Hard Noses and Stupid Mistakes
I think it's fair to say that Nicola Sturgeon has been pretty 'hard-nosed' about people breaking the Covid rules and restrictions, especially those in prominent public positions.
Now it took the first minister quite a while (see post below dated 6 April 2020), but eventually Nicola saw the light and gave up her foolish defence of Catherine Calderwood, the Scottish Government's chief medical officer for the 'crime' of visiting her holiday home in Fife.
Nicola Sturgeon also took a very dim view about Dominic Cummings' breach of the Covid rules and his 'lockdown' trip to Durham while acting as the senior adviser to Boris Johnson and the UK Government.
Margaret Ferrier, an SNP MP, fared no better when she broke the Covid rules by travelling back and forwards from Glasgow to London - as soon as the scale of political damage became clear Margaret was quickly thrown under the bus.
So the sight of Nicola Sturgeon speaking to other attendees at a funeral wake in Edinburgh last Friday has caused much hilarity because the First Minister, somewhat incredibly, was not wearing a face mask.
Face masks have been a legal requirement inside hospitality settings since 14 September 2020, so it just goes to show that even the First Minister of Scotland is not paying much attention to her own daily Covid briefings.
Read the full story via the link below to The Scottish Sun.
Defending the Indefensible (06/04/20)
Well, the inevitable happened overnight and today the Scottish Government woke up without a chief medical officer after a calamity very much of its own making.
For whatever reason Nicola Sturgeon's political instincts deserted her as she tried to portray Catherine Calderwood's behaviour as a 'mistake' rather than a colossal misjudgment, the consequences of which were obvious to anyone with a modicum of street nous and common sense.
Yet the First Minister tried to defend the indefensible at yesterday's calamitous press conference by going in to bat for the person who was the face of her Scottish Government's lockdown policy - a policy which has kept families apart even while their loved ones have been dying alone in hospital.
First Minister Acts As Human Shield (05/04/20)
I've sat through many a press conference in my time, but I can't remember a more disastrous one than Nicola Sturgeon's 'human shield' performance as she updated the nation on the latest Coronavirus developments with the Scottish Government's chief medical officer (CMO), Catherine Calderwood by her side.
The First Minister stepped in again and again to prevent Catherine Calderwood from explaining herself by answering perfectly legitimate questions from journalists who were simply doing their job of holding the Scottish Government to account.
The YouTube video is 38 minutes long though well worth a watch.
Prominent Positions and SNP Bampots (30/11/20)
Nicola Sturgeon displays admirable ruthlessness in throwing SNP bampots under the bus.
But the real question is how do these people rise to such prominent positions in the SNP in the first place?
Follow the link to the Daily Record to read Paul Hutcheon's full piece on the anti-vaccine row at the SNP conference.
No One Resigns Anymore (12/10/20)
MP DEFIANT
Margaret Ferrier breaks her silence on Covid train trips and says she WON’T quit
By Kevin Duguid - Scottish Sun
But, despite being suspended by the SNP, Ms Ferrier, 60, insisted: “I’m continuing to work hard.”The under-fire MP has told how she “panicked” after finding out she had coronavirus — and took a 350-mile train trip back to Scotland.
The SNP politician said having the killer bug made her “act out of character” as she defended her earlier decision to travel to London and speak in Parliament after showing symptoms and taking a test.
She revealed she got the shock news of her positive result in her Westminster office after taking part in a House of Commons debate.
Ms Ferrier told The Scottish Sun on Sunday she was stunned to find out she was infected as her “tickly throat” had disappeared by then.
Let's Hear From Margaret (03/10/20)
Nicola Sturgeon was apparently struggling yesterday to understand why one of her MPs (Margaret Ferrier) 'did what she did' in travelling back and forward to London with the suspicion, then certain knowledge that she was carrying the highly infectious Coronavirus.
Now unlike the rest of us the First Minister has had the opportunity of putting this very question to the MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West, but I for one would like to hear what Margaret Ferrier has to say for herself.
After all she is in a very highly paid (£75,000 a year), responsible job and she was selected by the SNP to fight her Lanarkshire seat on two separate occasions which has to mean that the SNP leadership does not believe that her head 'button's up the back'.
So I would be very interested to know what possessed an experienced Member of Parliament to ignore all the official advice, along with all the daily briefings given by her party leader, before setting off on a kamikaze mission which looks like ruining her career.
Now I understand that the SNP leadership would like Margaret Ferrier to resign with immediate effect, as this would trigger a by-election, allow them to select a new candidate and forget this whole tawdry business ever happened, but there are bigger issues at stake.
Once Margaret Ferrier has recovered from the effects of Covid-19 I think she should be invited to spell out how she got herself into this terrible mess because both Margaret and the SNP owe the public a better explanation than just throwing one of their members under the bus.
Do As I Say - Not As I Do (02/10/20)
I'm sure this will merit a mention at the First Minister's daily press briefings, but given the seriousness of the situation I suspect it deserves a full statement in the House of Commons and the Scottish Parliament.
SNP MP Margaret Ferrier travelled from London to Scotland by train after positive result for coronavirus
SNP MP travelled from Scotland to London after testing positive for Covid-19
AN SNP MP has admitted breaking lockdown rules by travelling back and forth between Scotland and London by train while positive for coronavirus.
The Rutherglen MP, who previously called for Dominic Cummings to resign over his Barnard Castle trip, has issued an apology for her actions on social media.
