TWENTY-FIVE years into devolution, and the outcomes for health, education and the economy don’t so much scream success as much as whimper to be put out their misery. But leave aside the big devolved political mess, and It’s not all bad.
Nicola, Alex, Yousaf, that Welsh guy and Sadiq Khan have been having quite the time. And now we can see what happens when devolved powers go to the head. An exponential rise in ego is what happens. The stakes might go relatively low, but boy do the egos go high. With a little local flavour of course.
Let’s start in feisty Scotland where egomania takes Scotland to the WORLD STAGE. Raising Scoltand’s platform by being all glamourous and WORLD LEADING is way more food for the ego than sorting out a nation’s tedious problems.
Remember Nicola’s warnings to Donald Trump? Like an embarrassing auntie waving her back door pass at the WORLD STAGE. Remember the post Brexit trips around Europe, telling those actual government leaders that Scotland is on their team? Setting up embassies like proper leaders. Because that’s what Scotland needs. Remember Nicola taking on the English with mighty throwdowns to the UK Prime Minister? Now Humza is ‘leading the world’ with ‘WORLD-FIRSTS’ in how to handle a drug problem’ or ‘WORLD-LEADING’ refugee responses to help out with the Middle East.
Londoner Sadiq Khan’s ego is less about the world stage so much as any stage. A man who never met a photographer for whom he wouldn’t pout, with a staff handling his image. And by that, his visual image. Where Nicola and Humza seem to be power mad, they don’t seem vain. Sadiq seems to be led by vanity. Vogue fashion, watching Madonna from the front row, summits in New York City, and photoshoots with pretty celebrities. A man who values looking good. That’s not the man I want to be running my buses. Neither does he. Appearing on the side of a bus? Defo.
Mark Drakeford is down in Wales where egomania is heartfelt desire to leave a legacy. A man who wants a place in history. He’s doing it by saving car deaths or pollution deaths by having everyone walk everywhere or go in pedal cars. A bit like lockdown, really. Solve a little problem by making a giant problem. And go on about saving lives as justification, and any one against is a killer. Mark wants to be a superhero. Ah Mark, he dreams they will say, he saved us all. And his Welsh heart swells.
So you throw a little power around and before you know it, ego inflation is rampant. Thank you Tony Blair, you Dr Frankenstein you. Now your grandiose and pompous monsters are running around the world, attacking your UK government. A little power to sort out some things and what happens? Egos blow up and people just get carried away with themselves.
Put them on Celebrity Big Brother to feed their souls. We owe them that much. But for the love of God someone please end this vanity project once and for all before someone gets hurt from their poor exploding head.
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