I would disagree with the First Minister’s recent mealy-mouthed acceptance of blame while tying herself in knots with the double negative – “I didn’t not say to sign the Ferguson ferry contracts” – and “we are a collective therefore the buck stops with me”. I say this, not in Nicola Sturgeon’s defence, but because she is simply exploiting the gullible electorate who have voted her and the SNP back into power despite her previous “judge me on education” Curriculum for Excellence lying in tatters, and they may vote for her again. No, the buck stops with them, not Ms Sturgeon. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. But it seems she can fool some of them all the time. Voters should remember this the next time they or a loved one’s consultation or medical procedure is cancelled or comes too late, when they cannot get an appointment or procedure this side of Christmas. Many still seem unaware it is the Scottish Government that has full autonomy over the NHS in Scotland but clap like performing seals when the First Minister deflects this as the fault of a big bad posh Tory in Westminster. They should remember this when they are driving around the traffic cones, barriers, temporary traffic lights and over the thousands of potholes on their way to the polling booth and perhaps think of how many drug deaths could have been avoided, food banks made extinct, littered streets cleaned and services supported with the millions squandered on malicious prosecutions, compensation pay-outs, pretendy foreign embassies and the ferry follies while reducing the shipbuilding pride of the Clyde to joke status. No, it’s not Ms Sturgeon: the buck stops with us. Allan Thompson, Bearsden.
