Opposition can’t match Nicola’s statesmanship
YOU can’t please all of the people all of the time.
So, in the end, you have to do what’s right.
As the First Minister said yesterday, some people never want another referendum because they don’t want Scotland to be independent.
Others want a referendum tomorrow because they can’t wait for independence – and believe they can persuade a majority in that direction.
Most Scots fall between those two positions.
They believe we should have a choice on our future but prefer to see how the land lies – and in particular whether more can be done to reverse the damage being perpetrated by the hapless and unprincipled government at Westminster as they bumble through Brexit.
Nicola Sturgeon knows that some of those who are impatient for independence will be unhappy with her decision yesterday.
That is why she took her time to consider the matter – it could not have been easy.
But in the end she put the views of the country as a whole before some sections of the SNP.
In that, she has shown statesmanship.
Will Ruth Davidson and Kezia Dugdale do the same? Will they work with the democratically elected Scottish Government to back what Scotland voted for – membership of the EU, or even the next best thing, full membership of
MOST pop stars use social media to promote their latest jewellery range or parade in a new bikini.
Rihanna has not been averse to that in the past. Now, however, she’s using Twitter to campaign for education in the developing world.
In recent days, the singer has directly tweeted Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Emmanuel Macron asking for support.
With 74million followers listening in, it’s fair to say she got a positive response.
I notice, however, that she hasn’t yet tweeted Donald Trump.
Maybe she fears he’ll get the wrong idea...
the single market? The announcement yesterday puts the spotlight back on these parties.
Do they really have Scotland’s best interests at heart?
The First Minister was perfectly within her rights to go for another independence vote.
That is why yesterday’s announcement was a mark of her political maturity – and stands in sharp contrast to the shameless opportunism of her opponents.
She had a mandate for it in her 2016 manifesto, which said being dragged out of the EU against our will would be grounds for Scotland being able to choose a different future.
And this year the SNP won 35 seats at Westminster – more than all the other parties put together and almost three times as many as the Tories.
If Theresa May had secured the same proportion of seats UK-wide, she would be sitting on a majority of 60. That’s the absurdity of it. For some reason, the bar is set higher for the SNP.
In this tapsalteerie world, the losers act triumphant and the winners live to fight another day.
Imagine the SNP and Tory general election results were reversed, so the Tories got 35 seats and the SNP gained 13.
Imagine in those circumstances Sturgeon taking to the TV studios proclaiming: “The union is dead.”
It’s absurd but that is exactly what Davidson did when she claimed independence was over because the Tories won a mere 13 seats. Nobody laughed. Why not?
Some will ask why, in these circumstances, Sturgeon was the one to compromise from such a position of strength?
Well, perhaps it is better to make major changes while you are strong.
The SNP are committed to restoring Scotland to independence because that is the way we can fulfil our people’s potential.
But the SNP are also committed in their constitution to fighting for Scotland’s best interests.
That is what the First Minister re-committed herself to yesterday.
Will her opponents show similar mettle?