It would be a headline worth reading; ‘Wendy Alexander rendered speechless at FMQs’. Although more than a little hoarse last week, Ms Alexander’s silence was down to a bug rather than the reported advice from a psychiatrist that Salmond is intimidated by the strong, silent treatment. Illness, however, is a timely reminder to us all in this manic political bubble that we are desperately in need of the summer recess. Holidays are a time for reflection and planning and no party needs to do that more than the one led by the temporarily muted one. It’s been a tough 12 months for Ms Alexander with little sign of a fight back. It started badly for her with the ridiculous references to the Very Hungry Caterpillar book; deepened with the contender-less battle to become leader following Jack McConnell’s resignation; got worse with staff resignations; reached meltdown with the illegal donations debacle; went off the scoreboard with the ‘bring it on’ demand for an independence referendum; and was compounded by the repeatedly poor performances during FMQs although she awarded herself 10/10. And to cap it all on the last day of parliamentary business, the Standards Committee agreed that she should be suspended for one full day of parliamentary business for failing to declare donations. An inauspicious year, indeed. And yet the way to counter that has been to blame the rest of us. The party is misunderstood, the press is made up of misogynists who pick on the leader because she is a woman, the SNP is a party that breaks promises and the eternal and infernal, ‘we only lost by one seat’. None of these protestations has the maturity that should be inherent in the psyche of a party that has been in power for so long but then arrogance comes with that territory too, as can being out of touch. Never was that more evident than when the Prime Minister recently appointed the former Daily Record political editor and wannabe MP, Paul Sinclair, to his inner sanctum, charged with ingratiating the party with the Scottish media. More honest, perhaps, is Lord Foulkes’ own brand of spin, in which he chooses to berate this particular journalist for her opinions on detention in full view of the paying public as if he has a monopoly on opinion. Ah, making friends and influencing people – perhaps there’s a point in time where it seems not to matter anymore. But when Parliament returns in September, the SNP will be more than a year through its first term in government and Labour has still to find its feet, never mind get its message across to the media and the electorate. It’s not rocket science but if you want to learn how others see you, listen to what your critics say rather than just shout them down with claims of bias. My holiday reading advice to Team Alexander would be, ditch the attitude and reach for the self-improvement books. Task a small team to prepare some strategy sessions with the best political brains in the business to give a candid analysis of the SNP’s strengths and weaknesses and Labour’s strengths and weaknesses, and from that, prepare a series of Labour policy initiatives and SNP attack points to be rolled out in the autumn. Get yourself some strategy then underpin it all with a revitalised internal and external communications team that can kick into touch the grudge and grievance that is currently on display. So, will Scottish Labour be spending the recess preparing to return as an effective and vocal opposition or will it be in a retreat somewhere, following in its leader’s footsteps with a vow of silence?

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