It is always the little people who suffer: them, and Kirsty Wark. Consider the plight of the thousands turning up to the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Thursday to hear Nicola Sturgeon talk about her memoir.

These poor souls have shelled out £21 for a ticket, plus £28 for a copy of Frankly. Wark will have spent the last few days plotting an approach and sharpening her questions.

But what has it been for? Spending all that money on what you thought was a first look at the much-anticipated memoir, only to find its author has been singing like a canary to any outlet that will have her. It’s like waking up on Christmas morning to see the gifts under the tree already opened.

You have to hand it to Ms Sturgeon. She may have been a pretty useless First Minister, but as a showbiz diva, she knocks it out the park. She made a teasing appearance at the Govanhill International Festival. Said nothing about the book, but of course, the media turned up just in case. Then it was on to the Times and Sunday Times, which gave her the star treatment, doing her hair and make-up and dressing her in chic outfits, just like Vogue all those years ago.

Since then, she’s been a one-woman publicity tornado, throwing out news lines left, right and centre.

With Frankly we can safely say she has broken the mould of political memoirs. Before, they were often dusty, pompous affairs written by men and packed with tales of Whitehall and Cabinet squabbles. Personal revelations, if they had to be included, were kept to a minimum.

Ms Sturgeon, in contrast, has adopted an access all areas, blow the bloody doors off approach. Whatever the........

© Herald Scotland