by Rab Bruce’s Spider

Plenty of UK media outlets, and the usual pro-Union trolls, have been demanding to know why Nicola Sturgeon had the temerity to attend the COP27 conference in Egypt. Now, I have little time for these grotesque events which create far more CO2 than necessary and which tend to be talking shops where politicians say a lot of good things before returning home and doing either nothing or, as will no doubt be the case with Rishi Sunak, the precise opposite.

But, while I can be critical of Nicola Sturgeon for some things, I think the protests and questions about her attending this event were completely over the top. For one thing, Glasgow hosted COP26, so it was only good etiquette for her to attend the subsequent meeting, if only to symbolically hand over the baton. More importantly, though, Scotland has huge renewable energy potential and, if it were not for the UK Government insisting on sticking with fossil fuels and nuclear power, Scotland could be a world leader. It is quite right that Nicola Sturgeon should let other world leaders know this, and that Scotland could be a beacon to follow if it became a normal, self—governing country.

It is also worth noting that, until Rishi Sunak decided he needed to be there in order to prevent Boris Johnson hogging all the limelight, Nicola Sturgeon would have been the only UK political leader to attend.

Of course, no matter what Nicola Sturgeon does, she will be criticised. I’m fairly sure that, had she stayed at home, the media would have pointed to her lack of enthusiasm for the battle against climate change. But then, that is how the UK media operates.