If a member of the Japanese royal family had died last year, would Nicola Sturgeon now travel to Tokyo for their memorial?
If not, then why did she postpone giving her Covid update today (another record-breaking day for hospitalisations in Scotland) to travel to London to appear, maskless, at a memorial for Prince Philip at Westminster Abbey?
A week into September, I wrote about the cognitive dissonance caused by the Scottish government’s washing its hands of any leadership role in the pandemic. I pointed out that branch meetings of the SNP (of which I am a member) were being held online, but that people were free to gather in clubs unmasked.
Nothing suprising happened. The SNP got one vote short of a majority, and the Greens gained seats, so the Scottish government is still a pro-independence majority.
Nicola Sturgeon says tomorrow’s election is the most important Scotland has had in decades. While we expect hyperbole from politicians, especially close to an election, she is not exaggerating. It might be the most important Scottish election ever.
“Ye Jacobites by name,
Your fautes I will proclaim,
Your doctrines I maun blame, you shall hear, you shall hear”—Burns
It is fitting that the online launch of the Alba party (the name of which its leader, Alex Salmond, does not know how to pronounce) was disrupted by technical issues, and then had its membership list leaked, because the party represents a time before such technology existed.
In the Holyrood inquiry as to whether Nicola Sturgeon misled parliament, the vote was along party lines, with four SNP members finding that she did not, and the other five — two Tories, one Labour, one Lib Dem and one independent — finding that she did.