Five centimetres of snow fell last night. Not much to the countries that are still used to heavy dustings of snow over high ground, but to coastal Scotland this has become very unusual over the past two decades. As you can see from the related link, the rural highland economy benefits from their five small ski centres, but in recent years the reliability of high snowfall has become less and less. However one hopes that this latest cold-snap, although bad for the domestic heating bill, may at least support livlihoods further North.

In thinking of economy and funding for sports, I had a quick look for news relating to Alain Baxter, Britains only Olympic medal-skier. Unfortunately Alain was stripped of his slalom bronze at Salt Lake City in 2002 after it came to light that he had used a Vic's decongestant product that contained methamphetamine. Although he was cleared of the banned substances charge, his medal was never re-instated. After a few years of surviving at the fringes of the sport, Alain the 35yr old skier from Aviemore, wishes to compete in the 2010 Olympics; so without government support or funding, and in the spirit of the Womens Institute a few years ago, he has stripped off for a calender photoshoot to help raise the £10,000 needed to assist in his training.