Staying at the top SALLY UNDERWOOD

Political Animal

IT’S often been said that political careers almost never end well. They do after all generally finish with someone losing an election (and that’s when they don’t end in a call girl scandal/expenses probe/ tabloid expose).

And the reason for that is perhaps one of the most human of all; hope. Which of us, after all, ever quits while we’re ahead?

But ­ like her or loathe her ­ that’s what Nicola Sturgeon appears to have done.

Yes, there are whispers that her abrupt resignation as Scotland’s first Minister had more to do with avoiding a campaign funds investigation than simply a change of career. But let’s assume ­ both for legal reasons as well as for the sake of not being cynical ­ that she genuinely walked away while broadly still at the top of her career.

Let’s also assume that the exact reasons she gave for resigning were sincere ­ that the ‘brutal’ (her words) world of politics genuinely does take its toll.

Certainly New Zealand’s prime minister until just weeks ago, Jacinda Ardern, gave similar reasons.

If they are both telling the truth then, does this say more about the state of modern politics or about them as individuals?

If true, it does at least show an element of self­awareness that you would presumably like to see from anyone within sniffing distance of nuclear codes.

If their jobs really were so tough though, does this tell us what grit both had for sticking it out for so long, or that they ultimately weren’t the right people for the job?

The latter is a much easier issue to resolve; there are already plenty of people waiting in the wings to battle it out for Sturgeon’s role.

But if the issue is the political atmosphere itself then we have a much bigger problem.

After all, if the pressures of 24­hour rolling news cycles, constant public scrutiny and an increasingly volatile global backdrop mean we ultimately lose our best candidates, then who are we left with?

“You can’t fight nature.” That is very true, but we do all sorts of things to minimise the effects of nature on a daily basis. We cut the grass to stop the garden getting overgrown. Some people even go for artificial grass to maintain a nice look all year round. We carry umbrellas in the rain to that we don’t get soaked from the head down. We put wind breaks up so

Let me be clear, I don’t know what the solution is, but over the last seven years, the Mijas government has voted several times against having a study carried out by those who can give us the answers.

I’m not much of a beach person, but Mijas needs its beaches. Mijas needs the tourism associated with them, and the businesses need people to want to come here. When will it be time to buy a new tyre rather than just pumping the old one up?