I don't think I've ever before copied and pasted someone else's comment from the National.

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	Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more Trying to figure out WTF is going on Fair comment Peter A Bell Jun 7   READ IN APP   I don't think I've ever before copied and pasted someone else's comment from the National. But James Murphy sums up John Swinney so well that I felt this was worth sharing. John Swinney doesn’t speak for people. He speaks at them. He delivers words like policy briefs — tidy, careful, utterly bloodless. Every sentence feels like it’s been triple-checked by a committee of civil servants terrified of offending anyone. There’s no passion, no instinct, no defiance — just calm, controlled detachment. It’s not leadership. It’s management. Where Nicola Sturgeon could command a room and Mhairi Black could shake it, Swinney enters like a man apologising for taking up your time. His tone is robotic. His presence, sterile. He talks about independence as if it’s a health and safety protocol, not a historic mission to liberate a nation. He doesn’t rally people — he reassures them. He doesn’t challenge the Union — he navigates it. And when faced with an existential threat like Reform UK or Starmer’s hard "No" on democracy, his instinct isn’t to confront, but to recalculate. It’s not that Swinney is unintelligent. It’s that he mistakes caution for wisdom. And in doing so, he’s steering a movement built on hope and fire into the grey fog of inertia. Independence doesn’t need a caretaker. It needs a catalyst. And Swinney, for all his experience, simply isn’t it. Sign the M4I Petition You're currently a free subscriber to Peter A Bell. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. Upgrade to paid   Like Comment Restack   © 2025 Peter A Bell 3i South Street Perth Scotland PH2 8NJ Unsubscribe