On the face of it, it is an election that will change the face of Spanish politics.

As campaigning officially gets under way for the general election on 20 December, there are new political figures on the block.
Firstly there is Albert Rivera, a dashing 36-year-old Catalan, whose party, Ciudadanos (Citizens) has burst onto the scene, apparently stealing much of the centre ground.
And then take Pablo Iglesias, a 37-year-old jeans-wearing, ponytail-sporting former university professor who leads the grassroots, left-wing movement born from the economic crisis called Podemos (We can). His allies swept to power in several big Spanish cities in regional elections back in May.
Both men sell themselves as a new brand of politician.
Mr Iglesias says the rich should pay more to end poverty and he would force King Felipe to stand in an election for the position of head of state.
Mr Rivera is socially liberal, but committed to free-market economics.
They both claim they will end corruption. Scandals have plagued Spain's traditional parties in recent years.
An impromptu exchange on the issue of corruption between Mr Iglesias and Celia Villalobos, a senior figure from the ruling Popular Party (PP), was trending on Twitter this week.
She warned him not to go around accusing all of her party of being corrupt.
Spain's incumbent prime minister, the slightly dour Galician, Mariano Rajoy, made other headlines.
First he was criticised for not appearing in a debate. An empty lectern alongside the three other candidates was one of the top images of the pre-election campaign week.
But the contrast between Mr Rajoy's non-appearance, and then his appearance in a Spanish celebrity's kitchen for an overly friendly interview could not have been greater.
The latter felt more like a political advert, broadcast on Spain's public broadcaster, TVE.
Soft questions, a biography, cheesy music and slow-motion shots of the two men walking only give ammunition to the critics that say Spain's public broadcaster is not independent.
However despite all the talk of change, according to the polls Mr Rajoy's party will be in the driving seat to form a government after the election, come 21 December.
It is true that we should not underestimate the seismic shift that is taking place in Spanish politics.
The political tennis match of the past in Spain, where for 33 years the ball of power was knocked back and forth between Mr Rajoy's PP and their rivals the Socialists (PSOE), is no more.
The two-party game is over.
One thing that is almost certain is that no party will get an overall majority in the Spanish parliament.
Mr Rajoy will tell voters their money is safe in his hands: that his party takes the credit for Spain's economic recovery and that there is more to do.
Some Spanish voters are yearning for something new, to do away with the politics of the past.
But others might opt for more of the same.
It is arguably modern Spain's most unpredictable election to date.


A paedophile who filmed himself sexually abusing a three-year-old boy was caught after police retrieved a video clip from his mobile phone.

Chris Hume, 28, admitted the offences which took place in a Glasgow flat on 11 October last year.
The High Court in Glasgow heard he had never been alone with the child until the day of the incident. When his parents returned home, the boy told them what had happened.
Hume is due to be sentenced next month.
The court heard that following the incident, Hume ran off leaving behind two phones. The family then contacted the police.
Police Scotland's Cybercrime Unit managed to extract footage from the accused's phone.
The boy can be heard on the footage saying "I want to see the camera" and the accused replies "Quick, quick. Before your daddy comes".
Hume is expected to sentenced next month at the High Court in Edinburgh by judge Lady Scott.


One of Sark's two banks will close next year, NatWest has announced.

Rob Girard, island director of NatWest Guernsey, said it was a "difficult decision", but the branch would close on 27 February 2015.
The company is working with Guernsey Post to run counter services at the Sark Post Office to allow cash and cheque deposits and cash withdrawals.
HSBC, which runs the other bank, said there were currently no plans to close its branch.
Mr Girard said the closure meant there was "one role at risk of redundancy".
He said the move followed "significant" changes in banking in the past few years.
"The number of customers using the branch has dropped by nearly 30% over the last four years whilst online and mobile transactions have grown by more than 200%," Mr Girard said.
"We have advised staff and we are notifying our customers to make them aware of the closure and the different ways they can still bank with us."


A bible which once belonged to Elvis Presley is expected to fetch more than £20,000 when it is auctioned in Greater Manchester next month.

The book was given to the legendary singer by his Uncle Vester and Aunt Clettes for his first Christmas at his Graceland home in 1957.
Its 1,600 pages contain annotations by Presley, who died on 16 August 1977.
One note reads: "To judge a man by his weakest link or deed is like judging the power of the ocean by one wave."
The bible, embossed in gold on a leather cover, is among more than 100 lots of Elvis memorabilia to go on sale at Omega Auctions in Stockport on 8 September.
The collection is being sold on behalf of a British Elvis collector and marks the 35th anniversary of "The King's" death.
Auctioneer Paul Fairweather said: "With much of the memorabilia in the collection having never previously been seen in the market, we are expecting significant interest from Elvis fans and collectors worldwide."
Presley began his career in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1954. He died in 1977 aged 42.


A 31-year-old man has appeared in court accused of murdering a man in a Dundee street.

Arran Fender is accused of striking 44-year-old Gary McMillan repeatedly on the body with a knife or similar implement between Lawton Road and Lawton Terrace on Tuesday.
He made no plea or declaration during a private appearance at Dundee Sheriff Court.
Sheriff Jillian Martin-Brown remanded Mr Fender in custody.
The case was continued for further examination and is expected to call again next week.


Supermarket-giant Asda has apologised to drivers for traffic chaos in Cardiff caused by the festive Coca-Cola truck.

The lorry was parked at the Coryton store, junction 32, all day.
But tailbacks built up and queued five miles (8km) eastbound along the M4. Travel time between Pontypridd to Coryton along the A470 southbound was approximately 90 minutes.
The retailer said sorry after angry drivers took to social media to complain.
"We apologise for any inconvenience caused this evening," a spokesman said.
"The event proved extremely popular and we're doing all we can to help customers and local commuters around the store to get on the move again."
Mum-of-one Bethan Collins, from Rhiwbina in Cardiff, said her evening had been "completely ruined" by the truck.
"I'm supposed to be out with friends but it's taken me so long to get home and my babysitters took two hours to drive from Merthyr that I can't go," she said.
"What was the council thinking allowing this truck at a major interchange - it's out of order."
Christian Jones told BBC Wales on Facebook: "It is in the most ridiculous place in Cardiff, right at the heart of the capitals busiest junction!
"It should be in the city centre where people can use public transport to get there. For most people the only way to Coryton is to drive."


A row has broken out within Plaid Cymru after leader Leanne Wood said she was not ruling out a Welsh Government coalition with Labour after the Brexit vote.

She dismissed a deal after the assembly election but told BBC Wales the referendum "changed everything".
Plaid's Neil McEvoy AM and MP Jonathan Edwards expressed their opposition to working with Labour on Twitter.
AM for South Wales West, Bethan Jenkins, also criticised the comments.
Plaid agreed a limited deal after May's assembly election to allow Welsh Labour leader Carwyn Jones, whose party won 29 of 60 seats in the May election, to be re-installed as first minister.
Asked on Radio Wales' Sunday Supplement programme if she was open to coalition, Ms Wood said: "What happened on Thursday night has changed everything really, so I would not be prepared to close anything down.
"I'm still not looking for ministerial seats per se, but I do think that this situation is serious now.
"We're going to lose a lot of money, there are grave risks to our economy, to some of the jobs we have got here and to some of the funding of key projects we have got here.
"It necessitates leadership - that's what we need in Wales now.
"Strong, confident leadership and my party is ready to step up to the plate and work with whoever in order to provide the leadership Wales now needs."
But in response, South Wales Central AM Neil McEvoy, who was newly elected in May, said on Twitter: "I'm absolutely opposed to propping up a toxic Labour Party.
"No deals, no coalition. Labour is Wales' biggest problem."
Plaid Cymru MP Jonathan Edwards was also critical of any support for Labour while Jeremy Corbyn was facing challenges to his leadership.
He tweeted: "Labour today is defined by chaos, dissent and disunity. Now is the time for @Plaid_Cymru to challenge not endorse them".
Ms Wood's comments were also criticised by Plaid Cymru AM Bethan Jenkins.
"So when were AMs and members consulted on this stance", she tweeted.
Interviewed on Sunday Supplement, Mr Jones said: "We are talking to Plaid Cymru, we have a formal structure in place.
"There are three committees in place so the parties can talk to each other early on about things like the budget, about things like new laws.
"My view has always been that when it comes to having the strongest voice for Wales we are of course looking to work with other parties who are in the same position as we are on in terms of strengthening Wales' position.
"So it's not as if we are refusing to talk to Plaid Cymru - we are talking to Plaid Cymru.
"It was made clear after the election that Plaid at that point weren't interested in anything beyond that kind of structure."


Wales manager Chris Coleman believes Gareth Bale can be fit in time for his side's next World Cup qualifying match, against the Republic of Ireland.

Real Madrid forward Bale, 27, had ankle surgery on 29 November and is expected to be out for four months.
Wales are third in their qualifying group, four points adrift of the Republic, who they visit on 24 March.
"If anybody is going to be back before the time that has been given to us it will be Bale," said Coleman.
"With that type of injury you are looking at three months-ish.
"But three months is a long time. You can get a setback, or be fast-tracked if anything is going really well.
"We are hoping it's the latter but we have a bit of time between now and March and he has a bit of time to make sure he gets himself right."
Coleman was speaking at the Wales Sport Awards in Cardiff, where he was given a Special Recognition Award after guiding Wales to the semi-finals of Euro 2016.
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Bale was runner-up to Olympic taekwondo gold medallist Jade Jones for BBC Wales Sport Personality of the Year.
The player posted a video message on the social media site Dugout.
Standing with the assistance of crutches, Bale said: "The recovery's going well, my ankle's feeling better every day."
The Cardiff-born forward injured an ankle tendon during a Champions League match against Sporting Lisbon on 22 November.
Bale has scored 26 goals for his country and is key to the team's hopes of qualifying for the World Cup finals for the first time since 1958.
Coleman hopes Bale's professionalism and strength mean he has every chance of being back in time to play in Dublin.
"He is OK. People were talking about a three-month period and if anybody is going to get back before then it will be him," he said.
"He is an absolute machine, such an athlete.
"Physically he is probably one of the fittest players I have ever seen. He is a consummate professional and lives his life right and if anyone has a chance of getting back before it will be him."


Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters have marched in the South Korean capital, Seoul, to celebrate the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye.

Gathering for the seventh weekend in a row, demonstrators held candles and demanded Ms Park's definitive removal.
She is suspended while the top court considers whether to uphold Friday's parliamentary vote to impeach her.
Ms Park is accused of allowing a close friend to profit from her connections with the presidency.
The crowd, estimated at 200,000 by organisers, was smaller than in recent weeks, correspondents say.
"We demand that the Constitutional Court make a decision of conscience and justice and do not act against the will of the people," Jung Kang-ja, one of the organisers, said in a speech.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, who became acting president after Friday's vote, sought to calm concerns over national security and to reassure markets
"So far, financial and foreign exchange markets have been relatively stable and there are no signs of unusual movements by the North [Koreans], but all public servants should bear vigilance in mind," Mr Hwang said on Saturday.
The motion to impeach Ms Park passed by 234 votes to 56, meaning many members of her Saenuri party voted in favour.
Her supporters held a Seoul rally that drew an estimated 15,000 people on Saturday. Waving national flags, they carried banners that read: "President Park, Don't Cry" and "Nullify impeachment".
At the heart of the case is her relationship with long-time friend Choi Soon-sil, who faces charges of coercion and abuse of power.
It is alleged that after Ms Park became president in 2013, Ms Choi, 60, used their friendship to pressure powerful corporations into donating to foundations she controlled and then siphoned off funds for her personal use.
Prosecutors say Ms Park had a "considerable" role in the alleged corruption, which she has denied.
The Constitutional Court has 180 days to make a final ruling.
If at least six of the court's nine judges rule against Ms Park, she will become the first sitting South Korean president to be deposed in the country's democratic era and a new presidential election will be held within 60 days.


A baking challenge by supporters of murderer Jeremy Bamber, featuring recipes by the mother he shot dead, has been branded as "poor taste".

Bamber is serving a whole life term for shooting his parents, sister and her six-year-old sons in Essex in 1985. He has always protested his innocence.
The "Bamber Bake-Off" has been launched to mark 30 years of "wrongful conviction" and share family recipes.
Charity Support After Murder and Manslaughter said it was disrespectful.
"If they want to campaign, that's fine, but don't do it in this way," said chief executive Rosie Dixon.
"Every time this case is brought up again it takes families back to the day it happened, even 30 years on."
Bamber, then aged 24, shot his family at their farmhouse in Tolleshunt D'Arcy in August 1985.
He has maintained his schizophrenic sister Sheila Caffell shot the family, including her sons Nicholas and Daniel, before turning the gun on herself.
His attempts at appeals through the legal system have all failed.
The Jeremy Bamber Official Website, run by his supporters, suggests bakers follow Jeremy's method then send photos of their creations to Bamber's Instagram page.
Recipes on the site include Victoria sponge, labelled as "mum's favourite", and Upside Down Pineapple Cake.
On his blog, he has reminisced about "the hours of fun and laughter" he shared in the kitchen with his mother and invited supporters to send pictures of their baking attempts to him at HMP Wakefield in West Yorkshire.
More than 20 photographs of cakes have been posted to his Instagram page.
Campaigner Trudi Benjamin, who believes Bamber is innocent, said feedback from supporters had been positive.
"The Bamber Bake-Off reminds people that he had a loving family, who he was close to," she added.
"It reminds us that he is a human being who has lost loved ones, despite the media perception of him being some sort of monster."


With some pollsters suggesting his own personal ratings are lower than any Labour leader since Michael Foot three decades ago, it was perhaps brave of Jeremy Corbyn to make failure the theme of his Budget response.

Certainly it drew derision from the Conservative benches and the deputy speaker had to intervene several times to calm the atmosphere.
The Labour leader accused Chancellor George Osborne of "six years of failure" - failing to meet his own targets to balance the books and to rebalance the economy.
And that F word was deployed time and again. George Osborne, he argued, had also failed on investment, productivity and tackling inequality,
In the Commons chamber, the Conservative chair of the Treasury Select Committee Andrew Tyrie acknowledged that it is the most difficult task an opposition leader faces - responding to a detailed budget of which he has no advance sight.
So a decision seemed to have been taken in advance by Labour's upper echelons to take a relatively risk-free approach, and denounce the things that were obviously going to be in the Budget rather than respond to the detail - though there was a welcome for the "surprise" sugar tax announcement.
Lower forecasts for growth were compared to the "lofty rhetoric" of the chancellor in past statements when he promised "a march of the makers".
And not for the first time austerity was criticised as a "political choice" - a point Jeremy Corbyn had made during the Labour leadership campaign and which was aimed at his internal as well as external opponents.
There was strident criticism in his speech of government cuts in personal independence payments for people with disabilities while corporation tax was being cut.
But he said little about what Labour would do instead. It took a later briefing from his shadow chancellor and close political ally John McDonnell to state that the disability cuts would be reversed by returning corporation tax to its former rate - and that Labour would accept the increase in the threshold at which the 40p rate of tax is paid.
But there was no attempt to emulate the jaw-dropping response to the Autumn Statement last year - when Mr McDonnell produced a copy of Chairman Mao's little red book.
It was an attempt at political satire - highlighting the sale of British assets to a big foreign government and the chancellor's attempts to get more infrastructure investment from a country with a less than salubrious human rights record.
But it fell flat when the chancellor parried the attack by suggesting his left-wing opposite number was waving around his own "signed copy" and had sent shadow cabinet members to "re-education camps".
The whole episode meant less attention was devoted to a government u-turn on tax credits.
But there was a price - albeit a smaller one - to be paid by taking a more cautious route this time around. As the old adage goes, it's better to be talked about than not talked about.
Jeremy Corbyn's speech lacked focus at times, and wasn't exactly full of light and shade - often delivered in the same tone of voice. Some on his own frontbench were more distracted by their phones and texts than by his rhetoric.
Some on the backbenches quite simply chatted.
And perhaps because the Chamber was so full, some Labour MPs watched him from the gallery above. The line-up was a bit like a frontbench in exile, full of people who range from being mildly to extremely sceptical of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership in public or private.
As one former minister put it: "There was a good opening paragraph in his speech on Osborne's failure to hit his own targets but then he wasted the rest of it with a predictable list of cuts he didn't like. Apart from everything else he has no self discipline so can't stick to one key point."
Another former frontbencher put it more bluntly: "There was no coherent message and no credibility."
A newer MP was more positive, praising a "good effort" while another liked "his one good joke" - that the Ebbsfleet garden city had been re-announced so many times by the government, there was now one press release for every 12 homes and clearly more press releases would be needed to solve the housing crisis.
However, the shadow chancellor John McDonnell was unequivocal. It wasn't just his verdict, he said, but "right across the PLP" the view was that Jeremy Corbyn "gave a great performance".
But it's unlikely the parliamentary party were the Labour leader's target audience.
As one of his MPs put it privately: "He wasn't light footed enough to respond to the government announcements and focused on "our people" as always. But it will warm the cockles of the Corbynistas."
Amid rumours of a possible challenge to his position abounding at Westminster, Jeremy Corbyn railing against "unfairness" did nothing to make his position less secure amongst grassroots party members and supporters who like his dividing lines with the government and who will vote in any leadership contest.


A Brexit minister has denied the UK government wants a "hard immigration" policy with the EU.

David Jones said the Home Office was still drawing up its post-Brexit policy on immigration.
But he said skilled workers from overseas would still be required in the UK.
The Clwyd West Conservative MP made the comments at a meeting of the assembly external affairs committee on Tuesday afternoon.
At the assembly committee hearing, Labour AM Eluned Morgan asked: "Why are you willing to sacrifice the economy of Britain for the sake of a hard immigration policy?"
Mr Jones said: "I don't acknowledge for a start that we are pursuing a hard immigration policy, because as I've indicated to you already, the Home Office is actually addressing this particular issue so the policy hasn't yet been fully developed.
"And in any event we fully realise that there is a need for people with talent and skills to work in this economy."
The single market's rules on freedom of movement made full membership of it "incompatible" with the result of the referendum, he said.
Having spoken to counterparts in the EU, he said he could "detect a note of pragmatism creeping in", adding that the negotiations would be "challenging, but attainable".
Ministers would seek a "comprehensive free trade agreement" with the rest of the EU.
"You're right in saying there's no guarantee that any such arrangement can be arrived at, but what I would say is that there is every incentive for an arrangement to be arrived at."
The UK will be the biggest export market for the rest of the EU, he said, giving the bloc an "incentive to arrive at favourable trade terms".
He added that the UK government wanted the "best possible access to the single market" and for EU businesses to have "enhanced access" to the British market.
The Welsh Government has called for the continued "participation" of the UK in the single market.
Mr Jones declined to comment on leaked reports that steel would be a treated as a "low priority" in Brexit negotiations.
Earlier, he told BBC Wales the House of Lords should not frustrate the will of the people on Europe.
Peers will next week debate the bill to trigger the Article 50 process to leave the EU, already passed by the Commons.
"I suggest they have a look at the outcome of the referendum which was clearly in favour of leaving the EU, that they have a look at the outcome of the vote in the elected House of Commons which was four to one in favour of triggering the article 50 procedure," he said.
"As [Brexit Secretary] David Davis said the other day, I'm sure the lords would want to do their patriotic duty."


Three lawnmower fanatics have completed a 2,200 mile charity road trip - aboard sit-on machines.

The petrol-heads from Dorset, Staffordshire and Wigan roared through every county of England, Scotland and Wales with a coast in seven days.
Despite a dramatic flip over and painful potholes, the trio completed their Lawn Way Round challenge.
Tony Dwight, Darren Whitehead and Paul Tindall said raising Â£2,000 for Crohn's and Colitis UK made it all worthwhile.
Mr Dwight from Wigan, Mr Whitehead from Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, and Mr Tindall from Wimborne in Dorset, described their adventures after passing the finishing line on Friday.
"Sore backsides" came courtesy of 14-hour drives of more than 300 miles a day on the vintage 1970s-built mowers.
Mr Dwight, a 43-year-old lorry driver, joked: "I don't know what we were thinking."
Landscape gardener Mr Tindall's machine suffered a dramatic failure when his rear axle broke on a dual carriageway at 45mph.
Mr Dwight said: "He went across two lanes of traffic and flipped over but thankfully it was dual carriageway and the road was quiet."
The trio were stopped by police near Newcastle on Tyne, but only so the traffic officer could make a donation.
They started from base camp in Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire, and motored around Wales, before heading into Lancashire and on to Carlisle in Cumbria.
They criss-crossed Scotland before turning south for Newcastle.
They then took in the east coast of England down into Yorkshire and passed through Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Hampshire.
A 340-mile final leg took in Devon, Cornwall, and Gloucestershire before arriving back at their starting point.
The men, who all race lawnmowers for a hobby, had already completed a previous lawnmower challenge after travelling the length of Britain in aid of Help For Heroes in 2011.
Mr Whitehead, who is chairman of the North West Lawn Mower Racing Association, said they were now looking for their next challenge, probably abroad.


Actor Benedict Cumberbatch is to read a specially written poem at the reburial service for King Richard III.

Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy composed the work for Thursday's ceremony at Leicester Cathedral.
Cumberbatch, who will play the king in a BBC Two drama, has been identified as a distant cousin, Leicester University said.
Richard's remains will be laid to rest on Thursday and his tomb inside the cathedral unveiled on Friday.
The poem, simply called Richard, is described as a "meditation on the impact of his finding and the legacy of his story".
The cathedral said Cumberbatch is "looking forward" to the service and has a "passion to know more" about the king because of his role in the drama.
Ms Duffy said: "It is a privilege to be involved, in a small way, in this unique event and to have seen the style and grace with which the city of Leicester has made history alive."
The 14-line poem includes the phrase "grant me the carving of my name" which will finally be achieved with the unveiling of his tomb on Friday.
The University of Leicester revealed Cumberbatch was a third cousin, 16 times removed of the Plantagenet king.
Since Sunday, the city has been marking his reburial and thousands of people have turned out to view his coffin.
Richard, the last English king to die in battle, was killed at Bosworth Field in 1485, at the end of the Wars of the Roses.
His skeleton was found under a car park in Leicester in 2012.


League Two side Morecambe have re-signed Tranmere Rovers striker Cole Stockton on a six-month loan.

The 22-year-old spent the final two months of last season on loan at the Shrimps where he scored two goals in his seven appearances.
Stockport, who also had a stint on loan at Southport last season, came through the Rovers academy.
"Cole is another young player with bags of potential," manager Jim Bentley told the club website.
"He is a good finisher and works really hard and we hope to see him continue his development this season.''
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It was when Vic Gundotra's father suffered serious heart problems and nearly died that the former Google executive decided to move into healthcare tech.

He now runs a firm called AliveCor that has developed a heart-monitoring device causing excitement in medical circles.
AliveCor's recently launched Kardia Band, which integrates with Apple's smart watch, takes an electrocardiogram (ECG) of your heart, measuring its electrical activity as it pumps away.
Medical experts believe it could potentially save thousands of lives.
It can spot atrial fibrillation (AF) - one of the most common forms of abnormal heart rhythm and a major cause of stroke.
You place your thumb on the metal sensor in the watchband to complete an electrical circuit and it can take a reading in 30 seconds, sending the data to the watch over high-frequency audio rather than Bluetooth or wi-fi.
Kardia Band can spot other problems, too, but currently only has regulatory approval for AF. If it spots anything else unusual it suggests you go and see your doctor.
"The problem with atrial fibrillation is that it's asymptomatic, which means it can come and go and often isn't diagnosed," says Mr Gundotra.
For example, Ron Grant, 70, told the BBC: "At the age of 55, I had a massive heart attack - flatlined - had a bypass. It was some years after that we discovered I had AF - a funny heart rhythm to put it simply - which could lead to stroke".
Mr Grant now uses the smartphone compatible version of the AliveCor device to keep tabs on his ticker.
"People start modifying their behaviour once they begin monitoring their own health," says Mr Gundotra.
"No-one's more interested in heart health than the owner of the heart."
Heart disease and stroke are the biggest killers in the world, accounting for about 14 million deaths a year.
If technology can give us a warning that things are going wrong before it's too late, many lives could be saved. And health budgets could be applied more effectively elsewhere.
In the US, around 130,000 people die a year directly or indirectly from AF, while more than 750,000 have to go to hospital, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.
And it costs about $6bn (Â£4.8bn) a year to treat the condition in the US.
In the UK, around 100,000 people suffer sudden cardiac death each year, to which AF is a contributor.
According to NHS England, AF is responsible for a third of all strokes and costs the NHS more than Â£2.2bn a year to treat.
So it's easy to see why health authorities are interested in simple wearable devices that could significantly increase early diagnosis of such heart problems before they become life-threatening - and more costly to treat.
In the summer, Simon Stevens, head of NHS England, said such innovations would be "fast-tracked" so they can be adopted within the English health system much more quickly.
There are scores of fitness trackers on the market these days, most of them wristbands, and while they may be useful motivational tools, most of them don't yet have regulatory approval.
"Fitness trackers are all very well, but doctors want clinically proven products whose data they can use to make clinical decisions," says Mr Gundotra.
But going through the rigorous testing process required for a health product to receive regulatory approval can take years, so it's no wonder most consumer tech companies don't bother.
Confusingly, AliveCor's smartphone compatible sensor, Kardia Mobile, has received regulatory approval in the US and Europe, whereas the Kardia Band smart watch version is currently approved only for Europe.
"We hope to get US approval soon," says Mr Gundotra.
Collating and studying millions of ECGs AliveCor's sensors have taken, and applying machine learning to the data, is also promising to reap rewards - although these are early days for the research.
AliveCor is collaborating with the Mayo Clinic in the US to see if other useful indicators can be discerned from the electrical pulse patterns generated by our hearts.
For example, they may be able to detect whether you have too much or too little potassium in your system, a mineral that plays a key role in keeping your heart beating in a normal rhythm.
Potassium also helps your nerves to function, your muscles to work, and your kidneys to filter blood. At the moment we can only find out potassium levels from a blood test, so if this information could be gleaned from a quick ECG instead, the medical benefits could be huge.
So what other clinically proven apps and gadgets are causing a stir?
Remote monitoring is a big area of research, with companies like Preventice Solutions and Biotricity offering heart monitoring kit that records and sends ECG data wirelessly to a smartphone app or to the cloud, allowing doctors to be alerted immediately of any heart abnormalities in their patients.
Preventice's BodyGuardian has received approval by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), but just the software element of Biotricity's Bioflux product has so far been approved.
"Remote monitoring could save a lot of money - hundreds of thousands of dollars a year - because people have to go into hospital much less often," says Annette Zimmermann, research director at Gartner.
And Dexcom has recently had its continuous glucose monitoring system approved by the FDA, enabling people with Type 1 or 2 diabetes to measure their blood sugar levels automatically every five minutes and see the trends displayed on a smartphone.
A growing number of advice apps are winning approval, too, from myCOPD, which enables patients to manage Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD), to BlueStar, an app helping people with Type 2 diabetes manage their condition.
Fitness wearables may be more fashionable, but it's the clinically proven gadgets and apps that could end up saving the most lives.
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Mobile banking has changed the way we manage our money for good, and is saving us billions in bank charges, tech start-ups say.

Charlie Kingston, a 22-year-old software engineer based in London, banks with mobile-only newcomer Starling Bank.
"I joined a mobile bank to get more control over my money," he says. "The in-app 'pulse' gives me a quick and insightful overview about how I'm spending and the real-time alert really helps me to keep on top of things."
International money transfer service Azimo says Europeans could be saving up to Â£7bn a year in financial fees because mobile banking apps are helping them switch money more quickly and avoid overdraft charges.
Two-fifths of UK consumers say they have avoided up to Â£100 in debt or charges by using tech to manage their money.
Instant access to balances is also helping us keep an eye on our spending, says Azimo, which interviewed 4,000 people across France, Germany, Spain and the UK.
Carl Riordan, 36, another Starling Bank customer, says he didn't realise how easy it would be. "When I first thought about a bank without branches, I didn't realise it would only take a few taps," he says.
Global banking giant HSBC says that more than 90% of its interactions with customers are now through its digital channels.
That's why more than 1,000 local branches in the UK have closed down in the past two years with 400 more expected in 2017.
Of course, mobile banking is nothing new in Africa, with a service like M-Pesa recently celebrating its 10th anniversary. The mobile payments service launched by Vodafone Safaricom in 2007 now has about 25 million users in 10 countries.
But the reason why mobile banking has proved so successful in Africa is that traditional banking structures were inaccessible to most people. It was mobile or nothing.
In Europe, Asia and the US, it is the convenience of smartphone tech that is driving this huge change in our banking behaviour.
"Now that fintech [financial technology] companies can obtain a banking licence and compete on an equal footing, technology innovations in mobile make this possible," says Megan Caywood, chief platform officer at Starling Bank.
Younger generations in particular now trust the security of smartphones, with their ability to handle a range of biometric authentication methods, whether fingerprint, voice, or image and video recognition.
Fintech start-ups are making the most of a more relaxed financial regulatory environment within the European Union (EU), which from 2018, will also see banks forced to share customer data, as long as customers give their permission.
This will allow digital banking platforms to position themselves between banks and customers and offer a full money management service, bringing together products from a range of providers.
New mobile-first banks, such as Atom, Monzo, Starling, Tandem and N26 are specifically targeting younger customers and linking up with other app-based service providers.
For example, Germany-based N26, which operates across 17 European Union countries and has about 300,000 members, offers an in-app marketplace that gives customers access to other fintech providers, such as TransferWise for international money transfers.
Starling Bank has also partnered with TransferWise.
Another German start-up SolarisBank, which recently raised 26.3m euros (Â£23.1m) from investors, has developed a platform that any company can plug in to and instantly offer financial services, from peer-to-peer payments to gift cards.
"The main idea behind banking-as-a-platform is to enable innovation in the finance and banking space," says Marko Wenthin, SolarisBank co-founder.
"It offers banking services as building blocks to fintechs, digital companies and banks who want to deliver on the experience modern customers demand."
David Brear, founder of fintech consultancy 11FS, says: "If, in five years time, [banks] are only selling their own products through their own channels to only their customers, they're in for hard times."
More enlightened traditional banks realise this and are partnering with start-ups or fostering their development within tech incubators.
"Transforming industries isn't always about disrupting the incumbents; collaboration is equally as important," says Erez Mathan, chief operating office of GoCardless, a company building a global bank-to-bank payment network.
"Through partnerships with major financial institutions, businesses across the eurozone can take recurring payments without high fees and piles of paperwork."
Another technology beginning to have a significant impact on innovation in financial services is blockchain, a secure digital ledger that records and verifies transactions without the need for a central database.
Circle, the peer-to-peer payments firm, makes use of blockchain to make sending money as easy as sending a text.
"When we founded Circle a big part of that was a long-term bet on blockchain and digital currency technology, which we thought held the potential to provide the missing layer needed for open value exchange," says Sean Neville, Circle's president and co-founder.
But all this innovation is only going to persuade us to switch to mobile if it makes our lives easier and less expensive.
And, as it turns out, smartphone banking is doing just that.
Follow Technology of Business editor Matthew Wall on Twitter and Facebook
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Devolution and funding for Wales are under the spotlight, as the general election campaign continues.

Labour will set out its devolution offer for Wales, including giving 16 and 17 year olds the vote by May 2016.
Their plan also includes devolving fracking, and powers over transport such as the Wales and Border rail franchise, ports and speed limits.
Meanwhile, the Lib Dems want a guarantee that funding for Wales will not fall below an agreed level.
Shadow Welsh Secretary Owen Smith said Labour's proposals "map out a historic new chapter in Wales' devolution journey, creating a lasting settlement allowing us to advance social justice, improve equality of opportunity and create a fairer society for all".
The Liberal Democrats have said they would introduce a Barnett funding floor, set at a level which reflects Wales' needs.
They said they would also commission a study to update the Holtham Commission's analysis, which five years ago estimated a funding shortfall to Wales of Â£300m.
The party said it would then seek to increase the Welsh block grant to an equitable level.
Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Jenny Willot said: "The Liberal Democrats not only recognise that Wales is underfunded, but we will commit to putting in place practical measures to address this."
Labour also said it would deliver "fair funding for Wales" through introducing a Barnett funding floor.
But Plaid Cymru said it was "a smoke and mirrors solution".
The party's candidate in the Vale of Glamorgan, Ian Johnson, said: "A Barnett floor does not offer a lasting solution, and if austerity continues then a Barnett floor will not generate any additional resources for Wales at all.
"At best it will stop the situation getting worse, it will not make the situation any better. It will not give fair funding to Wales.
"Plaid Cymru will fight to deliver parity of funding and responsibility for Wales with Scotland."
The Conservatives have previously also proposed introducing a "floor", but said the exact level would be worked out later.


Australian politician Bob Katter has defended a video that depicts him killing his electoral rivals.

Mr Katter is an independent country politician from north Queensland.
In the ad, he is seen blowing on a puff of smoke from a toy gun with the bodies of two "faceless men" from the major parties lying dead in the dirt.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called on Mr Katter to withdraw the ads, which were "in the worst of taste".
But 71-year-old Mr Katter, who heads Katter's Australia Party and represents the electorate of Kennedy, said he thought the ads were "brilliant" and "screamingly funny".
The ad, made with the help of satirical website Betoota Advocate, begins with members of the Labor Party and the Liberal-National coalition hammering a sign into the ground that reads "Australia for sale".
Mr Katter tosses the sign on the ground, and when it is replaced, uses a large black marker to alter the sign to "Australia not for sale", before cutting to the scene with the gun.
"I think most people will enjoy the humour. I thought it was very funny, I must admit," he told the ABC.
"What's not funny is the selling off of this country. We hate it and we're tenaciously opposed to it."
Queensland Senator Barry O'Sullivan called the ad "abhorrent" and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said it was "unfortunate".
On the Sunrise breakfast television program, presenter David Koch pressed Mr Katter on why he released the video so soon after a gunman killed 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
Mr Katter responded that there were similar advertisements that did not cause controversy and also claimed not to be aware of the shooting.
If this is the best Australia has to offer in the way of political scandal, then we truly are witnessing the world's most boring election campaign.
Mr Katter's ad is typical of Australia's larrikin sense of humour - politically incorrect, jarring and perhaps not quite as funny as it thinks it is.
But is it "abhorrent" or in "the worst of taste"? Should it have been released in the aftermath of the shootings in Orlando?
Australia is a long way from Florida and many people in regional centres will share Mr Katter's bawdy sense of humour.
Sometimes humour is rough or tasteless. Sometimes it doesn't hit the bulls eye. But if Katter's constituents don't like his joke, they can toss him out at the election on 2 July.
Betoota Advocate editor Clancy Overell, who played one of the shot men in the video, said he was aware the video might "wind people up" but was not sure Mr Katter had the same understanding.
Mr Overell defended the video's timing, telling the BBC that shootings occurred in the US every day.
"Australians can't be prevented from making jokes and about cowboys and western-style gunplay," he said.
A video from the 2012 Queensland state election featured Mr Katter line dancing with a group of young people.
The same video depicted him spinning on his head, although it is likely a body double was used for the stunt.


Brentford boss Dean Smith says his side "quietly believes" they can challenge bigger-spending teams for promotion.

The Bees finished 10th last season, losing two of their last nine games.
Brentford's most costly summer signing was the reported £1.8m spent on Exeter's Ollie Watkins, £14m less than Wolves paid for midfielder Ruben Neves.
"I think the quality of the football that we play, the entertainment value that I think we give out, is reason for optimism," Smith told BBC Radio London.
"You look at Middlesbrough and what they've spent so far and Aston Villa and what they can spend and Hull City have just come down - all these clubs have means that we could only dream of to get to the Premier League.
"But we still quietly believe that we can go and compete with them on an even keel on the football pitch when it's 11 v 11 and that's something that transfers to the players as well."
The west London club are entering their fourth Championship season having enjoyed three successive top-10 finishes.
"I'd be disappointed and feel that we hadn't recruited well if the players aren't putting pressure on themselves as well, and they can all feel that pressure, but they're players who thrive on it," Smith said.
"We've got a lot of players now who've played a lot of games in the champ and they know what it's about and they're looking forward to the season."


The chancellor of a Spanish university where students were told their work would be monitored for plagiarism has himself been accused of plagiarising.

Fernando Suarez, who heads the King Juan Carlos University in Madrid, is accused of repeatedly copying other people's work without giving credit.
On Thursday, he was removed from his chairmanship on a national education commission.
Mr Suarez has said he is the victim of defamation and harassment.
The permanent commission of the conference of Spanish university chancellors said on Thursday that Mr Suarez was leaving due to "information published about presumed plagiarism".
He has been accused of copying other historians' work and that of his students, over a period of up to 10 years.
One article published under his name was said to consist of 70% copied-and-pasted words from another person's book.
The French historian Bernard Vincent told the AFP news agency Mr Suarez had borrowed paragraphs from his work, describing it as "scandalous".
He said: "I'm absolutely indignant."
Last month, the university Mr Suarez heads had informed students that the campus had installed a system called Unplag to monitor submitted assignments for plagiarism.
An email sent to 40,000 students stated that the new programme would help uphold standards of integrity, academic honesty and independent thinking.
Students have set up at least nine separate petitions calling for Mr Suarez to resign from the top job at the university. Together they have collected tens of thousands of signatures.
One pointed out: "Plagiarism is grounds for any student to be suspended immediately."


Stella English, who won The Apprentice in 2010, became so disillusioned with the £100,000 job she ended up taking Lord Sugar to an employment tribunal.

Ms English, from Whitstable, Kent is one of eight winners since the show launched in 2005.
What happened to the others?
Transport manager Tim Campbell, from East London beat Saira Khan to become Lord Sugar's first Apprentice.
Two years later he left, making what he describes as a "brave decision" to leave the Amstrad "comfort zone", and founded a social enterprise Bright Ideas Trust to help young entrepreneurs from disadvantaged backgrounds.
He became a social enterprise ambassador for the government and London's ambassador for training and enterprise and was made an MBE in the 2012 New Year Honours for his services to enterprise culture.
Ms Khan is now a corporate speaker and TV presenter and reporter on ITV's the Martin Lewis Money Show.
Lord Sugar told the tribunal series two winner Michelle Dewberry was the only contestant other than Ms English to leave the £100,000 job before the end of her 12-month contract.
She has since become a motivational speaker, Sky News breakfast TV pundit and magazine columnist. She runs a business consultancy and founded bargain deals website DailyChic.
"Winning the show is something Michelle is very proud of," said her spokeswoman. "The profile she gained is something she uses to raise awareness of the causes that are close to her heart, such as Women's Aid."
On Friday she Tweeted she was lunching with Dragon's Den entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne, a fellow Women's Aid supporter.
Her rival in The Apprentice final, no-nonsense Ruth Badger, runs her own business consultancy in Manchester.
Cambridge graduate Simon Ambrose worked for Lord Sugar's property company Amsprop for three years, during which he studied as a chartered surveyor.
Since then he has invested in a London restaurant, members club and art gallery and owns and runs an event production company and become a property developer.
"I enjoyed my three years with Lord Sugar and saw him regularly, my desk being only yards from his office," he said.
"It was a unique experience."
Among Mr Ambrose's fellow contestants was Katie Hopkins, the mother-of-two who walked off the show after Sir Alan questioned her about childcare. She turned up on I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here nine months later.
Lee McQueen was the winner who rang in sick on his first day in the new £100,000 job.
Lord Sugar, then still Sir Alan, told BBC Radio 4 he caught a virus when he was in Spain. "He's phoning me every 10 minutes giving me chapter and verse on how many times he has visited the loo," he said.
Mr McQueen went on to set up a digital media business with Lord Sugar's son Simon.
"The Apprentice tests you in every way, stamina, business acumen, team work, confidence it was a great experience," he says on his website.
He later founded the recruitment company Raw Talent Academy, helping young people - not necessarily just graduates - start careers in sales and recruitment.
Restaurant owner Yasmina Siadatan worked her one-year £100,000 contract at Lord Sugar's Amscreen Healthcare company, which  supplies advertising and information screens to hospitals and GPs.
After taking time off to have two children she was headhunted earlier this year by former Dragon's Den star James Caan.
She now works for his private equity firm Hamilton Bradshaw.
The runner-up in 2009, Kate Walsh, became a TV presenter, fronting early evening shows Channel 5 Live and OK! TV.
Awaiting judgement on her constructive dismissal claim from Lord Sugar's IT firm Viglen after she claimed she had no real role at the company.
She told an employment tribunal her boss Bordan Tkachuk informed her, "there is no job", on her first day.
But Lord Sugar said she was a "headline grabber" who was "desperate for money".
One of her rivals, Stuart "The Brand" Baggs, who made the final three, became known for outrageous statements including: "I'm not a one-trick pony, I'm not a 10-trick pony - I've got a field of ponies waiting to literally run towards this job."
Inventor Tom Pellereau was the first contestant to win the chance to set up his own company with a £250,000 investment and help and advice from Lord Sugar.
His scheme to redesign office chairs failed to impress his business partner in the final of the show, but one invention, a curved nail file has gone into production and is now stocked by Sainsbury's, Tesco and Amazon.
He says he "cannot help" but come up with new inventions almost every day - which he says could been seen by some as "an affliction".
He has worked on other products including a range of baby feeding accessories.
Biochemist, recruitment manager and wrestler Ricky Martin won Lord Sugar's £250,000 investment after pitching the idea for a specialist recruitment company for science and technology jobs.
He launched Essex-based Hyper Recruitment Solutions in October
Lord Sugar decided against backing finalist Nick Holzherr's food website and smartphone app idea.
But Mr Holzherr has since been backed by private and institutional investors and set the business up with another partner.


The death of a Dundee man who fell from a top-floor flat was not due to the actions of police officers, an inquiry has concluded.

Steven Smeaton died after falling from the window of the property in Forester Street on 7 September 2016.
Mr Smeaton had spoken to officers hours earlier after they were called to the flat after reports of a disturbance.
The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner's (PIRC) launched an inquiry following the death.
It concluded that Mr Smeaton's death was "not attributable to any act or omission by officers".
The investigation report also determined that there was nothing to suggest to the police, either from Mr Smeaton's behaviour or actions, that he was considering taking his own life.
Police were called to the flat after neighbours reported hearing shouting and a child crying.
The report said: "After entering the property, they spoke to a man and a woman, both of whom were uncooperative and evasive.
"They stated they were not in a relationship and the person responsible for the disturbance had left the premises before the police had arrived.
"The woman also said she was happy for the man to remain in the flat and officers were content that the child, who was in bed, was not distressed and appeared to be safe and well."
After checking with their control room that Mr Smeaton was not wanted for any warrants and satisfied there was no domestic incident to investigate, the police officers left the flat.
The report said: "Hours later, the 33-year-old man was found dead in the street, having fallen or jumped from a window of the building."
The investigation concluded that police officers had responded to the initial call within the required 15 minute timescale.
It said their actions were "appropriate" to gain access to the flat and check on the welfare of the occupants.
Commissioner Kate Frame said: "Having investigated the initial report of a disturbance, the police officers found nothing to indicate the man was considering taking his own life and, from all the available evidence, there is nothing to suggest his death was attributable to an act or omission by the police officers."


Denmark's shores have been invaded by an unwelcome army of non-native oysters, but it looks like China may help eat its way to the rescue.

Around 500 tonnes of the molluscs are clogging parts of the Scandinavian coast, threatening native species.
In jest, Denmark's embassy in China turned to social media, inviting Chinese tourists to eat the shellfish.
Following a ravenous response from netizens, companies like internet giant Alibaba offered to help out.
This all started with the embassy's post in late April (in Chinese) on Twitter-like site Weibo about the oyster problem.
It explained how the Pacific oyster species was introduced from Asia about a decade ago but numbers have increased so rapidly they now surpass their local counterparts.
The post has received more than 15,000 responses to date, including offers to "eat them to extinction".
Some have even asked for free trips or an "eaters visa" to Denmark.
The embassy has continued to play along, declining free trips but saying they would forward the "creative ideas to relevant officials".
As the post became a national talking point, Alibaba - the dominant online marketplace in China - got in touch with Danish officials, later announcing they had "agreed on further collaboration".
Its online shopping unit Tmall said it was in talks with customs authorities in Hangzhou over ways to expedite the process of bringing the oysters - and other agricultural products - into China.
The embassy even held a live internet demonstration on Tmall showing different ways to eat an oyster. Instead of downing it raw with a drizzle of lemon or tabasco sauce, which is popular in the West, many Chinese foodies prefer them crushed then grilled with mashed garlic and chilli sauce.
Danish embassy officials told the BBC they had also received "serious requests" from other e-commerce firms wanting to take on the unwanted seafood.
But they stressed it was "important that the relevant food authorities in both countries agree on the import/export situation and then practical things can start from there".
It isn't just e-commerce firms whose appetites have been whetted. Chinese travel agencies are also pitching a "special gourmet tour" to Denmark.
"Let's help the Danes eliminate these oysters invaders!" wrote one Beijing tour operator, which is also offering a certificate after completing the trip.
Danish fisherman and tourism industries are already feeling "optimistic" about the impact of the viral news, according to embassy officials.
"Since these Pacific oysters took Chinese headlines for more than one week, many local seafood traders in Denmark have received business requests, as many as 10 on a daily basis.
"Danish travel agencies that offer tailored oyster tours to the Western coast of Denmark have also got back with an increase in their business, mostly from Chinese tourists."
It helps that 2017 had already been designated an official China-Denmark tourism year, with a roster of programmes in place.
Alibaba and Denmark also signed a memorandum of understanding in March to increase Danish exports and promote the Nordic country as a tourist destination.
Denmark's Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen also happened to be in China on an official visit this week.
He met his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang in Beijing on Wednesday and signed a range of trade deals, including one to export Danish pork and organic produce to China.
They also agreed on the loan of two Chinese pandas to a zoo in Copenhagen. There was no word on whether the molluscs crisis was mentioned though.
There is also the question of whether the online appetite will materialise on the ground, given China produces about 80% of the world's farmed oysters.
Additional reporting by Tessa Wong.


Brutal in Dublin, entertaining in London and thrilling in Edinburgh, the second weekend of the 2015 Six Nations had pretty much everything.

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England's attack sparked into life as they ran in six tries against Italy, Ireland survived a late pummelling by France to also stay unbeaten and Wales rediscovered some form as they clung on away to Scotland.
Player of the weekend:
Ireland fly-half Johnny Sexton. I thought he was sensational. To come back after 12 weeks out and be straight back at the same level, if not a slightly higher one, was phenomenal.
Try of the week:
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England centre Jonathan Joseph's first try against Italy. It was hard to pick between this score and his second one, which was a training ground move that came off perfectly.
But every now and then you like to have a bit of magic sprinkled on a rugby pitch and the way he stepped and left Italy fly-half Kelly Haimona was just magical, and after that his pace was awesome.
Memory of the weekend:
Former Scotland scrum-half and fellow BBC pundit Andy Nicol's beard. It is a tad grey with some strawberry blonde in there - I'm not sure if he is going for the elder statesman look, but I haven't worked it out at all.
A lot of people have been making the comparison between myself and England's double try-scorer Jonathan Joseph, who is now filling the Bath and England midfield role that I once occupied, but there is a big difference between us.
I would anticipate or see a space, be on course to run into it and depend on players feeding me the ball on that angle.
Joseph, by contrast, creates his own space with quick feet and rapid acceleration, and his speed and step will humble defences.
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We have seen him step off his left foot twice to try-scoring effect - firstly to go past Dan Biggar and score against Wales last weekend and then, against Italy on Saturday, he went the same way to beat Haimona and create the gap to score his first.
However, you can't really prepare to play someone like Joseph.
To counter that step, you would try and line up opposite his right shoulder, but that is generally a tackler's weaker side and we don't know yet if Joseph is capable of going the other way, which he might well be.
The hesitation that he causes is his trump card and he is very hard to defend against.
There is one similarity in that we both worked well with our Bath fly-halves - Stuart Barnes for me and George Ford for him.
Liam Williams replaced George North - who was given time off to recover from concussion - and I certainly think there is room for him in the side on a more permanent basis.
He deserves to be in that side on form at both regional and international level and, even though Dan Biggar gives you a decent place-kicking option, Leigh Halfpenny keeps on proving himself in pressure situations at that level.
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I think you would go with those two and either one of George North and Alex Cuthbert. Right now, form-wise, it doesn't really matter which one of those two you go for. Neither is setting the world alight.
I got the feeling right from the start against Scotland that Wales were going to play a bit more rugby than they did last week against England.
Apart from two changes forced by injury, coach Warren Gatland stuck with the same team that lost to England. I think he felt he had to do that to answer those critics who had questioned their performance last weekend.
In the end they did a half-decent job. I wouldn't say it was conclusive, because Scotland had enough chances to win the game, but Wales showed a more clinical edge to take theirs.
It is the same old story. On the positive side they create chances, but they just are not finishing them.
I'm not being down on Scotland. I'm just frustrated by their failure to deliver on that potential and I'm not even Scottish.
They play too much rugby in their own half. They have to learn that international rugby is more about territory rather than possession and if you run the ball and take chances in your own half, you risk being turned over or giving away kickable penalties.
At the other end of the pitch, they failed to take a host of clear chances because of a lack of a clear pattern.
They have all caught white-line fever, they are blinded by the fact they are so close to scoring rather than being calculated and knowing what they are going to do.
Last week against France they went wide and scored outside France through Dougie Fife, this week they played it narrow and the Welsh defence was waiting for them in the tight channels.
They need an organised structure to make sure they get through those crucial last five metres and over the line.
The Irish team are like German engineering - they are efficient, they are reliable and you can count on them to do a really good job.
There is nothing spectacular about their play at the moment. It is prescriptive - head coach Joe Schmidt has nailed down every bit of detail - but without being boring.
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The players look incredibly fit, and they look energetic and happy in their work. Their defence is solid - they have conceded one try in their two games - and when they are backed up by kicking as good as Jonathan Sexton's and Conor Murray's, it makes a team difficult to overcome.
The England game in a fortnight is going to be like a game of chess with both sides looking for that checkmate move.
England probably have a few more X-Factor players who can win a game in a short amount of time and little space, but you have to weigh that against the collective strength of an Ireland side who have won their last nine Tests.
It is difficult to call, but, at home, Ireland are going to be tough to crack.
Jerry was talking to BBC Sport's Mike Henson


A diet high in red meat can shorten life expectancy, according to researchers at Harvard Medical School.

The study of more than 120,000 people suggested red meat increased the risk of death from cancer and heart problems.
Substituting red meat with fish, chicken or nuts lowered the risks, the authors said.
The British Heart Foundation said red meat could still be eaten as part of a balanced diet.
The researchers analysed data from 37,698 men between 1986 and 2008 and 83,644 women between 1980 and 2008.
They said that during the study period, adding an extra portion of unprocessed red meat to someone's daily diet would increase the risk of death by 13%, of fatal cardiovascular disease by 18% and of cancer mortality by 10%. The figures for processed meat were higher, 20% for overall mortality, 21% for death from heart problems and 16% for cancer mortality.
The study,published in Archives of Internal Medicine, said: "We found that a higher intake of red meat was associated with a significantly elevated risk of total, cardiovascular disease, and cancer mortality.
"This association was observed for unprocessed and processed red meat with a relatively greater risk for processed red meat."
The researchers suggested that saturated fat from red meat may be behind the increased heart risk and the sodium used in processed meats may "increase cardiovascular disease risk through its effect on blood pressure".
Victoria Taylor, a dietitian at the British Heart Foundation, said: "Red meat can still be eaten as part of a balanced diet, but go for the leaner cuts and use healthier cooking methods such as grilling.
She suggested adding more variation to your diet with "other protein sources such as fish, poultry, beans or lentils."


An ancient monument in Syria that was destroyed has been recreated using 3D printing technology, and put on display in London's Trafalgar Square.

The original arch was built by the Romans in the city of Palmyra 2,000 years ago.
In May 2015, Palmyra was taken over by the so-called Islamic State group, which damaged many of the buildings.
The city was recaptured by forces loyal to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in March 2016.
Palmyra is thought to be one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world. It's a United Nations World Heritage Site.
A team from the Institute for Digital Archaeology have studied photographs of the original arch and used 3D technology to build a model of it from Egyptian marble.
The arch will be on display at Trafalgar Square for three days, before being taken on a tour of other cities around the world.
The plan is then to take it to Palmyra itself next year, where it will be displayed near to where the original arch used to stand.


Blackpool Council has said it will pay £14m for the construction of a four-star hotel as part of plans to attract visitors to the resort.

The council hopes to borrow £11.3m for a new 130-room hotel in the Talbot Gateway area and expects future profits to cover the cost.
Holiday Inn is the preferred chain although a deal is yet to be signed.
The town's hoteliers criticised the move, claiming there is enough four-star accommodation already available.
A third-party company will provide accommodation services for the hotel, which will be owned by Blackpool Council.
Deputy council leader Fred Jackson, said the hotel development would help to attract more conference business to the town.
"All the delegates for conferences won't stay in the four-star hotel, so the other hotels in Blackpool will benefit from this development as well."
He added: "One of the criticisms we've had in the past has been that the conferences no longer want to come because there is no quality hotel in the town centre."
Claire Smith, president of the hoteliers' organisation StayBlackpool, disagreed.
"The conference accommodation offer has never been criticised, it always was the conference facilities that they were going on about.
"Had it been a five-star hotel, that would add to Blackpool and we would have been in favour of it."
If planning permission is granted, the hotel is expected to open in two years' time on the site of the East Topping Street car park.
The council said it had already raised £2.7m towards the cost of the hotel from the regeneration of the Talbot Gateway area.


A ceramics firm has opened a new £3m headquarters in Stoke-on-Trent, with plans to create about 25 new jobs.

Valentine Clays produces raw materials for the ceramics industry, supplying local firms as well as others across the world.
The latest investment includes a workshop, gallery and training space at the new base in Fenton.
Production is also set to move to the site in the next five years with two factories planned.
Local business leaders said the ceramics sector had enjoyed a resurgence in recent years and they are keen to show young people it was no longer the "dirty environment" it used to be, but a "high-tech, modern" industry.


There have been concerns that the quality of education has been stagnant in too many countries across Latin America.

This is a major problem in a globalised economy, where rewards go to the most highly-skilled and most productive workers, and where there is more importance than ever attached to high-quality education.
But how do we measure the quality of education in Latin America against global standards if there is an unwillingness to take part in international tests? How can would-be reformers compare results across international borders?
Among the most widely recognised international comparisons are the Pisa tests - the Programme for International Student Assessment - conducted every three years by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
In Latin America, the regional rankings of these international tests taken by 15 year olds in maths, reading and science, are headed by diminutive Chile, ahead of economic powerhouses like Brazil and Mexico.
But most countries remain off the ranking completely.
Part of the reluctance for many Latin American countries might be a fear of being compared with world leaders in education like Finland and Japan.
Even Chile, the highest ranking country in the region, is considerably below the global average for these tests, with the average in the Pisa tests being countries such as the UK and France.
But the Pisa exam has also generated significant controversy over its methodology and design, leading to concerns - common to many standardised tests - that it does not adequately measure the quality of instruction. Or that it does not truly capture the diversity of contexts facing such different school systems.
These concerns are reflected in the fact that fewer than half of Latin American countries currently participate.
But there are other tests that can provide a global scale for measurement. Unesco's Third Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (TERCE) covers a much larger part of the region.
This has evaluated 15 countries, including Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia, as well as smaller participants such as Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay.
The assessment also has a broader range than Pisa, looking at children at different stages of development (at the ages of eight and 11), and evaluating the context of each school.
What TERCE found was reason for cautious optimism - but also renewed effort. Its comparison between its last evaluation in 2006 and today showed a modest but broad improvement in test results across the majority of Latin American countries.
More stories from the BBC's Knowledge economy series looking at education from a global perspective and how to get in touch
These rankings were also headed by Chile, followed by Costa Rica and Uruguay. But they also allowed a comparison with countries missing from the Pisa tests, such as Guatemala and Paraguay, which appear in the lower half of the TERCE test scores.
But despite - or even because of - the surrounding controversy, these tests have already served an important purpose.
Whatever their flaws, they have brought attention to the fact that the massive expansion of access to education in the region, a major victory in itself, isn't sufficient without an equal improvement in quality.
No longer can policymakers ignore the reality that even Latin America's best performing countries, much less its average ones, are far behind the developed world, and far behind where they need to be to compete in the global economy.
A student from Honduras or Paraguay is competing for jobs with graduates in Singapore and South Korea.
As a result, demand for better education is swelling from the bottom up, as individual students, parents, and civil society groups are gaining greater awareness of how their schools stack up to international standards.
The international comparisons have also imparted a necessary lesson - that increased investment alone cannot solve education problems.
Latin America's education systems spend nearly as much as the OECD average, with some spending as much as 6% of GDP, while producing lacklustre results.
More funding is in some cases necessary, but without a rigorous and targeted approach to ensure that it is spent well, the extra money may just be wasted.
That's why a new conversation is needed in Latin America, one that focuses on innovative ways to improve quality - and quickly.
A wave of new participants - social entrepreneurs, private businesses, investment funds, foundations, and advocacy groups - are taking the lead in introducing new pedagogies, new technologies, and structural reforms in their education systems.
And projects like Pisa and TERCE are helping to put these issues front and centre on the public policy agenda.
The next generation of students has little time to lose.
Gabriel Sanchez Zinny is author of EducaciÃ³n 3.0: The Struggle for Talent in Latin America


Mainland Chinese shares closed lower on Wednesday after the US index provider MSCI held off including China-listed shares in a key benchmark index.

The delay to include the shares was seen as a setback in China's attempts to open up its financial markets and attract foreign capital.
Trading of mainland shares have been volatile but continue to hit new highs.
The Shanghai Composite closed down 0.15% to 5,106.04 after falling more than 2% earlier.
Even though MSCI said the decision around China-listed shares would remain on its 2016 review list, the delay shows that global asset managers still have reservations about Beijing's willingness to fully open up its capital markets, according to analysts.
"The early morning announcement suggests that China needs to step up its efforts to liberalise the A shares (Shanghai) market, in particular, increasing foreign participation," said Bernard Aw, market strategist at IG Markets in a note.
Shares in China National Nuclear Power (CNNPC) jumped 20% in their Shanghai debut after raising $2.1bn (??1.3bn) in the country's largest initial public offering since 2011.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed down 1.1% to 26,687.64 points.
Japan's Nikkei 225 also reversed earlier gains to close down 0.3% at 20,046.36, as the yen strengthened after the central bank governor said a further decline in the currency was "unlikely".
The dollar fell to as low as 122.77 yen from the day's high of 124.63 and last stood at 123.03.
Investors seemed to ignore data that showed core machinery orders unexpectedly rose in April by 3.8% from the previous month - much higher than expectations of a 2% decline and up from a 2.9% increase in March.
This is a sign that business spending is gaining strength, according to analysts, who said a weaker yen was supporting exporters and the manufacturing sector.
In an announcement made after markets closed, Japanese insurer Tokio Marine Holdings confirmed it would purchase the American-based insurance firm HCC Insurance Holdings for $7.5bn (??4.85bn).
The move is a continuation of the firm's overseas expansion as it looks outside of Japan for continued profit growth.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index closed up 0.1% at 5,478.60 points.
Shares of Westpac ended flat after one of the country's biggest banks said that it was splitting its most profitable retail and business banking division to simplify the organisation and improve accountability.
It also announced that the manager in charge of the combined group - Jason Yetton - would leave the bank and position he has held since November 2011.
South Korean shares finished down with the benchmark Kospi index some 0.6% lower at 2,051.32.


Pupils in Scotland are doing less well in maths, according to the latest Scottish government figures.

Between 2013 and 2015, the proportion of P4 and S2 students performing "well or very well" fell.
Pupils from better off areas recorded better results than those from the most deprived communities.
The country's new education secretary John Swinney said the statistics reinforced the need to improve attainment.
The statistics feature in the latest Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy (SSLN) which is an annual sample monitoring national performance of school children at P4, P7 and S2 in literacy and numeracy.
Approximately 10,500 pupils in 2,200 schools took part in the 2015 survey.
Numeracy performance was highest at P4 and P7 with 66% of pupils at those stages performing well or very well. At S2, 40% of pupils performed well or very well.
After the figures were published, Mr Swinney said: "We have much to do to ensure our young people are supported to improve their understanding and use of numeracy, and our teachers are equipped with the knowledge, skills and confidence to drive up standards in this area.
"We have introduced several measures since numeracy statistics were last published in 2014 as part of our firm commitment to address the attainment gap."
Fiona's annual electricity bill is Â£400. A wind turbine would reduce this bill by 25%.
The turbine costs Â£2,000 to install.
From the savings she makes, how many years would it take her to pay for the cost of the wind turbine?
(Answer at the bottom of the story)
Other findings in the survey included:
The Scottish Conservative Party's education spokeswoman Liz Smith said the "appalling" figures showed the SNP was "failing Scotland's pupils and failing to close the attainment gap".
She added: "The SNP has completely taken its eye of the ball when it comes to education and helping those from the most deprived backgrounds to succeed. The Scottish Conservatives will hold the Nationalists to account on their poor record on education.
"We have said for quite some time that the attainment gap between children from poorer and richer backgrounds remains the biggest challenge in our education system. The SNP must look at narrowing this gap now, as a matter of priority."
Scottish Labour education spokesman Iain Gray called the figures a disgrace.
He added: "Our children pay the price in poorer literacy and numeracy skills. No wonder the SNP hid these figures until after the election. They lay bare their failure on education. Performance fell in every category and every stage, and the gap between the richest and the rest increased.
"John Swinney says these new figures show the scale of the challenge he faces, but it is a challenge he created himself by slashing investment in education during his near decade in charge of Scotland's finances."
Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer said the survey showed that the new education secretary must "get to grips with the inequality that is becoming embedded in our society".
He added: "Rather than pursuing national testing, the Scottish government should be making its priorities in our schools the recruitment and retention of staff and the reduction of staff workload.
"Supporting teachers to create stimulating learning environments is essential, as numeracy is a vital skill that equips young people for the challenges of adult life."


Politicians may sometimes liken an election campaign to climbing a mountain.

Those looking for votes in the Irish nationalist battlegrounds, near the border in counties Down and Armagh, may literally walk up a few hills.
As any constituency will have a tight race for the final seats, it is well worth knocking on the doors of isolated dwellings nestled up high.
Newry and Armagh is a bellwether constituency for nationalist politics.
For almost 20 years, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) deputy leader, Seamus Mallon, was the MP.
That was back when his party was the major force in nationalism.
But Sinn Féin now dominates - holding the Westminster seat and having three Newry and Armagh MLAs to the SDLP's one Stormont representative.
If the electoral dynamics are to shift again, the SDLP will need to make inroads in places like this.
I asked people in Newry about how they voted - and their thoughts generally chimed with the election results over the last 15 years or so.
A number said they used to vote SDLP, but not any more.
"They seem to have lost their way," said one man.
"They disappeared after John Hume and Seamus Mallon stood down," a woman told me.
But Colum Eastwood - the SDLP's new leader - says he is serious about retaking ground.
At 32, he is the youngest party leader in the upcoming Northern Ireland Assembly election.
South Down MLA Karen McKevitt says he has been "a breath of fresh air".
She will switch constituencies to run in Newry and Armagh in the assembly poll.
"People stop me in the street and say how proud they are that the SDLP have made a change in leadership," she says.
"That's strong. But that also tells me that people are sick of orange-and-green politics.
"They want to see change. We want to make that change."
The SDLP goes into the election in May with 14 seats. Sinn Féin has 29.
It will be the republican party's second election this year.
They hope to improve on their tally in the Irish parliament (Dáil) in the general election expected in the next couple of months.
Sinn Féin MLA Conor Murphy says standing in both elections is in itself a strategy which will appeal to northern nationalist voters.
"We want to see the breaking down of the barriers that have prevented economic growth in border areas," he explains.
"We're a party that is in a position to do things like that on both sides of the border.
"We don't just talk the talk on reunification - we stand in elections, to have the maximum change from north to south and east to west."
He believes the change in the SDLP leadership will not make a difference to Sinn Féin, pointing out that the SDLP has changed leader three times since 2010.
In Newry, the people I spoke to did not seem to be sure yet whether Mr Eastwood would make an impact.
Some welcomed the fact he was young - one expressed hope that younger politicians would help older ones "catch themselves on".
Others said he needed to raise his profile.
Voters gave a long list of issues which they felt politicians should deal with - transport, health, education, infrastructure.
There were also plenty who said they were "fed up" of politics in general and would not vote this time round.
Politicians of all shades talk about these people a  lot.
They believe that if they win over would-be non-voters, it will unlock the key to electoral gains.
For nationalist politicians in particular, Newry and Armagh is a strategic and symbolic constituency.
Expect campaigning to step up all the way to Thursday 5 May.


Oscar Pistorius spent an unexpected weekend in jail - his release into "house arrest" or correctional supervision was stalled at the last minute by a demand from the Justice Minister Michael Masutha for the decision to be reviewed.

There may not be many tears shed for the 28-year-old athlete, by those who question that he was convicted of manslaughter, not murder but an appeal on that matter is due in November and it will be up to the judges to decide.
But what happens in the next few weeks, possibly months, regarding the release of the world famous athlete into house arrest, could have far reaching consequences for thousands of other inmates.
It could also create an administrative nightmare for the 52 parole boards, charged with deciding the fate of prisoners in South Africa's packed jails.
An overwhelming number of experts agree that the minister has a "valid legal point" in challenging the timing and mechanics of how the decision to release Pistorius was reached.
But how much did political expediency play a part?
Was the minister merely political point scoring by announcing his objection three days before Pistorius was due to be released, making himself available to the press on what would have been Reeva Steenkamp's 32nd birthday?
It begs the question: if Pistorius was not a high profile prisoner, would the minister have bothered?
At stake is whether the champion athlete nick named the "blade runner" was given preferential treatment over more than 3,000 other inmates considered for correctional supervision.
Was the decision, made in June - two months before he had served his mandatory one sixth of his sentence -  premature?
It has emerged that the demands of a women's lobby group, (with close links to the ruling party's African National Congress (ANC) Women's League) who presented a petition to review the decision on the grounds of "sensitivity", were initially ignored by South Africa's justice department.
They then resurfaced just days before Pistorius was due for release on 21 August.
Did the minister spot a photo opportunity, some mutter, cynically?
Jacqui Mofokeng, one of he leaders of the Progressive Women's Movement of South Africa, told me it was not a political move on the part of the minister, and played down any suggestions of political leverage her group had applied.
"It was a petition, but it doesn't mean that it was lobbying," she told me.
She said she had spoken to the Steenkamp family the evening the justice minister had made his decision, and said she had their "blessing".
There is no doubt South Africa has a deplorable record when it comes to domestic violence and women's groups have worked tirelessly to raise the profile of what is often a silent issue.
Some 1,024 women were killed in domestic violence incidents last year.
Reeva Steenkamp's family, who are setting up a foundation to draw attention to this form of crime, have found an unlikely ally with the ANC - South Africa's ruling party.
But some fear there is a real danger that the Pistorius case is being used as a political tool with the unintended consequence of causing a log jam in South Africa's already stretched prison system?
Do we care?
Perhaps we should when South Africa's prison population is the eighth highest in the world, according to the International Centre for Prison Studies, and like in many other countries, alternatives to incarceration are being considered by penal authorities in South Africa.
When sentencing Oscar Pistorius last year, Judge Thokozile Masipa explicitly said she wanted to dispel any impression that the champion athlete was being treated differently from other prisoners and that "there was one law for the poor and disadvantaged and another for the rich and famous".
However, the events of last week seem to indicate that the politicians have done exactly the opposite.
Mannie Witz, a barrister who has been watching the Pistorius case closely, says in practice, for inmates who are considered for correctional supervision, the process begins several months before their "time is up".
This is in accordance with regulations.
"If you are going to be released on a particular date, there are a whole load of checks and balances that need to be carried out.
"In practice the way it has always worked is that you have to have this done, before the actual day."
If the review team, called upon by the justice minister to review the decision, finds that in the athlete's case it was premature, "then they will have to review every other case", warns Mr Witz.
That could cause delays of months, in some cases years.
Excessive delays could also prompt human rights challenges in the constitutional court.
The creeping of party politics into legal cases is not a uniquely South African issue, but the Pistorius case has revived concerns among defenders of the country's democratic credentials.
"Politics is not sneaking into South African law it galloping in thunderously," is the view from retired Judge Johann Kriegler, who heads up the lobby group Freedom Under Law, which has repeatedly sounded warnings about "political interference" .
The stalling of Pistorius' release happened on the same week as charges against a senior figure in South Africa's National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), appointed by President Jacob Zuma, were dropped.
The case of Nomgcobo Jiba occupied hundreds of column inches in the South African newspapers.
It is a complex case, filled with political intrigue which consequently received very little attention from the international media.
But it is an important example of what some see as a worrying trend and the elephant in the corner which the Oscar Pistorius obsession eclipsed.
David Lewis, of the monitoring group Corruption Watch, is among those increasingly concerned about the blurring of lines which separate party politics and state machinery.
He agues that whilst there may have been "gross interference in the organisation and composition and decisions made by prosecuting authorities (such as the NPA) miraculously the judiciary have managed to assert themselves and remain independent".
That should give some comfort to those monitoring the Pistorius "correction supervision" decision, on the look out for political meddling.
A judge leading up a panel of four other experts will review the circumstances of him getting the green light to leave prison on 21 August.
No-one is questioning the independence of that body.
The justice minister's actions in the Pistorius case may have been variously described to me by critics as " distasteful", "clumsy", "crass" and "crude", regardless of where they stand on the murder versus manslaughter verdict.
However, those who watch these matters closely say the spotlight really needs to be refocused on those who - unlike Pistorius - have not yet entered the judicial system, and who may never get their day in court, thanks to friends in high places.
The making and unmaking of Oscar Pistorius
Oscar Pistorius - in 60 seconds


Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may be the prohibitive favourite to win the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, but that doesn't mean the political ground beneath her feet is solid.

In 2008 and again in 2012 a liberal coalition of minorities, college-educated whites and single women gave Barack Obama more than enough votes to comfortably win the presidency. Can it hold fast after he exits the stage next year?
A two-term presidency can paper over a host of fissures within a political movement. The longer a party stays in power, the more competing interests are liable to grow dissatisfied with their share of the governing pie.
Sometimes the centre holds. In 1988, for instance, George HW Bush rode to power on the strength of the Ronald Reagan governing coalition. By 1992, however, the foundation had given way, as fiscal and social conservatives revolted, ushering in eight years of Democratic rule and pushing the Republican Party farther to the right.
At the Netroots Nation conference of left-wing activists in Phoenix, Arizona, last week, the fault lines within today's Democratic Party were on full display. And while Mrs Clinton was more than a thousand miles away, honouring "prior commitments" in Iowa and Arkansas, the events that transpired in the desert this weekend should give her pause.
There's no question, for instance, that the enthusiasm and support for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders' insurgent presidential campaign is real. He's climbed in polls over the past few weeks, and on Saturday night 11,000 turned out to hear the firebrand socialist give one of his 60-minute stem-winders.
On the menu was a heavy dose of liberal red meat - including condemnation of the "billionaire class" and calls for higher taxes on the wealthy, expanding government-run healthcare programmes, raising the minimum wage and tuition-free college education.
"Bernie Sanders stands up for what's just and right," says conference attendee Jean Devine of Phoenix. "He's for the Democratic ideals of equality for all people and for the rich not being able to buy elections."
While in Arizona, campaign supporters hoisted banners and toasted their man at a local nightclub with cleverly named cocktails like "Weekend at Bernie's" and "Vermont Treehugger" (with maple syrup-infused whiskey).
There was a point in time when Mrs Clinton was the cool Democrat. She had her own internet meme. She was near universally beloved by party faithful. Now, however - at least among the rank and file at Netroots Nation - Mr Sanders is the candidate of the hour.
The Vermont senator has given voice to the frustration and anger that some on the left feel over the current state of US politics. They helped elect Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, but their goal of enacting a full progressive agenda seems to them far from realised.
"Bernie's looking pretty good," says Hanna Roditi of Connecticut. "He's the only one who doesn't cater to corporations. The policies that he supports have more to do with people's needs."
The most common adjectives used to describe Mrs Clinton in Phoenix, on the other hand, were "calculating," "cautious" and "corporate".
"I won't vote for her," Roditi says, adding that if Mr Sanders doesn't win the Democratic nomination she'll write in his name on the general election ballot.
The establishment - whether in the government or the Democratic Party - was a source of anger time and again at the conference. During a Thursday afternoon panel discussion, EJ Juarez, director of Progress Majority Washington - singled out Democratic campaign managers in particular for betraying their party's progressive ideals.
"We ceded a lot of the soul of our values off to contractors who don't often adopt the equity principles we talk about," he said. "They aren't talking the same language."
On Friday morning Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, a champion of the left, used her keynote address to rail against an "insider Washington" that ignores the liberal priorities of the nation at large - on issues like gun control, income inequality and tighter Wall Street controls.
"The American people are progressive, and our day is coming," she said.
After calling out the financial behemoth Citigroup by name, she said the US government - even during the Obama administration - has been dominated by Wall Street insiders. She then offered some advice for candidates seeking the presidency.
"I think that anyone running for that job - anyone who wants the power to make every key economic appointment and every key nomination - should say loud and clear we don't run this country for Wall Street and mega-corporations, we run it for people," she said to cheers.
It was likely a barb aimed at Mrs Clinton - who has been criticised by some on the left for being in the thrall of big-money donors - and set the stage for the Saturday's presidential town hall forum featuring Mr Sanders and fellow candidate Martin O'Malley.
A funny thing happened on the way to the forum, however - evidence of yet another frayed fibre in the Democratic electoral quilt.
Mr O'Malley took the stage first, and about 20 minutes into his question-and-answer session a group of several dozen protesters from the group Black Lives Matter interrupted the proceedings with chants, songs and shouts.
Tia Oso, leader of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, commandeered a microphone and asked the former Baltimore mayor what he would do to "begin to dismantle structural racism in the United States".
Mr O'Malley was met by boos when he said: "Black lives matter. White lives matter. All lives matter." (He would later apologise, saying he did not want to "disrespect" the passion and commitment of the protesters.)
The demonstrations continued for Mr Sanders. At one point the senator snapped: "If you don't want me to be here, that's OK. I don't want to outscream people". He would later cancel previously scheduled afternoon meetings with conference attendees, including one with the Black Lives Matter group.
By evening, however, the Bernie show was back. The Phoenix conference centre was packed with the campaign loyalists in a display of grass-roots support outpacing even the 10,000 who turned out just weeks earlier in Madison, Wisconsin.
Unlike that Mid-west liberal bastion, however, Arizona is decidedly conservative - an indication that the senator is drawing power across the country.
The true-believing left does have a history of rallying behind unvarnished candidates like Mr Sanders, however, and they have met with limited success. Paul Tsongas in 1992, Bill Bradley in 2000 and Howard Dean in 2004 are but a few of the men who failed to translate big crowds and energetic support into primary victories.
Mrs Clinton must hope that the Sanders campaign meets with a similar fate - and when it does, that progressive loyalists like conference attendee Pam Miles of Huntsville, Alabama return to the fold.
"Bernie Sanders says everything that I feel," Miles says. "He's a dynamo, he is a truth-teller, he speaks truth to power. I love Bernie."
She adds, however, that she'll be happy to back Mrs Clinton if she gets the nomination. She says she's keen to avoid the kind of intra-party discord that marred the Clinton-Obama battles of 2008.
"In '08 it was absolutely horrible," she says. "It broke friendships, it hurt feelings. I'm not going to do that this time."
As for the Black Lives Matters activists who became the surprise story of Phoenix, Wesley Lowery of the Washington Post asked Mrs Clinton how she would have responded to the protesters during a Facebook question-and-answer session on Monday.
"Black lives matter. Everyone in this country should stand firmly behind that," she replied. "We need to acknowledge some hard truths about race and justice in this country, and one of those hard truths is that that racial inequality is not merely a symptom of economic inequality. Black people across America still experience racism every day."
She went on to recommend body cameras for US police officers, sentencing reform, voting rights and early childhood education.
Unlike her Democratic competitors, Mrs Clinton had the luxury of time to respond to this latest challenge. Whether it will be enough to weather what could be a coming storm, however, remains to be seen.