UK Government is in meltdown
It was my birthday on Thursday and it was my anniversary on Friday.
Now, after 21 years of marriage, you can’t say I don’t know how to show a girl a good time.
The early hours of our wedding anniversary was spent at the General Election count in Paisley’s Lagoon leisure centre and on Saturday we went to see Scotland take on England at Hampden Park.
But, of course, the big issue was the General Election called by Prime Minister Theresa May.
As I write this column, I’ve had time to mull over what happened — and the biggest losers of the night appear to be the Conservative Party.
The irony of this is not lost on me as it was with great arrogance that the PM announced this snap election six weeks ago.
Some may ask me to look at the result in Scotland.
The SNP lost Alex Salmond and Angus Robertson to the Conservatives and that is disappointing, but shocks like this can happen in politics.
The real issue is the state of the UK Conservative Party.
Theresa May now has less MPs than when she started down this arrogant line.
She now has to deal with 10 Ulster Unionists on an issue-by-issue basis to get legislation through Westminster.
How exactly is that ‘strong and stable?’
On the loss of Angus and Alex, I am extremely disappointed.
Angus has been the only opposition leader in Westminster who has held the Tory Government to account.
He will not only be a loss to the SNP, but also a great loss to the House of Commons itself.
Alex is one of the great public servants of Scottish politics and will be remembered by history long after we have all left this mortal coil.
He has been part of my life in the SNP for 30 years as I joined in 1987 — the first year he was elected.
Alex’s time as First Minister of Scotland will be remembered as a time that post-devolution Scotland started to assert itself.
But, with Alex, you never know if that really is the end.
Who knows what the future holds for this colossus of Scottish politics?
When you look at the Conservative campaign in Scotland, you can see what they have done.
They literally cut and paste Donald Trump’s philosophy.
No level was too low for them as they fought one of the most unpleasant and negative campaigns I have ever experienced in Scotland.
Who knows what type of MPs they have selected in certain parts of Scotland?
And we have the really difficult Brexit negotiations coming up.
The Conservatives have plunged the UK into chaos and our financial futures look less secure because of their arrogance.
I find it strange that we were told in 2014 that all this instability would be caused by independence and that the status quo would protect us all.
We all now know that this is clearly not the case ... as the UK Government is in meltdown.
But I always believe that positivity can come from difficult times.
One of those is the offer that our First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made last week.
She offered to work with any fellow progressives in Westminster to try and stop the Tories taking control of the UK Parliament and continuing on their chaotic course.
We have an opportunity to work with others to try and find a positive way forward for our communities.
It is also with great pride that I can congratulate both my colleagues Gavin Newlands and Mhairi Black, who retained their seats at Westminster.
They have shown how passionate they are for our communities and how they want to work towards that better, progressive future.
I stood beside both of them as they gave interviews to the media during the wee small hours of Friday morning.
You could not doubt their honesty and their integrity as they answered the questions from our local and national media.
I have always been proud to be a Buddie but, once again, Paisley has shown the way forward.
Our community saw through the negativity of the unionist parties and stayed true to the people who will truly represent them.
But let us not forget that the SNP still won in Scotland by a large margin.
Before 2015, the most MPs the SNP had ever had was 11 and now we have 35.
So the SNP position in Westminster has been secured.
We must keep things real when we discuss the outcome of last week’s election.