The first TV debate between the three candidates battling to become the next SNP leader and First Minister will take place on Tuesday.
View email online | | | | | | | | | | | Mar 3, 2023 | | | | | | | | | | | Neil McIntosh | | Editor of The Scotsman |
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Dear Reader As a Scotsman reader, I'd guess that you are particularly interested in the fortunes of our country. And, whatever your political views, I'd suggest the SNP's leadership race - which is, by extension, also a battle to become First Minister - has made the Scottish political landscape infinitely more interesting. We've moved, very suddenly, from a world in which the SNP party machine accepted little or no dissent, through the leadership of Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon, to one in which three very different - and conflicting - visions of the Scotland's future are being sold. This helpful guide from our Political Editor, Alistair Grant, sets out some of those differences - across the candidates' preferred path to independence, gender recognition reforms, gay marriage, economic and social policy, and public services. We can likely discount Ash Regan's positions, as - barring surprises - it appears she is very unlikely to win. But there's plenty of difference in the approaches favoured by Humza Yousaf and Kate Forbes across all those issues to give us plenty to think about. And it won't just be their initial policy pitch which will end up changing the Scotland we live in. Even the debate sparked by this process will, I suspect, leave its mark, in the form of an SNP that is less united, and less disciplined, than before. That will have an impact at the ballot box in elections ahead, and make coalition government even more necessary. An SNP forced into a bigger coalition than the one it currently has with the Greens - likely to bail out if Forbes wins - may also be forced to confront its awful under-performance in education, public health and economic development. Too much to hope, you cry? It may be too optimistic to imagine our many woes finally being fixed any time soon, but we could be entering a world where there are a few more ideas about how to do better. That would be welcome. Speaking of ideas, we've been trying to stir a few with our series on Scotland's relationship with alcohol, running this week. We took the view that the Scottish Government's consultation document on Alcohol advertising and promotion was a pretty poor document (we summarise it here) and have set about trying to add a little more context and colour to that debate. Alistair Grant - he's had a busy week - kicked the debate off on Wednesday by looking at the political dimensions, and the staggering statistic that Scots bought enough booze for everyone aged over 16 to drink 18 units every week last year. The next day, Martyn McLaughlin reported from The Gartcraig, a pub in Glasgow's east end, to try and find out why Scots drink so much ("The problem isn't the drink," Martyn is told. "The problem's poverty. That's what needs solved. Look around you, it's obvious, isn't it?"). Jane Bradley looked at how other countries regulate alcohol advertising (answer: often more heavily than here), and we also covered the drink industry's fears that banning advertising could have the same impact as Brexit because of its impact on them, and the tourism industry. And Joyce McMillan has today written compellingly about the tone of Scotland's political debate and "its tone of polarisation, exaggeration and megaphone lobbying rather than serious consultation" being "enough to reduce to despair anyone really cares about good policy-making in Scotland". Amen to that. We hope you find the coverage of all this clarifying and helpful, as you form your own views on what should happen next. We'll be rounding up this big week in Scottish politics, along with all you need to know about the world around us and a few things to inspire, delight and distract you, in tomorrow's Saturday Scotsman. I hope you enjoy that, and your weekend. Best wishes, Neil McIntosh Editor, The Scotsman | |
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