Opening the government's purse
Bear witness, at Holyrood, to a tentative little political quadrille.
Nothing much at stake - just £33bn of public spending for the coming year.
For the Liberal Democrats, Mike Rumbles is having a chat with John Swinney, the Finance Secretary.
The advance billing from Mr Rumbles sets out his own party's demand for a tax cut to stimulate the economy.
Do not expect Mr Swinney to be over-sympathetic.
Beneath such understandable grandstanding, however, there are also detailed negotiations under way.
These are relatively early days - and so the various parties, including the Scottish Government, are reluctant to show their hand.
At this stage, however, it looks as though the political strategy picture may be somewhat different from last year when Mr Swinney struck a deal with the Tories - while Labour and the LibDems voiced sharp criticism but then abstained in the final vote, attracting howls of derision from the government benches.
I understand that Mr Swinney is quietly sounding out all the opposition parties, Labour included.
Again no details - but my guess is Labour might want to advance their case for training cash and for more action teams to help communities struggling with job losses.
Wouldn't mean they support the SNP's budget strategy - but might mean they seek an opportunity to lever productive change.
We'll learn a bit more tomorrow when Mr Swinney tables the Budget Bill.
The debate on that is a week hence. Ministers hope to get the Budget through by the end of January.
Will they succeed? Frankly, yes. This is a mid year - not a full-scale review period, meaning that the scope for innocent political merriment is limited.
Further, MSPs know that a Bill of some sort must, in reality, be passed.
Governments cannot govern at all without a licence to spend.
Further still, the political climate has changed with the calamities afflicting the economy.
No party wants to be seen behaving irresponsibly with public spending, particularly when one of the declared objectives is to revive that economy.
Further yet more, Mr Swinney and Bruce Crawford proved last year that they are adept politicians. I expect they keep a copy of "The Prince" by their respective bedsides.
In publishing the Bill, Mr Swinney will also give further details re the £260m of capital expenditure which he is accelerating, following agreement with the Treasury.
My guess is he'll seek to answer queries raised by the Finance Committee as to guarantees that this spending will help boost the construction industry in particular - and hence provide much-needed jobs.
PS: And if you want to know more about the parties' various stances on the Budget, be sure to watch Newsnight Scotland this very evening.
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