Macwhirter writes of his own heart disease

HE eats his five portions of fruit n veg per day, stopped smoking years ago, had a stressful divorce, is the right weight for his height and has deadlines to meet on a regular basis.

On balance, political columnist and pundit, Iain Macwhirter, should not have been a candidates for heart disease – he might be a Scottish male (and the heart disease statistics for Scottish males are pretty bleak) but there was no history of heart disease in his family.

In today’s Sunday Herald, he writes about his own experience of being diagnosed with heart disease, having arteries so clogged with cholesterol and plaque, he might as well have been an “overweight smoker who has lived on pies and spent his leisure time in the pub. In Springburn.”

He’s been treated, successfully, against the worst aspects of the disease, but still has angina and has to take a handful of pills every day.