The search in the leadership contest for who can follow Nicola Sturgeon reminds us of the joke when Bernie Winters was being heckled at the Glasgow Empire Theatre when his brother Mike then appeared on the stage. A voice broke the silence and cried out: “Aw for **** sake there’s more of them”. Allan Thompson, Bearsden.
The Nats are in disarray!! The SNP-Green alliance is strained. Nicola is leaving. Now is the time to HELP SCOTLAND MATTERS GET THEM ALL OUT!
Scotland Matters is planning more advans, public meetings and social media advertising and ALL DONATIONS go directly to these efforts.
If Kate Forbes is elected SNP leader, are her critics really suggesting she should park her Christian values on Sunday evening and then sell her soul to the divisive, blame-ridden, xenophobic nationalist crowd from Monday to Friday? Douglas Cowe, Aberdeenshire.
When Nicola Sturgeon resigned, I found to my surprise that I just didn’t care. No elation or reaction of any sort, which is surprising given the number of letters I have written over the years of her reign in Bute House. We all knew it was imminent because for the last two years we had seen the constant tetchiness, the increasing number of mistakes, the increasing scandals, the head sinking lower and lower and the lips getting thinner and thinner. Interestingly, some people think it is all a surprise. They can’t have been paying much attention. What was unforgivable, however, was the sycophantic response of many in the media, so thoroughly had they been lured in to her web. There is, of course, another point of view. Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation speech was everything we have come to expect from her. It was too long, full of self-praise and entirely inaccurate. No humility, no honesty and no ownership of the costly and numerous failures she has presided over. There is no obvious candidate to succeed her, simply because she could not tolerate people of ability in her sphere, and now the SNP are in trouble. What a shame. For the record, I think Nicola Sturgeon had one outstanding opportunity to make Scotland an independent country, which was the day after the Brexit result in 2016. If she had announced then that she would hold a referendum later that summer, she would have made her own political weather, and irrespective of the legalities, she may well have won the day. That is what Bruce or Wallace would have done, but ultimately, Sturgeon was not a nationalist leader of any great standing, and she won’t have any lasting legacy now that she has failed in her one and only objective. It is astonishing that we put up with her for so long. Victor Clements, Aberfeldy.
I had to look twice at the comments of Stewart McDonald MP (Scotsman, 18 February), where he says: “If the SNP can continue to show that government rooted in local communities is more effective than government from a palace in London… support for independence will rise.” Local community means local government, which has seen power concentrated at Holyrood, and has seen cash cuts in real terms for years! Another SNP politician who clearly believes his own hype. William Ballantine, Bo’ness, West Lothian.
Methinks that by the time of the next election for the Holyrood Parliament we Scots voters will need to have witnessed major changes in the manner in which Scotland is destined to be administered in future years. The SNP, and their unelected Green party associates, will flounder if they fail to recognise the dire need for vast improvements in almost all areas of administration in Scotland. The emotional appeal of independence will have waned by then in the light of the continuing SNP administration’s inept handling of most aspects of the devolved powers granted to them by Westminster. Voters are fully aware of the problems which have arisen in just about every public sector—whether they are considering the NHS, their children’s schooling, local government services, public transport including ferries, the service provided by Police Scotland, and in so many other sectors of the administration in Scotland. If Nicola Sturgeon is still representing her constituents in Glasgow Southside on the day before the next Scottish Parliamentary elections on 7 May, 2026, I think that she will witness a huge shift of support from the SNP to other political parties. Fellow Scots, surely polling day in 2026 will be a timely point for a change of administration at Holyrood. The SNP has had its turn and has emphatically failed the people of Scotland. Robert I G Scott, Ceres, Fife.
Maybe with Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation, we will see a little more common sense in politics. We need a First Minister who will work for a better Scotland for ALL citizens. Peter H Williams, Skelmorlie, Ayrshire.
Nicola Sturgeon’s legacy is ultimately one of failure, on independence and...