now on bbc news, political thinking with nick robinson. hello and welcome to political thinking. a conversation with, rather than a news like interrogation of someone who shaped our political thinking about what has shaped theirs. my guest this week made the cover of time magazine when they profiled the first muslim leader of a western democracy. he is, as the headline put it, the new face of scotland. the youngest leader this country has had in a quarter of a century of having a devolved scottish government. but this, admits humza yousaf, here in glasgow, has been a difficult yearfor him. difficult for his party, too, dogged by a police investigation, criticised for failing to deliver, and divided about when independence might actually be possible. humza yousaf, first minister, thanks forjoining me. my pleasure. it has been quite a year! you re telling me! how much do you feel you have aged in that time? i think people can probably look at pictures of before i became first m
but not fast enough to keep up with price rises. our economics correspondent, andy verity, has more details. all good? business has been challenging, up and down. it has been consistently inconsistent. one day we are super busy, we can t keep up. the next day we don t have any work on. a year ago, construction companies like this builder of grand design style renovations, based near heathrow airport, were struggling to cope with the surge in demand for new projects as the economy bounced back from the pandemic. there was no lack of work, but profits were squeezed by the rocketing cost of raw materials and the shortage of skilled staff that sent wages soaring. it is difficult to meet demand when there is also less money in the jobs because the cost of labour has risen so much. so we have labourers earning the money which plumbers and carpenters were earning, like, two and a half, three years ago. but everybody wants the job to be cheaper because they have no certainty and the
the wall streetjournal reporter evan gershkovich is appearing in court in moscow for his appeal hearing against his detention. mr gershkovich was arrested on espionage charges in yekaterinburg last month. more than a0 countries led by the united states have called for the release of the journalist. the statement condemned moscow s efforts to limit and intimidate the media. us ambassador to russia visited mr gershkovich at lefortovo prison. these are the latest pictures of him, behind the glass, inside court. we have had a live feed up until the last few minutes from inside and outside, if you look at the outside of the court as well. this is an appeal hearing against the charges on which he is being held. of course, we cannot predict or know what the outcome proceedings will be, but many observers and washes of court proceedings in russia points to the fact that most of the time, once people are in the judicial system, very little changes, so most verdicts, when it comes to c