It would not take a therapist to analyse the broken relationship between Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon and work out she is raging with her former mentor.
In 2018 Salmond wanted her to intervene in a sexual misconduct probe the SNP Government was carrying out into him.
She refused and he has made her life hell ever since.
Over the last few months, Salmond has accused Sturgeon of breaching the ministerial code of conduct over aspects of the probe, and misleading parliament.
He dragged her husband and chief of staff into his web by claiming they were part of a vast conspiracy to have him imprisoned.
All this muck was thrown at Sturgeon while she was trying to lead the country’s response to the pandemic.
Then Salmond launched a rival pro-independence party and is now effectively asking Sturgeon to move on.
He would like her to forget about the toxic allegations he hurled at her and her family and focus on manufacturing a “supermajority” of MSPs.
Sturgeon, to put it mildly, seems unwilling to ignore three years of trauma and lock arms with Salmond in an all-smiles indy embrace.
Since the launch of the Alba Party, she has questioned his fitness for office and derided his electoral ambitions as an attempt to “game” the system.
She said his comeback bid was motivated by a love of the “limelight” and insisted she would not work with him if he is elected.
Now she has ramped up the criticism by raising the subject of Salmond’s gambling hobby.
She said his tilt at Holyrood is a gamble, but curiously amplified the point by claiming he likes a flutter on the horses nearly every day.
The message is clear – he’s a risk-taker; he is bad news.
Some couples get back together after a painful break-up but this political relationship will never heal.
Sturgeon believes Salmond’s election bid is an attempt to torment her by other means.
This is a zero-sum game and only one side will prevail.
