It’s nearly over, readers. Just one more week of this to endure.
The most miserable election campaign of all time will end next Thursday with an election which will deliver Scotland’s most miserable devolved government of all time. Only the exact form, colour and shape of the misery remains to be determined.
So as the SNP promise through forked tongues to cut the cost of living with a pledge they know full well they have no chance of being able to actually implement, while using the powers they DO have to INCREASE the cost of everything that makes life WORTH living, let’s look at exactly what flavour of dog vomit we can expect to be choking down along with our state-approved organic broccoli and fat-free gruel for the next half-decade.
Attending the Civic Justice Centre in Manchester as part of an ongoing attempt to persecute the feminist journalist and author Helen Joyce, Watson was intercepted by Greater Manchester Police and arrested in connection with allegations of harassment of several people, one of whom was myself.
Watson had been evading justice for a long time. He provides false addresses to the police and courts (which is a crime in itself), and despite numerous criminal complaints against him he manages to dodge arrest because police forces endlessly ping-pong the complaints between each other (“He lives in YOUR area!” “No, yours!”) and allow him to repeatedly arrange voluntary interviews which he never turns up to, stalling and hiding until the six-month limit on harassment cases times out.
You can download them all here in a oner, if you’re REALLY bored. But we don’t advise it, because we can just tell you what they say in a couple of minutes.
It was exactly one year ago today that the Supreme Court delivered its judgment in the case of For Women Scotland Vs The Scottish Ministers, a judgment which has still not been implemented by the Scottish or UK governments, so it was quite bold of the SNP to choose it as the launch date for their manifesto.
The judgment (which the SNP are in fact still fighting in court) is not referenced in the document and the phrases “women’s rights” and “single-sex” do not appear anywhere in it, although it does say “We are committed to upholding and protecting the human rights of trans people as far as possible within our powers and we will do all we can to ensure that trans people’s identities are recognised and respected”.
So, y’know, more of the same to come for the next five years.
As all alert readers will know, this site likes to keep a watchful eye on the shady and disturbing activities of paedophilia-plagued charity LGBT Youth Scotland. So we were naturally intrigued to hear that they’d hired a new convenor last month.
And if you’re sitting there thinking, “Blimey, AI Christopher Walken looks very very ill”, well, stay tuned, because this story gets more and more interesting.
Alert readers will have noticed something of a minor furore in recent days around a boneheaded Scottish Greens candidate (as if there were any other kind) calling for the complete abolition of prisons.
So far Kate Nevens – who on the latest polling has a very reasonable chance of being elected on the list – has resisted calls to step down, which is probably for the best as, incredibly, her replacement would be even worse.
With the implosion of Your Party concentrating the nutter vote firmly in Green hands, the next term of the Scottish Parliament is set to feature the worst array of MSPs in Holyrood’s history, with almost everyone in the SNP with any sort of ability or experience resigning to be replaced by hyper-obedient young party drones, while the opposition are mostly putting forward the same old faces who’ve been such utter failures for the last 20 years.
It’s a grim prospect, but we do have a solution to propose.
Because the truth is that we should all be quietly sending BBC Scotland bouquets in appreciation for doing the independence movement a favour for once.
We think the lads at The Scotsman might have gotten a bit confused and/or carried away when it came to putting the clocks forward at the weekend. At 6am on Sunday morning they tweeted this:
But the link was a 404. We checked the print edition of Scotland On Sunday but there was nothing there either. Finally, though, the article has shown up in today’s paper and on the website, and to be honest with you, readers, we still think it must be some sort of mistake, because it’s two days early for April 1st.
The turnout at the “independence march and rally” yesterday was so abysmally poor that it seems almost unfair to pick on any of the scores of SNP elected representatives who didn’t bother to show up.
But dear old Cosy Feet Pete Wishart had the most chef’s-kiss excuse of all.
The reason he didn’t fancy getting his wee Billy Whizz quiff blown about a chilly Calton Hill was that he had important business “taking on the far right” – who were of course nowhere to be seen – with “half a million” (50,000) of his British besties, a convenient short Tube ride away from his London residence, at a pretty openly anti-Semitic protest called, with a double layer of delicious comedic value… UK Together.
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.
TURABDIN on Seven Days Too Long: “CHICKEN OR THE EGG https://archive.is/gYo12 Two elephants vying for supremacy? Not just a matter of taste but the very heart…” May 2, 11:25
Bilbo on Seven Days Too Long: “Install Firefox, Chrome or some other internet browser.” May 2, 11:23
Bilbo on Seven Days Too Long: “I see that Polanksi has dug a right big hole for himself with his tweets. I also see that there…” May 2, 11:21
Aidan on Seven Days Too Long: “Fuck me Geri – that’s nuts even for you! Have you been to bed yet? @CC – we’ve been told…” May 2, 11:18
Aidan on Seven Days Too Long: “Fuck me Geri – that’s nuts even for you! Have you been to bed yet?” May 2, 11:17
Bilbo on Seven Days Too Long: “Second this comment from Confused. Ingrained tribalism in Scottish politics is never going to change. This will result in the…” May 2, 10:56
Captain Caveman on Seven Days Too Long: “Heh. Hot on the heels of “Geri” quoting forum rules for personal attacks, here he/she is extolling their supposed moral…” May 2, 10:14
Geri on Seven Days Too Long: “Well said, Confused. The Yes movement was like that. A collective of everyone, all political backgrounds or of none at…” May 2, 10:09
Geri on Seven Days Too Long: “I disavow nothing. I’ll gladly play tour guide Barbie if yer going to take everything literally. That’s so your type.…” May 2, 09:32
Cherrybank on Seven Days Too Long: “The You-Tuber Craig Houston stands a good chance of being elected as an independent for Glasgow.” May 2, 09:14
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Seven Days Too Long: “REALLY STRUGGLING WITH DRUGS? If you are OK with a Christian ambience, Glaswegian Terry McCutcheon is founder and current Executive…” May 2, 09:13
Nicky T Naquetti on Seven Days Too Long: “@diablo Get a Linux/Ubuntu installation. Unless you are a gamer or run some esoteric Windows-only software, you can easily make…” May 2, 08:22
Hatey McHateface on Seven Days Too Long: ““carpet bomb Tehran – that’ll show them! So now those who maybe were West leaning are all dead” An odd…” May 2, 07:39
Hatey McHateface on Seven Days Too Long: “Here you go, YL. Your one (1) response per Diem in which I validate your pathetic, pointless, and obsessively focused…” May 2, 07:24
Hatey McHateface on Seven Days Too Long: “Interesting ideas, Confused. But who will talk for the Benefits Classes? Who will champion the grifters, those with hands permanently…” May 2, 07:09
Aidan on Seven Days Too Long: “Oh yes Dan you have me worked right out mate, don’t let me “divert” or “distract” you from whatever exceptionally…” May 2, 07:06
Hatey McHateface on Seven Days Too Long: ““The gas chamber again eh? Do you never bore yourself tae death playing yer banjo again?” Not where you’re concerned,…” May 2, 06:58
Hatey McHateface on Seven Days Too Long: ““There’s nothing that stipulated a lifetime” Naw? Which part of the “heirs and successors” clause continues to defeat your comprehension?” May 2, 06:50
Geri on Seven Days Too Long: “We know where it is. What we don’t know is… Where’s Scotlands oil fund? Where is £15.5 BILLION in fake…” May 2, 03:13
Geri on Seven Days Too Long: “The gas chamber again eh? Do you never bore yourself tae death playing yer banjo again? Treacherous liars & devious…” May 2, 03:03
Mark Beggan on Seven Days Too Long: “Talking money. Where’s the 600K?” May 2, 02:46
Geri on Seven Days Too Long: ““Rational, wise, educated people might well believe it’s far too early to say.” They admitted it, ya plank. The orange…” May 2, 02:03
Geri on Seven Days Too Long: ““The last ugly, overweening monstrosity cost a billion” A Yoon government. A farce from start to finish. It wasn’t their…” May 2, 01:28
Young Lochinvar on Seven Days Too Long: “George I swore-in in sectarian divided Glasgow during the troubles era where the oath was accepted if mumbled. Nonetheless I…” May 2, 01:13
Confused on Seven Days Too Long: “One of the problems with trying to start a new party (there are many) is that politics in a “democracy”…” May 1, 23:31
Young Lochinvar on Seven Days Too Long: “HMcH Highest taxing WESTMINSTER government ever.. I put that in bold as I had to do a double take! It’s…” May 1, 23:20
George Ferguson on Seven Days Too Long: “@Young Lochinvar I will fight alongside you. You are a mucker or a brother. But you must have sworn allegiance…” May 1, 23:20
Young Lochinvar on Seven Days Too Long: “George Aye.. But.. Hardly compares with Westminster and Buckingham Palace ongoing costs really though eh..” May 1, 23:06
George Ferguson on Seven Days Too Long: “@Hatey McHateface The original Scottish Parliament building cost £414 million. Well over budget I grant you that. My estimate of…” May 1, 22:53