Alison Rowat: Oh jeer, was this moment SNP and its leader twin peaked?

Appearing on a Question Time Special (still available on iPlayer), Ms Sturgeon likely expected some verbal rough and tumble. It had only been a few weeks, after all, since the whole “nurse goes to food banks” spat, a row inflamed when one of the SNP’s candidates, Joanna Cherry, repeated false internet rumours that the woman who took the FM to task over the NHS was married to a Conservative councillor. Ms Cherry later apologised.

One wonders, however, if the FM was quite ready to be openly jeered by an audience, as she was on Monday. Politicians can give rhinos a gallop for their money when it comes to thickness of skin, but even so, this was fairly brutal. If there was a second independence referendum, Ms Sturgeon was asked, would the result apply for a minimum period, a generation, say, of 25-30 years? When she replied that she did not think it right for any politician to dictate to a country what its future should be, the reaction from the audience was extraordinary. A mixture of jeers, scoffs, heckles and laughter, anyone would think the FM had just announced a blanket ban on fish suppers and Irn Bru. Another questioner reminded the FM that she wanted to be judged on education. In light of evidence showing falling standards in reading, maths and science, should she not then resign? Cue more applause. The audience was speaking from its gut, and its gut was not happy.

Now, there is one way of looking at the QT tussle, and it was well represented in some of the online comments that followed The Herald’s report on the programme. The BBC is biased, went the familiar refrain. The audience were idiots. The FM was being questioned on devolved matters that are not relevant to a Westminster election. But what if there was more going on here? What if the reaction  was another sign, and the clearest one to date, that Scotland has reached not just peak SNP but peak Sturgeon?

The case “for” rests on several factors. First, the local elections saw the party’s vote fall in some areas, though the overall share was the same as 2012, and the SNP finished seven points ahead of the resurgent Scottish Conservatives. Second, Ms Sturgeon herself has acknowledged there is voter fatigue after so many elections and referendums in such a short space of time. Third, her personal approval ratings have dropped, from plus 14 to minus 4, since she called for another independence referendum. To this add polls saying a majority of Scots are against another referendum until the Brexit deal becomes clear, and other surveys showing the Yes/No split in Scotland has not budged since the last time the question was asked formally.

Then there is what we might call the softer, more anecdotal evidence that more Scots are becoming increasingly scunnered at what they see is a relentless push for another independence referendum. This came on Saturday when I was driving through Glasgow at lunchtime. I had just started climbing towards Sauchiehall Street when I saw them at the top of the hill – Saltire after Saltire streaming west to east through the town. Cars were halted and queues began to build. Usually in this situation there is the odd, impatient toot of a horn and the driver is looked on by others as an eejit whose gesture is not going to help anyone. Why sweat such small stuff? This was different, however. One horn sounded, then another and another. These were not the supportive parp-parp-parps of  those delighted to see democracy in action. This was a “lean on the horns and make your annoyance at being held up loud and clear” kind of response.

Like Ms Sturgeon’s renewed push for another independence referendum on the morning after the vote for Brexit, the weekend march in Glasgow looked like a miscalculation, one that would irritate many more voters than it would inspire. But what does any of this matter, you might wonder. As the FM said during Question Time when asked why her approval ratings had declined so much, such things have to be put into context. “All the polls suggest that the SNP is on track to win this election in Scotland fairly convincingly,” she said, quickly adding that she was not taking anything for granted. She was right about the polls, so why speak of peak SNP and peak Sturgeon?

Well, for a start, one would have to be delusional to think that the SNP could defy the laws of political gravity and not suffer a decline in popularity after ten years in power. What goes up must come down. There is, though, something more at work here, something peculiar to the times in which we live and this strange General Election in particular. This was supposed to be the walkover election, called by Theresa May when her party was ahead of Labour in the polls by the kind of margin the SNP has traditionally enjoyed in Scotland over its rivals. Yet it has not turned out that way. Events have intervened. On policy, the Prime Minister has looked anything but strong and stable. Jeremy Corbyn has not been the disaster many were waiting to happen. In Scotland, people are using the vote on Thursday as a chance to have their say on indyref2 and other subjects, particularly health and education, that are devolved matters. Why should they not? If the political classes keep holding votes outwith the usual periods, the public have every right to use them as they see fit. Who is going to stop them?

As every party leader says when asked about polls, the only vote that matters is the one on election day. It would be a foolish politician, however, that did not look beyond the results this week to see the wider trends at work. Chief among these is an electorate that is becoming bone-tired of posturing and wants every leader, not just Ms Sturgeon, to get on with the day job. Otherwise, we are all stuck in a queue, waiting, forever waiting, to reach the top of the hill.