I don't envy Kezia Dugdale her new job, but...

I'm not usually one to get too involved in the internal workings of other political parties, and especially don't often offer advice - there's little enough reason why they should listen anyway. However, sometimes, the health of our body politic is a bit more important than that, and given that the place of Scotland in the United Kingdom has a direct impact on how the country as a whole is run, I make an exception here.

In Kezia Dugdale, Labour have elected a leader who has an opportunity to start a new chapter in Scottish politics. Not because she has any particular talent - I don't know enough about her to really know - but because she doesn't need to be particularly beholden to the sort of people who got Labour to the point where it has only one MP north of the border. Machine politicians who, when confronted with the collapse of the machine, had no means by which to resist the SNP juggernaut.

And, before you stop me, I acknowledge that, in terms of seats won and lost, we Liberal Democrats didn't do a whole lot better - our vote held up better though.

In truth, the SNP are unlikely to be beaten by simply regurgitating the old politics of aggression - they have an overwhelming advantage in terms of activists and organisation. Nor is any attempt to bring together the theoretical anti-independence coalition likely to work either. No, it is for different political groupings to offer the Scottish people what they, as proponents of different political philosophies, believe to be the best solutions for Scotland within a federal state.

Now, for Labour, that offers a bit more of a challenge, especially whilst the identity of the new leader in London remains unknown. How truly independent can Scottish Labour be, for example? Is there the will to create a truly Scottish left of centre platform? Recent history says possibly not. But in a Scotland which is well on the path to independence, and with a government in Westminster which is likely to encourage further steps along it, Labour have to adapt to the new environment, talking about a Scotland that could be.

Kezia has a history on social media of being something other than a slavish adherent to a line, and if she is allowed her freedom and is brave enough to take some risks, she could help to make Scottish politics something other than the bear put it resembles from the outside.

One should welcome new leaders in politics (within reason) as they have the power to change the political environment for the better. Indeed, I would suggest that they have a responsibility to do so. So, good luck Kezia, although you might need it...