Robin McAlpine: Why I won't be reading Nicola Sturgeon's book

The National

13 hours ago

Not because I couldn't be fair-minded but because I wasn't sure everyone would think me fair-minded on the topic. But really, that wasn't my main reason for saying no.
Much more to the point, I simply do not like political autobiographies and think it is an actively unhelpful genre. I do not read them and I'm not about to start. So, they asked me to explain why.
The 'rapid memoir' is now a fundamental part of politics. A successful leader will get a book deal shortly after leaving office. Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss – they've all had a shot (Alex Salmond and Theresa May did something slightly different).
Nicola Sturgeon at the launch of her memoir, Frankly (Image: PA) As someone who towered over Scottish politics for nearly a decade, there is no question Sturgeon has earned her book. But honestly, I wish none of them had bothered. I can't think of a single useful thing we learned from any of them.
There is a simple reason for this. All long-form writing involves an author 'selling you' a story. They want you to believe in their thesis (non-fiction, biography), to buy into their plot (fiction) or to find their lives interesting (autobiography). In every case, the story serves the reader. Only in the political autobiography does the story exist to serve the author.
A retired footballer doesn't relive all his key games trying to persuade you the referee robbed him or it was an unfortunate gust of wind and actually he was a better footballer than you thought he was. That's what political autobiographies do.
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There are other problems. Politics is basically self-chronicling as you go along. Politicians tell you what they want you to think in real time.
By the time Blair was writing his autobiography, we'd heard his justifications for the Iraq War so many times you wondered why he bothered writing them down again.
A biography reveals things the subject doesn't want revealed so those can be useful. If you kept diaries, then they can be worth publishing as a contemporary record. Further down the line, the memoir, which is really a historical reflection, can be interesting and enlightening – if the politician is far enough past the events to no longer be trying to spin them. That's the fundamental problem for me.
I was a spin doctor when they were still called spin doctors (pager and everything). I've seen so much narrative manipulation and distraction in my time that I am largely immune. I mean, I've been responsible for some of it and I didn't believe that either.
Rapid political autobiographies are, without fail, manipulative and a distraction. They are always obsessed with litigating the legacy of the politician concerned.
So, if you have a passionate interest in the minutiae of what happened 10 years ago then knock yourself out. I'm much more concerned with today.
Across the Western world, there is a crisis in democracy and the public is losing faith in the system. From Gaza to poverty to climate change to AI, democracy seems incapable of stepping up to the challenges of our era. Abusive oligarchy is replacing the social contract.
In Scotland, we're stuck in a constitutional impasse. Worse, there doesn't seem to be a single political party in Scotland capable of generating a convincing (never mind inspiring) new generation of leaders. At the moment, the future doesn't look great.
All of this is happening right now and so, for me, looking in the rear-view mirror is an indulgence. Let me therefore offer you the two big pieces of advice I give anyone who cares about politics and cares about the future.
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First, ignore what they say and focus on the facts. All that matters is what is done, why it is done, how it is done and what happens as a result. Adjectives don't change facts.
Second, just like with a magic trick, ignore the manipulation and distraction. Politics is often a game of distraction, but inside that distraction is the thing that counts, the purpose, the important thing.
Stay focused on that and never look where the politician is guiding you to look.
With Sturgeon, the facts you choose to look at will define your opinion. If it is electoral success, she was pretty impressive; if it is what was done with the power that resulted, she really wasn't.
I am a 'power for a purpose' kind of person and for that reason I have long viewed the Sturgeon era as a criminally wasted opportunity. You may feel differently.
Either way, anecdotes about tattoos and panic attacks change nothing at all.