Scotland is a "filthy rich" country. By GDP per head, we'd be the eighth richest country in the world. . But what do we do with that wealth? Over the last 30 years the UK has become one of the most unequal countries in the whole world.  That's a concern not just for the bleeding-hearts but anyone who wants economic success. Professor Irwin Stelzer  says that unequal countries do not do as well, do not grow as well and are less stable, economically. That fits with the fact that the most successful and happiest countries are also the most equal (Japan, the Scandinavian countries).

So, wtf is this man smiling? 14,318 people in Scotland were forced to seek help from a food bank last year: twice as many as the one before. As I admitted at the time, much of Danny Boyle's Olympics ceremony was breathtakingly beautiful but it was also halucinatorily self-deluding. Food banks, pay day loans, bedroom tax. Which of those could not have featured if he was doing it today?