...and a New Year message from me!

Best wishes to all those who take the time to read this blog, who interact and leave comments, who have and continue to be (whether intentionally or otherwise) an encouragement and ongoing support.

Best wishes to those who take the time to understand rather than criticise.

Best wishes to all who, whatever their political creed and philosophy, commit themselves to striving towards a better tomorrow.

Best wishes to all who persevere - people who, when the pressure is on, are unafraid to stand and be counted.

Best wishes to those who, whatever journey they are on, take the path less travelled.

Indeed, best wishes to all of you - of whatever nationality, background, religion, gender, orientation, age or philosophy - in the coming year.

No doubt for many of us 2015 will be a challenging year. For some I hope it is also a highly successful one. Whatever it holds, I trust we will not lose sight of the fact that what unites us is far stronger than what divides us.

To my Liberal Democrat friends specifically, in a General Election year, I would ask that while we fight the election with every joule of energy within our collective being, we do not allow it to distract us from the bigger picture of creating a fairer, more equal and more tolerant society. Elections come and go, and this will almost certainly not be a great one for us, but the need for a liberal society will remain. We are all needed to create it.

It has been good to reflect on so many achievements in the last year - and I'm not simply referring to what our party has done. Marriage equality is now a reality in the UK, aside from Northern Ireland. Here in Scotland, whatever can be said about the referendum result (and much has, some of it nonsensical) there can be no escaping the reality that our country has been engaged politically in a way that previously seemed unthinkable. With this in mind, it seems right to be positive about democracy, and to hope that 2015 can be a year of even greater achievement.

I wish you all a productive 2015.