Cost and efficacy of Trump operation must be examined

Well, it’s been quite an end to the week following the arrival of the most powerful man on the planet.

Protests up and down the country, the appearance of a gigantic orange balloon complete with nappy, and amid all the hullabaloo, Donald Trump even managed a round of golf. And as he enjoyed his stroll around Turnberry, a £5 million “ring of steel” was put in place to ensure he was protected from those who may do him harm.

However, there are serious questions that must now be asked of that operation.

The first is why the taxpayer – whether north or south of the border – has been left to pick up the bill for what, in effect, was a 48-hour holiday.

Trump had no official engagements in Scotland. None. The only meeting of any merit was when he quickly shook hands with Conservative Scottish Secretary David Mundell on the Tarmac at Prestwick.

After that, it was back to firing off tweets and a few drives at his golf resort on the Ayrshire coast before jetting away to Finland for face-to-face talks with Vladimir Putin.

The second area that requires questioning relates to how Greenpeace so easily bypassed Police Scotland’s so-called ring of steel.

After all, we had police with guns on roofs, we had police in cars, police on motorbikes, police in vans and even police on the golf course.

Yet, Greenpeace managed to fly within a few feet of Trump as he entered Turnberry.

In this case the pilot carried a banner. Had this been a terrorist who knows what they could have carried.

It has also emerged that the whole stunt was filmed by fellow protesters who had been staying as guests at the hotel.

A worrying situation, indeed.