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Almost a month after the Scottish Parliament election, and the substantive business is only just beginning. Oddly, and to the frustration of some in all parties, the membership of Holyrood's committees still hasn't been finalised. We do, however, know the overall numbers of MSPs from each party on each committee, and the SNP will be precisely one short of a majority on every single one - one price of falling short of an overall majority. They will have eight of the convenorships, though, including the critical Finance Committee, the new Social Security Committee, and Education and Skills, where a lot of the opposition's incoming fire has been focused since the referendum.

So, as in the Chamber, they are best placed to get their way in Committee but can't guarantee it, which is a situation that well reflects both their substantial margin over the other parties but the clear gap between the SNP and the 50% mark last month.

Every session has been different, from learning the ropes, then the rainbow Parliament, to the SNP's first minority administration, and then Scotland's first majority session. This one is of course again unique, in terms of the balance of forces, but a look back to that first minority administration may hint at how it will go.

Back in May 2007, commentators gave the SNP little chance of lasting a full term, let alone implementing much of their manifesto. But it didn't work out like that. In fact, I'd argue they got more done during that term than the one after, apart from the referendum. Much of the credit for that success must go to Bruce Crawford, who negotiated fairly and in good faith with the opposition parties, working out how to win votes when he could, and working out how to lose them as gracefully as possible when that was the best he could do. He has no formal job beyond "humble backbencher" just now, but you can be absolutely certain he's dispensing wise counsel behind the scenes.

In that period the SNP had just 47 MSPs, with Labour on 46. By comparison Session 5 is a "super-minority", where any one party even abstaining is enough for an SNP majority. So the bulk of what passes will be their agenda. They may well also reach out to other parties for their better ideas, such as the universal insulation programme pioneered by the Greens and now oddly featured in a Tory manifesto. But there will be lost votes, opportunities for the other parties to put them in awkward positions, and awkward positions for the opposition to find themselves in.

We've seen this already with the fractious (!) debate on Roseanna Cunningham's portfolio, which became about a fracking ban even though energy is in Keith Brown's remit. As the SNP abstained en masse in defence of their moratorium, the opposition fought it out, with Labour, the Greens and the Lib Dems outnumbering the Tories. The shape of opposition to come?