The Great Man of Kirkaldy

No, not Gordon Brown, but the great 18th century economist Adam Smith. His book The Wealth of Nations can still be obtained and is a surprisingly easy read. He was the first to realise that the profit motive which drives businessmen is what makes the market flourish.

'It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest.'

Smith's ideas formed the basis of classical economics and of free trade.

I mention this because there had until recently never been a statue of the great man in his own country. Now, under the aegis of the excellent Adam Smith Institute one has been erected in Edinburgh, where he lived his later life. The unveiling took place last Friday.

Gordon Brown should have gone.