GIVE TOP JOB TO IRON LADY JACKIE

MARGARET Thatcher once advised: ‘If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.’ Scottish Labour is not accustomed to taking Mrs T’s counsel to heart but it should make an exception.

The current leadership crawl (we can hardly call it a race) presents a dismal choice between Anas Sarwar, who wants to tax us into the poor house, and Richard Leonard, whose tax plans perhaps made more sense in the original Russian. Worse still, interim boss Alex Rowley has come down with the flu and left the party leaderless.

Since all the men were indisposed, Jackie Baillie, pictured, stepped up, barrelling into Nicola Sturgeon two weeks in a row at First Minister’s Questions. The Dumbarton MSP is moderate, unwaveringly Unionist, pro-Trident and an SNP-baiter of innate, exquisite ability. If Scottish Labour wants to make a comeback at Holyrood, it should ditch the men and put its very own Iron Lady in charge. I SPENT Armistice Day in an A&E ward and when the clock struck 11am, everyone rose and silence fell. Doctors froze on the spot, stethoscopes in hand; patients in pain stood nonetheless as a mark of respect. There was no vain bickering about poppies and pacifism. It was a moment to honour brave men who stood up when it counted.