So Nicola Sturgeon forgot her Covid face mask, she's got a lot on her mind! – John McLellan

Some of my Conservative colleagues have been unfairly quick to criticise our poor First Minister for “momentarily” forgetting to put on her mask in an East Kilbride barbers.

Nicola Sturgeon puts on a Covid face mask (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/PA)

Ms Sturgeon set the rules, but everyone knows they were too complicated even for her to follow, especially with her well-documented, self-confessed memory lapses about who said what at some of her meetings.

When Scotland has a higher excess death rate than the rest of the UK, when her government has lost track of patients on hospital waiting lists, when school standards are tumbling, when vital ferries remain unbuilt, and when you’ve got emergency laws to rule by decree to pass, is it any wonder that she might be forgetful?

But thankfully she has remembered to hold meetings to plan out an independence referendum next year, because as we all know from some of our local Nationalists, nothing else matters more than “our” independence referendum.

As cases of Covid surged, it took admirable resolve for her to keep her mind trained on a vote she hasn’t got the power to hold, even when nay-sayers like former top SNP adviser Kevin Pringle have been telling her the time is not right. What does he know anyway, didn’t he help lose the last one?

So as she’s trying to work out how to pretend she wants a vote she’ll lose because she hasn’t worked out little details like currency, pensions and borders, no wonder the trusty tartan mask slipped her mind. Have some consideration.

John McLellan is a Conservative councillor for Craigentinny/Duddingston

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