Nice analogy from Nora Senior, chairman of the Scottish (and president of the British) Chambers of Commerce, at the SCC's annual dinner.
She said that, in the matter of seeking help for exports, business people were queueing patiently at the bus stop while government was stuck back at the depot undertaking ponderous preparatory discussions on the specifications of the bus.
The SCC - whose after-dinner turn was Lord Smith doing an allowable lap of honour about the economic impact of the Commonwealth Games - has long argued that internationalisation is best driven via private business networks, such as the Turkish-Scottish Chamber of Commerce, a new presence at Thursday's dinner.
Agenda does not claim any expertise in the Kremlinology of the SNP, but couldn't help noticing from our seat in the press gallery that, during the parliamentary anointing of Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister last week, Fergus Ewing sat right at the back of the stalls, all on his lonesome. Meanwhile, those tipped for promotion crowded around the frontbench.
Was this a sign that the affable and amusing Mr Ewing - said by some Conservative members to be "the most right-wing member of the Scottish Parliament" - was for the chop?
Not at all, as it turned out - Ewing did not go the way of other SNP "male, pale and stale" high heidyins, and kept hold of his business, energy and tourism brief.
Perhaps he was on thin ice, but was reprieved after being awarded (somewhat surprisingly) the Politics in Business award at the Politician of the Year ceremony?
Or perhaps he was good at keeping out of range when La Sturgeon swung the axe.
As the good book says, he who humbles himself shall be exalted.
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