Greener pastures

More words of wisdom from Lee Kuan Yew

In an age full of nepobaby second-generation politicians posing as ‘outsiders’, new Green Party MSP ‘Q Manivannan’ is the real thing. Indeed, the St Andrew’s postgraduate is so much of an outsider that he doesn’t even hold British citizenship or permanent residency, and is unable to take up paid employment as a condition of his student visa. ‘Q’ was allowed to stand for office last month because the Scottish government – the Wuhan Lab of terrible ideas in UK politics - recently changed the rules allowing foreigners with only limited leave to remain to compete in elections. Although Manivannan faced a probe into his visa, the powers-that-be ruled that being a politician wasn’t a real job. This prevented possibly the funniest outcome of all - the new member of the Scottish Parliament representing his constituents in Edinburgh and Lothians East remotely from Tamil Nadu.