Sometimes business at Holyrood decides to take a day off from discussing business they can legislate on. It’s nice to be able to pontificate without the ability to make a real difference, after all.
If you wanted to be cynical, you could say a political trap was laid by the SNP into which they hoped Labour would fall.
Surely it was nothing other than a quirk of timing that Scottish Government ministers scheduled a discussion about Trident for just two days after the official opposition was divided over the issue at its party conference.
Canyon like chasms had opened up within trades unions just 48 hours previously, whilst frontbencher Jackie Baillie yesterday voted against her own party in the first rebellion suffered by Kezia Dugdale.
Yet you can’t help but think it’s those further to the left than Ms Baillie, whose primary concern is the loss of thousands of jobs in her constituency, who have further traps in store for the new Scottish Labour leader.
Manipulating circumstance so the Trident stance switched in Perth was the first victory of hard-liners who are already dreaming of the day when Neil Findlay can re-launch a bid for the top job in the party north of the border.
Beyond the warm words and political posturing taking place within the safe confines of debating chambers, trades unions have been talking about the reality of disarmament.
That’s the possibility of people being left out of work, by the way. Shop stewards at the two Clyde naval bases where Britain’s nuclear deterrent is housed accused Unite in Scotland of treating its members “like mugs by taking their union subscriptions and failing to support their future livelihoods.”
It seems the union north of the border has decided point scoring is more important than protecting those people who pay their subscriptions in the hope their interests will be defended.
But that’s okay, because diversification will no doubt magic into being and all will be well for those whose lives currently depend on the industry.
This is not to say there are not strong moral arguments against nuclear weapons. They are an aberration but there are many consequences of scrapping our deterrent which have been glossed over.
As an aside, it’s also worth noting that Presiding Officer Tricia Marwick gave MSPs – including a few frontbenchers – a good dressing down for arriving late to the debate.
You’d have thought, given how much they care about the issue, they would have rushed in to wring their hands.