Tommy Sheridan manages to get in a photo op by playing football at Scotstoun Sports Centre, he will need more than a bag of air to win votes!

Dear All

One thing we know is that Tommy Sheridan after getting released from prison will try and make a political comeback.

To do so, it will be the usual man of the people stuff liberally sprinkled with comrades and brothers and sisters.

Unfortunately, as much as he may think that it is business as usual he is seriously wrong.

His spell in prison which no doubt will be portrayed as him being a political prisoner for standing up to the Murdoch Empire will only wash with a few.

So, I have a question for Tommy Sheridan, do you want to be an elected politician?

He would probably say yes immediately.

But the reality is his party is like a fringe group, he will get a core vote but not enough to start back on the long road back in a meaningful sense.

So, having been released from prison on a home visit, football fanatic Tommy Sheridan has done his first unofficial photo op of getting back on the campaign trail, the classic kickabout.

And the location was the Scotstoun Sports Centre in Glasgow where he met up with friends.

Its man of the people stuff, politician taking part in sport with a group of people creating a narrative of I’m like you, I do ordinary things.

Sheridan has been released from Castle Huntly open prison for the first in a series of home leave breaks so we can expect more photo ops of him doing mundane things as he will probably have been told that he can’t campaign in his usual manner.

Or they will whip his ass back inside pronto.

The former MSP was expected to host a meal for family and friends before returning to jail tomorrow.

I suppose that Sheridan will count this as a success in the short term but in the long term, he has a mountain to climb, he has wrecked his party in the minds of voters.

A serious rebranding exercise is needed and a new name for a fresh start coupled with new policies.

Solidarity has run its course; it was a poor choice of name to begin with, harking back to the Polish ship strikes of old.

And Sheridan should be looking towards the future.

If he is interested in winning seats and not being just a soap box politician!

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University