First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has admitted a comedian who has gone viral worldwide for her impressions of her has been able to say things she “wasn’t able to”.
Speaking exclusively to Original 106, Ms Sturgeon was asked about Glasgow funny-woman Janey Godley, who has proved a hit with her online videos where she dubs the first minister’s daily press briefings.
One of the most popular films was recorded immediately after former Chief Medical Officer Catherine Calderwood was revealed to have broken the government’s own social distancing guidelines by visiting her holiday home in Earlsferry, Fife.
When asked if she recognised herself in any of the impressions, Ms Sturgeon said: “She’s been doing these voice-overs for quite a while and, let me just say, not all the time but occasionally, I watch them and I think, yeah, she must have an insight into what I was really thinking at that point but I wasn’t able to say it and she manages to voice it in her particular style.”
The SNP leader was speaking to Original 106 on Thursday afternoon, where she said she found Ms Godley’s work very funny, but added it was too rude for her to retweet. Readers are advised that the link below contains swearing.
“Don’t be wearing American tan tights round your head – just cover your face when you need to go out” #janeygodleyvoiceover #lockdownuk #nicolasturgeon catch me on tour https://t.co/CgJN2qYsty pic.twitter.com/bv6mDsWCRs
— Janey Godley (@JaneyGodley) April 28, 2020
She praised the work for entertaining the country, while helping get the lockdown message across.
Restrictions could be in place until New Year
Ms Sturgeon also warned it was possible social distancing measures could be kept in place until 2021, adding the situation in Germany had shown relaxing things too soon had led to a second spike in cases.
She said: “The margins that we operate in are very narrow.
“So as we start to ease up on these restrictions there is a very big risk that the virus starts to run out of control again.
“In fact, in some countries, in Germany, for example, people who have already eased up some of these restrictions were already finding that the virus is starting to spread a bit more quickly again.
“So we’re going to have to be very careful and it’s likely to be the case that these restrictions are lifted very slowly, very gradually and in a phased way.
“Also, some of them, not all of them, but some of them may be in place for quite a long time to come because the virus… is not going to magically disappear so we may have to live with some kind of social distancing… for maybe the rest of this year or beyond.
“I know that’s really tough for people to hear but until we get to the point, which hopefully we will and hopefully it will be sooner than any of us think right now, where we have a vaccine or at least some treatments that help us to mitigate the symptoms and the impact of this virus, we’re going to have to continue to do everything that we can to suppress it.”