Sturgeon is like Banquo’s ghost

I AGREE entirely with Richard Allison’s observations (‘Sturgeon cannot escape blame’, May 20) regarding the reinvention of Nicola Sturgeon. Like Mr Allison I thought that Lucifer had recalled her to hell to torment the damned, but she keeps bouncing back into plain sight whether at SNP “coronations” or book festivals or interviews with her new “bestie” Val Mcdermid, teasing us with the content of her forthcoming memoirs (that’s assuming she can recall most of them).

However, her resurfacing may be even more invidious and sinister than Mr Allison suggests. Rather like Banquo’s ghost, she continues to haunt Holyrood. You see John Swinney, but you hear Nicola Sturgeon, and it really is quite unsettling.

Mr Swinney and his predecessor were forced on us as “continuity candidates” as if this was a good thing. The reality is that under SNP governance, Scotland has deteriorated into what can only be described as a banana republic – you know, “a small poor country, often reliant on a single export or limited resource governed by an authoritarian regime and characterised by corruption and economic exploitation by foreign corporations.

With independence, “continuity” would imply we continue to decline further to “failed state” status which is hardly a great starting point from which to borrow in the financial markets or rejoin the EU.

Whoever governs Scotland next needs to focus on the population’s immediate needs, starting with a number of “quick wins” to establish credibility rather than fanciful aspirations doomed to fail, thus leading to apathy and a continuing deterioration of national pride. We need a leader. Keith Swinley, Ayr.