It’s nice to be nice, as you might be told in Govan, so it’s a guilty pleasure to enjoy watching someone subjected to a vicious put-down.
Usually I’d suggest we all get along and march forward together, linking arms while singing “Val-deri, val-dera”, into a positive future that promises justice, happiness and vitality for all.
Then the Tories get involved and I remember that, in the words of Nick Cave, people just ain’t no good, so I might as well have a chuckle at their expense.
Last week, Nicola Sturgeon slapped Ruth Davidson upside the head with the put-down of the year so far. Let’s go over it again, for it is delicious.
Challenging the First Minister for her loyalty to education secretary John Swinney as the Scottish Government’s embarrassing exams failure was discussed, Davidson said: “her real loyalty should be to the parents and pupils of Scotland.”
Sturgeon’s reply “I’m not sure loyalty to colleagues is a strong suit for Ruth Davidson” was a stunning blow, followed by a surgical strike against her Conservative opponent’s sense of accountability because Davidson is about to join the unelected toadies of the House of Lords.
In that single exchange, Sturgeon questioned Davidson’s integrity, implied she is pompous, pointed out she answers to Westminster first, and undermined the Scottish Conservatives entirely, while also attacking the House of Lords in particular and the British establishment in general. That’s a good payoff for one investment.
I used to hope Ruth Davidson had potential as a moderate Conservative who might mount an effective opposition to the SNP, because it’s healthy for all governments to be questioned robustly.
Sadly, she’s continued to look south for her direction while edging to the right politically, and now turns out to be just another crony, like Beefy Botham and Boris’s blander brother.
A lame duck only flapping around Holyrood until she starts dressing as a posh Santa draped with dead cats, she can’t disappear soon enough, in my opinion.
But, for now, let’s enjoy her contributions to the Scottish Parliament. I’m sure Ruth will blunder into a few more sucker punches before she leaves, and give us some more laughs.
