Professor Muhammad Yunus arrived in Scotland this week to introduce his Grameen Bank scheme as a means to help bring about social and economic advancement.

Obama Honors Professor Yunus with the Congressional Medal of Freedom

His bank offers small, low-cost loans to aspiring entrepreneurs, especially women, in deprived areas – exactly what Scotland needs to break free from recession and lead again on innovation and enterprise.

What I like about the Grameen Bank is its belief in the resourcefulness of people. It sees individuals and communities as assets. A 98% loan recovery rate and the changed lives of more than 100 million families – what does that tell us about its success?

Why not give people permission to think and create? As a nation, we are too quick to dismiss new ideas – stifling creative thinking and potentially missing that next great business initiative.

There is massive untapped potential out there.  I know. Thinktastic’s workshops consistently generate transforming ideas. Entrepreneurial spirit is inherent, but often hidden, in our people.

Let’s remove the shackles of low expectations, poor self-worth and self-limiting horizons and focus on building human asset value. We need inspiration to lift spirits, improve confidence and help people to shape their lives positively. And, if we have to let’s amend the welfare system to fully support young women, single mothers, stay-at-home mums and even released prisoners looking for a second chance – a spark of an idea could prevent them relying on benefits or the black market and instead improve their lives and bolster the economy.

Welcome to Scotland Professor Yunus.

This week’s budget focuses the mind. Doesn’t it? Aside from the politics, it tells us that we are in need of imagination, fresh ideas and a willingness to take risks. It’s time to draw on the resourcefulness around us. First, how about a concerted effort to end the strangulation of great ideas by cynics, naysayers and utterly stifling structures and processes? I believe any challenge can be met by creative thinking. I hosted an event in South Edinburgh last week where young people presented their ideas on the future to an adult audience before joining them in lively table discussions. The result is a new action plan. Anyone who doubts that children and adults can combine to break new ground should look at this short film (Powertopia). See how collaboration between children, engineers and designers creates a playground which doubles as power generator. Using the energy of children as an alternative power source. Bring it on.

Annie Lennox brings her SING message to Scotland

For her music alone, Annie Lennox features in my list of all time favourites. But, add her contribution to the developing world and she enters my category of really extraordinary people – those who deploy their talents to make the world a better place. Through her charity SING.

Annie works tirelessly to help prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS in Africa. Galvanised by Nelson Mandela’s description of the African HIV pandemic as genocide, with women and children…the frontline victims. Annie brings her message to Scotland as part of this year’s Festival of Politics when she delivers the General Teaching Council of Scotland’s annual National Lecture. Her commitment to the developing world is recognised with her appointment as special envoy to the Scottish Branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA). She says: “I hope to contribute to the long standing Scottish tradition of standing up for human rights and justice, with special regard to women and children in the developing world.”

Meanwhile, lest you forget, here is another chance to enjoy Annie’s moving rendition of ‘Why’ at the Live 8 concert.

If Thinktastic were to create the perfect sporting role model it would have to be Lionel Messi – scorer of all four of Barcelona’s goals on Tuesday night against Arsenal. Many informed pundits rate the wee Argentinian the best ever. What many don’t know though is that during his formative years he was considered too small (he is just over 5’ 6” tall) too ill and too frail to run around. There is nothing like human determination though and Lionel honed his skills by day and by night, teaching himself to use his small physique as an asset. Now he skips with consummate ease past the world’s best defences and he does so on a regular basis. A triumph of spirit, hard work and determination and, at just 22 years old, the best may yet be to come. I say: “Gaun yersel” Lionel.

My next big trip will be to India to meet the remarkable Kiran Bir Sethi at her groundbreaking Riverside School. Here she teaches kids life’s most valuable lesson: “I can.” Before you watch this inspiring clip, here’s a question. Why not let Scotland’s children shape the nation’s future? Do they not have the kind of clarity and creativity needed to find fresh solutions to age-old challenges?

Kiran Bir Sethi at TEDIndia, Session 8, "Learning to Learn," November 7, 2009, in Mysore, India. Credit: TED / James Duncan Davidso

Thinktastic is finding a rich seam of ambitious and refreshing ideas in Scotland’s primary schools.

Now watch Kiran Bir Sethi’s children take local issues into their own hands, lead other young people, and educate their parents.  If you are inspired, get in touch and let’s act.

Take a look at this amazing video with Kseniya Simonova, the 24 year-old winner of Ukraine’s Got Talent.  

Kseniya does some pretty amazing visual storytelling with an unusal art form - sand drawing.

Amazing what people can do when they put their minds to it.

Is it up to our children to lead the campaign against the abuse of alcohol?

“Don’t get drunk because you hurt people and do stupid things.”

 “You are really scaring me – I don’t like you drinking too much.”

  “Please stop drinking. I want you to be here when I’m older.”

  “If you care about us, you’ll stop drinking.”

 These are the words of primary age children in two West Lothian primary schools.

Thinktastic is using the voices of children in one area of West Lothian to influence community behaviour. Discussing the issue of excessive alcohol with children is a sobering experience. They speak of the impact of drunkenness on their lives – parents, uncles, aunts, grandparents, brothers, sisters and groups that hang around street corners or play parks are all conspirators.

 It is a perspective on alcohol rarely heard but the most powerful indictment I‘ve ever come across.

It’s time to put an end to the acceptability of drunkenness as a behavioural norm. Instead let’s see it as it for what it is – a sign of weakness and low self esteem and viewed by children as abhorrent.

Scotland had much to sing about last month, when researchers at Touch Bionics in Livingston unveiled the world’s first bionic fingers, ProDigits they’re called, allowing partial amputees to return to a level of independence they’ve not known before.

A revolutionary invention.

There are 1.2 million partial amputees in the world. This new invention can change so many lives. The Spanish pianist Maria Antonia Iglesias, who lost all the fingers on her right hand and subsequently her concert career, benefited from one of these prototypes in 2008. She says her life now is “like a dream”.

There’s a conversation we need to start having with the young people of Scotland of how this nation – so often tied to its past glories – is still a hub for the scientific progress and innovation. Let’s give our young people aspirations and the drive to believe that Scotland can be their place, a place for a better future.

The Sunday Times recently ran a feature on Anthony Seldon, master of Wellington College, an enthusiastic and visionary man who, since taking over, raised the College’s rate of A and B grades from 69% to 92%.

So what has he been up to? He wants to put an end to factory schools and believes happiness is at the core of the educational experience. To that effect Wellington College’s curriculum now equips students to nurture happiness themselves by teaching pupils on how to prioritise, how to put things in to perspective, advising them on diet and exercise and some positive thinking techniques. Oval tables were brought into the classroom to promote dialogue and engagement between students and teachers.

One of our nation’s most accessible and creative thinkers, Julian Baggini, has been appointed philosopher-in-residence ; Tony Buzan, the celebrated author of mind-mapping, brought on board as thinker-in-residence.

Seldon believes intelligence is a bit like plasticine – different students will develop their own particular intellectual strand, rather than what’s being fed top-down to them, if given the chance. His motto: “It’s better to be a happy crofter than an unhappy merchant banker”.

Radical I say.

Well folks, much has been written and said about what could have been and what did not happen. So I won’t add to that.

Let’s just say that politicians could sometimes do with listening to really simple ideas that get each and every one of us changing for the better.

The guys at thefuntheory.com have managed to get a whole neighbourhood excited about recycling, thus giving a little hand to this old tired Planet of ours:

How simple is that?

Have a very merry Christmas and don’t forget to do your recycling!