SNP's Adam McVey appears to have a bad case of SADDo syndrome – John McLellan

Have pity on Adam McVey. Once the big cheese in Edinburgh Council, the poor fellow is afflicted by one of the worst cases of amnesia ever suffered by a former city leader.

Edinburgh Council's SNP group leader Adam McVey perhaps needs a lie down

It could be a symptom of the little-known SADDo (Self-Awareness Deficit Disorder) syndrome, in which politicians completely forget about their record in office and accuse their successors of the same things for which they were responsible. The council’s social care services are in disarray, he wrote in the Evening News this week, and they sure are. Just as they were throughout the five years he led the administration, in which time he pretended everything was fine.

The current administration should “hear the voice of the people” about retaining the Spaces for People road-narrowing schemes, when he and his cronies foisted those same schemes, and others, on communities in spite of concerted opposing campaigns. “Ignoring our residents will not build a better Edinburgh,” says the man who presided over the imposition of bin hubs outside people’s front windows.

Someone who muted opposition councillors because he didn’t like what they were saying says “it’s essential those in power take care to listen”. And on his watch, the vast Christmas market was built in Princes Street Gardens without planning permission, but he now complains the council failed “to alert councillors and the public over the winter festivals calamity”. Disgraceful, yes, just as it was in 2018.

Maybe it’s about time Adam took a long lie down in the SNP’s camper van.