A Message for Kate

Calton doesn't believe everything that comes out of Nicola Sturgeon's mouth however there was no doubting the sincerity of her words when she talked about the toll being First Minister has taken on her in her resignation speech. A speech Kate Forbes would do well to listen to again. Sturgeon has devoted her whole life to the cause of independence and her personal life has suffered. Forbes has effectively declared at last night's leadership hustings that the cause of independence is more important to her than being at home to put her little girl to bed. She justifies it by saying that she wants her daughter and other Scottish children to grow up in a free, sovereign and independent country (and she makes the huge assumption that that would be better for them...)

Leaving aside for now the idea that Christians should devote their whole life to God and not Scottish independence, Calton is not alone in being of the view that parents of young children should be devoting themselves to bringing up their offspring. That doesn't preclude mothers and fathers having a career but it does rule out certain jobs - the ones which leave no time for children, like being First Minister of Scotland. That much surely was clear from Nicola Sturgeon's resignation speech.

The early years of a child's life are precious and, once gone, cannot be relived. Quality parental time with the kids does not make up for lack of quantity. There is plenty of time for Kate to be First Minister but her little girl will not be little for long. Kate has been given a great gift and with it comes great responsibility. It saddens Calton to see her sacrifice it to her obsession with independence. Where has Sturgeon's devotion to that cause got her? Nowhere. A life wasted, her dreams unfulfilled and relationships withered and broken.

Calton would rather see children growing up in a country where they are not sexualised from primary school, where harmful transgender ideology is not pushed at them, where the problems of poverty are not exacerbated by the economic costs of independence, where chances to improve their lives are not squandered in the constant search for a grievance against Westminster, where they won't freeze in their homes and schools due to a foolish obsession with Net Zero. Scotland does not need to be independent for real improvement to happen right now. It does need to ditch the incompetent SNP with their one-track minds.

Calton is not a member of any political party and so does not have a vote in the SNP leadership election. He thinks that Kate is by far the best candidate but she would not get his vote if he did have one, for her own sake and for the sake of her little girl.