The Glasgow buisnessman who told his staff to eat beans to help them avoid coronavirus might be on to something.

His advice won’t help prevent transmission of Covid-19, but the windy side effects of eating beans might be a great tactic to enforce social distancing.

Shokat Mobarik also offered his workers pearls of wisdom on the effectiveness of Brazil nuts and sardines in boosting the immune system against the killer infection.

Of course Mr Mobarik only has one concern and that is making sure his workers turn up each day despite the risk to the their health.

He has deployed the tactic of maligning facts as “fake news” in the style of Donald Trump purely to suit his agenda.

He said the pandemic was “blown out of proportion” by the media and dubbed the reason for a nationwide lockdown a “small” health problem.

Mr Mobarik has no doubt found plenty of internet sources to back up his dangerous claims.

Crank websites targeting the credulous and undermining trusted news sources have led to Brexit and the election of Trump.

But we have now moved on to another level where receiving the wrong information can literally be a matter of life or death.

Trump is being utterly exposed as a charlatan with his mishandling of the crisis in the USA.

And no-one in the UK Government now says people have had enough of experts.

Coronavirus in Scotland

The much-maligned mainstream media is where most people have turned to tell their stories and understand the facts.

Not from crank businessmen and presidents who, just like Mr Mobarik’s beans, deliver not much more than a lot of hot air.

A poor show

The Scottish Government figures on “persistent poverty” illustrate a problem that will be with us much longer than Covid-19.

Far too many families are struggling to make ends meet in what is a prosperous country.

One in four children and one in five adults in Scotland are considered to be living in poverty.

The numbers remind us of what living for so long under a Conservative government means for people finding it hard to get by.

We are in the midst of a crisis that demands national unity if it is to be overcome.

But after we win the war on coronavirus, lets turn our guns on poverty.

Along came a..

Dave Roper delights kids in Dunfermline by running through the streets dressed as Spiderman.

The ex-soldier is more than doing his bit to cheer folk up in these worrying times

Dressing as Spidey is good for Dave as well as it stops him climbing the walls.