Royal bank of Scotland will take little comfort from its $100 million settlement award from the US Securities and Exchange Commission from Goldman Sachs admission it was economical with the truth in its selling of toxic bond deals wrapped up in Abacus 2007-AC1.

RBS is now "considering all options" which obviously includes the possibility of pursuing Goldman's for a considerably larger chunk of the $870 million it lost in the Abacus investment deal.

Those losses stemmed from the fraudulent omission Goldman's hedge fund client, Paulson & Co was not only selecting mortgages for the portfolio, but was also making side bets those mortgages would drop in value.

A very cosy arrangement for Goldman's, which also charged Paulson & Co $15 million for the privilege of selecting mortgage backed securities to go into Abacus both Goldmans and Paulson must have known were at the very least suspect.

If you haven't heard BAA want to charge £1 for passengers to be dropped off by the terminal building at Edinburgh airport. They say the charge is to pay for improvements to the drop off area. But the amount raised by this charge will surely pay for much more than that. It is just another way to get extra revenue. Surely they must be getting enough from the extortionate charges they already make for parking by the terminal.
I think BAA have done a great job with Edinburgh airport which is world class. But I think to impose a charge when many people are worried about their jobs and income is extraordinarily bad timing and a PR disaster.

My wife and I recently spent a very pleasant weekend on the Isle of Mull. The scenery was stunning and the whole experience was very relaxing. We stayed at the Highland Cottage in Tobermory run by hotel industry veterans David and Jo Currie and were treated to superb food in their intimate little restaurant.
Like many people in the tourist industry in Scotland they have worked hard to create high standards and deserve to do well. Sadly the weekend we stayed the restaurant was not full though it deserved to be. It is more important than ever for us to support businesses like these and I can assure you I enjoyed the car and ferry journey to Mull much more than the many hours I have hung around airports in recent times! Don't forget what's on your doorstep.

This week I thought I should talk about the various steps that were required to protect not just Safetray as a physical product but also our brand, before we were able to start shouting from the rooftops.

I, like all inventors, had to keep my idea a secret right up to the point of patent application. Non-disclosure agreements (or confidential disclosure agreements) can be acquired from the IPO website and signed by anybody you need to discuss your idea with before you are otherwise protected.

I had several friends try to push me into telling them what I had invented. Facetious guesses ranged from 'cancer-free cigarettes' to 'the wheel' to objects of pleasure not appropriate for inclusion in a business blog.

There are already a couple of regular social media events in Scotland (such as the New Media Breakfast or Craig McGill's Scottish Social Media Dinners).

The latest to step out onto the landscape is Media140 Scotland which kicks off in Glasgow on Thursday.

Keynote speaker Trey Pennington has drafted up a guest blog piece for us ahead of his arrival in Scotland.

The American, who has 85,000 followers on Twitter, is recognised as a big hitter when it comes to social media uses for business.

So here's what he had to say.

A bit of good news today with an increase in business start-ups in Scotland in the first quarter of 2010 compared to the same time last year. According to the Committee of Scottish Clearing Bankers the number of start ups between January and March was 4352 compared to 4166 last year. Although its not a dramatic increase it does show there is an appetite to set up businesses in Scotland. The recent Global Entrepreneurship Monitor showed how Scotland was slipping badly behind the rest of the UK and other countries in start ups and made depressing reading. But at least we are seeing a pretty substantial number of start-ups and I suspect that will increase as people who have been made redundant decide to take the plunge.

I have so far only spoken of the business side of our project to date. As with many start-ups on the brink of trading, much of the deals we are currently working on are complex and commercially sensitive, thus preventing me from revealing a great amount of what we are doing. As a consequence, I thought I might take a moment this week to talk of the impact that starting up a company has had on my personal life.

I am in the lucky position to have extremely supportive friends and family but I would be lying if I said it was anything less than a logistical nightmare to coordinate the care of my children whilst whizzing up and down the UK for the various meetings that have been necessary over the past few weeks.

Tony Blair, the ex-Prime Minister, has just been announced as the newest addition to Khosla Ventures as a senior adviser.

Khosla are one of the more prominent venture capital firms in the Valley with companies like Boku and Xobni in their portfolio.

Why would this marriage occur you may ask... rather simple, it's a win-win situation.

I'm sure I am not the only person scratching my head in wonder at the punishment delivered to Johnny Cameron (no relation) by the Financial Services Authority.

The full details can be read here with the FSA statement here but basically the former head of Royal Bank of Scotland's investment banking operation has agreed not to work full-time in a bank or insurer ever again.

As a result the FSA is not going to pursue any further action against him. So basically he has been cleared of any wrong doing, did not admit any guilt and was not fined.

Oh and the independently wealthy 55-year-old can still work in lucrative part-time consultancy roles.

Like many men (and women) I am a sucker for a shiny new piece of technology.

Sleek cutting edge looks, functions I will never use (much less understand) and a fancy name all tick my consumer box.

So when the computer generated design for Aquamarine Power's updated Oyster wave device, pictured above, dropped in to my inbox I really had to share it.

Putting aside the name - Oyster 2 doesn't quite have the punch of Oyster 2.0, Oyster Plus or Oyster Evolution does it? - it is a lovely looking piece of industrial science fiction style kit.