Alex Salmond decided that there was little point in giving evidence to the Holyrood Harassment Inquiry yesterday, leaving an empty chair. He clearly thought that the chair could speak more eloquently than could under the circumstances. He may be right.
The committee had refused to publish his submission of evidence (which had also gone to the parallel Hamilton Inquiry into whether or not Nicola Sturgeon broke the ministerial code). Now, every dog in the street knows what Mr Salmond's submissions say because they have already been widely published in the press. They were published in “redacted”, ie censored, form to protect the anonymity of complainants – so it is not entirely clear why MSPs had to pretend that they haven't seen them.