Time is running out for Nicola Sturgeon

Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has led a charmed life. Even her sternest critics agree that she is immensely talented, one of the UK’s most successful politicians, a master of detail and an effective communicator. She has been at the pinnacle of public life for two decades. But all things must pass. Nearly ten years after she took over as leader from Alex Salmond just about everything is going wrong at once.

Hospital waiting lists lengthen, teacher strikes roll on, council service cuts deepen, the ambitious plan for a Social Care Commission has stalled. Across the board the SNP government appears to have made a right royal mess of just about every policy for which it has responsibility. The First Minister has managed to remain above the chaos, as if it is all someone else’s fault – usually the Westminster Tories.

She cannot, however, blame Westminster for the highest homeless numbers on record. The educational attainment gap, on which she said she wanted her leadership to be judged, is actually