If a week is a long time in politics, it feels like a lifetime since Nicola Sturgeon resigned. The SNP looked unassailable largely thanks to Sturgeon’s powerful political prowess — but seven days later, the once disciplined SNP is all over the place, largely due to the frontrunner and Finance Minister Kate Forbes, who has gone from rising star to car crash extraordinaire in one day because of her deeply held religious views which don’t quite seem in step with the modern world. She doesn’t like gay marriage and then went on to say that children being born outside marriage was “wrong” but not to worry because that was just her personal view. To call her a dinosaur would be unfair to the inhabitants of Jurassic Park.
She and her allies claim that she’s being discriminated against on religious grounds because people are asking these questions. This is disingenuous and madly naïve. If you seek to lead a country, your values matter. They tell us — your citizens — who you really are and what matters to you because to govern is to choose. If you fundamentally believe that abortion or being gay is a sin, I’m afraid that is a problem if you are the most powerful person in the land with decision making ability and real influence. We only need to look across the pond at how abortion rights have been rolled back thanks to Donald Trump’s destructive time in office. No-one ever thought a political climate could exist where Roe v Wade was reversed but here we are. It’s so easy to turn back the clock on equality.
We do live in a liberal country. You are allowed to have those views but if you have more than one brain cell, you should realise that these aren’t mainstream and you shouldn’t be running for leader. We care about the values our leaders have. That’s why many people didn’t want Jeremy Corbyn to be prime minister. His views on anti-semitism were incompatible with modern politics. And it’s just not true to say that politicians of faith are barred from high office. Just look at Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, a proud, practising Muslim whose religion attracts so much hatred, it makes him a target for the far Right and he needs physical protection. He has also consistently supported gay rights. Forbes’s main opponent, Humza Yousaf, is also a Muslim so this isn’t about religion, it’s about values. A person of high faith can hold high office but if they say large parts of society are immoral, Houston we have a problem.
Some — mainly religious Right-wing commentators —are applauding Forbes for her honesty. I guess the same could have been said about Liz Truss. Although, to be fair, Forbes has done more to trash her party’s reputation in 24 hours — it took Truss 49 days. As a Scot, even though I disagreed with Sturgeon on independence, I did feel proud that Scotland had become a more modern, tolerant country than the one I had grown up in. Sadly, it doesn’t feel that way today. Many in Scotland will be praying that a new candidate enters to the race. Someone with strength, substance, and style. Paging Judy Murray.
Theatreland is alive
I’ve fallen in love with London’s theatreland again.
This week I finally got tickets to see the smash hit Cabaret at the KitKat Club at the Playhouse theatre starring Sex Education’s Aimee Lou Wood as the iconic Sally Bowles. She’s warm, sexy, funny and vulnerable — perfect casting.
The production is exciting and immersive. From the minute you arrive you’re taken to the subversive, seedy world of the 1930s underground club.
A complimentary glass of schnapps (or three) helps one get in the mood. As you sip/down your fiery drink waiting for the show to begin, dancers weave around you with the flexibility of a slinky. My lower back twinged just looking at them. It’s a cracking night out.
My only gripe — tiny loos which were so narrow that I doubt even the acrobats could do the business, let alone punters of a certain age.
