Live TV debates tend to throw up more questions than answers but Tuesday’s battle was a good moment for Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.
His party has been in the doldrums for more than a decade and been rejected by voters on countless occasions.
This was hardly a surprise, given that Labour in Scotland seemed to be talking to themselves rather than voters.
Recent election results have been brutal, and multiple wake-up calls have gone unheeded.
However, the debate was the first time in years in which a Scottish Labour leader looked like a future first minister.
Sarwar quizzed Nicola Sturgeon on child poverty and cancer services but in a way that wasn’t about point-scoring.
He also put hapless Scots Tory leader Douglas Ross in his place after he tried to turn everything into an IndyRef2 rant.
Yesterday, Sarwar was correct in his analysis that Alex Salmond’s unwelcome candidacy was a “revenge” attack on Sturgeon.
Salmond tries to argue that the Alba Party is standing in order to achieve a “supermajority” of MSPs. This is baloney.
Voters want this election to be about issues such as Covid recovery and public services, not an extension of a squalid soap opera.
For too long Scottish Labour has been off the pitch, so it is good to see Sarwar make his party relevant again.
The SNP look certain to win this election but Labour leapfrogging the Tories would be good for the country.
Let the music play
DF Concerts boss Geoff Ellis deserves plaudits for not giving up on holding a music festival in 2021.
While we were all stuck in lockdown last year, he was speaking to government officials and coming up with viable ideas to make them happen.
He has moved TRNSMT in Glasgow from July to September to give it the best possible chance of taking place.
All it needs now is a date when big events can return.
The Scottish Government is right to take its time and use its experience of dealing with coronavirus to ensure a risk-free opening up of society.
But at the same time, they should put trust in the vast experience of music industry figures such as Ellis, who will make safety their number one priority.
Not only that but the music and entertainment industries have been among the hardest hit by lockdown, with many thousands of jobs at risk of being lost forever if events don’t return soon.
Over the past couple of months, there have been many signs of hope for the future in the form of vaccinations and lowering coronavirus case numbers.
We now need one more – a date for music festivals to return.
