THWOTH wrote:"Stop the steal!"

'A rather narrow result' - Sir John Curtice
Sir John Curtice says "the nationalist ship which had taken a bit of a battering" will come to a calmer position.

The University of Strathclyde polling expert adds that if Kate Forbes had won a lot of SNP parliamentarians would have been unhappy.

He says given the strength of support Humza Yousaf has within the two parliamentary parties, one has to say that after only getting 52% of the votes after the second vote redistribution, was a "rather narrow result".

Sir John suspects Yousaf will have to offer Kate Forbes a senior position in his cabinet, possibly staying as finance secretary.

"Whether or not she decides to take it, that is another matter."

fisherman wrote:Can't see her run for re-election in the backbenches.

fisherman wrote:I thought it a mild piece of editing.

The list of failures on her watch could have been 3 or 4 times the length requiring a much longer song. Something like Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall, maybe?
I know

There was, notwithstanding her limitations, much to admire. At a time when the Tories were baiting migrants and the EU, she stood for an openness to the world beyond Scottish or UK borders. Though it may be true that Scots are no less racist than anyone else, she never pandered to those baser instincts or stoked hatred to bolster her own position. She gave young women something to aspire to. And if you think that’s nothing, you’ve never lived in a world bereft of role models.

Policy-wise, too, there were genuine achievements. The SNP expanded free childcare, with more promised (something the UK government is now seeking to emulate). And while it is often said Sturgeon preferred to whine about Westminster than use the powers she had, Scotland now has the most progressive tax and benefits system in the UK, and its poorest families are receiving £25 per child per week to help offset the cost of living crisis.

Some of the vitriol smacks of jealousy. All political careers end in failure, they say, even Sturgeon’s. But the failure Sturgeon is experiencing is the kind most of her opponents would kill for: eight election victories and, even now, the highest approval rating of any Scottish leader.

Sure, she should have been better and bolder. But the world’s a complicated place. It is not impossible to both lament what could have, should have been, and think: “We will not see her like again”.

ronmcd wrote:Not sure it's unaccounted for, ie stuffed down the back of the sofa, I think the problem is they raised money ringfenced for fighting the 2nd independence referendum post 2017, raised £600,000, but used it for other things. The referendum didn't happen as consecutive Tory govts said naw, and the accounts with the electoral commission show they had a lot less than £600k in recent years, so had spent it presumably...