SNP leader Humza Yousaf may be leading his party towards electoral disaster, but Time magazine sees that as no reason not to put him on the cover and laud him as a “next generation leader”. The Telegraph has more.
Humza Yousaf may have endured a nightmare start to his tenure as First Minister thanks to the arrest of Nicola Sturgeon and support for the SNP ebbing away in the polls.
But Time magazine has featured Mr. Yousaf on its front cover, lauding him as one of a new generation of “trailblazers shaping the future”.
The American magazine’s new edition calls him “the new face of Scotland” and lists the 38-year-old among its “rising stars”, noting he is the first First Minister from an ethnic minority background.
Among the other “next generation leaders” featured in the magazine were actress Florence Pugh, racing driver Jamie Chadwick, drag queen Pattie Gonia and Ghanaian visual artist Prince Gyasi.
Mr. Yousaf getting his picture on the front of Time is a major publicity coup for the First Minister as he has a much lower profile outside Scotland than Ms. Sturgeon.
However, the magazine’s choice of cover raised eyebrows at the Scottish Parliament, especially as it appeared only hours before an expected Labour victory in his first electoral test as SNP leader.
Irony is dead, says the Spectator, noting that Time praises Yousaf “for his age and ethnicity rather than, er, any substantive achievements from 11 years in public office”.
The choice is all the more remarkable, “given that the magazine acknowledges his disastrous record”. Time notes how under Yousaf “the SNP has been plagued by an ongoing police investigation into its finances; internal divisions; and uncertainty over how to achieve its overriding objective: for Scotland to end its centuries-old union.” It adds that:
On the economy, health care, education and more, Scotland is faring poorly. Tens of thousands of Scots are languishing on waiting lists to receive treatment from the National Health Service. Scotland’s drug-related deaths, while on the decline, remain the worst in the U.K. and Europe. Its schools are lagging behind the rest of Britain, too. Other issues, such as disruptions to ferry services affecting Scottish island communities, continue to fester.
So he’s a disaster, but at least he’s young(ish) and not white. I guess that’s what the Left calls progress.