Boris Johnson thinks he can dig his way out of a "Partygate" shaped hole by doubling down on his attacks on the poor.
Dealt a delay, or a stay of execution, on the Sue Gray report into the lockdown parties in Downing Street, Johnson is pushing back against his mutinous MPs.
To show he is increasingly confident of "getting away with it", as SNP's Ian Blackford summed up the situation, Johnson insists his tax hike in the middle of a cost of living crisis will go ahead.
He had been under pressure to drop the 1.25 per cent rise in National Insurance as the price for their continued support.
Even Tory MPs believe it will hit low-paid workers the hardest – as a greater proportion of their income will disappear when NI goes up.
It is a fact that low-income families are now going to get a further kicking from the NI rise.
Already facing the massive shock of energy prices rises along with soaring inflation people are beginning to make the hard choice between heating and eating.
Citizens Advice Scotland is warning of a massive increase in food bank usage when the double impact of tax rises and energy bills hits April's wage packets.
A competent Prime Minister would be on top of the looming cost of living crisis.
But not Boris. He continues on his shambling way – caring not a jot that his NI rise will make life even harder for hard-working families.
There are other ways to raise tax, by targeting the profits of the energy giants making a killing out of rising wholesale prices.
Or he could impose a levy on the vast profits from share transactions his pals in the city are making.
But this Tory prime minister will do none of these things – because he is only interesting in one thing.
Keeping himself in power.
And if that means throwing his weight around by imposing this extra tax burden on struggling households, that is exactly what he will do.
Don't have repeat of mesh scandal
It has taken years of campaigning, and years of pain, for the serious problems caused to women who had transvaginal mesh used in their surgical treatment to be resolved.
There is a danger now that the whole sorry saga is to be repeated with hernia mesh implants.
Dozens of patients have come forward to detail their horrendous experience with mesh implants after hernia operations.
Their voices should be listened to if Scotland is to avoid another mesh scandal.
It is vital that the Scottish Government and the health services review the use of mesh in other surgical procedures immediately to avoid a repeat of the vaginal mesh scandal
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