19/11/2015

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:00:00. > :00:00.A catastrophic banking collapse that cost the taxpayer ?20 billion.

:00:00. > :00:27.Will the men responsible finally take the rap?

:00:28. > :00:32.Responsibility for the collapse of the high street bank HBOS

:00:33. > :00:34.in 2008 rests with the board and senior management,

:00:35. > :00:40.It recommends the regulator considers banning ten

:00:41. > :00:45.former senior managers from ever working in the City again.

:00:46. > :00:50.As politicians in the US vote for a temporary ban on refugees from Syria

:00:51. > :00:53.and Iraq entering the country, a project here in Scotland is trying

:00:54. > :00:58.to make those who've fled war-torn countries feel more at home.

:00:59. > :01:01.And as Nicola Sturgeon is in the running to be crowned Scottish

:01:02. > :01:04.Politician of the Year for the fourth year running, we look back on

:01:05. > :01:11.The long awaited review into the collapse

:01:12. > :01:16.The report conducted by the Bank of England is highly critical of those

:01:17. > :01:19.who were in charge of HBOS and the Financial Services Authority, who

:01:20. > :01:36.HBOS was crated by the merger of Halifax and bang of Scotland in 2000

:01:37. > :01:40.is. Seven years of risky investments and complacent management followed.

:01:41. > :01:44.The bank collapsed in 2008 and was taken over by the Lloyds banking

:01:45. > :01:47.group. More than ?20 billion worth of

:01:48. > :01:52.taxpayer money was used to try and prop it up. The collapse hit

:01:53. > :01:56.Scotland hard, with the shedding of jobs and Edinburgh lost the status

:01:57. > :02:00.and benefits of hosting the company headquarters.

:02:01. > :02:05.There have been several investigations into what went wrong.

:02:06. > :02:08.This one is from the new financial regulator overseen by the Bank of

:02:09. > :02:12.England. The report found that the ultimate responsibility for the

:02:13. > :02:17.failure of HBOS rested with the board and senior management.

:02:18. > :02:19.It was highly critical of the Financial Services Authority, the

:02:20. > :02:23.old regulator, the people who were meant to be keeping an eye on the

:02:24. > :02:29.bank. The regulator did not appreciate the full extent of the

:02:30. > :02:33.risks HBOS were runs and weren't in a position to intervene before it

:02:34. > :02:37.was too late. Only one person was penalised by the FSA as a result of

:02:38. > :02:43.the demise of the bank. Peter Cummings was given a lifetime ban

:02:44. > :02:47.from the city and fined ?500,000. The report recommends that the new

:02:48. > :02:54.regulator should consider banning ten former executiveles from working

:02:55. > :02:58.in the city. That includes former HBOS chief executives Andy horny,

:02:59. > :03:02.chief executive of Gala Coral. James Crosby and former chairman Dennis

:03:03. > :03:08.Stevenson. Today's review is one of several investigations into what

:03:09. > :03:13.Joining me now are Ian Fraser and Ray Perman both of whom have written

:03:14. > :03:19.lessons be learned Good evening to you both. I mean, the authors of

:03:20. > :03:26.this report are pretty critical, do you think they go far enough? I

:03:27. > :03:31.think the report can you start, I have. I was very disappointed in the

:03:32. > :03:35.report, it doesn't tell us anything that we don't already know, but it

:03:36. > :03:39.doesn't tell us crucially, how we are going to avoid a banking

:03:40. > :03:43.collapse like the collapse of HBOS in the future, what are the lessons

:03:44. > :03:47.to be learned, have they been learned? We need to be reassured

:03:48. > :03:52.about that. A lot of it was familiar territory, but the green report is

:03:53. > :03:56.critical of the old regulator. Why do you think that the FSA failed so

:03:57. > :04:05.badly to investigate senior management? First of all it was

:04:06. > :04:09.understaffed. It had a massive job, all financial service companies,

:04:10. > :04:14.anded it didn't have enough people. Secondly, the people put into HBOS,

:04:15. > :04:18.were relatively juniors, they were probably able but relatively junior

:04:19. > :04:21.and they were easily bullied by the management of HBOS and fobbed off,

:04:22. > :04:26.so they never really got to the heart of the problem, that was

:04:27. > :04:31.waiting to collapse the bank. It seems incredible after seven years,

:04:32. > :04:37.that it has taken so long for criticism of the regulators' role in

:04:38. > :04:43.this? If this had been Iceland, at least 15 directors would be in jail

:04:44. > :04:46.for certain crimes that were, that I believe were committed by the

:04:47. > :04:52.directors and other executives at the bank. Part of the problem, I

:04:53. > :04:55.think, is the closeness, this clubbiness, the cosiness of the

:04:56. > :05:01.regulators, the banker, and the auditors. There is three pillars

:05:02. > :05:06.here. And they are all, you know, there is a constant revolving door

:05:07. > :05:10.between the three groups where by an auditor was suddenly moved to the

:05:11. > :05:15.regulator, or a banker would move to the regulator or vice versa, one of

:05:16. > :05:19.the things that happened was in, in about December 2003, Gordon Brown

:05:20. > :05:25.who was the Chancellor then, he appointed the chief executive of

:05:26. > :05:28.HBOS, James Crosby, to become the a non-exective director of the regular

:05:29. > :05:33.lay to, that seems wrong because HBOS was a bank that was out of

:05:34. > :05:37.control and the man supposed to be running that bank but not doing it

:05:38. > :05:41.very well was allowed to sit on the main board of the main regulator the

:05:42. > :05:47.FSA, and you know, what is interesting is from that moment on,

:05:48. > :05:52.which was January 2004, there were no more public criticisms from the

:05:53. > :05:57.regulator of HBOS, was Crosby subverting the process? I don't

:05:58. > :06:00.know. You mentioned the auditor, obviously, the auditor comes in for

:06:01. > :06:05.criticism in this report. Rightly so do you think? Rightly so auditors

:06:06. > :06:10.have not been held to account over this. It took the chairman of the

:06:11. > :06:14.Commons Treasury Committee to actually call for the auditor to be

:06:15. > :06:18.investigated. Auditors are supposed to represent the interests of

:06:19. > :06:22.ordinary shareholders and they failed in this case, and ordinary

:06:23. > :06:25.shareholders have lost a huge amount of their savings and investments.

:06:26. > :06:32.This isn't the first time they have failed to carry out the job they are

:06:33. > :06:36.paid to carry out, is it? No KPMG were the auditors from its creation

:06:37. > :06:41.until its collapse in September 2008. So for a seven year stretch,

:06:42. > :06:48.and they failed to properly audit the bank. We need a full inquiry

:06:49. > :06:51.into that failure, we haven't had one, this report skirts round the

:06:52. > :06:56.auditors' role. There is a huge amount of conflict of interest

:06:57. > :06:59.within the awe difficult profession and the accountancy profession

:07:00. > :07:06.generally, where by for example in the case of Paul Moore who tried to

:07:07. > :07:12.warn the board of HBOS they were set on a suicidal course, in 2004, he

:07:13. > :07:16.was fired by James Crosby, and the same firm, who were auditing the

:07:17. > :07:24.bank and earning about ?70 million I think in audit fees over the course

:07:25. > :07:29.of their period they audited it was asked to produce an independent

:07:30. > :07:31.report into the reasons for the dismissal of Mr Paul Moore,

:07:32. > :07:39.obviously the report wasn't independent, it was a totally skewed

:07:40. > :07:42.report, which it, had KPM, had another firm examined the situation

:07:43. > :07:45.round the circumstances sur surrounding Paul Moore's departure,

:07:46. > :07:49.they might have thought, well maybe he is right, maybe the board is

:07:50. > :07:54.wrong and perhaps we should stand up to the board and the issues would

:07:55. > :07:59.have been addressed earlier. They weren't because KPM were conflicted.

:08:00. > :08:03.The report is cemeding that the regulator look at taking enforcement

:08:04. > :08:07.action against the senior managers. ?20 billion of taxpayer money was

:08:08. > :08:11.used to prop up this bank, do you think the public are right to ask

:08:12. > :08:15.why this sort of suggestion hasn't been made before now? The suggestion

:08:16. > :08:21.has been made before now, but it was never taken up. The, there is

:08:22. > :08:27.palpable anger among the people who lost money or their jobs, let us

:08:28. > :08:30.remember 40,000 bank employees lost their job, some were shareholders in

:08:31. > :08:35.the bank, through the share save scheme, they lost their savings as

:08:36. > :08:39.well as their jobs. The people who caused this bank to

:08:40. > :08:44.collapse, by reckless policies they were following have not been held to

:08:45. > :08:49.account. Indeed we see, one senior manager is chairman of a building

:08:50. > :08:52.society. Other is director of a bank, a third chief operating of a

:08:53. > :08:58.big betting company. It doesn't sound like their reputations have

:08:59. > :09:03.been too tarnished by this? It beggars belief that somebody who was

:09:04. > :09:09.the finance director after bank that went spectacularly bust should be

:09:10. > :09:15.the chairman of a mortgage lender, even now, authorised by the same

:09:16. > :09:18.people who produced this report. In 2011 the Financial Services

:09:19. > :09:22.Authority were asked to prove whether Mike Ellis was a suitable

:09:23. > :09:25.person to run the Skipton Building Society. He has two stints but in

:09:26. > :09:31.the latter stint he was on the bridge when it hit the iceberg and

:09:32. > :09:34.sank, and he was the Financial Services Authority at that juncture

:09:35. > :09:37.waved it through and said it was perfectly fine for him to become the

:09:38. > :09:42.chairman of Skipton Building Society. That is unbelievable. So

:09:43. > :09:45.when you read this report, alongside all the others, do you think enough

:09:46. > :09:50.lessons have been learned that means this sort of thing couldn't happen

:09:51. > :09:54.again? No, I am not confident we will not see another banking

:09:55. > :09:59.collapse, perhaps not as big as this, perhaps not soon, but I am not

:10:00. > :10:03.not confident we have that frankly fear of the regulator, which is

:10:04. > :10:09.needed in financial service, to keep the banks on the straight and

:10:10. > :10:14.narrow. Particularly in the past, in the past six month, since the

:10:15. > :10:17.general election, the Tory Government has been slowly

:10:18. > :10:22.inunwinding the reforms, the very minor reforms that were put in place

:10:23. > :10:28.under the previous regime with the coalition, so we have seen the city

:10:29. > :10:32.minister unwinding a lot of good, of valuable reforms, including watering

:10:33. > :10:36.downed the ring-fence and the senior persons regime, and that is just

:10:37. > :10:40.wrong. That gives the impression to the bankers they have got away with

:10:41. > :10:43.it. We will have another crash in five or ten years as a result. Thank

:10:44. > :10:46.Nearly a week on from the Paris attacks, the House

:10:47. > :10:49.of Representatives has voted to ban Syrian and Iraqi refugees

:10:50. > :10:51.from entering the US until stricter screening measures are in place.

:10:52. > :10:53.A move that some are describing as xenophobic.

:10:54. > :10:56.Meanwhile, in Glasgow, a project is trying to help refugees who're

:10:57. > :11:00.It's using the experiences of Europeans fleeing the First World

:11:01. > :11:03.War to help modern refugees adjust to their new lives in Scotland.

:11:04. > :11:13.Mike Grundon has been finding out more about how it works.

:11:14. > :11:16.T. We will have another crash in five or ten years as a result. Thank

:11:17. > :11:20.you. This week Scotland has taken in the

:11:21. > :11:24.first group of Syrian refugees from camps in Lebanon and Jordan. They

:11:25. > :11:28.are in a safe place to live, but while they find their feet they face

:11:29. > :11:34.a great many personal challenges. It is all very current but it is

:11:35. > :11:38.nothing new. 100 years ago refugees from the First World War were

:11:39. > :11:42.brought to safety here in Scotland. Then, just as now, they were

:11:43. > :11:48.welcomed into the community, and their experience is now helping

:11:49. > :11:54.their 21st equivalents. The Scottish Refugee Council has

:11:55. > :11:57.begun this project called Lest We Forget it brings together refugees

:11:58. > :12:02.from countries all round the world. There are people who have been

:12:03. > :12:07.forced to flee from Eritrea, Iran, north and South Sudan and Syria.

:12:08. > :12:11.Through this project we are bringing together a group of refugees, and

:12:12. > :12:15.local Scottish people to look back at the heritage of the Belgian

:12:16. > :12:20.refugees who came to the UK, and came to Scotland at the beginning of

:12:21. > :12:25.the First World War, and we are looking at those experience with the

:12:26. > :12:30.group, exploring what the parallels are, and through the project, the

:12:31. > :12:34.refugees will be telling their stories, and adding, adding to that

:12:35. > :12:40.as well. There are many frighten and heartbreaking tales to be told by

:12:41. > :12:43.the people here. They have been looking at historic posters which

:12:44. > :12:50.encouraged Scots to welcome Europeans who had their own horrific

:12:51. > :12:55.stories. The parallels are not lost on these most recent arrives. I left

:12:56. > :13:01.all of my family behind. I am here with my sister, my parents, my Kos

:13:02. > :13:05.cousin, extended family. Not only family, friends, the communityty

:13:06. > :13:10.oily. -- community obviously. I haven't seen them for four years

:13:11. > :13:14.almost now, and they obviously miss the country, you miss the people,

:13:15. > :13:20.the food the streets. You you would like to go back bun fortunately, it

:13:21. > :13:28.is not possible sometimes. I hope to be a chance to be like Belgians, to

:13:29. > :13:33.go back and to rebuild our country. A second time. Those here are

:13:34. > :13:35.practising language skills, sharing their stories and learning that

:13:36. > :13:39.despite being isolated from their homes and their families, they are

:13:40. > :13:43.not the only ones. This project tackles many of the problems faced

:13:44. > :13:46.by refugee, clearly there is a social element to it but just

:13:47. > :13:50.knowing that this is nothing new and their they are part of an ongoing

:13:51. > :13:54.tradition that can be helpful as well. As the organisers say Scotland

:13:55. > :13:57.has a long tradition of helping and welcoming people fleeing violence in

:13:58. > :14:01.their home countries, these refugees are finding that out for themselves,

:14:02. > :14:06.and they have been telling me that that tradition is still strong.

:14:07. > :14:11.Now this may come as a surprise, but when it comes to alcohol, whisky

:14:12. > :14:14.Unsurprising then, that it's a big market for Scotland's distillers.

:14:15. > :14:17.But as our business reporter Simon Atkinson has been finding out, trade

:14:18. > :14:25.Whisky is one of Scotland's most valuable and famous exports.

:14:26. > :14:28.About 90% of what it makes is sold abroad.

:14:29. > :14:32.France and the US are the biggest markets, but India's catching up.

:14:33. > :14:37.Nearly 80 million bottles of Scottish whisky were shipped to

:14:38. > :14:40.India last year, and demand is growing.

:14:41. > :14:45.But there are limitations on that growth, not least price.

:14:46. > :14:47.Here in Mumbai, local taxes and import duties mean

:14:48. > :14:52.that this bottle of Scottish whisky costs 5,900 rupees - that's

:14:53. > :14:59.about ?60, and more than twice what you would expect to pay in the UK.

:15:00. > :15:02.And the Scottish whisky industry says that will only change if a free

:15:03. > :15:08.trade deal between India and the European Union gets back on track.

:15:09. > :15:11.The talks are on pause at the moment, but we really hope

:15:12. > :15:14.they will get going again, and one of the reasons we want that

:15:15. > :15:18.is that it should reduce the customs duty into India 150%.

:15:19. > :15:21.It is way out of line with others in the region.

:15:22. > :15:25.That will make scotch whisky more affordable for the middle classes.

:15:26. > :15:28.For now, the bulk of whisky sold in India is the much cheaper

:15:29. > :15:36.But some are trying to look at Indian-made whisky

:15:37. > :15:43.A decade ago, the Amrut distillery in Bangalore started producing

:15:44. > :15:46.single malt, initially aimed at the international market.

:15:47. > :15:52.Half of what it makes here is sold in places like Europe,

:15:53. > :15:56.But Amrut is now seeing more locals give it a try.

:15:57. > :16:00.We never thought it was going to be a very large market in India.

:16:01. > :16:02.There's an element of snobbery that scotch malt whisky

:16:03. > :16:10.But nevertheless, when I see people drinking malt whisky in India today,

:16:11. > :16:13.they are the younger people, people in the age bracket of 30s and 40s.

:16:14. > :16:20.The bias which my generation has is probably not there any more,

:16:21. > :16:24.The humidity of southern India helps the whisky mature more quickly than

:16:25. > :16:28.But it also means more is damaged in the process,

:16:29. > :16:37.Amrut says that means prices will never be much cheaper than imported

:16:38. > :16:40.rivals, even if it doesn't have to contend with heavy import taxes.

:16:41. > :17:21.First Minister, your anniversary in is what more of India's whisky

:17:22. > :17:29.First Minister, your anniversary in this job coincides with horrific

:17:30. > :17:29.events in Paris, and there are a number of consequences

:17:30. > :19:10.events in Paris, and there are a the dangers are there, but I do

:19:11. > :19:14.believe we have to address the concerns that people might have

:19:15. > :19:19.about that. I thought Argyll and Bute expressed that in an

:19:20. > :19:25.unfortunate way. These refugees are some of the most vulnerable to have

:19:26. > :19:29.come out of Syria. They are fleeing the same kind of people that carried

:19:30. > :19:35.out the atrocities in Paris. It is right that we play our part in

:19:36. > :19:38.giving safety and refuge to people. But we have to address the

:19:39. > :19:43.understandable human anxieties that people have in the aftermath of what

:19:44. > :19:48.happened in Paris. That is why, I think, people have a right to say to

:19:49. > :19:51.their governments, are appropriate security checks in place, are people

:19:52. > :19:54.being appropriately screened before they come into the country? The Home

:19:55. > :19:58.Office and the Scottish Government have been able to give those

:19:59. > :20:02.assurances in the last few days. More powers on the way to the

:20:03. > :20:06.Scottish Government, in terms of taxation and welfare spending. Hard

:20:07. > :20:11.decisions which will come with those responsibilities, if they come. Is

:20:12. > :20:14.there any chance that you might veto the Scotland Bill? I've been clear

:20:15. > :20:20.if there is not a fiscal framework that is fair to Scotland,

:20:21. > :20:24.accompanying those powers, but without a fair fiscal framework,

:20:25. > :20:28.powers are not as usable as they would be, I'm not going to sign up

:20:29. > :20:32.to that. It would be unfair to the country to do that. I hope we are

:20:33. > :20:35.not in that position. We are negotiating around the fiscal

:20:36. > :20:40.framework right now and negotiating with the view to getting a deal

:20:41. > :20:45.which is satisfactory. The Institute for Fiscal Studies suggests that

:20:46. > :20:48.Scotland's finances would be 7 million, ?8 million worse off if we

:20:49. > :20:54.were independent or have full fiscal autonomy, compared to if we were in

:20:55. > :21:01.the UK. Alec Bell says, the fact is, a gap exists. That is true of the

:21:02. > :21:06.cave. Hang on, he says Scotland does not earn enough to pay for the

:21:07. > :21:15.current level of spending. The UK does not earn enough, that's called

:21:16. > :21:20.a deficit. I would like to see us use the economic levers that would

:21:21. > :21:26.come with greater autonomy to grow out of deficit. Not by cutting

:21:27. > :21:28.spending? The idea of being in deficit, you take budgetary

:21:29. > :21:38.decisions at the time, based on the circumstances of the time. Hold on,

:21:39. > :21:42.we are facing spending cuts right now from a UK Government. The idea

:21:43. > :21:46.that independence would pose these great threats of spending cuts, that

:21:47. > :21:48.somehow we are protected from right now as part of the UK, it is simply

:21:49. > :21:57.a fallacy. You have set a target to reduce

:21:58. > :22:01.inequality as First Minister, how can you measure success? One of the

:22:02. > :22:06.things I am doing in education is introducing, controversially in some

:22:07. > :22:09.quarters, introducing in, primary and lower secondary school,

:22:10. > :22:14.assessments that will allow us to make sure that the judgments

:22:15. > :22:19.teachers are making about pupil progress are based on hard evidence.

:22:20. > :22:22.So, I am building into the system the way in which we can measure

:22:23. > :22:26.success. Thank you very much. Well, joining me

:22:27. > :22:34.in the studio are the journalists Welcome to you both. I want to talk

:22:35. > :22:38.about that interview in a moment. We are hearing from the French

:22:39. > :22:46.government that the alleged ringleader of the Paris attacks had

:22:47. > :22:53.passed through Greece on his way from Syria. It is not clear if he

:22:54. > :22:58.posed as a refugee. Do you think it will change the temperature of the

:22:59. > :23:02.debate? It may do, but it probably shouldn't. In any group of people

:23:03. > :23:10.there will be bad eggs, in any large group, it is how you manage that.

:23:11. > :23:14.There is a danger, people campaigning about refugees, that

:23:15. > :23:22.they portray them all as Saints. There is a warning that passport

:23:23. > :23:26.free travel in the EU is in danger, that might get some popular support?

:23:27. > :23:30.I think probably would come I think that is a step that ought to be

:23:31. > :23:36.taken or considered before, for instance, you move into bombing

:23:37. > :23:39.campaigns. It seems that the free movement of people around Europe has

:23:40. > :23:44.meant that some of the people involved in the Paris attacks have

:23:45. > :23:49.not been traced, have not been followed, have not been picked up as

:23:50. > :23:53.they move around Europe. I think there is certainly issues about

:23:54. > :23:58.that. I am sure that will rumble on. Let's go back to the Nicola Sturgeon

:23:59. > :24:06.interview. I would what you made of it? Do you think she has shifted her

:24:07. > :24:09.position on air strikes? The SNP has shifted position. Not that long ago,

:24:10. > :24:15.you could imagine listening to a phone in from 2003, about the Iraq

:24:16. > :24:18.war. Now, to some extent, David Cameron has also changed his

:24:19. > :24:22.position. Who is he going to bomb now? The people he was going to bomb

:24:23. > :24:27.before were different. Everybody has changed position, there is a new

:24:28. > :24:31.reality out there. The Daily Mail on the front pages pointing out that a

:24:32. > :24:35.poll has shown that 60% of Britons believe there should be a bombing

:24:36. > :24:46.campaign. I agree with you, David, for what purpose? I think any

:24:47. > :24:53.politician is going to be aware of that would. But I am not so sure we

:24:54. > :24:57.have seen a change of position. Nicola Sturgeon is saying, I will

:24:58. > :25:02.listen, of course, you would have too, why not? Alex Salmond has been

:25:03. > :25:07.saying he will wait for UN approval. With Russia are involved, that's

:25:08. > :25:11.probably not going to happen. He's taking a firmer line, he is saying

:25:12. > :25:15.it is non-negotiable, a UN resolution would have to be passed

:25:16. > :25:20.before they would consider it. It's unlikely to happen, Russia is not

:25:21. > :25:23.going to join in. Do think we are seeing the beginnings of a rift

:25:24. > :25:28.between Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond on this? They have a

:25:29. > :25:32.different tone to what they are saying. I think the Nicola Sturgeon

:25:33. > :25:35.tone is interesting. I think most people are bewildered and horrified

:25:36. > :25:39.by Syria and don't know what to do. By being open and saying, explain

:25:40. > :25:43.what might happen, tell us the story, a lot of people will be able

:25:44. > :25:47.to identify with that. A lot of people, and I am one of them, do not

:25:48. > :25:54.know what to do. Nicola Sturgeon is a firm supporter of the EU, do you

:25:55. > :26:00.think that might have influenced what might be eight softening on

:26:01. > :26:03.this issue? I think it was an incredibly shocking attack on Paris.

:26:04. > :26:09.It has brought it really close to home. When people are still

:26:10. > :26:14.absorbing the shock and the grief of that, I think it is very difficult

:26:15. > :26:20.to be, as David says, somebody who says absolutely one way or another.

:26:21. > :26:23.The important ground TBN is the thinking, the listening, the

:26:24. > :26:28.engaging with these issues and, critically, the asking of the

:26:29. > :26:31.questions. For instance, what would bombing Raqqa achieve? Evidently,

:26:32. > :26:36.there are civilians in Raqqa that have not been allowed to leave,

:26:37. > :26:41.innocent people in Raqqa as well. They are being used by Daesh, as

:26:42. > :26:48.Nicola Sturgeon so pointedly called them, as human shields. There has

:26:49. > :26:55.been a lot of focus on Nicola Sturgeon, she comes up to her

:26:56. > :26:59.anniversary as First Minister. It is her first year as First Minister,

:27:00. > :27:03.how do you think a report card has been so far? It's interesting,

:27:04. > :27:06.Scotland has not been marvellously transformed in the last year, and

:27:07. > :27:16.yet Nicola Sturgeon is tremendously popular. She is referred to as

:27:17. > :27:20.Nicola. But we don't see Scotland changing. She hasn't got the levers

:27:21. > :27:25.that she might like to change Scotland, but there are still things

:27:26. > :27:30.she could do. The report card, lots of ifs and buts, but she remains

:27:31. > :27:34.incredibly popular. She is up for the Scottish Politician Of The Year

:27:35. > :27:38.Award, it would be the fourth year in a row, do you think she has much

:27:39. > :27:46.competition? Other names might include Mhairi Black, the youngest

:27:47. > :27:52.MP, who gave a maiden speech that was viewed 10 million times in the

:27:53. > :27:55.first five days. Within her own party, there is some competition

:27:56. > :27:59.there. But I think she is flying so high in the popularity stakes, I

:28:00. > :28:03.think there has been another poll that says she is the most popular

:28:04. > :28:09.living person, which is quite a lot to live up to. It is indeed. Are you

:28:10. > :28:13.surprised there don't seem to be any men in the running? That's a good

:28:14. > :28:19.thing, isn't it? I don't know, you tell me! All of the Nordic

:28:20. > :28:24.countries, which tend to have women in charge, ten to do better for

:28:25. > :28:28.women and men. It's a new style of politics, very refreshing to

:28:29. > :28:34.people. What ever party you personally support, Nicola

:28:35. > :28:38.Sturgeon's style of governance has brought freshness. We must leave it

:28:39. > :28:42.there. We will find out the results soon. Thanks for coming in.