Nicola Sturgeon’s corner might have to throw the towel in if she gives another incoherent interview on the issue of trans women.
The FM was like a punch drunk prize-fighter who had gone one round too many in her interview on the subject with TV reporter Peter Smith.
She stuttered and stumbled like a pugilist desperately hoping to hear the bell for the end of the round.
But when it mercifully dinged, any impartial judges marking her scorecard must have wondered if it was time for her to hang up her gloves and retire gracefully.
Top fighters choose their matches carefully, either in the confident belief that they have the beating of their opponent, or for one final pay day.
Sturgeon appears to have chosen an unwinnable fight with the majority of the public as her foe.
Trans reform critics raised this issue with Nicola Sturgeon
Most folk, from what I can see, are mystified and horrified by her conduct over the issue of convicted rapist Isla Bryson, who was known as Adam Graham when he raped two women, and who was first sent to Cornton Vale women’s prison and then shunted off to a man’s jail after the public and media raised merry hell.
I ran a small totally unscientific poll on my Twitter account on the day of the decision.
A total of 14,997 people voted on this simple question: “Should a man who has raped a woman be put in a male or female prison?”
98% of those voting, or 14,700 folk, said he should be housed in a male prison, with 2% saying he should go to a women’s jail.
Most people have an intuitive and inbuilt lie detector for those who are chancers.
And as the facts about Bryson emerged from his previous existence, when he was known as DJ Blade and sported a fearsome looking face tattoo, the picture of just such a wide-boy took shape.
Add to this his wife’s claims that he had never previously expressed any interest in transitioning and the fact that he is still in possession of all of his male genitalia.
The fears widely expressed by many female groups and sympathetic men about those who would seek to use transitioning as a means to prey on vulnerable women are apparent from this case.
Trans concerns threaten Nicola Sturgeon’s political future
As I mentioned last week I think that most folk have no issue with how individuals live their lives, and are mainly sympathetic to the complex issues involved in the wider transgender issue.
And the Scottish Government has now temporarily suspended the transfer of transgender prisoners with a history of violence towards women to female jails.
But I’m struggling with the initial thought process of those who believed it was a good idea that a man who raped women and is still a fully intact male should ever have been incarcerated among vulnerable women.
If it was a boxing bout her corner would throw the towel in https://t.co/ZI3SoHbfG1
— Jim Spence (@JimSpenceDundee) January 30, 2023
Many folk are also now wondering why the interests of such a tiny percentage of people has captured the attention and energies of a Parliament which has overseen a deterioration in standards in education, health, drugs deaths, the cost of living crisis and resultant poverty.
Some might draw the conclusion that a very comfortable, secure, highly paid collection of MSPs are completely out of touch with major concerns like rising energy costs and inflation eating into the wages, pensions, and savings of the vast majority of the electorate.
Some former MSPs, who are no longer at Holyrood but still have their ears to the ground, tell me that some of those pushing the transgender issue don’t have a great belief in what they are doing.
In which case, those doing so for career advancement may find they have backed the wrong fighter in a First Minister who looks like she may now be scrapping for her political future.
Conversation