“In the most hyped comeback since Return of the Jedi, Nicola Sturgeon rose once more to speak in the Holyrood chamber and effortlessly eclipsed her successor,” wrote our political editor, Tom Gordon.

Sturgeon was back for her first speech in parliament since stepping down as first minister. It was one of our top performing stories, showing readers are clearly still very interested in the former leader. Perhaps they have missed her in the chamber? In our sketch piece, in her “command of the room, verbal skill, and the goo-goo eyed adoration of SNP MSPs”, she remained “in a league of her own”. What do you think?

My picks this week come from our political coverage at Holyrood, where not only did the former first minister, “squeezed into the fourth row back” demonstrate that “while you can take the politician off the front bench, you can’t take the front bench out of the politician”, her successor Humza Yousaf got down to more important business in delivering his Programme for Government.

But what was made of that? Sturgeon used her returning speech to give it her backing, nodding to the continuation of much of the SNP’s long-standing social commitments which, of course, she had led. She praised Yousaf for “keeping the mission for a fairer society, where everyone can contribute to and benefit from the fruits of the economy”.

The Herald:

Of course, we were all over the details, including his plans to accelerate the expansion of free childcare, a £15m innovation and entrepreneurship plan, and a commitment to global leadership on the climate crisis.

But we were also big on the analysis, with Rebecca McQuillan’s opinion piece being a standout for me, with the nod to Sturgeon in much of Yousaf’s plans forming the spine of her analysis.

“In some parts of the Scottish Conservative party, there is no greater insult than to be compared to the former SNP leader,” she wrote. “There are people who would sooner be ritually humiliated by Gordon Ramsay than likened – quick, cross yourself and grab the garlic – to Nicola Sturgeon. To Douglas Ross, it must have seemed a devastating put-down when he called Humza Yousaf ‘a poor Nicola Sturgeon tribute act’.”

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And yet, in McQuillan’s opinion, as Yousaf fights off a serious threat from Labour, enthusing voters – in characteristic SNP/Sturgeon style – with a vision of a fairer Scotland, is exactly what Yousaf is focused on doing.

“The politics she stood for were, and still are, popular. Humza Yousaf seems to think being a Sturgeon tribute act could be a winning turn,” she said.

Read the full piece here, along with the many comments from readers who were keen to give their views on Sturgeon’s legacy.

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Catherine Salmond
Editor