Nicola Sturgeon was Scottish politics – her departure will leave the country in a very strange place
The Metro says ‘Is anyone else sad enough to go to this Nicola Sturgeon event in the Town Hall tonight?’
In 2014, at the height of Scotland’s referendum campaign, I’d posted this to Facebook, looking for company at a talk being hosted by the then-deputy first minister to try and boost the Yes vote – and one comment stood out.
‘Eh, what’s sad about it?’
Awkward. I’d forgotten that Ms Sturgeon and I were friends on the site.
‘You’re everywhere!’ I replied, trying to hide my red face, or ‘beamer’ to use the proper Scottish parlance.
Reflecting on that interaction today after the long-term SNP leader announced that she would stand down from her role as first minister, I realised how accidentally prescient I had been.
For eight years, amid elections, referendums, a pandemic, and the general chaos of politics, Nicola Sturgeon has been everywhere.
Since she succeeded Alex Salmond as SNP leader and first minister in late 2014, it seems that Britain has been defined by upheaval – and yet through Brexit, Covid, and no fewer than five prime ministers, Sturgeon has remained the one constant.
