When Scotland is better than England....

THERE ARE TIMES WHEN I HAVE TO LOVE SCOTLAND

Regular readers will know that I voted Yes in the Independence Referendum last September. Not that I'm a nationalist, but it seemed like the only route open to the possibility of a more socially just society, an aspiration that Westminster seems a million miles away from. I'd be perfectly happy to change my mind and stay with the UK if something significantly changed for the better. Were Labour to come to their senses, return to their roots and choose Jeremy Corbyn as the next leader then there might be some hope. But how likely is that?

Which is a long winded way of saying that I have no truck with the Scottish good/English bad mantras of the more extreme elements of the SNP. My argument is with the UK political establishment, not the English. But there are some moments when it's hard not to conclude that we not only do things a bit differently up here, but sometimes a bit better as well.  And yesterday morning on Twitter was definitely one of those moments.

Katie McGarvey tweeted :

Thinking of finally joining a party in run up to Scottish elections to help campaign properly. Heart says Green, head says SNP. 😩 #help

It's hard to imagine what happened next taking place in England.

Within minutes she had a response from our First Minister saying "I accept I might be a bit biased...but I hope I can persuade you to make it @theSNP". Somewhat bemused by this, Katie decided to be cheeky and see if the Greens' Patrick Harvie could make her a better offer. Free chocolate maybe? (Fair Trade, of course!). Patrick swiftly replied that he'd been known to turn up at branch meetings with a cake and maybe that would do?

That precipitated an exchange that ended up with yet another Holyrood party leader joining in the cake debate, and Nicola complaining that her well known lack of kitchen skills were being mocked. You can see the tweets in this article in the Herald, and The Scotsman joined in the fun as well.

OK, it would be naive not to recognise that high profile politicians have staff handling their social media accounts for them, so it may not have all been the actual leaders themselves. Ms Sturgeon is a busy individual. All the same they will at least be responsible for setting the tone of their communications.

But can you imagine any of the Westminster party leaders (and I include Angus Robertson in this) doing something similar?  Can you imagine their image makers allowing such a thing to happen?  I can't.  

It's perhaps no coincidence tha,t of our five main party leaders, only one is of the traditional white, straight male variety.  And he, the LibDem leader, is probably the least likely to be seen behaving in the above manner.  Even the leader of the Scottish Tories, much as I disagree with her policies, is  often likeable and funny.  And, perhaps bizarrely, the Scottish leader of ukip is gay, albeit a total moron....

The referendum shook up the whole country and created a much more politically conscious nation.  We had a General Election result that was a shock, even for the winners.  And Nicola was the only party leader to emerge from the TV debates with positive approval ratings, with many in England wishing they could vote for her and her party.  Politics is different in Scotland.  And sometimes a lot more human than anything we see coming from London.