As she hits 50, First Minister fears ‘hot flushes in Holyrood’
NICOLA Sturgeon has admitted she is concerned about the prospect of going through the menopause, describing it as a ‘big mystery’.
The SNP leader, who celebrated her 50th birthday yesterday, also spoke of being ‘torn’ about imposing lockdown restrictions and claimed most of the criticism levelled at her leadership comes from men.
Miss Sturgeon said: ‘Unlike the whole thing of having kids or not having kids, periods and other aspects of womanhood, I think there is still an inhibition when it comes to the menopause.
‘For me, there’s still a sense that I’m not sure what it’s going to be like over the next few years. It shouldn’t be as big a mystery to those of us about to go through it, but it is.
‘You read so much about women feeling as if they are losing their mind and you think, “God, I am in a really responsible job – how am I going to cope if I get hot flushes in the middle of First Minister’s Questions”.’
In an interview with Scotland on Sunday, she also said she reads a blizzard of often contradictory advice in the media on how to deal with the pandemic, but is less likely to heed it if it comes from a man or someone outside of politics.
The First Minister has faced criticism for ignoring the views of prominent scientists who warned of the looming Covid-19 crisis in care homes.
Recently retired Professors Hugh Pennington, a microbiologist of Aberdeen University, and Richard Ennos, an Edinburgh University geneticist, were among those urging the Scottish Government to avoid creating clusters among elderly residents earlier in the pandemic, but their words fell on deaf ears.
Nearly half of all Covid-19 deaths in Scotland – as many as 2,400 – are believed to have occurred in care homes. However, Miss Sturgeon
said: ‘I can, if I choose to, on any given day, read a dozen or more pieces in the media telling me what I am getting wrong and how much better everything would be if only I listened to them, and usually it’s completely contradictory.
‘Also, and I hope readers don’t take this the wrong way, but 99 per cent of it is from men and a similar proportion is from people who don’t have the experience in politics that I have. I wouldn’t want to be immune from criticism, but you have to find a way to put it in its proper place.’
Miss Sturgeon acknowledged that she has a dour, risk-averse public image, which has been accentuated during the pandemic.
She claimed being around men as she grew up in politics had blunted her natural exuberance.
She said: ‘I was surrounded by middle-aged men. I did a lot of subconsciously thinking the way to get on was to fit in. And so I found myself emulating the behaviour of the men around me, which, in a young woman presents itself as being quite hard and humourless and a bit too adversarial.
‘You have to do your growing up and making mistakes, but it is important to find a way of being comfortable in your own skin.’
She admitted being ‘torn’ about the pace of emergence from lockdown, saying: ‘Part of me just wants to see everyone get back to normal as soon as possible.
‘But in this horrible situation, we have been reminded of what actually matters in life and some of what doesn’t.
‘What matters is your health, your family, your friends, your community. If we can hold on to that and apply some of that learning as we go back to normal, then maybe that’s as close to a positive legacy as we can get.’
‘Telling me what I am getting wrong’