I’ve been away over the weekend so wasn’t able to post about this sooner.

The death of former SNP leader and First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, came as something of a shock. He was only 69 and looked as if he still had many years. Then again, his girth suggested he wasn’t averse to the good life.

The outstanding Scottish politician of his generation, it is perhaps safe to say that, without him, the cause of Scottish independence would not have progressed in the way that it did, though that central purpose of his political life now seems as far away as ever – even if almost half of Scots still support it.

It is traditional at times like this not to speak ill of the dead but his reputation suffered latterly from the revelations that twelve women made complaints about his behaviour towards them when he was in office. It was this I suspect that caused the rift between him and his political protégé – and successor in both posts – Nicola Sturgeon.

Alexander Elliot Anderson (Alex) Salmond:  31/12/1954 – 12/10/2024. So it goes.

I was shocked to hear the news this morning that Charles Kennedy has died.

The last time I saw him on television – on This Week the week Nicola Sturgeon became First Minister – he seemed in fine health.

I have since read elsewhere that he didn’t look well during the General Election campaign. The death of his father only a few weeks before followed by his defeat at the polls after 32 years as an MP can only have added to his burdens even if he took it well at the time with his joke about “the night of the long sgian dubhs.”

Since his first election (for the SDP) he always came across as likeable – an almost priceless asset in a politician – even decent. The revelations about his alcohol problem didn’t puncture the sense of warmth people felt for him.

He was a man whose instincts seemed to be right. This was exemplified by his opposition to the Iraq War.

Public life in Scotland and the UK is diminished by his passing.

Charles Peter Kennedy: 25/11/1959 – 1/6/2015. So it goes.