Have you ever been down to your last pound? Not a friend in the world, hungry, homeless, destitute, desperate? More terrifing is if this happens to your children while you're trying to protect them.

It gets worse though. If you've studied quantum mechanics and string theory you'll know there might be multiple universes out there.
Vulnerable people in Scotland have always known this. They know that when they hit rock bottom in life, they are not in hell, because there is always more shit to come. There are multiple hells in life.

In Govan it used to be Harmony Row or the Wine Alley, in Dundee it was the back of Whitfield, where I grew up as a kid, in Los Angeles it was the Nickel. Every city and town have places where they put the poor and dispossessed.

Tom Waits majestic song 'On the Nickel' tells it like it is. Twenty years ago I used to play Tom's music at 4am to make folk leave the party, now I realise what he was talking about.

The UK Coalition Government is extracting £15bn from the poorest people in the UK over the next four years. That has to hurt. Big time. Which is why the Law Society's Access to Justice Committee in Scotland, which I convene, has published a Discussion Paper today on how we can reorganise legal aid to protect front line legal services on both the civil and criminal side.

How we can, and must, protect the most vulnerable adults and children in our society through these difficult times.

I'll be blunt. When the shit hits the fan we all want Muhammad Ali in our corner. If you are well off, the Scottish Government, or Donald Trump, you can pay for top notch legal advice and representation.

The Access to Justice Committee believe that Muhammad Ali should be fighting for the poor and dispossessed in Scotland - whether that be law centres, private practice solicitors, welfare rights officers or money advisors.

There but for the grace of God go I; but more importantly, we need to do the right thing by our people.

Mike