The National:

OSCAR Wilde once said: "There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about."

Presumably that’s why a candidate is standing for the job of first minister today despite having absolutely no chance of winning.

Yip I’m talking about Willie Rennie. The irrepressible or hopelessly deluded Scottish LibDem leader - take your pick.

It’s a strange one.

There was an election just two weeks ago where Nicola Sturgeon’s party won 64 seats and 48% of the vote. Yet both Douglas Ross (with 31 seats) and Willie Rennie (4) see their losing form as a reason to put themselves forward as candidates - in the sure and certain knowledge they will fail.

The National:

Even more ironic, both these chaps actually admitted they had no chance of becoming first minister during the actual campaign. So why pipe up now?

Is it just a chance to say yet again that the recovery must come first with the SNP Government (which it evidently is) and get their names in the papers for restating the bleedin’ obvious and losing - all over again? Is this the kind of publicity Unionist leaders want?

Would Anas Sarwar be forced into joining this ludicrous parade of the unelectable if he wasn’t shielding because of a relative’s positive Covid test? I sincerely hope he has a better grip on the "optics" and the reality of being an opposition leader and - like the Scottish Greens - is comfortable with or at least resigned to the pecking order handed to him by voters.

The other possible motive for standing against Nicola Sturgeon is to appear combative. Spoiling for a political fight. Up for a contest and not at all demoralised by losing (again).

READ MORE: Willie Rennie makes pitch to replace Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister

Macho posturing and pointless competition are indeed built into the fabric of the British political system. But most of us rather assumed the Scottish Parliament was different - and the LibDems approved.

But today Holyrood witnesses a moment of pantomime democracy - a pointless, political virility test of the kind long tolerated at Westminster - a place more hopelessly obsessed with empty ritual than long overdue democratic reform.

Is there a point in simply grabbing some publicity crumbs from Nicola Sturgeon’s table? In hearing officially yet again that you and your party are totally beaten? Is this what opposition politics is still about at Holyrood – muscling to the front of an elaborate dressage event where rejection is entirely predictable but the most valiant leaders must still go through the moves?

Now fair enough, democracy has to be contested, it is a free world and any MSP is eligible to put themselves forward for the top job. In the same way that traditional marriage services still include that moment where anyone who disagrees with the new union must speak or forever hold their peace. The clause is still there, but pretty well no one comes forward. There’s a reason – in the modern world adults about to wed are regarded as capable of making decisions without being stopped at the last minute by some furious relative.

Voters should be accorded the same respect.

They have just essentially elected a First Minister. That’s it.

The technical right to stand against Nicola Sturgeon may still be on the statute book, but that doesn’t mean no-hopers have to use it.

READ MORE: Willie Rennie for First Minister? Let's take a look at his CV

Every time voters see pointless games going on in parliament, it weakens faith in our democracy.

The hollow gesture, the empty symbolism may seem innocent enough but they sap our belief that Holyrood is a straightforward place where parties accept the democratic will of the people and just get on with their work.

Instead, some opposition leaders strike a permanently wounded, aggrieved, hard-done-by attitude that suggests their repeat losses and the SNP repeat victories are somehow unjust or unfair.

No-one expects anything else from Douglas Ross but such a pirn (Caithness word for sulking) doesn’t help any progressive leader - especially one whose party pushed for the creation of Holyrood as a proportional parliament.

Winning a Holyrood election without winning an overall majority of seats is "proper" winning in every modern democracy outside Britain - and Willie Rennie knows it.

So why not let the pointless posturing go?

Maybe it’s a case of “I started so I’ll finish,” cos the LibDem leader also stood for the position of First Minister in 2016, losing to Nicola Sturgeon by 63 votes to five, with 59 abstentions. 

Why stand then? Presumably because his party had just witnessed "a quite remarkable result" winning five seats out of 129. Jings. 

Oscar Wilde was a great man with the quotes.

He also said: "To regret one's own experiences is to arrest one's own development. To deny one's own experiences is to put a lie into the lips of one's own life."

Indeed. So Willie, it's time to accept reality.

You lost an election held fair and square. You have four seats out of 129.

The National:

I ken sitting on an outsized deckchair seemed to get you publicity. But what most of us saw was a political leader unaccountably emphasising his tiny chances of gaining power.

Clutching at straws is embarrassing to watch - and with one fewer MSP, the strategy isn’t working with voters either.

So, if you feel the need to make that oft-rehearsed election speech one more time, in the forlorn hope of winning over MSPs and watching viewers, fine.

But maybe it’s time to quit the denial, analyse your party’s recent losses and develop a new, more realistic profile for the LibDems instead?

Just sayin.