Philip Patrick has an excellent TCW hit piece on Nicola Sturgeon and her remarkable lack of talent.
Sturgeon – the Diary of a Nobody
‘AN empty taxi drew up and Clement Attlee got out’. Churchill’s jibe about his supposedly anonymous adversary was witty but unfair. Attlee might not have had Churchill’s charisma, but he was a substantial and accomplished figure who deserved more respect.
But how about Nicola Sturgeon? Such is her public profile that it is inconceivable that anyone would make such a quip about the embattled ex-First Minister, even though a paraphrase is sorely tempting (‘an empty luxury camper van drew up and . . .’). But it would be far more apposite and might serve as a useful corrective to the often-hysterical reporting of this consistently overrated figure.
The whole piece is well worth reading as a reminder that talentless and inexperienced people are propelled to the top of the political tree for reasons which are obscure unless we think in terms of puppets doing a puppet's job. Puppets have to be untalented or the strings don't work.
Nicola Sturgeon is in many ways the archetypical modern politician. With no previous history to speak of (a brief legal ‘career’ which seems to have ended badly is skated over in the hagiographies), she was fast-tracked to the top largely on account of her media-created image, ferocious ambition, and in the absence of a plausible alternative. It certainly wasn’t on account of any achievements – because there were none.
Once the image of Sturgeon as ‘a rising star’ and a ‘major figure’ was implanted on the media’s fervid imagination, it could not be erased. Results, outcomes, achievement seemed not to matter in the slightest. She achieved nothing as Health Minister and less than nothing as First Minister. Only Humza Yousaf has failed upwards at a greater velocity.
3 comments:
I don't like Alex Salmond but I do get the impression he is an able chap. Her? Phooey!
But then what had Call-me-Dave Cameron ever done, or Liz Truss? Or mass murderer Toni Blair?
Sir Kneel Starmer was a "human rights lawyer" which is surely a negative qualification for any job.
With apologies to Rodgers and Hart and Johnny One Note:
Nicola could only sing one note
And the note she sang was this
Independance
Poor Nicola One Note sang out with gusto
And just overlorded the place
Poor Nicola One Note, yelled willy nilly
Until she was blue in the face
For holding one note was her ace
But when Independence no longer works as an excuse for other failings One Note is not enough.
dearieme - I don't like Alex Salmond either and yes he seems to be an able chap. Probably far more interesting face to face than Nicola. Sir Kneel is almost scary though, just words, protocols and procedures with a definite hint of the quiet maniac.
DJ - very good, that's certainly Nicola. I suppose independence was always a good excuse and easy to use, but her failings were bound to surface eventually, like bricks thrown into a small swamp.
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