Sturgeon on TV: Golden gal takes on Little Miss Brass Neck. Who won?

The Herald Scotland

3 days ago

Prime Ministers, presidents, princes, Hillary Clinton, Angelina Jolie - Julie has sat knee to knee with them all.
But how would the golden gal of British broadcasting fare against the big brass neck of Scottish politics? Viewers turned to Nicola Sturgeon: the Interview to find out.
'The' interview suggested something special, but filming took place in Ayrshire ten days ago. Since then Ms Sturgeon has been all over the Murdoch press and every other branch of the media, her book picked cleaner than a turkey on Boxing Day.
This, however, was the first broadcast interview, which meant the first chance to see Ms Sturgeon becoming 'emotional' as television folk coyly call it when someone cries on camera.
Etchingham had dressed in cool neutrals for the occasion, with Sturgeon opting for a scarlet jacket. Perhaps she was trying to channel her inner Butlin's Redcoat to jolly things past the difficult stuff. It didn't work.
Certainly there was no May-like confession to stealing from the pick n mix in Woolworths. She was rude about Nigel Farage ('odious'), but who isn't?
When she did get into difficulty it was all her own doing, as when Etchingham brought up the rapist Isla Bryson. You might have thought it impossible for Sturgeon to make even more of a pig's ear out of this subject, but boy did she ever.
Etchingham was looking at the former First Minister as if she was trying to argue that the Earth was flat. Personally, I turned the same shade as Sturgeon's jacket. Someone had to shoulder the embarrassment and it was not going to be our Nicola.
There was some moistening around the eye area when she spoke of Alex Salmond's passing. She still misses him 'in some way' - a quote up there with Charles's 'whatever love means' - for half-baked sincerity.
As for her new love life, her lips were sealed. 'I'm enjoying being my own person for a while,' she burbled, sounding for all the world like some Real Housewife of Montecito.
Etchingham had a go at holding Sturgeon to account on domestic policy but nothing landed. She might as well have been on The One Show on BBC1, sandwiched between a soap star and an item on dodgy plumbers.
The half hour running time and the 7pm slot told their own story. If there had been anything juicy the programme would have been on at 9pm, not just before Emmerdale. Upstaged by sheep. It shouldn't happen to a vet, or a former FM, but it did.
The toe-curling was not quite over - there was still the matter of Nic's first tattoo. 'Midlife crisis alert,' she joked. You said it, dear.
It was an infinity symbol she designed herself, something about strength and resilience and moving forward. In short, your basic woo-woo b******. Come to think of it, that would have been a better title for her book. Is it too late to change?