There’s a Scottish Government consultation on restricting the promotion of food and drink which are high in fat, sugar or salt just now.

Some 20% of food and drink bought in Scotland is on a “price promotion”.

That includes offers like buy one get one free, multi-buys and lunch time meal deals that come with a “free” snack.

I fully understand the Scottish Government wants to improve people’s health and wellbeing, but do we really need a nanny state telling us what to have for lunch?

I think not.

By all means ensure better product transparency on the contents of food and drink, but the moment you start restricting freedom of choice on everyday living activities it’s a slippery slope.

Surely, we don’t need to spend £127 million of taxpayers’ money on Holyrood each year and almost £1 billion on Scottish Government operating costs to be hectored and lectured in day-to-day life?

The Hate Crime Act is another example of how we can make things much worse – not with the legislation per se – but with the dreadful, inaccurate and patronising messaging around it.

The First Minister claimed there was a “rising tide of hatred in Scotland”.

The statistics show that not to be true – hate crime was down on last year’s figures.

Yet, like a self-fulfilling prophecy, Police Scotland had around 8000 “hate crime” reports in the first week of the new act.