WELL Hillary, she beat you to it.

Much as the former US Secretary of State likes to keep a watching brief on her old patch, I cannot imagine the Clinton camp was detained for too long, if at all, with the historic events in Scotland this week. Since the referendum result assured Washington that the Union would stay together and the missiles remain in place, Scotland has rather dropped off the radar in DC. The fact remains, though, that one Nicola Sturgeon, self-styled "working class girl from Ayrshire," made it into the female leaders' club before Mrs Hillary Rodham Clinton.

America was not entirely without influence, though. The style in which Ms Sturgeon has become First Minister has been positively presidential. First came the extended, carefully organised handover between the incumbent and the new leader. Then there was the way her image was shaped and punted. A DC team could not have done a finer job. From her interest in cooking (zero) to what she may or may not have done to the hair on her sister's Barbie dolls (she denies hacking it off), one would think the MSP was running for office in America. It may be more common these days for politicians across the UK to pay more heed to their image, but this, in its intensity, was something else. Something not quite Scottish and a touch too saccharine.

Thank goodness, then, for Harriet Owens, all of eight-years-old, who brought a much needed blast of Scottishness to proceedings. Ms Sturgeon's niece was in the VIP section of the visitors' gallery with the rest of the First Minister's proud family. Formal proceedings over, and wanting to make her presence known to Auntie Nicola, Harriet drew herself up to her full height of three feet nothing and shouted "NICOLA!" It was a lovely, funny, utterly Scottish moment. Without wishing to seem outrageously biased, if there was ever a competition for the most polite, well-mannered children in the UK it would be a foolish punter who would not place Scots youngsters in the top three (if you disagree, take a look around next time you are on a train from London to Glasgow). But when Scots weans blow, they blow gloriously.

In her first speech as First Minister, Ms Sturgeon promised that she would seek to reach out across the political divide. Referring to the referendum, she said: "People did not just vote Yes for a better country. I know that those who voted No want a better country too." Perhaps she had been reading reports of a Survation poll this week in which almost 20 per cent of respondents said the referendum debate had caused splits among friends and families.

Certainly, when she stood up yesterday for her first First Minister's Questions, Ms Sturgeon was the very model of a consensus politician. From the off, she made it clear that her door was open and would remain so. Meetings were proposed, offers to work together extended. If she carries on like this, the First Minister will need a new carpet in her office by Christmas, such is the traffic that will be coming through. It must have been Mozart to the ears of those who would like politics to be a polite discourse in which consensus is the watchword and sweetness and light the notes to play. For others, it will have been the political equivalent of some weird novelty single - vaguely interesting on first listen, but not to be taken seriously and definitely not something to be played too often.

Let us assume, though, that this is a refrain, and a style, she means to adopt from here on in. Can Ms Sturgeon hold good on her promise to bring harmony where there is discord? Will she? And, here's the thing - should she?

She certainly stuck to the let's be friends script at FMQs - for as long as she could, anyway. As she herself joked, the peace between combatants held for a good, oh, 20 minutes before Willie Rennie, the Scottish LibDem leader, tried to tempt her into hanging, drawing and quartering the Justice Secretary right there and then. But even before this, she had expressed her dismay at the charge, from Labour stand-in leader Jackie Baillie, that the government was falling down on the job when it came to drugs for cancer patients. There was a flash of impatience, just a flash, but it was there. As was some much needed humour in response to Mr Rennie's chiding.

So far, so consensual.

But is Ms Sturgeon any more suited, personality-wise, to consensus politics than her predecessor? (While we're on the subject, is there any chance that Alex "Elvis" Salmond has left the building yet? No? Maybe next week then.)

For all that she has been in government for years, Ms Sturgeon has spent even longer battling the established order. Perhaps more so than Mr Salmond, scrapping is in her DNA. She could not have reached the heights she has without the confidence, and willingness, to take on opponents full throttle. Are we to assume that becoming First Minister will bring a Zen-like calm in the face of provocation?

Then there are those Macmillanesque 'events, dear madam, events.' There are plenty of places to hide from these as a deputy, but nowhere to run when you are leader. One can comb the backgrounds and CVs of politicians for clues as to how they will cope when the going gets rough, but there is no substitute for reality. Nor, more often than not, is there any alternative but to pursue partisan politics.

Which brings us to the "should she" part of the question. Is there any disguising that Scotland remains split on its political future? It is there in the cold, hard numbers, 45-55. It is there in the mass and growing membership of the SNP and in the decline in the fortunes of other parties. It is there in the relationships put under strain by a long, intense referendum campaign.

Let us congratulate ourselves on a political fight in which not a shot was fired, but let us not kid ourselves either that harsh words were not spoken between friends, colleagues and even family members. For most the matter will have been forgotten, but not all.

It is against this background that Ms Sturgeon's promise to govern for all of Scotland will be judged. Even if one disagrees with the notion that Scotland is divided, it must surely be acknowledged that the democratic fabric is somewhat strained at the seams.

What is on Ms Sturgeon's side, and that of a healthy democracy in general, is time. The matters she was pressed on at FMQs yesterday - health, law and order, early years education - showed that, at last, we are getting back to political business as usual.

The period since the referendum has felt like one overlong Christmas break, with plenty of festivities and special events and not a lot of substance occurring. There will be more of this to come with the Scottish Labour leadership contest. But life has gone on outside Holyrood. For those at the truly sharp end of politics it is time for politicians, of whatever stripe, to get back to work, starting today.