Piers Morgan’s interview with Nicola Sturgeon

I think Boris should start referring to the ‘Scottish executive’.

I like NS actually. She’s intelligent and well briefed. That said, an awful lot of Scottish voters don’t like her or the SNP. Some say she’s banged on about independence at the expense of proper governance on other matters. She’s taken her eye off the ball in other areas.

Actually Maw you might just have a point there about strong women leaders. That said, Theresa May would have had to be the exception that proved the rule if she were still PM! ‘Strong and Stable’ anybody?
?

The ‘Scottish executive’ would certainly fit in with the general level of ignorance he demonstrates.

(For the avoidance of doubt, in case anyone thinks that’s a serious suggestion the Scottish Executive was legally renamed the Scottish Government in the Scotland Act 2012).

Some Scottish voters were so annoyed at the concentration of the SNP on independence that they can't give any credit to the "Scottish Executive" when credit is due. At the moment Independence has taken a back seat to managing and surviving the more immediate threat of the pandemic. On that subject Nicola Sturgeon and her team are doing well (and she always looks fine for briefings, too, despite apparently cutting her own hair)

Sorry Elegran not with you on that one. Her team? Why does she not let some of the other ministers do briefings on their specific portfolio? It's always got to be her. Did she ever answer the journalist asking her what the R number in Scotland is as compared to the rest of the UK? Team hasn't briefed her very well it would seem.

sparkle you would think, otherwise you would wonder why the pretence.

Thanks for that info SirChenjin, I didn’t know that the Scottish Executive had been legally renamed.

However the change was not without controversy as this excerpt from Wikipedia shows, for anyone who’s interested.

“ The original Scotland Act 1998 gave the name "Scottish Executive" as the legal term for the devolved government. In January 2001, the then First Minister Henry McLeish suggested changing the official name from "Scottish Executive" to "Scottish Government". The reaction from the British government and from some Labour Party members and Scottish Labour MPs was allegedly hostile.[25] This reaction was in contrast to a 2001 public survey by then-Labour chief whip Tom McCabe, which showed that only 29% of the Scottish public wanted the title Scottish Executive to remain.[26]

Scottish politicians, including the Labour first minister, had often referred to the executive as the "government" and this trend increased following the 2007 election, when the SNP took office and Labour were in opposition for the first time. On 2 September 2007, the SNP minority government announced that the Scottish Executive was to be retitled as the "Scottish Government".

The renaming was decided unilaterally by the minority government; as a consequence, the SNP was criticised by the three Unionist opposition parties for acting without allowing for parliamentary scrutiny, debate or approval of their plan. However, the term "Scottish Government" has since then become common currency among all of the political parties in Scotland and the rest of the UK.[27] The official Gaelic title, Riaghaltas na h-Alba, has always meant "Government of Scotland".”

Elizabeth1 I was just passing a comment. I don't want to argue with anyone about NS. I am not a Scot and I wouldn't say I like her, but I think she is doing a very good job, and credit where it's due.

You can admire someone’s ability to do their job but still not be very keen on them as a person and how they come across. I have had that so many times in my life.

I have a lot of time for NS - I think she does a good job. She is clear and concise and doesn't waffle.

I am a Scot living in England and, as a British citizen, have always been vehemently opposed to the SNP's separatist agenda.

Even so, I have to say that, over the last months, Nicola Sturgeon has come across as a much more competent and trustworthy politician than the utterly incompetent and dishonest shower in London.

Maybe read this article first before judging Ms Sturgeon. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-52617895

I'd like to know (and no-one has been able to answer this as yet) why she gets so much air-time?
It's as if she has to have the equivalent airtime as the PM of the whole of the UK. She is First Minister of a population of 5.454 million, Mark Drakeford is First Minister of a population of 3.136 million but we hear ten or fifteen times as much from Sturgeon as we do from Drakeford.

Which publicity agency does she use? It's very effective.
Why?

The same could be said of the timing of lockdown in almost all countries.

I found myself welling up when I listened to/saw her address to the people of Scotland on tv just now. Which wasn't how I felt last night listening to the PM. I find her incredibly statesmanlike.

If you live in Scotland (and maybe if you don't!) you have until 10pm tonight to make comments and suggestions on the Scottish coronavirus decision-making framework. www.ideas.gov.scot/covid-19-a-framework-for-decision-making/

Preliminary analysis of the findings of this project (which still has almost three hours to go if you wish to add your two penn'orth) blogs.gov.scot/digital-engagement/2020/05/08/coronavirus-covid-19-conversation-proves-very-popular/

Quote - "What’s important to you?

When asked what one change would have the most positive impact on people’s life, the comments tended to centre around a desire to allow greater social contact, with widespread concern raised about the impact on mental health. However, although the ‘bubble ‘ concept’ was accepted in principle there was a view it would be hard to implement in practice. There was a generally positive view on the prospect of relaxing restrictions on going outdoors more often with a perception that the risk was lower and it again would help improve quality of life:

“Family contact is a must. Most people could happily endure the restrictions longer with this small change. I have a family member with severe and enduring mental health issues hurtling towards the point of no return. I have not broken the lockdown yet, but every day I consider it.”

“Social bubbles are superficially attractive but do not reflect the realities or complexities of real lives. Becoming part of a bubble requires choices which may simply add social pressure rather than relieving it. The portrayal has often been about it being a way to allow grandparents to see grandchildren. But the reality is that any decision to include is by default a decision to exclude. I’m not sure that given the pressures and stresses of the Covid world we can afford to add (even accidentally) another level of stress and potentially division. When the moment is right perhaps close family should be permitted contact by default while other social groups should be allowed to meet up out of doors in small numbers – say four, with social distancing required.”

I don't know why we have her daily briefing on BBC1 every lunchtime. There is BBC Scotland, why don't they put her on that? When we see her we turn over and watch Bargain Hunt.

I’m sure she’s devastated.

How can you have a spirit of unity with everyone wanting to do their own thing. I don’t agree with you Sirchenin, I’ll leave it at that, you have your opinion I have mine. This is being turned into a political debate.

You mean - how can we have a spirit of unity when three of the four parts of the UK are doing one thing and the fourth is doing something very different with no consultation or agreement with the other three whilst providing so little or no detail as to how the four parts should be aligned?

You can’t - and Boris should have perhaps thought about that before he showed the usual contempt he always does for the devolved administrations.

This whole sorry saga has underlined the mess that has been created by England not having an assembly to match those in Cardiff and Edinburgh. At the very least, on devolved issues there should be a Secretary of State responsible for English matters who is not also the UK Prime Minister.

The Government's entire communications programme has been a complete mess; come back Bernard Ingham or Alastair Campbell.

The mess is more to do with the fact that we have a PM who consistently refuses to work with the devolved administrations. For the leaders of these administrations to have to find out about his plans from the Sunday papers is ridiculous. I agree that their comms programme has been a mess - it’s been jaw dropping in its awfulness.

Dr Swaminathan, the chief scientist of the World Health Organisation was interviewed by Andrew Marr this morning. The main message she had was that decisions about loosening restrictions must be made locally.

www.ft.com/content/69c75de6-9c6b-4bca-b110-2a55296b0875

England doesn't need an assembly it has Westminster ,85 % of politicians in Westminster are English therefor they can put anything through the house without fear of any of the devolved nations being able to make a difference .

Grumpa never heard of EVEL ?It means the devolved nations cant vote on English matters ...yet English MP's CAN vote on Scottish ones