It is sometimes easy to forget that large areas of policy are decided at Westminster, not Holyrood.  Major economic decisions, defence, foreign policy, social security, immigration and indeed the overall budget for Holyrood are all matters for the UK government (and in fact some of these powers are handed over to, or shared with, the European Union).  So what happens in politics should be equally of interest to us as events at Holyrood.

But it seems difficult to get excited over Gordon Brown's Cabinet reshuffle.  The headline news is that Peter Mandelson is back from his four years of exile in Brussels to become the new business and enterprise secretary.   We have been treated to a whole weekend of political gossip about the relationship between Mandelson and Brown, how Mandelson sought tony Blair's advice before accepting the post and so on.  Peter Mandelson's long association with the media ensures that the media will cover him extensively even when the news is of little substance.

Tony Blair once famously said that he would know that the Labour party had changed when it had learned to love Peter Mandelson.  By that token, the Labour party has not changed too much.  Mandelson's appointment has caused some alarm on the left of the Labour party.

Yet it must be said that during Mandelson's time in Brussels he was a strong advocate for trade reform and got into more than a few scraps with the protectionist politicians around him.  His media image as the 'Prince of Darkness' has always been bizarre; he has no doubt engaged in much political spin, like all politicians, but unlike most of them he is good at it (hence much of the vitriol).  The one area in which his spin has not been successful is in promoting his own image.  In furthering the cause of the Labour party or more particularly Blair, Mandelson has been the lightning rod for the bile and hatred that is the bread and butter of politics.  And that, in political terms, is the ultimate spin, for we blame the supposed backroom manipulators for the errors while their political masters take the credit for successes.

As a frontline politician once more in a time of financial crisis, Mandelson will once more come under scrutiny.  However, let's not fall for the media hype, positive or negative.  He should be judged on his performance in the job, not the various stories that invariably seem to follow him around.