Pubs need support just as much as Scotland - Alex Cole-Hamilton
I wish I could say I stayed up on Saturday. Unfortunately, I am not as young as I once was, so my wife and I turned in early and switched off our phones until we could watch the match as soon as we got up. And when we did, we were not disappointed.
It was incredible to watch our national team compete on the biggest stage in football.
Just as it has been across the country, the atmosphere in Edinburgh has been electric.
Scotland flags draped from windows, decorated on gable ends, painted on the faces of people out to buy a pint of milk. Packed-out pubs, kids out playing in Scotland strips, airport bagpipes serenading those off to States.
For those in Boston, fans have definitely exported the joy and sheer emotion of what it means to be a Scotland supporter.
I've been getting quite carried away in the hope and excitement of it all. How could you not?
A whole generation of fans have never seen Scotland at a World Cup. Before the early hours of Sunday, the last time we won a World Cup game was almost 40 years ago.
It also doesn’t stop me from recognising just how huge this is for Scotland, for the young people who are looking up to these players, and for our economy too.
It’s why, in the lead up to the tournament, Scottish Liberal Democrats called for pubs and bars to be given late night licenses, and I was very glad to see them getting approved.
The Scottish hospitality trade expects to see a sales boost of about 40% from World Cup fever; we should be doing everything possible to let them capitalise on that in the long-term.
The current football hype is brilliant, but it can also disguise the fact that many hospitality venues are still facing significant challenges.
In some local authorities over the last 15 years, there has been a more than 60% drop in the number of pubs. Across Scotland, there was a net loss of more than 600 pubs between 2010 and 2015.
That has been worsened by a brutal revaluation of business rates, hikes which have already sent too many businesses to the wall and exposed fundamental flaws in the current system.
In our negotiations with the Scottish Government for this year’s budget, my party secured £178 million for businesses like pubs and bars, providing them with relief from those hikes.
It’s a good start but there’s still a long way to go. We can’t afford to be complacent. We should be pulling out all the stops to get Scottish hospitality thriving, even after the final whistle blows and, hopefully, the trophy is lifted!
I don’t begrudge John Swinney heading across to the US for the weekend to cheer on the national team, but he needs to match that support with action.
After all, it’s pubs and bars that have been so important in bringing people together and lifting spirits; they deserve clarity about what comes next.
The First Minister should be clear about his plans for the business rates revaluation going forward and whether he will finally pull the plug on this punishing, punitive rise, once and for all.