Telling the truth, and confronting the challenge, is what politics is about.
We must listen and learn, show humility and seek again to talk for and to people's ambitions and concerns.
Scotland is my country, the nation that shaped me, that taught me my values. A nation whose achievements inspired and inspire me, a community whose failings drive me - drive my overwhelming desire to fight for social justice and equality.
Progressive politics is not something to be bolted on to another cause.
Scotland cannot be the only 'something for nothing' country in the world.
My biggest ambition is to bring together what happens in the real world with what politicians talk about.