Irony was pronounced dead this morning after Time magazine proclaimed Humza Yousaf as one of its top ten ‘trailblazers’ around the world. According to the august Bible of liberal America, the flailing First Minister of Scotland is one of the ‘next generation leaders’ who will ‘shape our future’. God help them all. In the simpering, sycophantic prose that Mr S has come to expect from the underwhelming over-educated writers who staff such magazines, Yousaf is praised for his age and ethnicity rather than, er, any substantive achievements from 11 years in public office.
The choice of Time cover star is all the more remarkable given that the magazine acknowledges his disastrous record. It notes how under Yousaf ‘the SNP has been plagued by an ongoing police investigation into its finances; internal divisions; and uncertainty over how to achieve its overriding objective: for Scotland to end its centuries-old union.’ It adds that:
On the economy, health care, education, and more, Scotland is faring poorly. Tens of thousands of Scots are languishing on waiting lists to receive treatment from the National Health Service. Scotland’s drug-related deaths, while on the decline, remain the worst in the U.K. and Europe. Its schools are lagging behind the rest of Britain, too. Other issues, such as disruptions to ferry services affecting Scottish island communities, continue to fester.
If the First Minister is ‘shaping our future’, he’s hardly doing so in a constructive way. Indeed Mr S wonders whether the cover is more high art than high politics, in light of the way in which support for independence has fallen flat on Yousaf’s watch. A trailblazer only in the sense of a burning plane hurtling towards earth.
The release of the front page coincides with election day in Rutherglen and Hamilton West, which is likely to be a crucial test for Yousaf’s leadership of the SNP. With the polls pointing to a Labour triumph, Steerpike would encourage the First Minister to grab as many good covers while he still can…
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