Who is the real Nicola Sturgeon?
Spectator writer and Scottish Daily Mail columnist Euan McColm and Isabel Hardman – who has reviewed the book for this week's Spectator – join Lucy Dunn to discuss. For Euan there is a humility in the prose that he just doesn't recognise in the Sturgeon of real life – is she trying to discover herself?
Produced by Patrick Gibbons.
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The National
39 minutes ago
- The National
Nicola Sturgeon defends Kate Forbes over Fringe venue ban
The former SNP leader told reporters in Edinburgh that she disagreed with cancel culture. It comes amid a row over the Summerhall venue's decision not to have Forbes back at any future events following a fringe show organised by The Herald. The venue has reportedly suggested that John Swinney's deputy posed a safety and wellbeing risk to its staff over her views on trans rights. READ MORE: Bold plans to save Scottish BBC studios from 'fading into history' unveiled Forbes is a devout Christian and a member of the socially conservative Free Church of Scotland. She was criticised during her SNP leadership battle for her stance on gay marriage, abortion and trans rights. Sturgeon, who appointed Forbes as finance secretary while she was first minister, was asked whether she agreed with Summerhall's decision. (Image: Jane Barlow/PA Wire) 'I don't agree with cancel culture and I don't agree with that,' she said. She added that she took no responsibility for the venue's decision. Summerhall, which has received more £600,000 in government funding, previously held Herald Unspun live events with Swinney and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, the latter of whom has U-turned over his stance on gender self-ID. Forbes expressed disappointment at the venue and said she 'fervently' believes in freedom of speech. 'Any effort to cancel people, especially politicians, undermines democracy,' she said. 'Many people attended the Herald event and it is important that we could freely discuss and debate matters in a respectful manner. 'I respect and acknowledge the fact that, in a liberal democracy, there are people who will agree with me and others who will disagree with me. 'That is all the more reason to create events where the audience and journalists can question politicians openly, as the Herald did.' In a statement, the Summerhall venue said: 'This event was booked as a series of long-form interviews prior to the guest list being confirmed. 'Summerhall Arts primary concern is the safety and wellbeing of the artists and performers we work with, and going forward we will be developing robust, proactive inclusion and wellbeing policies that would prevent this oversight in our bookings process happening again.' Shona Robison, who succeeded Forbes as Finance Secretary, also defended her colleague, calling Summerhall's decision 'unwise and unnecessary'.
The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
Nicola Sturgeon's legacy changed Scotland – not for the better
There are obvious reasons for that. Her electoral success as First Minister is unimpeachable (save for a slight setback in the 2017 general election). Her UK-wide popularity, which started with her role in the Brexit referendum and peaked during the Covid pandemic, was surely higher than any of us imagined a Scottish nationalist leader's could be. The breakdown in her relationship with Alex Salmond and the circumstances surrounding it constitutes a political soap opera more salacious than anything the UK has seen in my lifetime. Read More: Her own arrest and that of her husband, the latter of whose case is ongoing, was jaw-dropping. And, of course there was gender recognition legislation, hammered through the Parliament at a time where dissent was a rarity, and perhaps the clearest indicator that Ms Sturgeon's hitherto ultra-sensitive public radar had diminished. It would be easy to identify any of these areas and claim it as Ms Sturgeon's legacy, and I am certain that her supporters and detractors will do just that. Some of her fanbase, many members of which remain at the heart of government, will cite her handling of Covid as her legacy. Her opponents inside nationalism will cite her role in the defenestration of Alex Salmond, and her detractors outside the movement will more likely reference the gender recognition debacle. In the final analysis, however, her real, enduring legacy is none of those things. Her enduring legacy is something far less superficially interesting; something far less likely to make the front page of a newspaper. No, by the end of this decade we will see Nicola Sturgeon's legacy as a decisive shift in Scottish public policy to the ideological left. This strategic philosophical change has stayed with us, and has permeated into the agendas of her successors Humza Yousaf (who didn't want to change it) and John Swinney (who, with his Deputy Kate Forbes, is experiencing how difficult it is to put the egg back in the shell). Whether or not this ideological movement is good news or bad news is largely in the eye of the beholder. Those on the left of the SNP, and of course those in Ms Sturgeon's coalition partners, the Greens, will celebrate this legacy. And so they should. Centrist and centrist-right economic policy, and a public service reform agenda, have been successfully neutered. I must say, though, that this is not an opinion I share, and however laudable the policy intention, during the next term of Parliament the chickens will come home to roost in a number of areas. Take schooling. The education establishment has spent the last decade obsessed (not too strong a word) with 'closing the attainment gap'. Nobody has questioned whether more homogenous attainment is good for the country (it isn't). And more importantly everyone has looked the other way when they have seen attempts to close the attainment gap in action. In schools all over Scotland, the method of closing the gap is not to raise the level of those at the bottom, but to suppress the level of those at the top. This happens every day, in every Scottish state school, and I have been witnessing it first hand for a decade. Together with the collapse in knowledge as part of the Scottish curriculum, the rejection of an excellence agenda is having a dramatic impact. This impact is most succinctly displayed by the international PISA data, which has recorded constant absolute and relative declines in Scottish educational performance in reading, maths and science. The impact is being felt by universities, with multiple anecdotal evidence that Scottish students are having to be placed, in effect, in remedial classes to catch up with British and international peers. And the impact will be felt by Scottish employers and the Scottish economy, the future of which is the children currently at school. Education is hardly the only example. The NHS is a poor service, with poor outcomes, swallowing up an eye-watering volume of public money, all over the UK. Quietly, though, the service in England is adapting to financial and demographic inevitabilities by working much more closely with private providers to expand capacity, reduce waiting lists, and improve outcomes. This will ultimately improve public health and therefore economic productivity … in England. In Scotland, we are not working with the private sector, and appear unwilling to make the obvious arguments for so doing. This is a policy decision driven by a leftist, anti-private sector agenda. High income taxes which we know prevent high taxpayers coming to Scotland, when we need a higher tax base. Rent caps, which we know prevent investment to alleviate the housing shortage. A presumption against building out our trunk roads, which is a humiliating skeleton of a network by European standards. And of course a presumption against oil and gas, which is losing us the investment and the workers we need to exploit our renewables potential. All policy decisions, all framed by this decisive move to the left expertly executed by Ms Sturgeon. I am far from blind to Ms Sturgeon's abilities or accomplishments, or indeed her ability to make good calls. I was heartened, for instance, to read that she opposed the release of the Lockerbie bomber, which I still regard as the most reprehensible decision taken by any government since devolution. Furthermore, although bandwagons are easy to jump on, I have always liked Nicola Sturgeon in my personal interactions with her. I continue to judge her by those, and therefore my personal feelings towards her are unchanged. However she and I come from a different place on the ideological spectrum. That is how I judge her legacy now and, as should always be the case in politics, that is how history will judge her, too. Andy Maciver is Founding Director of Message Matters, and co-host of the Holyrood Sources podcast
Edinburgh Live
2 hours ago
- Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh author JK Rowling rips into Nicola Sturgeon's memoir in brutal foul mouthed review
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info JK Rowling has ripped into former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's memoir, branding her 'flat out Trumpian' in the trans rights debate. The Harry Potter author, who lives in Edinburgh, has released a scathing review of Nicola Sturgeon's new book 'Frankly', calling her a 'f***kwit', and saying that she has "caused real, lasting harm" in the transgender debate, reports The Daily Record. She accused Sturgeon of "encouraging a culture in which women have been silenced, shamed, persecuted and placed in situations that are degrading and unsafe, all for not subscribing to her own luxury beliefs". She also accused her of being 'flat out Trumpian in her shameless denial of reality and hard facts'. The 60-year-old added: "Sturgeon hasn't been remotely humbled by the Supreme Court ruling that proved her government was forcing a misinterpretation of the UK-wide Equality Act on Scotland, one that robbed women of many single sex spaces and of their very existence as a definable class with rights protected in law. "She remains stubbornly wedded to her belief that it is possible to let some men into women's spaces on the men's say so, without letting any man who fancies it come inside. She denies there are any risks to a policy of gender self-identification. "She can't imagine any male predator capitalising on such policies, in spite of the fact that it has, demonstrably, happened many times." The author takes particular aim at Sturgeon's reaction to the now-infamous 'Destroyer of Women's Rights' T-shirt photo Rowling posted back in 2022. Sturgeon writes in her memoir that the image was a 'turning point' that made her fear for her safety. Rowling says her intention was to force journalists to confront Sturgeon with questions grassroots feminists had been asking and ones the First Minister had 'treated with contempt'. Sign up for Edinburgh Live newsletters for more headlines straight to your inbox The author even cited the case of Isla Bryson, a convicted double rapist who identified as female and was initially sent to a women's prison. It was during that media storm that Rowling says Sturgeon managed to make herself look 'a complete f**kwit'. The former First Minister, she claims, 'panicked like a pheasant caught in headlights' when asked whether Bryson was a man or a woman. Rowling also slammed Sturgeon's infamous claim that some opponents of the Gender Recognition Reform Bill were 'transphobic, deeply misogynist, often homophobic, possibly racist' while likening it to Hillary Clinton's 'basket of deplorables' gaffe. In a more personal attack, Rowling hit out at some of Sturgeon's more personal reflections, often comparing her to Twilight heroine Bella Swan. She wrote: "Just as Bella's propensity for accidents doesn't stop her riding motorcycles, jumping off cliffs or choosing to meet evil vampires for a spot of unarmed combat, Sturgeon's alleged imposter syndrome and constant crises of confidence don't prevent her admitting to 'the raw talent I had for politics', or that 'I certainly wasn't lacking in ability', that 'far from being the weak link, I was seemingly the star attraction', 'it all added to the sense that I had the Midas touch' or that 'there is no doubt that I was a massive electoral asset.'" In her review, Rowling also criticised Sturgeon's writing style, calling Frankly more like a 'PR statement' than an autobiography. Representatives for Nicola Sturgeon declined to comment.
