Holyrood Inquiry, Top Dollar and Mediocrity

I watched quite a bit of yesterday's Holyrood Inquiry which was, in turns, both illuminating and unedifying. 

I am planning a separate post about the significance of Alex Salmond's evidence, but my overriding impression was that while the opposition MSPs on the committee were at least trying to get to the truth of what happened - the SNP members were concerned above all else with protecting their party and the Scottish Government.

I may have missed something, but I don't recall any SNP member asking a single tough question aimed at the behaviour of their own political leaders and Scottish Government officials who appear to have closed ranks around their woeful handling of the affair.

Most of the SNP questions were openly hostile towards Alex Salmond and one even went as far as rudely rebuking their former leader with the words 'I'll take that for a No, then'.

Quite astonishing and I was reminded on social media later that three of the four SNP members are former Scottish Government ministers and were paid @ £90,000 a year plus a non-contributory, non-taxable employer's pension contribution - taking their annual salaries to over £100,000.

On that showing Scotland's public purse is paying top dollar for dreary mediocrity. 

   

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