Frank Gilfeather: Sturgeon has been rumbled – there’s no point to the SNP

In last week’s column, I posed four questions as the General Election vote began.

I asked whether Theresa May would, for one reason or another, regret calling it; would Jeremy Corbyn confound his critics; if the Nats would lose up to ten seats but refuse to climb down from their weary hobby horse – another independence referendum – and if the Lib Dems might continue their slide towards political oblivion.

I answered “yes” to every question, although I did not foresee the SNP’s vote plummeting in such a way.

When the ballot was done, however, I felt they may go silent on calling for another referendum on independence for Scotland.

Now, I’m not so sure.

I had clearly underestimated the Scottish people’s unhappiness with the Nationalists and should have taken into account the obvious dislike, at least in the North-east, of Nicola Sturgeon, still wittering on about Brexit – hard and soft – and showing little inclination in tackling domestic issues.

And remember, she remained uncharacteristically silent on the oil and gas downturn crisis that adversely impacted on our economy.

The First Minister has been rumbled by an increasing number of Scots who now recognise that, aside from taking us out of the UK – but somehow still remaining in the EU – there is little more to her or her party.

The SNP’s problem, now that the cracks are widening, is that there appears to be no compelling successor to Ms Sturgeon within their ranks.

So, if a political party which was formed for a specific reason, continues to fail to deliver and which has no ideas on how to run the country, what is the point of them?

Let’s catch conman to send message to others

I have a burning wish that the sneaky, slithery, conman, who posed as a bank employee and persuaded a Bridge of Don resident to release her account details over the phone then relieved her of her £54,000 life savings, is caught and dealt with severely.

What a message it would send out if he were tracked down and sentenced to a very long time behind bars to keep him away from decent people who do not deserve to be treated in such a callous way.

Can Salmond make a successful comeback?

One of the General Election’s biggest losers was the SNP. Because their best MP Alex Salmond an irreplaceable figure in the party, fell to the Tories.

The former leader and First Minister, an exceptional politician who, some might argue, set the bar too high for his successor Nicola Surgeon, lost the Gordon constituency leaving Scotland without the biggest political talent they’ve had in a long time.

Salmond has already made his “I’ll be back” Arnold Schwarzenegger proclamation but will too much ground have been lost?