The SNP minister who wants her own Artist In Residence

Shetland MSP Hannah Mary Goodlad has been in the spotlight since her election this May. As the first SNP representative for her constituency, she’s been widely recognised as having run an impressive local campaign. Catapulted into the important role of minister for public finance shortly afterwards, Goodlad soon earned the ‘One To Watch’ gong at the annual political awards ceremony run by Holyrood Magazine. But it transpires the 36-year-old isn’t particularly keen on being kept an eye on. Last night she branded the Scottish press ‘peerie (little) trolls’ after coming under fire for advertising both an Artist In Residence and Shetland ‘scriever’ (writer) to join her constituency team – a creative approach to taxpayer’s funds. Slamming critics in the press as ‘causing mischief,’ she justified the posts as ‘good jobs’ for local artists. In a video posted to social media, she asked, ‘whit’s no tae like?’ as she signed off. Online acolytes – she is certainly popular – applauded. The Artist in Residence post comes with an £11k fee over four months, with duties including conveying the minister’s political message to ‘the general public and media’. That no free-thinking artist worth their salt would create on-demand ditties or sculptures at the behest of a powerful political figure seems to have passed Ms Goodlad by. The Scottish political and artistic scenes have become increasingly incestuous But the rookie minister wants to ‘do things differently’. Given the oddities of living in SNP Scotland, I suspect there will be no shortage of applicants, despite the rather embarrassing task of creating squiggly little art works to celebrate a politician. It’s fair to say the Scottish political and artistic scenes have become increasingly incestuous, particularly since the referendum on independence in 2014. There’s not a book festival in the land that hasn’t headlined former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, for example. Any difficult questions put to her are usually batted off with the arrogance it seems Ms Goodlad is cultivating. Most popular Gareth Roberts Sandi Toksvig’s war on Wikipedia Stephen Pollard The chutzpah of Ed Miliband Ross Clark Why Tom Cruise’s Digger flopped at the box office During Sturgeon’s tenure, she posted regular book hauls on social media, picking out the wokest of independent stores for attention. The nation’s poets and fiction writers would squeal in fawning adoration if their titles were chosen for promotion. There’s also been unquestioning acceptance of SNP policies, including ones so mad they defy all sense or logic. Even after double-rapist Isla Bryson wandered, pink-legginged, into public consciousness three years ago, there wasn’t a peep of disapproval at the SNP’s gender self-ID policies from the nation’s creatives. It’s sometimes difficult for outsiders to grasp how stifling it has been as a writer or artist in this strange little nation under the SNP’s tired governance. Their power comes not from competence, but the vagaries of the voting system – and with half the country still wedded to the idea of independence, the SNP continues to spin that keeping them in power is the only route to that end. It works. They get re-elected, and we plod on, while the nation fails on every possible metric. Far from being the ‘radicals’ the nation’s artists claimed to be during the independence referendum, a majority keep entirely schtum about the SNP through fear of upsetting the status-quo or finding themselves ‘cancelled’. One of the many reasons this is extraordinary is the relatively short amount of time it has taken for artists to become resigned to this untenable situation. During the referendum, pro-Yes artists went to strenuous effort to insist their Yes was not an endorsement of the SNP. Now you will hear only crickets when the party wants to use the arts to launder their policies. So much for wanting power closer to home to shine a light on it. So much for wanting power closer to home to shine a light on it There is a world of difference between an artist independently deciding to support an MSP or political party and one being paid public money directly by an MSP to create work unquestioningly supporting their political message. I presume those fawning on Ms Goodlad wouldn’t be happy with a Reform government doing it, but consistency would be a fine thing. ‘Elected officials of all parties have historically leaned on artistic individuals for creative communication. It’s just not been advertised as such. The faux outrage around is so ridiculous.’ So said one prominent folk-singer underneath Ms Goodlad’s online post, neatly summing up the dominant attitude in the arts in Scotland. Allow yourself to be used to get ahead and, whatever you do, don’t question the government. The Artist in Residence will ‘engage with the community in a meaningful way’ by ‘exploring policy areas of priority to the MSP’. Maybe the successful applicant can pay homage to Bill Drummond and Jimmy Kauty’s 1994 ‘Burn A Million Quid’ stunt on the Isle of Jura, but with £11k chucked on the pyre instead? This is a serious misstep from Hannah Mary Goodlad, who as a young, charismatic MSP truly is ‘one to watch’. The peerie trolls of the Scottish press definitely will be.