Nicola Sturgeon cracks me up.

[Merename]

Just read an excerpt from her address today. I know not all of you will love her and I don’t think coronavirus has been handled perfectly, but she is an intelligent and likeable example of Scottish people, imo. I love the way she is dignified and avoids politicising everything, yet still is direct enough to comment on how ridiculous Boris can be:

Tom Gordon, from The Herald, points out that, in the prime minister's speech this morning, Boris Johnson emphasised the role of the union, calling it "an incredible partnership" that proved its worth during the pandemic. He asks what the first minister's response is considering she would like Scotland to be independent.

"Boris Johnson and I are very different kinds of people, very different personalities and I would, in a whole range of ways, choose not to emulate him and how he speaks and how he behaves and I'm sure he would choose not to emulate me in many respects," Nicola Sturgeon replies.

"I don't think you'll catch me very often leaping to the floor to do press-ups during a media interview, for example.

"In terms of the wider and future arguments about Scotland's constitutional future, people will make their own minds up on that and draw their own conclusions and part of the process they will go through is watching how the Scottish government conducts itself and how Boris Johnson conducts himself.

"My focus is on tackling this virus and any leader should have that as their central focus."

@SockYarn

Because they don't like Boris and see Nicola as the polar opposite,

Well, I hope Nicola not being like Boris is a great comfort to them when our country is irredeemably down the crapper.

National doom is definitely a price worth paying for THAT.

I have never voted SNP . However The FM has really impressed me with her covid handling these past few months . I’ve had thoughts that I should vote SNP in the next election.

Then my eyes were opened to what we as women are facing in Scotland.
So the FM won’t be getting my vote anytime soon .

Yes, the way that women were redefined (in through the back door with no consultation) is a prime example of SNP tactics imo, along with the lack of paper trails around important meetings/decisions and refusal to comply with FOI requests so that scrutiny is difficult.

I love big Nicki! So glad she’s our FM

We always call her Wee Nicola. I have no idea how big or wee she actually is.

I think slow and steady is the way, I think she's right. Of course she makes things political, she's a politician. She could have been a lot more political but hasn't imo.

I wonder what would have happened if there had been a cross party group for covid, I wonder if that group would have made different decisions or just never been able to reach a decision at all.

I think there could have been a more honest acknowledgment that they messed up on care homes. Yes at the beginning they might have thought the right thing to do was get as many old people out of hospital as possible before the rush hit, but it's turned out to be the wrong decision and they should just admit that.

I think it's right that the daily briefings carry on. The problem has not gone away. I think it's a shame her deputy is John Swinney and she can't use him to give herself a day off once or twice a week.

I think early on she was very concise in her message, but less so as time has gone on.

The schools debacle and what's happened in care homes haven't painted her in a good light. Mistakes have been made here as well as in the rest of the uk.

That's said, infections seem to be better controlled here and are very much on a downwards trend. So can understand and wanting to control people coming into the country in order to maintain that. For me that's not about independence but about letting people get back to some kind of normal.

I'm no fan of snp, and think some things have not been handled well, but some things have.

The problem is that she doesn’t have the permission of the Scottish people to move us further from the U.K. and towards independence

Yes she does, her party was voted in to represent the majority of the Scottish constituencies

Even NS has conceded that for independence to be legitimate there has to be a legally binding referendum. A party having a majority of seats due to a quirk of the electoral system, even if they also had a majority of votes (which they don’t) is not the same as asking that specific question because parties stand on many issues and you can’t assume a voter agrees with all of them.

Lol at using first past the post as proof of mandate when it suits.

Nicola won't get indy without a referendum, one person one vote.

I don’t understand the NS love - Scotland would’ve gone into this crisis with a large budget deficit if independent. I could never vote SNP as if they achieve their goal, the country will be poorer and there are already plenty of folk just scraping by here.

But then I’d never vote for nationalist parties because they’re divisive and to my mind should’ve remained an unappealing feature of the late 19th and 20th centuries.

Why on earth would we be poorer?! Smaller countries consistently do better than their bigger neighbours. We have the most skilled workforce in Europe, highest educated population on the world, massive hatural resources, huge tourist industry. Take away the need to pay ten per cent of Trident/ HS2/ London sewage works the list goes on of billions of our taxpayers money that could be spent on schools, infrastructure , generally making life better here.
If Scotland was an independent country going into this pandemic, 2000 families wouldn't have lost loved ones as the SNP would have had the power to close borders temporarily, very soon after the first outbreak like they wanted to but were refused (for three months) by Boris and Co.

The growth commission set up by the SNP to actually map out an independent Scotland's finances (only commissioned after the referendum for some reason....) conceded that for the first decade at least finances would be very tight and cuts likely necessary. This was widely reported and the IFS said an independent Scotland should expect more austerity in the short to medium term. In fact, several senior SNP members at the time criticised the report as being too honest because they thought it might hurt the independence cause. With this in mind it’s very unlikely we’d have been able to afford the furlough scheme for instance.

Oh dear. Please be better informed. So much I could say re your comments about education and tourism, natural resources...instead, I’ll stick to how would closing borders have stopped the care home deaths?
As it looks like it’s not clear, just to say again- there’s no ‘border’ between England and Scotland, it’s merely a pretty sign for tourists to stop at for a photo. Amongst those tourists are tax payers whose contributions to the UK economy enabled the furlough payments currently supporting most of our hospitality and tourism workers. Do you see now?

We have the most skilled workforce in Europe, highest educated population on the world,

ROFL. Jeezo, are there people who believe this shite?

As someone whose DH was at the Nike conference in Edinburgh (Lloyds employee) who wasn’t told he was at risk of contracting Covid due to sharing facilities as Nicola decided they didn’t need to know, yeah I think she’s a laugh a minute

Scotland has the 14th highest GDP (per person) in the world which is higher than the UK (OECD).
The report shows that public spending would increase in real terms so no, not austerity in a normal, fully independent country.
Tell me, what other country has another controlling its borders?

Nicola, is that you?

@MumofHunter the Institute for Fiscal Studies analysed the proposals and disagrees with you. I wonder what knowledge you have that they don’t?

She “avoids politicising everything”......😂😂😂. No she doesn’t! Everything she says and does is with her independence agenda in mind. Covid has been one long party political broadcast for her.

And no other country is controlling our borders, those being the internationally recognised ones of our internationally recognised country, the U.K. There are no physical borders within the UK that restrict movement of British citizens. What you’re really complaining about it that Scotland doesn’t have the power to freeze out the English because it’s not independent and we are, currently, all one country. You may wish that wasn’t the case, but as above, until the Scottish people give consent to independence in a legally binding referendum there is no mandate to impose borders.

There is no border between England and Scotland. So no one is controlling the ‘border’.

I think she's done brilliant and I'm glad we have her. Our numbers are very low.

@ABrushWith

She “avoids politicising everything”......😂😂😂. No she doesn’t! Everything she says and does is with her independence agenda in mind. Covid has been one long party political broadcast for her.

Nonsense. Where had she mentioned independence in all this?

“So far she has done exactly the same as Boris just a couple of weeks later.“

Well no to be fair, when things like schools were closing Scotland was ahead of England...and with reopening there’s been IMO a more staggered approach and much clearer plans and more notice... none of this, ok, you’re open on Monday nonsense.

She’s done pretty much everything better than Boris - even with Catherine calderwood, she could have handled it like Boris did with Dominic Cummings

I mean, could she have done better? Yes no doubt, but she’s definitely been better than Boris - it’s just a pity that was such a low bar though.

I'd much rather have Nicola than BJ!

Honestly he talks and I have no idea what he is going on about.

The schools palava was that eejit JS. His old school realised it was better to keep my Dd away from him when he insisted on visiting and bringing the TV cameras with him as she regularly hauled him over the coals.

I work in school nursery and I have no idea what I will be returning to in August. But I know we'll adapt as staff and make it as safe as possible.

"there is no border" is that your Boris?

If there is no border who won the world cup in 1966? Where does the region the Borders get it's name?