I’ve been watching the recent SNP elections like a bemused child might watch a house burn down. Am I proud of this? No. I understand I should be taking this very serious matter very seriously. But the whole first minister/SNP leader election reminds me of a story my (vicar) dad tells, of a eco-funeral where the base of the wicker coffin fell out as it was being lowered into the grave. One can only imagine the thud.
So whilst I am trying my utmost best to take the dissent of the SNP party to the dogs with dignity, grace and decorum, I did find a little light relief in the fact that Scottish labour described the election of Humza Yousaf as the “best possible news” for them. This! This is the teenage level pettiness I’ve missed about politics for the past few years. More of this overly confident trash-talk and mind games, and less of the corruption and “look another elected official has broken the law” scandals, please.
One of the most entertaining (or disturbing, depending on your emotional investment in Scottish independence) aspects of all of this has been that, whoever was voted in was going to be another nail in SNP’s coffin. Yousaf was, in many ways, the most bearable of the 3 candidates, and yet even now his opponents are rubbing their hands with glee because they know that the SNP has been carried by Sturgeon for an unsustainable number of years. Yousaf has to battle both party disunity and his own incompetence.
As health minister, Yousaf had a track record to make you squirm. His CV is less “formidable”, and more “flop”. I found out the results as I was studying with a nursing student who wasn’t impressed with the results, after already feeling he has screwed over the NHS and health care students. My friend told me of struggles with overcrowding and long waiting times whilst on placements. Under Yousaf’s tenure as health minister, ambulance weight times reached 6 hours (also, coincidentally, the expected lifespan of SNP after he takes office) and Scotland saw itself become a COVID hotspot, whilst our new FM was on a jolly little holibobs. If this is how he runs the health service, I dread to think of what he’ll do with the country.
Yet what was more heart-breaking, and a subject maybe for another time, was how little faith my friend had that any politician, Yousaf or otherwise, could fix the health system. He was resigned to hopelessness. It brings me back to the burning house analogy: when you burn something to the ground, damage the NHS so much, there’s very little chance of rebuilding it. You’re just left with a pile of ashes.
The NHS, the economy, and the political system in general, they’ve all been pushed to the point of breaking point. At this rate, I think the only thing Yousaf won’t break is the union between Scotland and England.
“Humza Yousaf” by Scottish Government is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
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Humza Yousaf and the SNP
I’ve been watching the recent SNP elections like a bemused child might watch a house burn down. Am I proud of this? No. I understand I should be taking this very serious matter very seriously. But the whole first minister/SNP leader election reminds me of a story my (vicar) dad tells, of a eco-funeral where the base of the wicker coffin fell out as it was being lowered into the grave. One can only imagine the thud.
So whilst I am trying my utmost best to take the dissent of the SNP party to the dogs with dignity, grace and decorum, I did find a little light relief in the fact that Scottish labour described the election of Humza Yousaf as the “best possible news” for them. This! This is the teenage level pettiness I’ve missed about politics for the past few years. More of this overly confident trash-talk and mind games, and less of the corruption and “look another elected official has broken the law” scandals, please.
One of the most entertaining (or disturbing, depending on your emotional investment in Scottish independence) aspects of all of this has been that, whoever was voted in was going to be another nail in SNP’s coffin. Yousaf was, in many ways, the most bearable of the 3 candidates, and yet even now his opponents are rubbing their hands with glee because they know that the SNP has been carried by Sturgeon for an unsustainable number of years. Yousaf has to battle both party disunity and his own incompetence.
As health minister, Yousaf had a track record to make you squirm. His CV is less “formidable”, and more “flop”. I found out the results as I was studying with a nursing student who wasn’t impressed with the results, after already feeling he has screwed over the NHS and health care students. My friend told me of struggles with overcrowding and long waiting times whilst on placements. Under Yousaf’s tenure as health minister, ambulance weight times reached 6 hours (also, coincidentally, the expected lifespan of SNP after he takes office) and Scotland saw itself become a COVID hotspot, whilst our new FM was on a jolly little holibobs. If this is how he runs the health service, I dread to think of what he’ll do with the country.
Yet what was more heart-breaking, and a subject maybe for another time, was how little faith my friend had that any politician, Yousaf or otherwise, could fix the health system. He was resigned to hopelessness. It brings me back to the burning house analogy: when you burn something to the ground, damage the NHS so much, there’s very little chance of rebuilding it. You’re just left with a pile of ashes.
The NHS, the economy, and the political system in general, they’ve all been pushed to the point of breaking point. At this rate, I think the only thing Yousaf won’t break is the union between Scotland and England.
“Humza Yousaf” by Scottish Government is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
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