John Sweeney blames Margaret Thatcher for Scotland’s woes in last desperate election shot

It was all about what Thatcher did to Scotland in the 1980s, which led to Ross describing as “absurd” the idea that everything that’s now wrong in Scotland was the result of policies adopted before he (Ross) had been born.

He was born in 1983, four years after Thatcher became prime minister so I suppose, in Swinney’s eyes, that makes him one of “Maggie’s bairns” but his linking of Scotland’s current problems with, what is ancient political history, is a sure sign that Swinney is clutching at straws as July 4 draws ever nearer.

While it’s true that Ross is a football referee and used to being blamed for all manner of wrong-doing it’s a bit much to link him with Maggie’s sins – real or imagined.

In what was the last Question Time before Holyrood goes on holiday – sorry recess – Swinney was given a bruising from Anas Sarwar, the Labour leader. He reminded the First Minister of what must rank as one of the most embarrassing and, frankly, appalling episodes in the SNP’s oversight of the NHS,

Because of long waiting times, some cancer patients in Scotland are actually paying for their own chemotherapy treatment. Sarwar said that the SNP had failed to meet the 62-day standard for cancer treatment for twelve years, meaning that almost 26, 000 cancer patients had waited too long.

Cancer patients paying for their own treatment. Surely nothing sums up the SNP’s failure on the NHS than that. And it has absolutely nothing to do with Margaret Thatcher.