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We've had a bit of an obsession with al-Megrahi recently so we had a sense of things turning full circle this week when it was announced that the Americans - whom you remember giving the Scots such a hard time over his release - decided that the best thing to do with the man who trained the leader of the London 7/7 bombers was to free him after only five years in jail without telling the families of the victims.

was convicted in the US of instructing the killers in bomb-making at a camp in Pakistan and given what could have turned out to be 70 years. He then started giving inside information on other terrorists so a judge said he's earned his freedom. As one lawyer said, this was like the complaint levelled at Britain - that they freed Megrahi as part of a deal. Babar would have served longer for a serious traffic offence. Funny old world, isn't it?

Then we heard from one of our former diplomats that the PTA the Blair Government signed with Libya was in contravention of a UN resolution that Megrahi should serve out his sentence in the UK. , who served as British High Commissioner to Australia, told The Scotsman that it was a clear breach but that the eventual release by the Scottish Government was in keeping with the resolution because it was based on compassionate grounds. Intriguing how these debates go round and round even years after the event and it proves this matter has not been "put to bed".

Also you will recall how we were browbeaten - at least I was as an interviewer - by ministers in the Blair Government saying they had credible evidence that Saddam had chemical weapons - WMD. That's what they used to justify the war in Iraq. Despite all the cynicism at the time we were told by, among others, Dr John Reid, that if we opposed war we were supporters of Saddam. This week the source of the "intelligence" used by the US and UK went public to admit the whole thing was made up. "Curveball" - Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi's codename - lied to make a stronger case against his enemy Saddam in order to gain some retribution and was astonished that his unchecked claims led to war, such was the pre-ordained determination in Washington to invade. In retrospect there is a Dr Strangleove element to the Iraq debacle. We speak to of the Guardian and , Britain's expert on Iraq at the time of the war.

We planned to run our item on the cost of childcare last week but I'm afraid we had to give way to the revolutionary zeal of the Egyptians. The overthrow of Mubarak trumped the kids so you can hear that this week instead. The mums sound just as angry a week later.

We get down in the gutter with the Berlusconi charges and there's a political debate. How could there not be when the opinion polls threw a spanner in Labour's works and we began to say goodbye to Wendy Alexander? Is the poll putting the SNP suddenly ahead a turning point? It can't really be said to be a rogue because the other findings like those on leadership were consistent with the level of party support. I recall the SNP MP for Banff and Buchan Eilidh Whiteford saying she was bemused by Labour's lead because in her part of the North East the SNP vote seemed secure. And what do we make of Wendy's claim about spending time with her family? Surely now the twins are five they are starting school and will be in class from 9 to 3 five days a week, not rattling around the house. I don't want to drag the poor weans into this too much but isn't the first five years the key time you're supposed to spend with them? We'll delve into her explanation without pretending that Labour won't miss her. They will. Angus Macleod will review the papers for us as ever. Join me at 8.