Scottish comedian Janey Godley has been voted a legend of lockdown and has won a Chortle Award for her viral voice overs of Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s coronavirus briefings.
Godley says she tried to be Sturgeon’s “anger translator” in her voice overs and "make them a wee bit funny".
Janey Godley Photo: supplied
“But I stick to all the facts so that people can watch them have a laugh but know that the Scottish government rules are incorporated into the comedy sketch," she says.
Rules such as; “Remember! Two full Alsatians apart.”
Lockdown rules are finally being relaxed in Scotland, Godley told Kim Hill.
“You can have a drink outside. Which is not really conducive to Scottish weather, you’re either gonna get Covid or pneumonia but you’ll get a lager either way.”
The Scots go to the polls for the Scottish Parliament election on 6 May and Godley expects a good turnout.
“I think people will find it an event to be able to get out and vote and there’s been a lot of postal voting.
“I think it will be fine. I think people will enjoy the experience, it’s something we can look forward to do because we’ve not been able to look forward to anything, so going to vote is like an event day, it’s like one of those experience day outs.”
Photo: Twitter / Janey Godley
If the Scottish National Party perform well it will give further impetus for inexpedience, Godley says. So much has happened since the 2014 vote.
“You’ve got to understand that the Tory Government rule Britain, but the Tory Government has never won a general election in my lifetime [in Scotland] and I turn 60 this year.
“In Scotland they have never won a general election in 61 years so there is a real need for people to have that self-determination and speak about it again.”
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he will refuse to allow a referendum whatever the outcome on 6 May.
“Well Boris Johnson has said he will refuse to tell us who ordered gold wall paper at 600 quid a roll and how many kids he’s got.
“So, he’s not really that important when it comes to democracy.”
She says the arguments against independence amount to gaslighting.
“They say things like 'if you become independent all the banks will leave, you’ll have no money, you don’t have as much oil as you think you do'.
“It’s like gaslighting in an abusive relationship, it’s like a boyfriend saying 'if you leave me you won't get a house, you won’t get a bank account, nobody will talk to you, all my friends will stay with me and you will be ghosted on WhatsApp'.”
Scottish disillusionment with Tory rule is running high, Godley says.
“I just know that people are so disillusioned by this Tory Government, with the sleaze and the lies and the PPE … Boris Johnson’s handling of the pandemic ... last week he was alleged to have said let the bodies pile in the street [rather than order another lockdown].”
And she is enjoying the unfolding spat between Johnson and his former aide Dominic Cummings.
“Dominic Cummings, the Tories told us he was an honourable man and now the Tories are saying he’s a dishonourable man so you can’t have it both ways and wear two left feet at the same time.
“I never trusted a man who said he’s put his child in a car and then drive it to see if his eyes were working, I wouldn’t let my husband do that.”
The falling out has Shakespearean overtones, she says.
“Boris Johnson has fallen out with Dominic Cummings, the first relationship that hasn’t resulted in a child, and he’s now fell out with him and we’re now all sitting on the sidelines with popcorn.”
Warning: contains obscenity
