The new Transport Minister last night used his first statement in office to condemn moves by retailers to halt Christmas deliveries north of the Border.
Shoppers trying to buy presents online are facing major problems after the prolonged bad weather forced some leading retailers to stop taking new orders from customers in Scotland.
Keith Brown, who became Transport Minister on Sunday in the wake of Stewart Stevenson’s resignation, attacked the move as “unreasonable”, and called on firms to come up with a way round the shutdown.
Mr Brown later told The JT: "Surely in the modern age, it's not beyond the technological grasp of science to quickly develop, test and put into service a fleet of flying trucks that would skim along just above the icy roads and then gently set down outside people's houses and deliver Xmas presents using an extendable metal arm with a comedy white glove on the end of it?" 
It is thought that Mr Brown, in the face of the implacable, unyielding severity of winter conditions, will spend his time issuing meaningless press statements and re-arranging the pen caddy on his new ministerial desk, while occasionally looking out the window to see if it's stopped snowing yet.