Labour is doing some serious soul searching both north and south of the border.
The general election result was devastating for the party in both the UK and, obviously, in Scotland. It has also left them leaderless twice over.
While Ed Miliband fell on his sword quickly after the Conservatives secured their majority, Jim Murphy tried hard to keep his position.
His authority was undermined too many times, though. You can’t lose 39 seats, including your own, have two frontbenchers resign, 10 MSPs call for your head before a crucial vote of no confidence, only survive that division by three votes, and still hang on.
That’s not to say all blame should be laid at Murphy’s door far from it.
He inherited a sinking ship and just couldn’t plug the holes fast enough.
Of course there are those who say he was creating extra cracks but no leader could have prevented Labour being trounced. It is simply a question of who would have done the least damage.
The real issue is the fact the SNP has been strategically excellent for years while Labour has generally been poor sometimes with an added splash of hubris.
Nicola Sturgeon taking charge of the Nationalists has only improved their fortunes, building on the work done by Alex Salmond and John Swinney before him to further increase the party’s credibility and popularity.
Scottish Labour now needs to do the same and appeal to a broad base of people with a strong, compelling narrative.
It needs to be well organised and whoever takes charge likely to be the talented Kezia Dugdale needs to be given time.
What Alex Rowley says makes sense. There is no point in simply being anti-SNP if you don’t show people what you stand for.
A strong and constructive opposition is vital for a healthy democracy.
It’s time for Labour to step up to the plate on that front.