If events in Edinburgh today are anything to go by – when a march and rally announced with great fanfare seven months ago, backed by both the “independence” parties in the Scottish Parliament and featuring the First Minister as main speaker, attracted perhaps 1,500 people at the most to Calton Hill on a bright and sunny day – the independence movement faces an imminent final apocalypse.
So here’s how to prepare yourself for when the SNP win a landslide with 35%, Keir Starmer says “So what?” and then a deathly silence descends for another five years.
Even Kelly Given and Iona Fyfe didn’t show up for this one. That’s how bad it is.
The last faint hope of any remotely positive or at least interesting outcome of May’s election just left the building.
It wasn’t MUCH of a hope, and it’s absolutely no surprise in the wake of the comically shambolic, belief-defyingly inept farce that has been the birth of Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana’s fringe-of-the fringe party, but all the same its extinguishing means the next two months will be even more of a waste of time than they looked like being.
Frankly, readers, we may as well not bother having an election at all.
The number of parties who got MSPs elected at the last election is… five. (Though in fairness there are now six, Reform having a single MSP after Graham Simpson defected from the Tories. The Lib Dems are even outnumbered by independents, of whom there are seven.)
So Cathy Newman of Channel 4 News got herself a scoop last night.
And to be honest, readers, we were a bit confused. “Gender critical views” are not only lawful things to hold and express, they’re one of a small subset of opinions that are explicitly protected as such in law. And why would a man very occasionally airing some lawful and protected views on social media be a news story? You might as well run “BREAKING: Premiership footballer discovered to enjoy cheese-and-ham toasties”.
Which is handy, because today is also the day of the Gorton and Denton by-election in Manchester (fun fact: a seat we’d very likely have lived in ourselves if not for Osama bin Laden, but that’s another story), and that throws up some interesting parallels.
There is a not particularly funny joke that is sometimes told in legal circles about why a law student failed to finish his coursework – because he had no conviction. With rare exceptions lawyers aren’t renowned for their sense of humour but I can’t help thinking someone, at the highest levels of our justice system, is having a right laugh at my expense and those who have loyally supported me over the past six years.
I’m talking about the Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain KC – a sitting member of the Scottish Government’s cabinet who was nominated by Nicola Sturgeon to that post in 2021, five months after I was acquitted.
For those unfamiliar with my case, I offer this brief summary. In March 2020 I made a short video on my mobile phone that was two minutes and thirty eight seconds in length. I hadn’t planned to make the video when I went out for a walk in a field near my home. But I was annoyed and wanted to articulate that annoyance, although at the time I recorded it I wasn’t intending for it to go much further.
Later that night, just before turning in, I uploaded it to my YouTube channel on a closed, unlisted link and then posted that link to my Twitter account that, at the time, had a modest 1000 or so followers. I then forgot about it.
Little did I know that short mobile phone video would result in me facing initially a criminal trial, then a five year legal battle in the highest civil court in Scotland and now, most likely, an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
So on the one hand there’s obviously very little point paying attention to the SNP’s regional list candidates for May’s Holyrood election, because as this website has comprehensively demonstrated over recent months, the chances of the SNP having any list MSPs elected are remote.
However, nothing is impossible, so let’s take a look at the B team, which also serves as a guide to the party’s upcoming talent taking its first steps towards the gravy bus.
As the six-year fight for justice for Alex Salmond continues, we thought you might like to see this clip from this morning’s Mike Graham Show, interviewing Paul McManus, the businessman and drummer in Glasgow rock band Gun who’s stepped up to fund the Salmond family’s case against the Scottish Government despite disagreeing with much of what Alex stood for politically.
sarah on Protest But Don’t Survive: “Jim Sillars said much the same recently. I think there are many with the courage to continue – they are…” Mar 28, 18:25
agentx on Protest But Don’t Survive: “Maybe Northcode will be along soon to quote some Goebbels to prove you wrong!” Mar 28, 18:21
Captain Caveman on Protest But Don’t Survive: “That’s what happens when you have no (costed) plan, have provided no detail on pretty much anything – from currency,…” Mar 28, 18:19
duncanio on Protest But Don’t Survive: “The inane cheerleading “Swinn-eeeeh, Swinn-eeeeh etc” chant has to be the all time arse-clenching moment in the entire history of…” Mar 28, 18:16
Frank Gillougley on Protest But Don’t Survive: “Brilliant! So, so sad! There must’ve been some folk in that crowd (judging by the looks on their faces) who…” Mar 28, 18:15
agentx on Protest But Don’t Survive: “Sarah – will all those who contributed to the various GoFund me pages you advertised for so long get their…” Mar 28, 17:54
Sven on Protest But Don’t Survive: ““Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” Winston Churchill. How many…” Mar 28, 17:52
agentx on Protest But Don’t Survive: ““Thousands attend Scottish independence rally in Edinburgh” ————————————————————- The National.” Mar 28, 17:51
sarah on Protest But Don’t Survive: “I’m sorry, Rev, I had to stop listening to that video at 2 minutes – it was excruciating. What a…” Mar 28, 17:45
John Muir on Protest But Don’t Survive: “I was there. It was a lot, lot more than 1500. You can never tell when you’re in the crowd…” Mar 28, 17:38
agentx on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “What happened to your money raising campaign for the other party you have been supporting and advertising for ages?” Mar 28, 17:31
George Ferguson on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “When I look at the Scottish political scene it is depressing. Not a single visionary amongst them. The whole lot…” Mar 28, 16:55
James Che on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “North code, Maybe you would like to read the “Angry Pict”, if you have not already done so, Awash with…” Mar 28, 16:44
sarah on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Rev, now is a good time for you to put into motion your suggestion a few years ago of starting…” Mar 28, 16:33
Dan on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Lucky you willie, round these parts it was 1.87 for regular diesel earlier in the week, now it’s 1.95. But…” Mar 28, 16:17
factchecker on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “I keep reading that Scots were told that the Union meant that England and Scotland would be treated as equals…” Mar 28, 15:41
Mark Beggan on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Great Scots of their time. John Witherspoon born in East Lothian, minister of the laigh kirk in Paisley. A founding…” Mar 28, 14:45
willie on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Filled up with diesel today at a cost of £1.84 a litre. Up +28.7% from the £1.43 cost a couple…” Mar 28, 14:43
Mark Beggan on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: ““Out of the west come a curious fool He tried to impress me with his furious cool He lied from…” Mar 28, 13:21
Mark Beggan on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Oops that should have been “In times of famine… This is what Goebbels wrote in his diary when his boss…” Mar 28, 11:07
Mark Beggan on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Der giftswerg, 1941. “I’m times of famine even the devil eats flies.”” Mar 28, 10:53
Sven on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: ““A liar knows that he is a liar, but one who speaks mere portions of truth in order to deceive…” Mar 28, 09:54
Alf Baird on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Dinna fash yersel, Northcode, mair is revealed ivvery day aboot Scotland’s colonial condeetion: “Indictment at the United Nations: A Report…” Mar 28, 09:12
Northcode on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “In 1941, Goebbels wrote: “The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to…” Mar 28, 08:55
Northcode on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Joe Goebbels’ ‘Big Boss’, *Adalwolf, had already written about the ‘Big Lie’ in his best seller (only rivalled in sales…” Mar 28, 08:32
Mark Beggan on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “@Geri I was going to lend you my first edition copy of 1984 but it would be like giving a…” Mar 28, 01:18
