“Just dreep, First Minister. I have your handbag, the car engine’s running and security have locked the women in the lobby!”

FIRST MINISTER Nicola Sturgeon has finally intervened to end the farm support payments delay – but who should get the credit for achieving this resolution?
Well, as the news broke, there was no shortage of candidates claiming that gold star for a job well done.
NFUS president Allan Bowie was quick to praise the efforts of all the farmers and supply trade folk who have been pestering their MSPs about the problem.
Equally, some politicians, most noticeably the Scottish Conservatives, reckoned that they’d forced the First Minister’s hand with their Holyrood questioning.
But is it any coincidence that the political logjam broke on the exact same day that the Church of Scotland announced its plan for a dedicated farming ministry?
Or, if that £200million isn’t God’s work, could an even higher power have been involved? Uncharacteristically, Jim Walker is saying nothing publicly, but its no secret that he believes his recent interventions bolstered the initially watery NFUS campaign.
In fact, The Scottish Farmer knows the truth, via reader Shiona Simpson, who tells us of an encounter during the recent annual jaunt by Ochiltree’s senior farming ladies, organised by Mrs Isobel Montgomery, which this year took them to a nice hotel in the Kingdom of Fife... coincidentally the same hotel hosting a certain Ms Sturgeon and her purseholder, Mr Swinney.
When Ms Sturgeon and her company heard that a busload of Ayshire ladies were dining in the hotel, the First Minister thought she would stop by and say hello, perhaps unaware of their predominantly farming background.
By all reports, it wasn’t just the steak that got a grilling, as the first greeting she received was “what are you going to do to sort out this single farm payment?” She was told in no uncertain terms that, as the head of the country, it was her problem and she had better get it sorted!
All aspects of the crisis, from the price of milk, the state of the lamb trade and the beef sector got an airing. Ms Sturgeon and her sidekick retired from this barrage as quickly as they had arrived... and maybe then took some time to ponder what they had been told by the wives and mothers of Ayrshire’s farmers.