Nicola Sturgeon once admitted she believed she suffered from imposter syndrome. It is loosely defined as doubting your abilities and feeling like a fraud. It disproportionately affects high-achieving people, who find it difficult to accept their accomplishments. You have to question what have been her accomplishments over the past almost eight years? She inherited a vibrant unified party with lots of cash in the bank. The Party had 115,000 + members on the day she had her coronation. There were also 1.6 million votes from the referendum waiting to be motivated again. A battle hardened YES Movement and a very professional blogging community. The SNP was the only independence party in Scotland. The unionist parties were in disarray and the road to independence lay open.
Eight years on the Party is split asunder. Not only is there no money in the bank there is £600k unaccounted for and missing from the accounts and it is also subject to a police investigation for possible fraud.The YES Movement is divided into numerous factions.The membership numbers have collapsed. There are now three Independence parties, not just one. I do not think destroying the YES Movement counts as an achievement, unless you are of a unionist persuasion!
The only achievement that I can identify is Baby Boxes. Eight years and that is all she has to show for all her success at the ballot box. No other polices or initiatives of note that can be held up as examples of her political skill and judgement. Independence which was in our grasp in November 2014 when she took over is further away now than ever before. It is a catalogue of massive under achievement and disappointing to so many that trusted and believed in her.
I would suggest Nicola Sturgeon does not have imposter syndrome I think it is more likely the exact opposite, The Dunning Kruger effect. It is described as a cognitive bias whereby people with low ability, expertise, or experience regarding a certain type of a task or area of knowledge tend to overestimate their ability or knowledge. Ms Sturgeon believes she is far better at what she does than her abilities have demonstrated thus far. Throw in her narcissistic tendencies, and you have a recipe for failure and disaster.
Some of you I know to believe she has been compromised by the British spooks. That she has abandoned any desire to attain independence. She has sold her soul to the English Imperial elite. I reject that all out of hand as nonsense. I think she still believes independence is best for our country. I do not for one minute think the British spooks have her in their control.It is all a little to John Le Carre for my liking. It is well known there are a few skeletons in that particular cupboard, who hasn’t got a few but nothing that could be used to flip someone 180 degrees!
It is much simpler than all that. She does not have either the ability or talent to operate at the level she was parachuted into by her predecessor. She knows that and so does her husband and those working with her every day. They are just too scared of her known viciousness to ever say anything out of turn. She is vindictive and brutal to those that dare to ignore her wishes or do not worship at her feet.
The Murrels and her inner circle have been winging it from day one. Like all over promoted managers the world over, fear of being exposed as the incompetent chancers they know they are haunts them. That is why she has surrounded herself with even less talented lieutenants than herself. Nepotism and cronyism are rife inside the SNP. Some are only legends in their own lunchtimes! I know some of them personally I will spare them the embarrassment of exposure. Suffice to say I wouldn’t let them run a bath let alone a government department.These people know they have been promoted way above their abilities. As long as they keep their heads down and the mouths zipped it is an easy life.
Most are earning salaries and expenses that they could only have dreamt about in civvy street. If you think they are useless, you should see the spads.They will never question Sturgeon or her authority. Life is just a bowl of cherries for all of them on the gravy train. Why rock the boat? If Nicola says Tuesday is Thursday, they will simply smile, nod and agree that Thursday is their favourite day of the week. Spineless wonders abound.
Between them they have managed to get every call wrong since 2014. In the opinion expressed by some, there is a belief that she was directly involved in the efforts to prosecute and jail Alex Salmond on trumped up charges. She did preside over the enquiry fiasco that followed these farcical court cases. The famous video of her 50 denials and lapses of memory at the Fabiani Inquiry are now legendary.
She has stumbled from one disaster to another. Her latest fail, cheerleading the US/Nato proxy war in Ukraine. From its inception till Sturgeon took over the SNP/Independence Movement always took a position of neutrality. We have always taken the position of demanding immediate ceasefires and negotiated peace agreements. Celebrating deaths of young soldiers is most unbecoming for anyone, let alone a nations First Minister. Her tweet last week I won’t share here, it is I am sure one you have already seen. Shameful, those dead boys have mothers, sisters, sweethearts you do not cheer and glorify deaths in wars then compound your crassness by quoting the bard!
One misstep after another for eight years and all avoidable. The lack of strategy and political nous exposed for all the world to see.Along the way trying to reverse England’s Brexit. Running the 2017 UK General Election as not a vote for independence and losing 20 seats. On Covid getting into lockstep with Boris and the Tories in England. She should of course, have been acting is if already an independent nation taking her own decisions that were pertinent to Scotland. Instead, she acted in the very same way as England on everything. She even implemented the English plan of sending old folks back into the care homes without testing them first. We know the disaster that turned out to be. The UK with one of the highest death rates in the world from Covid.
While scratching around for something to show herself as a progressive, she got in tow with Stonewall and literally tore the entire independence movement in two. This folly of Queer Theory will be written about for generations to come and not in the way Ms Sturgeon imagines. No political leader has ever managed to paint themselves into such a tight corner with absolutely no reverse gear or exit strategy. This has been the biggest disaster for the SNP and the independence movement. It has also highlighted her inability to assess actions before charging into them. Sadly, nobody in Bute House or Holyrood SNP offices it seems has ever heard about a SWAT analysis!
Nothing she has done in her entire tenure has been thoroughly gamed or planned. Everything is short term it seems. I suggest you never stand too close to her for fear of being struck by a passing bandwagon.
Neither she nor her entourage has the ability or strategic brains between them to open a can of beans let alone plan and execute a detailed plan to extricate Scotland out of the union. That is why they lash out so much at Alba and non SNP independence supporters. They know that others do have the credentials, the ability and the strategic brilliance to plan and execute a detailed plan for our independence.
Dunning-Kruger sufferers would rather see a project fail than ask for help or take good advice from others.Both Votes SNP and SNP 1 2 attest to that!
A prime example of her inability to strategise is her appointment of her Lord Advocate, Rt Hon Dorothy Bain. An individual that does not believe in the policy of Section 30 Referendum. Why would you appoint someone that does not think your plan is within the competence of Holyrood? Please do not misunderstand me Ms Bain is a very talented law officer and I am certain she is very skilled in the practice of law. She just however, does not believe in the job Nicola Sturgeon set her to do with the Referendum Bill. Ms Sturgeon has appointed someone that doesn’t have a favourable opinion on the Referendum Bill and its competence at Holyrood. This should have been determined before appointing her as Lord Advocate. Another schoolgirl error.
Dorothy Bain.
Last Saturday speaking in Edinburgh at a Wee Alba Book meeting Alex Salmond exposed the paucity of the Supreme Court ‘strategy’ of Ms Sturgeon and her appointment of a Lord Advocate that does not support the SNP’s policy. Here is what Alex said.
Your Lord Advocate is not your Lord Judge – that’s the President of the Council of the UK Supreme Court; the Lord Advocate is your advocate – it’s your lawyer.
So, you might want, if you’re going into a court case, to have a bit more enthusiasm from the person that’s meant to be representing you. The Lord Advocate is appointed by the First Minister. The two Lord Advocates that I appointed, Elish Angiolini and Frank Mulholland, I wouldn’t have dreamt of trying to interfere in the Judiciary responsibilities and the Prosecution Service and the Criminal Law, perish the thought would I interfere in anything like that.
But in terms of their job as representing the Scottish Government and placing the Government in the best legal position, I would have expected them to support the Government’s position. And if somebody felt that their conscience, or their difficulties, or their professional reputation, were such that they couldn’t make a convincing argument to any court or much more importantly, take a Bill through the Scottish Parliament, then they wouldn’t have been Lord Advocate.
It’s ridiculous! In political terms, from your own Advocate, you’re only going to want one thing if you’re actually thinking of Scottish independence, you want – if you’re going down the legal route in domestic courts – you want to be in the position of having an Act of the Scottish Parliament pass, and let your opponents come at you – so at least you’ll be able to argue “this is the determined will of the Scottish People through their Parliament expressed at the ballot box” as your last line of defence – as opposed to meandering in to the UK Supreme Court and saying “we’re no’ very sure, we don’t have sufficient confidence, could you please give us the confidence we don’t have in ourselves?”
That’s absurd! If your strategy is to so upset the Scottish People that they’ll be moved into other action you don’t need to go through that process – it’s a pantomime!
If you believe that action is necessary, then you do what needs to be done, in terms of MPs and MSPs from Scotland expressing the confidence that has been placed in them by the People and by a majority organising themselves into a Constitutional Convention to chart the way forward for the Scottish People. And if you have to defend your position – defend it in the International Courts, where you have got more than a chance of success, you’re heavily odds-on to be successful – as UK’s lawyers well know under these circumstances. But, for goodness sake don’t go into a court where you expect to lose as some sort of ‘nifty’ political ‘strategy’, just because you didn’t have the sense to ask the Lord Advocate her opinion before you appointed her.
Alex Salmond, Edinburgh 6th August 2022
This strategic thinking and political sense is what is missing in our campaign for independence.Ms Sturgeon really needs to up her game and start surrounding herself with the most talented people available, not the most compliant. A good place to start would perhaps be to try and find a damn good Scottish QC that has a track record in taking on and beating the UK Government in the courts in England. Maybe finding an experienced politician that has run a referendum and understands how Westminster thinks and works. Scotland deserves the best nothing less!
Here is another thought. Even incompetent people get some decisions correct, let’s be generous and say 40% correct calls on a random basis. A strike rate much lower than that has to involve a degree of deliberate intent, for whatever reason.
I truly believe it is just a case of being way out of her depth.Like watching a midfield footballer that always plays the ball back or sideways because he is too scared to lose the ball and have the crowd on their back. If you don’t ever take a decision you cannot be blamed for bad decision making. She is scared and deep down she knows she doesn’t have a clue so as I suggest she just wings it. Back to the keeper every time!
“This strategic thinking and political sense is what is missing in our campaign for independence.Ms Sturgeon really needs to up her game and start surrounding herself with the most talented people available, not the most compliant. A good place to start would perhaps be to try and find a damn good Scottish QC that has a track record in taking on and beating the UK Government in the courts in England. Maybe finding an experienced politician that has run a referendum and understands how Westminster thinks and works. Scotland deserves the best nothing less!”
It’s obviously Cherry and Salmond as QC and Campaign Chairman, respectively.
But it won’t happen for the reasons regarding Nicola Sturgeon’s personality that you very clearly articulated.
My thoughts exactly, but we must get rid off sturgeon for that ever to happen.
I think you’re correct Roddy…. mostly.
I’m not sure about the involvement of spooks however. Even if Sturgeon isn’t compromised directly, her actions and decisions, and the muppets she appoints, are an absolute gift to hostile forces, who surely cannot be far away.
Evidence? I have none.
But something REALLY stinks about the Salmond stitch-up, from the mysterious Vietnam WhatsApp group, through the orchestrated cooperation between SNP, Scottish Government, Civil Service, COPFS, Lord Advocate, certain judges, Police Scotland and the media. That level of choreography and collusion doesn’t just happen, and all on the flimsiest possible non-evidence. For crying out loud they even had to invent crimes just to get a lousy conviction against Craig Murray.
What roll did Crown Agent David Harvie is Craig’s imprisonment? (And the same thing happening again with Dave Llewellan?)
Perhaps the most breathtaking aspect of the smear campaign against Salmond was the sheer weight of it, all apparently out to “get” Salmond. How easy it would have been for a lesser mortal than Alex Salmond to have been flattened by this monstrous steam roller if not for the Scottish jury which completely saved the day, but what a truly shocking indictment of our “Institutions”. God help us all.
“Somebody” was coordinating all of that. And for the reasons you correctly describe, we all know that can’t possibly be the strategically challenged dunce Nicola Sturgeon. Nicola Sturgeon is “someone’s” useful idiot, and a rare phenomenon occurs where she excels tremendously in both capacities.
Not since the days of Thatcher have I ached see the back of any political charlatan as much as I want to see the back of Sturgeon, Scotland’s worst ever First Minister.
I never liked Sturgeon but was willing to put up with her when she became SNP leader and presumably would lead us to independence. However, her ridiculously planned “coronation” palaver followed by a “selfie” with the great Unionist Alasdair Campbell gave the game away.
Eventually I left my Party.
BUT the main aim now is to follow the genuine independence parties + Salvo + SSRG and finally achieve our goal.
Agreed, Sturgeon isn’t an agent of the British Security State in the sense that she’s under their direct control. She is however their useful idiot.
She and her inner cadre maintain close links with the US State Department. She and her inner cadre maintain close links to the John Smith Centre for Public Service.
The last submission of annual accounts by the JSCfPS at the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator were for year end 31/03/19. This submission was made on 10/02/20 and has remained in a “submission being processed” status ever since. This is odd, there’s no general pandemic backlog at the OSCR, plenty of other charities have their records bang up-to-date. The accounts of the JSCfPS just happen to have fallen down the back of the filing cabinet. Pretty inconvenient for an organisation with the strap line; “Promoting trust in politics and public service”. We have no idea how Kezia Dugdale pays the bills for herself and her soon to be staff of five. A little research however reveals multiple trans-Atlantic connections, specifically to the State Department.
No, Sturgeon is something more than a useful idiot. She and her confidants must at some psychological level be conscious that they’re cooperating with an external body. A prompt here, a nudge there. In return for a promise of career progression, access to the network that’ll see their inadequate, mediocre talents rise to undreamed of heights.
I think it’s also a case of Sturgeon wanting to micromanage everything and refusing to delegate when it’s common sense to do so. Ok, so we had the Covid epidemic and understandably someone had to take control of the situation but that shouldn’t have stopped someone else from continuing to further the cause of independence if Sturgeon was determined to handle Covid herself. Instead her micromanaging obsession has seen years of potential furtherance being squandered. Heart-breaking.
I would suggest her micro management obsession is part of her condition. She wants to ensure no smart one has slipped into the net and could pose a threat to her rule. As to Covid again no way was she sharing the limelight. She had an excellent health secy in Jean Freeman she should have been the one in charge, it was after all her brief!
Here, we are seeing entirely different levels of political thinking from Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon… Everyone who reads these comments will recognise the ineffable difference between our former First minister and the present one! That difference is vitally important to the restoration of Scotland’s Independence movement; furthermore, these points are expressed in clear plain language that normal people appreciate!
While many in Scotland’s electorate are of differing opinions, we ought to be pleased that our higher political echelons are capable of using day-to-day language to consider and talk clearly about such complex aspects! Perhaps this is a promising sign of what we might see in future?
Thanks for your time”
Ewen
I have to disagree with you with regard to the FM and not having been got at by the English establishment. Firstly, because she has taken the privy counsel oath, secondly, because those working directly for her are English establishment supporters and promote the English sole continuator state narrative and thirdly, because she, herself, views Scotland as a region of England akin to that of Manchester. (Words from her own mouth.) Every day she makes claims that Scotland is beholden to the English government. She places the devolved administration above that of the government of Scotland which is imbued with Scots sovereign authority. She fails on a daily basis to use language that stands Scotland on the same legal footing as its treaty partner and as the sovereign nation state in an international Agreement.
If you compare the actions of England’s PM with that of the FM of Scotland (now Scotland could just as easily have adopted the term PM for Scotland but chose not to) the difference is night and day. England ALWAYS asserts its independence and sovereignty. Always. Scotland NEVER does either. It won’t even take responsibility for the governance of Scotland preferring to use England as a convenient scapegoat. Big bad England won’t let us… Get tae… Scotland is legally an equal partner in a treaty. There is absolutely nothing England can do that Scotland cannot. Yet somehow Scotland’s representatives, and here even Alex Salmond is guilty (decades abiding by English parliamentary conventions and absorbing their narrative will do that to you), treat the imaginary border line separating the two sovereign nation states and countries of Scotland and England as the chain around the neck of the unicorn. Tightening and sapping the strength from its very being. Holding it captive. They do not struggle against this chain or attempt to remove it. They neither have the will nor the desire to do so. It is why they constantly pay lip service but never truly follow through. They give themselves an out by putting Scotland at the mercy of an English veto and under England’s control. The 2014 referendum is a prime example where 53% of Scots actually backed the termination of the treaty yet were uniquely in the world denied their democratic and legitimate result because folk from elsewhere were given more power and say over Scotland than the Scots themselves. They were able to deny the Scots their right to termination under a false argument of inclusiveness. No other country in the world would have accepted those terms yet Scotland not only did but was proud to do so. As they say, pride comes before a fall and fall Scotland did, spectacularly. The exact same is planned for a second referendum and possible faux plebiscite. Again, England is in control and Scotland is meekly playing its part. What Scotland should of course do is suspend the treaty of Union in the first instance and with immediate effect and then under Scotland’s sole control set up the franchise and referendum if it seeks to leave the fundamentally and terminally breached treaty (absolutely ridiculous that it is even being put to a vote given the breaches) and then hold it with international observers from Scotland friendly states rather than those that violated international law and spoke out against Scotland last time – namely England’s allies. Or have a Scottish GE and plebiscite. Personally, I am in favour of a simple proclamation. It is after all the only thing that terminates the treaty, the rest is just feel good nonsense to give the impression they give a toss what you think. The fact is they do not require any further input in the decision. The Scots imbued their government with Scots sovereign authority and it rests in them every single day they are in office not just on the day of an election. They already have the authority to make a denunciation and ample reasons for doing so. The choice not to is political. It is better for them personally to remain where they are, taking huge salaries, expenses and pensions along with the numerous perks and no responsibility. Having a scapegoat that can be blamed for everything when in truth Scotland is already independent within GB and has all the sovereign authority it can ever need is the ideal set up for them. Choosing not to exercise either is not because Scotland cannot as some may believe but rather its representatives have neither the will or desire to do so.
It is why I applaud Alba MPs and the party for standing up and for looking at alternatives but also call them out on the half measures. Scotland has to ACT on a daily basis as the sovereign nation state and equal partner that it is. Anything less gives the impression that Scotland is weak and subservient. That England gets to call the shots. Scotland’s representatives need to assert Scotland’s sovereign authority at all times. Those within the SNP bar possibly Angus McNeil will never make that stand. Alba may and should. They should set the standard expected of Scotland’s representatives. 100% unapologetically pro-Scotland. No “UK” this, “this gov” that bs. Get them telt and mean what you say and do. Act with conviction. It is Scotland’s will that is being expressed daily. So far that will has been choked by the chain around Scotland’s neck. Time to break it and stand tall.
Spot-on Gayle
The reality of a colonial administration is that it is full of colonial administrators.
Roddy: we need only to hear the words of Sinn Fein leaders, Gerry Adams and Martin MacGuinness, who realised eventually that they were compromised beyond belief by double agents – not one or two, but lots of them, from those standing next to them to those in the street units – working for the British State to understand how it works.
I would contend that the ‘wokie-dokies’ were encouraged to infiltrate (by agents provocateurs, as was the miner’s union in Thatcher’s day) the SNP, partly to disable it and partly to divide Scotland against itself. These are the useful idiots, rewarded with unlimited porn and sexual deviance. They will be reined in, believe me, if they ever threaten England seriously. For the moment, England as the UK is capitalising on them in their destruction of both the SNP and the wider independence movement. Once they have achieved that, they will disappear. Guaranteed.
Have read a few letters in newspapers, lately, about renegotiating the Treaty. Another ruse to try and put us on the back foot. The only way that the Treaty can be renegotiated is if both nations of Scotland and England agree, and the only legal system will be England’s. That will put the Treaty into domestic law where it will be at the tender mercies of England as the UK.
Anyone stupid enough to suggest that it be renegotiated needs his or her noddle examined very closely in case it has been replaced in the night with a neep. Or he/she is a plant to ty and fool the unwary. At the moment, as Westminster and Whitehall know perfectly well, the Treaty is a document based in international law. Renegotiating it will place it very firmly into domestic law and Westminster’s grasp. We really have to be on the ball all the time now because this will get very dirty, and we cannot afford to allow Nicola Sturgeon to collaborate her way into our oblivion.
” Anyone stupid enough to suggest that it be renegotiated needs his or her noddle examined very closely in case it has been replaced in the night with a neep. ” . LOL . AYE !!
I fear it’s too late Lorna : The Neepheids walk amongst us .
Great post .
Likewise yours Roddy
And yet the English Act of Union 2018 Bill is still active and is being implemented in all but name. Look at the language used and indeed the name of the treaty they are proposing -under UK not GB. Great Britain has been removed from it. Then look at what the English government and its establishment promoted during the Scottish referendum, the paper commissioned by Crawford and Boyle that stated Scotland was extinguished and subsumed into a Greater England albeit under the new name of UK. In other words, England adopted the political name of UK for England and views Scotland as an English region. Now reread the proposed Bill and pay attention to the terminology used and where authority lies. It gives England a veto over Scotland and established English parliamentary sovereignty with primacy.
Yes, they are talking about the treaty but in so far as they can push the new bill through.
For me, Gayle, that would be the end of line. When I first read Crawford and Boyle, I realised immediately that it was a game changer. Recently, I have been saying that they would resurrect it, perhaps in a different form. If any Scottish politician has the gall and nerve to vote this through, as I said, it will be the end of the line for me. No quarter given nor asked.
Cherry and Salmond would make an ideal team! When will Joanna see that the SNP is for the knacker’s yard?
It is truly difficult, if not impossible, to imagine tht the Alex Salmond situation was not facilitated by some drk establishment forces.
Yes Sturgeon and others in her clique were involved. But the utter focus, dedictication of resources, and coordination of same across the police, prosecution service, civil service and judiciary was absolutely incredible.
Millions upon million were spent pursuing Salmond and the Alex Salmond Team deducted police tem, COPFS then went after Craig Murray, Mark Hirst and others.
Using the forces of the state to jail political opponents seeking colonial escape is standard British military procedure. Deployed from India to Ireland and more Brigadier General Sir Frank Kitson, of many a campaign to take down separatists recommends it at de rigeur strategy to use the police and prosecution of the land.
He also recommends controlling or creating one’s own press.
Its difficult therefore, very very, very difficult not to recognise that the security services are involved, all over the movement in fact.
And kompromat. Difficult to believe that doesn’t hsppen. I mean we live I the worlds finest democracy.
Agreed, Willie. We also saw it close to home, in NI. Personally, I think it was instigated here and capitalised on at Westminster/Whitehall.