NICOLA Sturgeon likes reading books. Outrageous we know.
The First Minister is also known for her focus on gender equality, launching the second stage of the National Advisory Council on Women and Girls’s (NACWG) work in April.
It will then perhaps come as little surprise that the SNP leader called out The Times after it published a recommended “reading list for the next prime minister”.
The issue with the list was that, of the 24 books which were recommended, not one had a female author. In fact, 28 men worked on the books listed – which included one by Vladimir Putin.
The list came from recommendations put forward by ten different people – nine of whom were men.
Pointing out this imbalance, the First Minister wrote: “My disappointment that there weren’t more novels on this list was overshadowed by fact that not a single one of the books recommended was authored by a woman.
“Let’s hope the next PM reads more diversely – and more fiction!”
📚 My disappointment that there weren’t more novels on this list was overshadowed by fact that not a single one of the books recommended was authored by a woman. Let’s hope the next PM reads more diversely - and more fiction! https://t.co/qYetx1YpP6
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) July 24, 2022
A fair enough comment on the lack of gender balance, you might think.
Not if you're Sam Taylor, the chief executive of the Unionist campaign group These Islands.
Taylor took issue with the types of books which the First Minister likes to read.
“When was the last time Sturgeon recommended a book that wasn’t a novel? Has she *ever* read a book about economics or business?” he tweeted.
He probably thought that was quite the slame dunk when he came up with it. Unfortunately for Taylor, it instead led to one of Scotland’s most popular comedians mocking him.
How dare people read fiction - why don’t you go and look in her window and watch what she reads ? I think this would be a good use of your time https://t.co/fVRsdHNBnj
— Janey Godley (@JaneyGodley) July 27, 2022
“How dare people read fiction,” Janey Godley responded, adding: “Why don’t you go and look in her window and watch what she reads? I think this would be a good use of your time.”
Pat Kane added: “I would argue that a taste for contemporary novels gives you more insight into the economic motives/aspirations of modern people than a thousand tomes on ‘utility maximisation’.”
The SNP’s Ross Colquhoun also replied, saying: “This tweet says much more about you than it does about the First Minister of Scotland.”
An indignant Taylor demanded to know what exactly his jab at the First Minister said about him.
If he doesn’t know, we’ll struggle to tell him.
