The Brave and the Bold

So… we have the first Muslim leader of the SNP and today, the first Muslim First Minister of Scotland.

This is really important for Scotland, and, as Humza Yousaf pointed out, something his grandparents arriving in Scotland could never have imagined. We should be proud of this.

I am glad that Humza Yousaf has won. I’ll be delighted that he will be our first minister and I wish him well but it won’t be an easy ride. There are many challenges ahead of us. For me, I would pick out a few to start with.

Whilst it has been shown that policy decisions taken in Scotland are alleviating poverty to the tune of £2000 per year, we need to see more. We can’t wait so we must continue with progressive policies which prioritise lifting children, families out of poverty. The minimum income guarantee, free school meals for all and progressive taxation is a must.

I want to see boldness, to see a drive to reduce poverty, reduce inequality, and hang the consequences. I want Humza Yousaf to be a warrior for Scotland. To stand up for Scotlands people, all of us, fiercely, determinedly and passionately.

For us here in the Highlands there is a lot of work to do. We have to find a way to balance the need for safety and efficiency that dualling the A9 and the A96 (particularly the Nairn bypass) will bring, with the push we need to make to meet climate change outcomes. The ferries have to be sorted out. It’s ridiculous that we are still waiting for new ferries and improved services. We need to get a move on to sort this.

I want to see our health service, particularly crisis support and women’s health more accessible for remote rural areas. Women should not have to travel 110 miles to deliver their babies isolated and far from home. Humza Yousaf knows these issues, he met with representatives from Caithness. We also need to be innovative in tackling the mental health crisis which leads to Highlands having one of the highest suicide rates in Scotland. Humza must look at how rural health services can meet the needs of those living here because today, they do not. Whether is obstetrics, gynae, or mental health services we need better from our NHS.

Finally, whatever priorities there are, running through them all is, of course Independence. Independence must be right up there with the rest of them. Without independence the priorities that I have mentioned will be so much harder to deal with. We need independence to realise the fairer and better society we all hope for. Humza Yousaf must do everything he can to grow support for Independence. He must Challenge the Westminster Government on their appalling actions – section 35 orders, Brexit – and their appalling policies – asylum seekers, refugees, benefit, energy policies. Call them out, demand better.

A lot of the issues that I was worried about during this leadership contest have receded. Equality, women’s reproductive health, but they haven’t gone away but they are safe under Humza Yousaf I think. The contest has exposed the tension within the SNP.

I don’t regret the contest, I think that it has prompted quite a bit of self reflection for the Party and a consideration of who we want to be as a party and as a country. That’s not necessarily a “bad thing” but it can be painful and bruising. Leading this party and this country with kindness and compassion will help those rifts begin to heal all by themselves.

I don’t expect that Humza Yousaf will have all the diverse Indy groups holding hands or dancing the Strip the Willow together but a plan is needed and, as some wise women I know said tonight, we need hope and optimism.

I’m excited to see what tomorrow brings. Be Brave, Be Bold, Humza Yousaf and we will get there.

#YouYesYet

#IndyRef2

#HumzaForScotland

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That’s all folks

So… That’s it folks.

Janey Godley would have us think that Nicola Sturgeon is off to the caravan with the Sandras and her sling back shoes to dance along to ABBA.

I’m not privy to what she is doing but I hope she feels like she has taken a heavy coat off and is having a lie in this morning.

Nicola Sturgeon’s legacy will be for the history books to decide. Without doubt however she has been the best political operator of her generation.

In a time of political chaos in the UK, Nicola Sturgeon has been steadfast and constant. She has been an unerringly positive voice for Scotland wherever she has been in the world and she is leaving Scotland a better, fairer place than it was when she arrived.

Are we Independent? Sadly no. Looking back on this I’m not sure that at any time since 2014, we could have won a referendum but the lack of progress to this is a disappointment to many.

Brexit has smashed Scotland and we have lost good people who had come here from the EU only to return home when it became apparent the UK Government was indifferent to them.

Covid was the toughest times. Watching Nicola Sturgeon speak directly to us with an honesty and straightforwardness missing from almost every single WM politician was reassuring and a lifeline for many. Emma Roddick spoke about how important that was to her late mum yesterday as she wished the First Minister well and I recognise that on our own lives. “Let’s see what Nicola is saying” was part of our daily lockdown too.

Nicola Sturgeon has steered us through these choppy waters. She hasn’t found the promised land but by God she has kept the boat from sinking.

She has delivered policies which have put money – cash – into the pockets of the poorest, the child payment, the carers payments. Again and again people and their need for a better life have been at the heart of the policies of her government. People have been a priority and their equality and their well-being central to much of her governments actions.

Some of you would argue that none of this matters. That the ONLY thing she should have focused on was independence. Some of you will argue that she has been divisive in her drive for Independence and put that above all else and she should have just forgotten about independence.

After I press publish on this I’ll no doubt get a slew of messages which will insult me from both sides of the argument. For me, Nicola Sturgeon was a different sort of politician. A politician I could admire, a politician with heart, a politician who places fairness and equality at the heart of policies.

She wasn’t and neither was nor is, her Government, perfect or without fault or problems, but she has stood head and shoulders above her equivalents in Westminster. Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss, Sunak, even the leader of the opposition, Starmer. Nicola
Sturgeon knocks them all into a cocked hat.

The nature of politics is that the job is never done. That no matter what you do, it is never finished, you can never finish a shift with everything that was in your in-tray moved into your out tray, never turn the lights off, lock the door and head off into the sunset.

There remain many many jobs to do. The opposition would have you believe Scotland is a complete basket case. They are wrong. The focus on health, education, poverty, equality, must continue, developing a fairer world, tackling hate crime, racism, misogyny, and of course, working towards independence are vital for our future.

Without Nicola Sturgeon we would be nowhere near where we are. She remains today, the most popular leader in the UK. For me the SNP have made a massive difference to my life. Without the SNP, I would not be where I am either. I would likely never have done my degrees or be doing a PhD. The SNP Government and their free tuition fees made that possible for me.

But you know, the practicalities of that study are one thing. The confidence to do that is another. In 2015 I stood for selection to be a candidate for the SNP in the Scottish elections in 2016. I did that because Nicola Sturgeon inspired me. I wanted to be part of her government, I believed that as an MSP with Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister, Scotland would be better, fairer because I saw that ordinary people mattered to her.

I was not selected but it remains one of the best things I ever did. It was this process that made me believe in myself, gave me confidence and a desire to have a stronger voice. Without the SNP, I could never have afforded to go to university but without Nicola Sturgeon I would never have had the confidence to do so.

Who will take her place has yet to be decided. They will have a hard job. There has been a lot made of a split in the SNP, of chaos and turmoil, and indeed there has clearly been that as the leadership contest comes to a close.

My membership of the SNP might be on a shoogly peg. I can’t imagine wanting to be a member of a party with a leader who is not committed to furthering equality or is lukewarm on improving abortion services. O voted for Humza Yousaf and I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

I wish Nicola Sturgeon had not decided to step down but despite this, I wish her well.

She may indeed be in a caravan with the two Sandras, her sling backs and ABBA karaoke. Whatever she is doing, I hope she is wherever she wants to be, doing whatever she wants to do and loving every minute of it because that freedom must have been hard to find over the last 8 years.

Thanks.

#YouYesYet. #Indyref2 #NicolaSturgeon #HumzaForScotland

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It’s not just football… it’s life and death

So, it appears that the public conscience in 2023 is Gary Lineker.

A footballer, a TV presenter and pundit has turned out to be a bigger and more effective critic of this appalling Government than His Majesty’s Opposition, the mainstream press or the BBC.

Gary Lineker had the temerity to tweet his disgust at the latest Tory attempt to persuade us all that the entire world wants to come to live in England and that small boats carrying desperate people are going to end civilisation as we know it.

This week the Tories proposed the “Illegal Migration Bill”. An appalling piece of legislation launched on the back of an increasing demonisation of desperate people. This bill was announced by Rishi Sunak from behind a podium with “Stop the Boats” on it and it is well named because in truth it is a bill which is actually illegal.

This bill does several things but the key points are that it completely removes the right to apply for asylum for anyone who comes to the UK by irregular means. That means by any means that is not an authorised safe route.

Except this Government has no authorised safe routes. The rhetoric is that England (and I deliberately use England) is overrun (their word) with asylum seekers and refugees.

Let’s put this into context. Last year around 89 million people were forced to flee their homes. Britain took just over 20 000 refugees. The people that arrive here “illegally” are, of course, not illegal at all. Seeking asylum, arriving in a country by whatever means necessary to do that, is protected under international law. They come here for many reasons. Usually because they have a tie to the UK, family ties, language ties, a belief that somehow England and Great Britain are the country they think exists but in truth disappeared with bobbies on bicycles,two by two, antimacassars and donkey stoning our doorsteps.

This proposed bill is almost certainly at odds with international law. International law, a law that the UK Government contributed to designing, a law that is built upon what once were British values – tolerance, compassion, responsibility. Words which this Government has lost any understanding of.

If there is disagreement over whether this bill is illegal, it is definitely immoral and it is delivered within the context of language which is vile, dehumanising and dangerous.

Gary Lineker called them out on it by tweeting “There is no influx. We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries. This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to Germany in the 1930s”

There have already been attacks on asylum seekers, far right marches where asylum seekers are staying, threats to those lawyers we saw Sunak sneer at in Parliament but who are at the front line of holding this hideous government to account for their appalling actions. The danger is increasing that this will get worse, that the hate will continue to escalate with devastating and potentially fatal results, if this government does not change its language or reel in the rhetoric.

The BBC reacted to Gary Lineker’s tweet by pulling him from Match of the Day. They said he had stepped back but that appears to be code for BBC acting to remove him. Very quickly, Lineker’s colleagues told the BBC to do one – to stick their MOTD offers where the sun don’t shine.

This might seem like a bit of a fuss over football but it is much more than that. The BBC is developing a bit of a habit of shutting down critics who disagree with the Conservative Party. I don’t say that lightly, Gary Lineker was pulled, but Alan Sugar – another presenter of a popular show – repeatedly tweets in praise of the Tories and no one bats an eyelid.

We also heard that the BBC has pulled an episode of Richard Attenborough’s latest series because it may upset right wing politicians and the government.

Fiona Bruce defended Stanley Johnson’s abuse of his wife on Thursday nights Question Time. Because a man who breaks his wife’s nose is a suitable candidate for a knighthood.

The BBC also had to apologise for failing to challenge Nadine Dorries during an interview where she pretty much lied about Sue Gray.

It was quite a day for an elderly auntie.

All this and yet it’s ok to have a chairman in Richard Sharp who is so close to Boris Johnson her helped him arrange a loan and has donated £400 000 to the Tory party. Perhaps that is why we have all this, I don’t know. My dad says whatever political view people have they all see the BBC as opposing that.

What is clear, is that Gary Lineker, Like Marcus Rashford, are holding the Government to account in a way that out national media are not doing, creating spaces for discussion and hopefully, hopefully making a difference. We should all be speaking up and speaking out against this hideous government and it’s regressive, cruel and hateful policies. I’m glad that people like Gary Lineker and his colleagues are doing exactly that.

Meanwhile in Scotland we have our own carry on. The SNP leadership contest is playing out in real time on Tv and Twitter. Along with that goes significant amounts of cringing, wincing and Private Frazier-esque cries of “We’re Doomed, Doomed”.

There is the potential for the SNP to end up with a leader who will pull the party to a more right wing position with less progressive policies and a neoliberal economic agenda.

That would be a massive mistake in my opinion. I think many of the members who joined the party after 2014, joined for a left of Centre progressive party. They will leave if that changes. The SNP might not revert to being able to hold their conferences in the back room of a pub, but it will damage the party and the drive for Independence.

It won’t be a surprise therefore, that I’m not supporting Ash Regan or Kate Forbes. I am hugely disappointed that these women are not offering a vision for the SNP or for Scotland that I think will win us the fairer better independent Scotland that I hope for. For me it has to be Humza Yousaf. I think that he is the only candidate who will continue to grow that better, fairer Scotland that I’m looking for. He is the only candidate that will champion equality for all and protect and improve women’s reproductive rights.

There’s a reckoning coming – the SNP has to decide what it is and if it is a left of Centre progressive party, then it needs to BE that. I hope it it, otherwise I might just be knocking the door of one or two of my political pals to see if they have a place for me to stay.

It’s never dull.

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Lots of love to those that keep me going xxxx

YouYesYet #IndyRef2 #GaryLinekerIsRight #HumzaForScotland

Shafts of light – International Womens Day 2023

So… today is International Women’s Day and I’m exhausted. I expect I’m no different than many women around Scotland or in fact right across the world. In 2023 its hard work being a woman. It’s true it has been so forever and of course, it has been much harder than this looking back over the centuries. I know that. No one will put me in a scold’s bridle for writing this, no one makes me wear a chastity belt or burns me at the stake. I’m able to choose much more than women could hundreds of years ago, but it feels like we should be so much further forward today than we are.

As a girl growing up in the 70s, I never imagined that when I was nearly 60, women exercising their right to abortion would be harangued by people outside hospitals in the country I live in. I never thought that we would have governments that perpetuated policies which target and damage women, that we would still be fighting for affordable childcare and equal pay. There are times today that it feels like we have gone backwards in many ways.

This International Women’s Day, I feel the weight of the increase in misogyny and the hideous treatment of women who pop their heads above the parapet of public life. Women not only in politics, but in the arts and literature. Women who are creative, who make our lives better with stories and song can find themselves on the end of hideous mocking, hateful rhetoric and in many cases, death threats.

I despair over the continuing epidemic of violence against women who die in alarming numbers at the hands of men. Here in the UK 107 women died as a result of violent men in 2022. That’s more than 2 a week.

We look across the world and women are reportedly being poisoned in Iran for the temerity of seeking an education. In the US, we see discussion of the use of the death penalty for women seeking abortions and it feels like it is spiralling out of control. The far right, the fundamentalists of various religions seem to be working furiously and deliberately to sow division, to whip up hate and to drive women back to a time when we had no horizons other than those set for us by men.

And yet there is so much more for us than the misery and awfulness, so more than the hate. As we look around us at the women we know, we see there is bravery, there is resilience, there is joy and there is power.

There are women in our lives that inspire us, fill us with hope, lead the way in cooperation, collaboration, kindness. There are women prepared to stand up for others, to share their stories, their lived experiences in order to make life better for the rest of us.
Ordinary women who live, love and laugh.

These are women who are facing poverty, facing bereavement, dealing with chronic illness, women who are fighting for freedom from oppression and who are providing support and help to millions of others across the country and further. They are everywhere.

It is easy when dark clouds are gathering to focus on the darkness and fail to see the shafts of light that are coming through the clouds, but it is so important to do that.

For me, it is often in the ordinary that I find the extraordinary. The daily battles women face, women overcoming day to day barriers to life, work, study who soar. I’ve been inspired by so many of them to take my own journey into study. When I’m struggling with life, when I can’t find joy I often turn to these women and find myself lifted up by them and I try always to do the same for other women.

We all know women who battle mental ill health, addiction, disability, chronic illness to achieve public success. They are often inspirational, but so are those women who are alone, working hard at things no one sees. Those for whom getting up, getting dressed, taking their medication, going outside is a huge step, there is inspiration in those women too. Carers, single parents – women dealing with the DWP’s punitive and stigmatising benefit regime, not knowing how they’ll pay their electricity bill but still getting up, looking after those they love, getting their children ready, and getting them out to school.

There are women who set out to address a need they see in our own communities – hunger, poor services – those women are todays warriors. Look around you. Unpaid carers, campaigners, ordinary women putting one foot in front of another. We are amazing.

Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I rise” includes the words

“You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise”.

And that’s what we need to remember. We might feel that it’s exhausting, terrifying, enraging to be a woman in 2023, but when we do, we need to remember to look around us and draw our inspiration, our resilience from the amazing women we see every single day. Those women, working, studying, bringing up children, improving their communities, overcoming barriers, challenging misogyny, fighting for others, changing lives, loving, living, laughing these women are our heroes.

We see you sisters.

Holding us all up, inspiring us and being the shafts of light through the gathering clouds.

On International Women’s Day 2023 I am so glad for you all. Let’s take time to celebrate us.

In sisterhood

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