The Herald: Iain Macwhirter Unspun banner new

This week Nicola Sturgeon went nuclear. No Fly Zone Now!  Come on Boris, get intae the bam. Remember Smeato.  Only wimps fear nuclear war. Slavi Scotaini!

Princess Cautious has turned into Dr Strangelove. Why this abrupt personality change?  

Denied her daily Covid press conferences, the First Minister has been seriously deprived of the oxygen of publicity.  She’s left playing second fiddle to the UK government, which is in charge of Ukraine.  Nicola Sturgeon plays second fiddle to no one - especially Boris Johnson. 

So she has deployed her tried and tested tactic of adopting a position just north of the Prime Minister’s. She has urged NATO to reconsider its opposition to using its planes to destroy Russia’s air superiority over Ukraine - safe in the knowledge this it’s not a decision she would have to take. 

Establishing a No Fly zone means going to war with Russia, a military superpower.  It is not like controlling the skies over some poorly-armed desert state in the Middle East.  It would involve, at minimum, the biggest air war since the Battle of Britain. 


To read the rest of this analysis, sign up to The Herald's political newsletter, Unspun, for FREE and get unrivalled political analysis in your inbox every day at 6pm.

Sign up here.