For the regular viewers
It was loud, it was rumbustious, it was raucous, it was funny (in parts) - but, to my ears, it was also a notably substantive series of exchanges.
Questions to the first minister, that is.
Aimed at whom? At "regular viewers", according to Labour's Iain Gray; a phrase echoed, ironically, by Alex Salmond.
So, not the presiding officer then? Not the other MSPs? Instead, Mr Gray acknowledged, with disarming frankness, that he was addressing that portion of the astonished nation which witnesses FMQs via the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ.
It is, in short, a weekly exercise in pitching for the votes which will up for grabs in May.
Twas, of course, always thus. Just good to have it stated.
Regular viewers, then, found Mr Gray pursuing a regular topic: that of waste in the public sector. In particular, he was exasperated at money spent on consultants by the Scottish Futures Trust, Skills Development Scotland and Scottish Enterprise.
Capital acceleration
The attack was well delivered: an iterative series of questions pursuing the FM.
Mr Salmond, though, was undisturbed and, by the close, had found a useful narrative to the effect that Labour was now citing advantages (such as extra apprentices) from a spending Budget which they had opposed.
The FM also argued that such growth as there is currently in the Scottish economy was due, at least in part, to capital acceleration.
Hence the prospect, which I disclosed this morning, that money will be shifted from revenue to capital in next week's Budget. (A story which, incidentally, did not result from SNP spin, despite wicked accusations to the contrary.)
Annabel Goldie is at her best when she is at her funniest. Today, she was distinctly droll.
Offered an in-point by the FM who was speaking about Scandinavian experiences, the bold Bella declared with charming self-deprecation that she was "no competiton for a Finnish model".
She then moved on to envisage Mike Russell constrained by a leash (a prospect which might have cheered Mr Salmond in earlier, more disquieting days.)
'Small posse'
Tavish Scott seemed on good form too - spoiling it just a mite by complaining that the FM's answers always followed the same tack.
He brandished what looked like a holiday poster. On closer examination, it was the billing for a conference in Miami, attended apparently by a small posse of Scottish quangocrats.
Mr Scott thought the visit of dubious value. Mr Salmond demurred - while noting that his Ministers had advised all quangos to trim unnecessary expenditure.
That is a message which will be reinforced next week by John Swinney.
Regular viewers and listeners should tune in to the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ.
I'm 
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