AS THE pundits take over the airwaves and the activists reclaim the streets, it is clearer than ever in this tense pre-G8 weekend that business and politics do not mix.

Some of Scotland’s small businesses, particularly those on the routes of various marches, have boarded up the windows and shut up shop; all of the larger businesses, including various financial institutions, will see their computer networks continue to operate smoothly whether or not cracks appear in their plate-glass windows. The immediate effects of all the G8 razzmatazz are negligible.

That’s not to say that G8 will not have a positive impact on Scotland’s economy, just that it could take a while.

At the grass-roots level, for every shopkeeper boarded up there will be a pub or hamburger stall doing a roaring trade. Among the big corporates, the likely winners are already identifiable as transport and tourism.

The airport owners, for example, have this weekend seen full planes arriving at crowded terminals. Hoteliers — not least Diageo, owner of Gleneagles itself — are already benefiting from housing thousands of advisers and media commentators surrounding the summit.

As always, some see the glass as half-full, others as half-empty. Some corporate pessimists, whose pockets could have stretched to G8 sponsorship, held back from getting involved in an event that might yet be marked by violent protests. That is an entirely reasonable and defensible position. It is far easier for the marketing men at the Royal Bank, for example, to make the case for backing F1 rather than G8.

The optimists hope for a halo effect for Scotland from the extensive television coverage. This is, without doubt, an ephemeral economic benefit that would instantly dissolve in the presence of riot police.

But if the summit pictures are of Blair and Geldof on a backdrop of green rolling golf courses, and the protests remain peaceful, who knows whether some far-flung viewers might decide Scotland is worth a visit? Those of us who believe that there is no such thing as bad publicity still hope that G8, along with the challenges of making poverty history and reducing global warming, might also begin to put Scotland on the map.

The American way

In the transport industry, as in many others, there’s no love lost between rivals. So when, as a former Stagecoach employee, I begin to feel sympathy for FirstGroup, you should assume that the muck really is beginning to hit the fan. The bus business has always been rough and tough, and nowhere rougher and tougher than in America. British companies have led in the consolidation of the marketplace from diverse mom and pop businesses into the large groupings that now exist.

As a result, America’s famous yellow school buses are now controlled by three companies — Canadian-owned Laidlaw, for years working under bankruptcy protection, with 40,000 vehicles; FirstGroup, with 20,500; and National Express’s Durham with 10,000.

With Brits as two out of the top three operators, guess which companies have been targeted by the SEIU, America’s fastest-growing and most ambitious union? You’ve guessed it . . .

National Express may be keeping a lower profile, but typically First’s Moir Lockhead is taking the bull by the horns. And so he should.