THANK goodness summer recess has finally come to an end.
Politics is temporarily put on pause while Parliament isn’t sitting and I don’t like it one bit.
Aside from anything else, I’ve been waiting to find out whether I’ll need to invest in some solar lights and a battery-powered kettle to cope with the months ahead.
No doubt our MSPs are delighted to be back in the chamber. Not least because they get to enjoy the free heating.
While Parliament was in recess, we experienced a rocky few months of uncertainty and chaos. But enough about the Tory leadership contest: politics is finally back in business.
As FMQs got underway at Holyrood, the new Prime Minster was unveiling her plan to tackle the energy crisis.
I’m not saying that her plan lacked detail but I strongly suspect she may have written it in crayon.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross had an entire summer to think of a decent question for the First Minister but instead, he decided to return to one of his (self-certified) greatest hits.
Yes folks, he’s talking about the ferries fiasco again.
He asked the First Minister – given the cost-of-living crisis – whether she regretted that “so much money had been wasted on ferries that weren’t built.”
In response, the First Minister said she didn’t regret the actions her government took to save Ferguson’s shipyard and protect the jobs of those who work there.
Never one to let reality get in the way of an opportunity to grandstand, Douglas Ross replied: “There we have it! It’s official! Nicola Sturgeon doesn’t regret wasting £250m of taxpayers’ money, when that money is needed right now to help our services.” He was clearly delighted with himself. Even if nobody else was. This self-satisfied air continued when he began a triumphant rant about Nicola Sturgeon claiming not to see and not to hear.
No, I’m none the wiser either.
“It’s seems, she doesn’t like to hear a lot of things” he began.
“It’s amazing – JUST AMAZING – just how often Nicola Sturgeon has never seen or never heard anything that is potentially a difficult question.”
After that contribution, I found myself wishing that I saw and heard Douglas Ross far less than I currently do.
Surely the viewing public would have preferred to hear the Scottish Tory leader ask questions about the Scottish Government’s plans to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.
It’s like Douglas Ross thinks he can will ferries into being simply by shouting the phrase “ferry scandal!” every couple of weeks.
For her part, Nicola Sturgeon seemed unimpressed by the repetitive nature of his questions.
“I’ll happily answer questions for as long as Douglas Ross wants to ask questions on this issue” she said.
“But I suspect his choice of topic today is more a reflection on his own difficulties than anything else. After all, it’s not me who started this new parliamentary term with one MSP standing down from his front bench and another MSP quitting altogether! So perhaps he’s not got his own troubles to seek…”
