Even those who believe nationalism is a force for division and impoverishment should be sad to see Kate Forbes stand down as an MSP at the next Scottish election.

There are very few economically literate and competent SNP MSPs and she is one of them. The SNP membership could not see that she was far more likely to lead them to the promised land than Humza The Useless or indeed Nicola Sturgeon or John Swinney.

By my reckoning ,there are only three competent SNP MSPs at the moment: Forbes, Michelle Thompson and Fergus Ewing. The latter is not even an SNP MSP anymore and will be standing as an independent next time - good for him. The other two will both be gone.

Competence matters, experience outside Parliament matters, understanding that wealth generation must come before more spending matters.

Alex Salmond had a grasp of economics and knew he had to draw from across the traditional political spectrum in order to succeed, and he nearly did. Sturgeon in contrast was a political pygmy. She........

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