It’s the Nicola Sturgeon show!
SNP leader will have all eyes on her
A light at the end of the tunnel? The beginning of the end? The first green shoots of recovery? One giant leap for mankind?
At the end of the day – the terminology you choose doesn’t really matter. From any perspective and by any dimension - the Covid vaccine is a Godsend and a game changer . . . Christmas wrapped in optimism. From the moment Margaret Keenan rolled up her sleeve and took the UK’s first shot of hope – the world has suddenly got its mojo back. Well, Ayr seems to have anyway- and I’m a perfect example.
Last week – for the first time in at least six months – I was actually interested enough to open an email from Ryanair! There’s also been a sea- change in the wine aisle at Morrisons. Yes, for some inexplicable reason, if anyone is going to stop me and ask me a question, it’s usually somewhere between the Chivas Regal and the chardonnay! From last March, it’s almost always been “Bob, when’s it all going to end?”
However, since last week, that’s moved on to “Bob, HOW’s it all going to end?”
I’m still not sure if they’ve been confused by the mask and are asking the right person. Remember, I’m the guy that predicted we’d all be back to normal for last September’s Ayr Gold Cup.
But you can bet your last face mask that Covid’s culmination will come with a thorough investigation.
And not everyone’s going to come out of this one with their hands completely sterile!
From where I’m sitting - 2021 is going to be a big year for a certain Nicola Sturgeon.
There can be no doubting her ambition was to get Scottish Independence over the finishing line, probably become Scotland’s first ever president . . and triumphantly retire to her rightful place in the history books.
But that was a pre- Covid aspiration.
The last year has opened up the human side of our First Minister. She didn’t get into politics to stand at a lectern and, almost daily, read out the number of fellow Scots we had lost the day before. Her pain is there for all to see – and it will have taken a personal toll.
The first half of 2021 will tell whether Ms Sturgeon still has the resolve to lead the Scottish Parliament . . . and whether the Scottish Parliament still has the resolve to support her.
The ‘ Salmondgate’ affair continues to unravel – at a pace even slugs would find sluggish.
Last week, we were asked to believe that her husband, SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, arrived home to find his wife and a Government solicitor across the table from Alex Salmond and his solicitor. Mr Murrell never once asked what was going on – and Nicola didn’t tell him. Mr Murrell minds his own business, says his wife
It’s all starting to remind me of a famous character is fiction . . . who minded his own olive oil business!
If Ms Sturgeon can survive that banana skin, next up will be the inevitable public inquiry into Scotland’s tragic care home deaths through Covid. The Chilcott Inquiry into the UK’s involvement in the Iraq war took seven years – but the First Minister won’t be given such a generous advance.
Fingers will be pointed in all directions and at all levels – but being First Minister doesn’t come alone.
The buck’s final resting place will be at Bute House.
The breaking ‘ good news’ for Nicola Sturgeon is that the “We Got Brexit Done” boast – the one got Boris Johnson elected - turns out to have been a massive pork pie.
A Scotland that voted to “remain” - then being dragged out of Europe against its will and without a deal – is a full blown orchestra to the SNP’s ears. It will be a foundation stone in their May election campaign. And a comfortable victory will be a foundation stone in their follow- up IndyRef2 campaign.
Is the carrot of getting independence over the line, bigger than all the stick that’s coming in Nicola’s direction?
So – sorry to the people in the wine aisle.
I don’t know HOW it’s going to end.
But I will predict that in 2021 – The Nicola Sturgeon Show will be the one everyone is watching!