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Amazing news - an absolute liability and a terrible politician.
“healthcare … gone down the tubes.”
you’ve been reading too much tory press and BBC criticism.
Try and get a vasectomy via NHS Grampian as just one example.
3 year waiting list with Grampian currently not doing any.
Defend her all you like, but Health is a devolved matter and the NHS is worse under her tenure. If it was a Tory FM the same people would be up in arms about the current situations.
This place is slipping three pages in and this hasn't been posted yet...! 🙂
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Interesting how there's a couple of sleeper users that seem to have popped out just for this post, anyone else read this story and wonder if STW is also on the social-media list?
I see the big swinging dicks are exposing themselves on this thread, given the choice between living in SNP led Scotland vs the car crash of English politics over the previous 12 years I’m very happy that we’ve had a progressive social led First Minister attempting to do her best for the country.
there’s a couple of sleeper users
It's just a big (and unexpected) news item about a leading politician that elicits strong opinions (for many reasons)... will lead to some people posting who rarely normally bother. Nothing suspicious about that really.
3 year waiting list with Grampian currently not doing any.
guessing because it isn't an essential operation so they are prioritising others.
Try and get a vasectomy via NHS Grampian as just one example.
3 year waiting list with Grampian currently not doing any.
Defend her all you like, but Health is a devolved matter and the NHS is worse under her tenure. If it was a Tory FM the same people would be up in arms about the current situations.
Can you possibly imagine any global healthcare crisis over the last couple of years that might have caused some problems for non-urgent surgical waiting lists.
Yes, health is a devolved issue, but at the end of the day Scottish Government gets a set budget amount and has to try and cover services - Westminster has the purse strings, and they're currently held tight by a Tory government committed to undermining the NHS across the UK in order to pave the way for increasing privatisation. I'm in the privileged situation of having access to private health care - guess what, I can see one of the same 'NHS'surgeons in a matter of weeks, not years. Doesn't matter who's in power at Holyrood, Westminster has ultimate control.
I think she will be a very difficult act to follow. None of the contenders mentioned have anything like her stature indeed I find most of them repellant
I also think this will be used by factions withing the party to try to change the direction. Sturgeon took the party towards a more leftwing socially liberal approach and was ( IMO rightly) cautious on what she did to get independence
There are a number of possible splitlines. There are the fundamentalist independence folk who seem to believe she would rather be a provincial governer than the first PM of an independent Scotland. Now to me this has no logic and is a conspiracy theory but there is no doubt its a position held by a significant % of the party and the wider movement. Then there is the other side of this - pragmatists or incrementalists.
Then there is the faultline between the younger more urban SNP supporters who tend to be pretty leftwing and the older more rural ones who tend to be more conservative especially on social issues. In recent years the lefties have taken more and more power even finally sidelining Fergus Ewing - the shooters friend who epitomises the "tartan tories" I'm sure that faction will want to regain the power they have lost
Then there is the split on "green" issues. a lot of dissatisfaction with the coalition with the greens and a lot of strife over oil with neither side being happy with compromises made. Personally I want the Scots government to be more green but the power of the oil lobby is huge and the Greens have been pretty amaturish and expended huge political capital on the gender reform stuff instead of their core mission
Sturgeon however remains a consomethinge politician - she has left enough time to get this all sorted and out of the way before the next election but it will be very interesting to see which factions on which issues gain and lose thru this
IMO all political parties and politicians lose their way after 10 years or so and in many ways its high time for a bit of a change in Scots politics - but the utter dross from the unionist parties makes it hard to see them making inroads unless they reactivate the Tory / labour pact. Sarwar sounded a decent man with his statement over Sturgeons announcement but Ross just spouted off like the numpty he is.
Sarwar seems to understand the need for a distinctly scottish approach but keeps on getting slapped down by westminster. Until we have a properly independent scottish labour party I don't see them making significant inroads. tories are a completely busted flush and the Lib Dems are reduced to their strongholds with no chance of many gains
My goodness tho - I hope the SNP do find a decent leader. Scotland needs one. Ben McPherson has impressed me as my local MSP but he has little experience but someone like him not tied to the baggage of the past might be a good candidate
Try and get a vasectomy via NHS Grampian as just one example.
Obviously an anecdotal test group of 2 but having moved from Hampshire to the Highlands in 2020 we have been super impressed by the service we've had....when compared to what we left behind. Nothing super serious but ease of getting a GP appointment - speed of follow up tests, getting the results back alongside useful information. The nagging I got (in a positive way) when I didn't get around to sending in bowel cancer check up 'samples' after my 50th triggered them.
I know being less bad than somewhere else is not a true compliment but I'm yet to talk to another 'incomer' who has had the benefit of experiencing more than one system who sees what we have here as a downgrade.
Try and get a vasectomy via NHS Grampian as just one example.
Vet's all over Grampian could step in to help if you need.
Convert - some of that is I think because we have an IT system in NHS Scotland that actually works and no fake market absorbing 10% of the budget
On the NHS I actually think the SNP have done pretty well by and large by not interfering and continually trying to change things.
Until we have a properly independent scottish labour party I don’t see them making significant inroads.
I agree with this wholeheartedly. If an independent labour party could somehow find room for both pro independence and unionists in their manifesto and voters things could change for them and they might well pull some SNP voters across to them. As said above - I do think a labour government in London will make a short to medium term impact on the clamour of a significant proportion for independence (maybe only on the margins of those pro independence - but it's a subtle thing with a majority consensus always a close call) which I guess needs to be put into the mix too.
But agreed, looking at the list of potential candidates to replace her and I'm not yet too enthused.
I see the big swinging dicks are exposing themselves on this thread, given the choice between living in SNP led Scotland vs the car crash of English politics over the previous 12 years I’m very happy that we’ve had a progressive social led First Minister attempting to do her best for the country.
Yeah, whilst she has undoubtedly made mistakes, you at least get the impression that a grown up is in charge.
Sad to see her go. Interesting to see if there's more to the timing- some story about to break or whatever- but the main thing that strikes me is she had that huge apprenticeship under Salmond as leader, but seems to be leaving without any obvious successor or understudy, which isn't ideal. OTOH it's not like the party overall isn't in a good position, and considering the opposition in Scotland... (the greens aside, since they're more or less allies, I had to google to see if Sarwar was still Labour leader, Douglas Ross barely counts, and who knows who's leader of the lib dems?
Yeah, whilst she has undoubtedly made mistakes, you at least get the impression that a grown up is in charge.
And a grown up who to every rational person, regardless of if you believe in her policies or not, has genuinely put herself forward for this position for what she sees as the betterment of a nation rather than themselves. I think you need to go back to Gordon Brown before you have that in London (so basically beyond every recent tory).
Obviously an anecdotal test group of 2 but having moved from Hampshire to the Highlands in 2020 we have been super impressed by the service we’ve had….when compared to what we left behind. Nothing super serious but ease of getting a GP appointment – speed of follow up tests, getting the results back alongside useful information.
And to undo the anecdote in the central belt I effectively have no GP.
some of that is I think because we have an IT system in NHS Scotland that actually works
*cough* bullshit 🙂 If it worked my data would actually be findable on it, instead every time I have an encounter with the NHS I have to repeat my whole medical history because none of it is on the system!
Interesting to see if there’s more to the timing
About timing ... assuming she had decided not to fight the next general election, then stepping down now rather than leave it another 6 or 12 months was the right thing to do for everyone else.
Interesting to see if there’s more to the timing
It's interesting that people are saying this is out of the blue. Some of those saying that have been calling for her to resign for years! However I think she's smart enough to know that if you are going to go - resigning relatively unexpectedly is a far better exit that being ousted after weeks of speculation. My only disappointment is she didn't keep it completely under wraps and make the media think the press conference was going to be about recycling bottles and cans!
My only disappointment is she didn’t keep it completely under wraps and make the media think the press conference was going to be about recycling bottles and cans!
That would've been the ultimate mic drop moment if she had!
Just off a teams meeting at work where a colleague completely misjudged the audience by making a rather crass Krankies joke about her departure. Surely after this long working closely with those present he'd have an idea of our general political stances, but nope.
Just off a teams meeting at work where a colleague completely misjudged the audience by making a rather crass Krankies joke about her departure. Surely after this long working closely with those present he’d have an idea of our general political stances, but nope
🙄. I think it's beyond political affiliation. It's just a pretty vile misogynistic bigoted tell. Mainly used by the ignorant unable to criticize or argue without sophistication. There's plenty to go after her for, but that's not it.
every time I have an encounter with the NHS I have to repeat my whole medical history because none of it is on the system!
Imagine how amazed I was in 2021, when the receptionist at Dumfries a&e, upon me giving my name and date of birth, asked if I was still living at an address in Edinburgh I left in 1996. Never lived in Scotland since.
My only disappointment is she didn’t keep it completely under wraps and make the media think the press conference was going to be about recycling bottles and cans!
That would’ve been the ultimate mic drop moment if she had!
And show less integrity and forthrightness....
IMO, she has done it right and chosen to go at a time of her appointing, head held high and looking to the future. More people in life should do this.
I'm a Scottish independence supporter first and foremost. I joined the SNP because I thought they were a vital part of the campaign for independence, along with the other groups. I supported Nicola at first but not for a few years now, we need a new leader and a change of tactics but there's no obvious choice.
Unlike some I believe that she was and is totally committed to independence, she was just wrong at Key stages in her leadership of the party political independence campaign. The mps at Westminster settled in at the HoC when they should have been showing it up as a farce. Then there was the SNP attitude to the independence marchers whom they seemed to want to control and disown simultaneously.
She was over centralising in government and wanted too much control. For all that I believe she was a strong social democrat and 100% a believer in Scottish independence.
I’m very against separation but have a lot of time for Nicola. She comes across as a decent, principled person. If it wasn’t for the one fairly obvious reason I’d happily have seen her stay on as First Minister.
However I think she judged the public mood on the trans thing very badly. Add that to the ferries and a few other things and she’s not had the best of times recently. And being leader that long does take its toll, both physically and mentally. I genuinely wish her well in whatever she does next.
She’s also a clever lady though. If she honestly thought there was a chance of independence in the near future she would have stayed on. But I guess she knows, though will never admit it, that it’s a dead duck in the near to mid term future. She’s done the smart thing and got out now, rather than face an ignominious exit after the next election.
But overall she has made Scotland a better place to live and this particular unionist thanks her for all her hard work.
Well said Kenny
Its a rare politician that transcends party preference like she has done
Interesting to see if there’s more to the timing- some story about to break or whatever
👽👽👽👽👽👽👽
Meh competant politician in so much as she appears to be a grown up and can string 2 sentences together but record of achievement isn't really any better than many others,2 easy to blame Westminster. Also doggedly pursuing a policy (independance) that would so clearly hurt Scotland wasnt a great move.
The standard of the average UK politician has dropped with her departure though.
She must be knackered. She's certainly come a long way since the old days on BBC's Crackerjack.
Just off a teams meeting at work where a colleague completely misjudged the audience by making a rather crass Krankies joke about her departure
And he's a member on here....
Well, based on what she said about attending the funeral of a friend that made her 100% (from 99%) sure she wanted to resign, I guess she made the right decision.
Life is short, why bother going through all stress with no evidence of the possibility of independence in her lifetime. Let others deal with it as she already had go at it with her best but her best is not enough.
Imagine how amazed I was in 2021, when the receptionist at Dumfries a&e, upon me giving my name and date of birth, asked if I was still living at an address in Edinburgh I left in 1996. Never lived in Scotland since.
Don't think of this as some uniquely Scottish thing. When I was getting jabbed, my record had me down as living at my student address, some 35 years (and obviously many address changes) out of date. No-one had the ability to change it.
Imagine how amazed I was in 2021, when the receptionist at Dumfries a&e, upon me giving my name and date of birth, asked if I was still living at an address in Edinburgh I left in 1996. Never lived in Scotland since.
And Sheffield NHS think we still live there, 13+ years later... Mrs_oab and I have both, on multiple occasions confirmed our new address(es)...
I'm not a SNP voter.
I'm not a fan of some of her ideas however I can say that I think she is a fair and balanced and everything she's done is with the best intentions.
Compared to some of the dross she's erudite, concise and not easy to flustered.
Delivered my favourite boris put down too...
I don't know what stay alert means...
Also doggedly pursuing a policy (independance) that would so clearly hurt Scotland wasnt a great move.
Did she? Or do you mean everyone else doggedly bringing it up at every opportunity?
As for NHS, I never want to have to visit A&E again, they have definitely failed there and in CfE
Gordon Ross on BBC Scotland news sounds like a silly wee boy who knows he's beat before he even gets started. Othe leaders a bit better. Sunak thanking her for her service was a bit big boss thanking a lesser manager in a leaving speach
but record of achievement isn’t really any better than many others
You are joking, right?
No idea about her politics apart from being somewhat lefty but by goodness she has a damn awful personality. Comes across as terribly vicious and nasty.
Her insistance on a re-vote smacks of playground pettiness. " I lost so it's now best of three".
I would think that almost anything would be an improvemnt.
Although she has resigned, I believe she wants another vote on it next year.
Interesting this. And I don’t mean the politics of it… more the nature of some of the comments. I think they make me respect her more; a glimpse into what she has probably had to put up with in her role for years, and has publicly dealt with so calmly. Can’t blame her for moving on.
she has a damn awful personality
I know it's easier to just swallow the right wing press' caricature without doing your own research, but could I suggest you listen to her recent 'The News Agents' interview with her - https://www.globalplayer.com/podcasts/episodes/7DrezN6/ then decide if your comment is justified.
Her insistance on a re-vote smacks of playground pettiness.
You might not have noticed but quite a lot has changed since 2014. I would have been one side of the vote in 2014 if I'd had a vote. I'd be the other now. I am not unique. Besides - she is the leader of the SNP, a party who's central premise from which everything else is built is independence. It would be bizarre if she wasn't still pushing for it.
I would think that almost anything would be an improvement.
I present in evidence the last female prime minister of the UK, or her predecessor come to that.
Her insistance on a re-vote smacks of playground pettiness.
Yes, I can see why it would seem that way, what with being promised further devolved powers at the 11th hour that never materialised and that voting against independence would ensure we stayed in the EU.
We really should learn to just accept when we've been screwed and shut up about it.
And the fact that since 2014 the SNP have been elected 4 times on a manfesto of another vote. Thats democracy. With much higher votes than the tories for example
Along with the fact she has consistently had a higher approval rating in polls than any other senior politician westminster or Holyrood
Shall we compare her to the Westminster leaders, probably over the last 50 years ?. What a bunch of narcissistic sycophants, corrupt to their very cores. Nicola Sturgeon had her faults, but was a real statesman compared to that lot
Or that the view of approximately 50%of the voting population tested repeatedly over the last 8 years should be taken into account.
But no its You Lost Shut Up!
Shall we compare her to the Westminster leaders, probably over the last 50 years ?. What a bunch of narcissistic sycophants, corrupt to their very cores.
Think the plaudits are getting a bit daft now, FM of Scotland is a completely different world to the PM for the UK, she has her positives and negatives, same with any politician, the only difference is they tend to change the deckchairs on the titanic a different way depending on their policies and personality.
She's not disappearing either, she'll be an MSP until 2025 i think, christ i wouldn't discount her making a comeback if the next FM is a disaster, which is a possibility as the replacement list is pretty shallow in terms of experience or ability!
Scotsman - the telegraph of Scotland with added staunch unionism. Load of cobblers
Did you read the article? What bits of it are cobblers and why?
Or did you not bother.
I don’t think an article by John McLellan (lifelong Tory blue blood) is quite the zinger you thought it was going to be,
0/10
Anything about the SNP in the Scotsman will be a load of cobblers. No need to read it. Read the first couple of lines to confirm it.
Good to know you make no effort to challenge your thinking.
Oh I will happily challenge it. Nothing very challenging about a made up load of cobblers tho 🙂 Nor the Scotsman newspaper. Good rugby coverage but its political converge makes the national look unbiased 🙂
somafunk
Full Member
I don’t think an article by John McLellan (lifelong Tory blue blood) is quite the zinger you thought it was going to
I didn't think it to be a zinger I thought it relevant to the conversation and I agreed with some of his points. Feel free to counter them and I will take your opinion on board.
Always good to listen to the opinions of people especially if you don't agree with them.
But you can't challenge it if you haven't even read it! What an utterly ridiculous thing to say.
a lot of the issues could be fairly blamed on Westminster. For example a decent payrise for teachers means cuts elsewhere.
That's not Westminster - that's just what having a limited amount of money looks like.
, is you don’t have to take responsibility for an unfolding disaster of your own making. In a resignation speech characterised by self-worth and delusion, she almost admitted as much.
She does take responsibility for mistakes and failures, a rare thing in a politician, there is no unfloding disaster of her own making, the speech was not full of self worth and delusion, she didn't admit as much
any more cobblers you want me to dissect?
There is plenty of stuff with a factual basis she can be criticized for so why make up nonsense?
How many unionist Scots won’t vote snp, despite agreeing with all their other policies? And the inverse?
If you look at SNP vote share vs support for Scottish independence, you'll see that their platform is actually more popular than independence. Many voters are voting for the SNP despite its commitment to independence, not because of it.
Her insistance on a re-vote smacks of playground pettiness. ” I lost so it’s now best of three”.
I'm anti-independence post-Brexit, but this is a childish attitude. It's a democracy, people are entitled to change their mind, institutions are resilient enough to be criticised, and Brexit/globalization/mass migration have all fundamentally changed the "package" of being in the UK. The SNP policy is entirely sensible and legitimate and democratic - to demand a further referendum when they have a mandate for independence at an election.
Seeing the shortlist being put up is depressing, some absolute nightmares in that pack if they go for it, looks like Angus Robertson might be the least worst option, but a step back from Sturgeon.
The SNP need to put a lot of effort into getting themselves back in fighting shape for me, the longer they've been in a position of power the more it's caused them these types of issues, you get the feeling the party is fracturing as well, something had to have made todays event happen, hopefully it's not an inside job, but, as previous, politicians are politicians, they eat their own, so i wouldn't put it past them.
Robertson will be a divisive disaster IMO. None of the obvious candidates are anything much to talk about tho
There is only one Robertson that I associate with Scottish politics and that's George Robertson, who when he was Shadow Scottish Secretary famously said: "Devolution will kill Nationalism stone dead".
I don't know if it was this canny ability to spectacularly misread situations which later landed him the job of Secretary General of NATO.
Jesus thanks Ernie I'd forgotten about that eejit till you brought him up. Had to suffer through the longest speech in my life as he was presenting the school prizes that year. Can't remember what the content was as I was too busy trying to stay awake along with everyone else in attendance.
she has a damn awful personality
she’s the leader of a political party, that pretty much automatically makes her someone who other people dislike. I’ve met her once (before she was even in the cabinet) and she seemed pretty sensible to me for a politician. I know quite a few people who have met her, many of them not nationalists, who are quite complimentary about Nicola Sturgeon the person, so what is it about her personality that is damn awful, which isn’t essentially a prerequisite for getting shit done in high office?
Her insistance on a re-vote smacks of playground pettiness.
just so we are clear:
1. it wasn’t “her” insistence it was her party’s - it’s the one thing that they are pretty universally agreed on
2. if you listened to her speech one of the resounding comments is about people polarising opinions and entrenching arguments because they don’t like the individual rather than the policy;
3. if the people of Scotland don’t want this to be high on the agenda there is a simple option - vote for one of the other parties. Whilst not everyone who votes snp wants independence, or thinks it’s a top priority they all made a decision to vote for a party with a very obvious position / expectation for it so clearly there’s a large number of people in Scotland who don’t subscribe to your “you had your chance, forget about it and move on” argument.
john McLennan misses the point as usual! She may have stepped down because she doesn’t want to preside over a very small Indy loss, but not for the reason he thinks. She doesn’t want to be wondering, “was it ME people voted against, and if we had swapped leader in 2023 would that have swung enough “sturgeon-haters” to say yes”. I suspect he was dancing a jig last night celebrating her demise but actually if they pick a strong but slightly more likeable leader she may have timed this just perfectly for the people who “would never vote for wee nippy” to think again. You see so much of the anti Indy argument has been structured against the individual or the party and not the merits of Indy that they’ve just been sent back to think again and formulate new moments of hate. Those who like their Twitter sound bites must be really confused - not sure who to pick on for the next few months!
Robertson will be a divisive disaster IMO. None of the obvious candidates are anything much to talk about tho
Have to be honest, i never really thought about who could replace her in all these years, i have a lot of questions about the SNP and their strategy, the nepotism that's been getting worse in their ranks, and the divisiveness in some areas, but Sturgeon has always been a leader and personality wise, was pretty balanced. Unfortunately the next level down from her, it's just full of people who are going to be even more divisive, and a lot of them are nailed to the mast with their beliefs and will just rub certain people or groups up the wrong way no matter what.
Politics is just a horrible place these days though, i think seeing the UK going through the ringer over the years has shown us what can happen, i just see parties as being all the same, yes their manifesto and direction are different, but the people are the same in terms of how they act, anyone in the SNP needs to look cautiously at what the tories have been through over the last few years, and make sure they don't go the same route.
So succession
I don't know who but IMO it needs to be someone from lower down the ranks and preferably not a "pale, male and stale". The SNP need a complete reset. One of the current front bench would not do IMO as they would not be able to do the reset required
Swinney. No charisma. yesterdays man
Robertson - too close to Salmond, participated in sweeping Salmonds groping under the carpet, too rightwing to keep the lefties on side, tainted by the nato decision as well would be a return to the "tartan tories" IMO
Forbes - just no. "wee free" beliefs should disqualify her and far too socially conservative to again keep the lefties onside
Yousaf - would be a good candidate but the mud over the NHS has stuck too much. Unfair perhaps but I think for that reason he is out
Thats the main front runners - of the others suggested Màiri McAllan I do not know owt about but perhaps
I do not know enough about the internal politics really but thats my feeling - the party needs a reset and someone new not tainted by previous scandals / weaknesses nor beholden to one part of the party but I fear either a timid replacement or a period of internal strife as various factions who feel they have been left out jockey for position.
Douglas Ross came across as entirely lacking in grace in his TV pieces about this.
Re timing - it is Scottish Parly recess at the moment, so good time for this kind of party (not government) business.
And the lack of a clear successor means work to do to build a brand before the next Scottish election which is three years away.
Douglas Ross lacks grace in any circumstance.
He's a nasty Tory and a joke of a politician.
I think it's going to come down to who (if anyone) actually has a plan for gaining independence.
I don't really see what the alternative to the de facto referendum plan is. People are going to lose patience very quickly with an SNP whose plan is to win elections, ask for and be denied a Section 30 order, and then whine about it until the next election.
The next leader needs to have a solid plan to deal with a hostile and uncooperative Westminster. If not, the accusations that the SNP aren't really interested in independence will be shown to be the truth.
Douglas Ross lacks grace in any circumstance.
It’s telling that, despite being fairly politically active at least at a local level, I found myself struggling to remember the names of either the Tory or Lib Dem party leaders in Scotland at the moment. Working in the voluntary sector in Glasgow, I have dealings with Labour, SNP and Green politicians fairly regularly, but Lib Dems and Tories are noticeable by their absence in most cases.
Rangers fans congregated in George Square last night to celebrate 🙄
People are going to lose patience very quickly with an SNP whose plan is to win elections, ask for and be denied a Section 30 order, and then whine about it until the next election.
If the UK government can ignore a Scottish government with a clear mandate for a referendum, then they can do the same after any "defacto referendum" election. None of this is Sturgeon's fault... she has gained multiple election successes with a pledge to have a referendum... that there won't be one is because Scotland has no right (I'm talking legally, not morally or democratically) to insist on one. Even if every single person in Scotland were to vote for candidates supporting independence, a unionist majority UK government can still just say no.
What plan do you propose, other than "whining" (ie campaigning for, and winning public support for, independence)?
Rangers fans congregated in George Square last night to celebrate 🙄
The Master Race
If the UK government can ignore a Scottish government with a clear mandate for a referendum, then they can do the same after any “defacto referendum” election
You have to keep advancing your position. One way to do that is to demonstrate that the majority of Scotland is in favour of independence through the de facto referendum (ie, you have one item in your manifesto).
From there, you continue to apply pressure through seizing what are considered UK reserved matters until Westminster is forced to either dissolve the Scottish Parliament or a UDI is declared (or both). You would hope that Westminster would see sense and grant a Section 30 order before either of those things came to pass.
If you aren't advancing the position you're going backwards. Maybe it's a true test of what's more important to the SNP. Independence or government.
Douglas Ross lacks grace in any circumstance.
He’s a nasty Tory and a joke of a politician.
As a Celtic fan i can confirm all of the above.
D.ross is tone deaf. Sarwar hit the tone about right.
Tories are now around 15% in Scotland? Losing ground to labour. Small loss in the SNP vote but the only real movement is tory to labour
Forbes – just no. “wee free” beliefs should disqualify her and far too socially conservative to again keep the lefties onside
TJ imagine if you said "Yousaf should be disqualified for his religious views"! I think there is no place for religion in politics but I wasn't aware she was strongly promoting a "wee free" agenda?
Yousaf – would be a good candidate but the mud over the NHS has stuck too much. Unfair perhaps but I think for that reason he is out
He's never really made a strong positive impact in any of the departments he's been in.
Rangers fans congregated in George Square last night to celebrate 🙄
That's the real challenge for the new FM, and the issue which Nicola carefully avoided. Tribalism around sectarian nonsense - football - politics is what holds scotland back, regardless of which side of that divide you are on. Its unbelievable to me in 2023 we still separate people from the age of 5 based on their religious background, that simply reinforces the crazies and entrenches their views on everything, the point she was making in her speech yesterday. I could overcome almost any other policy distaste to vote for the party that says enough is enough, lets put education not religion at the heart of schools and stop reinforcing artificial distinctions inherited from previous generations with little thought behind it.
Douglas Ross came across as entirely lacking in grace in his TV pieces about this.
He's just playing to his audience. The people that put him in power are the people who hate Nicola and all that she stands for. Many of them are so entrenched in that, that if Ross had made the statement his predecessor did they'd probably have turned on him!
Poly - only what I have read but from what I have read she is strongly anti equal rights LBGT rights and too socially conservative to lead the SNP. She would not be able to keep the urban socially progressive lefties on side. Less to do with her religion more to do with the views of the church she is active in
Yousaf seems to be able to put his religion side, she seems unable to do so.
Point taken tho
Rangers fans will gather in George Square to celebrate the opening of an envelope - as long as it wasn't one of those catholic envelopes.
Also for balance re TJ and The Scotsman and cobblers - The National is the deranged unthinking Yes Scotland equivalent! Although the Yes brand has been tarnished a bit by all the rampant anti-women, or was it pro-women, I forget and it can be hard to tell when you are a woman, anyway they lost their shite over the gender recognition reform Bill