IF GOD MADE Scotland man, then he’d come up with Nicola Sturgeon. He’d mix together a Scottish terrier, a no-nonsense school mistress, a Braveheart script, a ‘you want to step outside’ attitude, with a sprinkle of heather – and from this potent mix a Nicola would be formed. He’d send her down to us – and like Narcissus, we’d see our reflection, and we’d love us, eternally blinded to all those rubbish policies.
For non-believers during Nicola’s rule Scotland was a lonely place, as the county has been in thrall to its own reflection and we had to watch as they let the stupid and the crazies run amok.
So great news that in a puff of smoke, Ms Sturgeon has gone. But the relief as Ms Sturgeon mysteriously resigned was countered this week with a tiny spark of indignation, and to all SNP voters, I got to tell you, I got it. Just for a moment, but I got it.
The sneery UK media coverage of the ‘new-build estate’ home owned by the former First Minister and her husband brought out a surprise defensiveness. Then suddenly there it was, a taste at last of the affection that SNP followers have towards my little homeland made human form, Nicola Sturgeon, and here’s why.
Nicola Sturgeon is not like many other leaders in the UK. She (like many of us in Scotland) started life in a council house, in her case in new town Irvine and she wasn’t privately educated. And like many of us, she was taught to aspire to better – the dream of owning your own place. The dream of the detached home, the garage, the ensuite.
When the media judged Nicola’s home, they judged most of our homes.
Think you are doing well for yourself? The media don’t. Of course, they couldn’t possibly openly despise the homes of the deprived – that would be unkind. But for those ‘new build’ estates where the Karens live and the white van man? A field day for the Grand Design squad.
Scotland is a poor relation of richer England. Our houses cost less against UK averages because, well, Scottish buyers often have less. We do things differently here – we are literally a different country. So when the media find themselves not at their Highland holiday homes but to the place where central belters actually live, they sneer. Nicola Sturgeon’s choice of home made me want to stand with her and show that culturally, you can take the girl to the world stage, but when she goes home, she comes home to a Scotland that is recognisable to many of us.
Generation Xers grew up to believe that doing well was owning our own place. We didn’t know that bohemian or gentrified media folks would look at us and our aspirations in horror and do what they always do and make us feel that we will never catch up.
So good for Nicola Sturgeon to have stayed in her culture. She didn’t jump ship to suit a middle class dream. No high ceilings for her. She wasn’t brought up in that world, and being true to her own dream and her own culture, shows me why this woman was loved by so many. Her policies, dear God, are still terrible, but its nice to see the appeal.
Sorry to the media for Scotland’s poverty of ambition, but know that your coded ‘new build estate’ comments for poor people are wasted on us. That is what most of us want, that is what most of us dream. We are comfortable thank you very much. Not as rich as you wealthy Londoners (and btw you were lucky not clever) and maybe in a few generations and with a little luck ourselves we will start looking at Agas. But for now, a detached house, a conservatory and a motorhome is our modest Scottish dream.
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