When presenter Matt Frei sympathetically puts to her that she left Scotland because she was being “given a very very hard time” by Yes/SNP supporters, Mone denies it, saying “I didn’t actually leave, that wasn’t the main reason to have left Scotland”.
So where could Frei have come by such a misapprehension?
You can’t move for Michelle Mone in the media today, which is just the way she likes it. Almost every newspaper and broadcaster has been running lengthy stories and interviews about the publicity-craving ex-Labour supporter being commissioned by Iain Duncan Smith to produce a report on starting up businesses in disadvantaged areas.
(So excited was Mone – who now backs the Conservatives and is widely expected to be given a peerage in the next honours list by David Cameron for campaigning against Scottish independence – to be working for IDS that she just couldn’t keep the news in until the midnight embargo on the press release, tweeting it at 11pm last night.)
Nationalists have in the main reacted to Mone’s apparent imminent ennoblement as an unelected lawmaker in the manner you’d expect, but they’re not the only people to question her credentials as an expert business adviser and employment guru. So we thought we’d do a little digging and compiling.
Social media is alight today with the latest extraordinary opinion poll for next May’s Holyrood election, which puts the SNP on a record-breaking 62% to Labour’s 20%.
(The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats trail in with miserable stats of 12% and 3% respectively, which means that within the standard margin of polling error it’s possible that NOBODY in Scotland is still planning on voting Lib Dem.)
Pollsters TNS report the findings under what might in the circumstances be seen as the slightly negative headline “SNP holds poll lead in spite of mixed views on record in government”, which relates to figures concerning the Nats’ performance in power.
But there’s an interesting quirk in those numbers.
Alert social-media users will have noticed that it’s hard to avoid a constant low-level buzzing from a faction of the Yes movement, calling on the next Scottish Government (in the event, as currently seems likely, that it’s another SNP majority) to issue a Unilateral Declaration of Independence, or UDI for short.
And in the context of achieving Scottish independence UDI is indeed the answer, if we assume that the question is “What’s the stupidest thing the SNP could possibly do?”
There’s a comment piece by Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson in today’s Sunday Times, comprising 846 words which could be condensed into two: “SNP BAD”.
As such it could have been easily turned into a speech by any Scottish Labour leader of the last five years with nothing more than a quick search-and-replace of the words “Conservative” and “Labour”. It puts forward nothing remotely resembling a policy, just paragraphs of boilerplate waffle and a call for a debate.
Davidson professes to offer “a practical and pro-UK alternative to the SNP”, a programme which she boils down to two key components. It seems to have entirely escaped her notice that they contradict each other on the most fundamental level.
“In an independent Scotland, we’ll never have to worry about Tory governments again”, said the man on my doorstep, his YES badge gleaming in the sunshine.
“I am a Tory,” said I, watching with some amusement as the man’s jaw dropped.
Unalert readers will have been startled to read in much of the media this morning – including a front-page piece on the Daily Record – of the “shocking” £100,000 cost of renaming the new Southern General hospital in Glasgow after the Queen.
Yesterday, whatever the merits of the actual decision involved, we saw an admirable attitude to transparency and accountability from NHS Greater Glasgow And Clyde in their handling of our Freedom Of Information request about the renaming of the South Glasgow University Hospital. An extremely comprehensive response arrived promptly and without any attempts at evasion.
Today was different, because today we were dealing with the BBC.
Mark Beggan on The quality of mercy: “I was playing the Smiths debut album the other night. Classic. Then today one of my neighbours said he heard…” Apr 5, 16:54
Mark Beggan on The quality of mercy: “And what are you going to do about it? Let me tell you. Nothing.” Apr 5, 16:45
Mark Beggan on The quality of mercy: “You can’t even stand a candidate for the Scottish elections. You are in no position to demand anything. Repeating this…” Apr 5, 16:42
Mark Beggan on The quality of mercy: “You are going to have problems getting all that on just on banner.” Apr 5, 15:54
Aidan on The quality of mercy: “Things have got so bad that we’ve had to deploy our secret weapon “James Cheyne” to bore and distract everyone…” Apr 5, 14:46
TURABDIN on The quality of mercy: “INDIA still wrestles as to the appropriateness of English dress and language in law courts. The Chief Justice of Kolkata…” Apr 5, 14:20
Dan on The quality of mercy: “How “GERS” worked in India. https://yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com/2021/08/18/how-gers-worked-in-india/” Apr 5, 13:59
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The quality of mercy: “Dr Shashi Tharoor – Looking Back at the British Raj in India (Edinburgh University 2017) www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB5ykS-_-CI” Apr 5, 13:22
Northcode on The quality of mercy: ““…The resolution concerned the slave trade, in which Scots were complicit…”| In which SOME Scots were complicit as opposed to…” Apr 5, 13:19
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The quality of mercy: “HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO G.F. Handel arr. J. Caponegro: Hail The Conquering Hero, from Judas Maccabaeus, HWV 63 First performance…” Apr 5, 13:14
TURABDIN on The quality of mercy: “Cooperation with British Colonialism in India, an Overview During the British colonial period in India, many Indians, especially from the…” Apr 5, 12:26
James on The quality of mercy: “Northy; didn’t you know; according to Yoon Trolls like “factchecker” -who have never “checked” a “fact” in their entire existence-…” Apr 5, 12:25
Northcode on The quality of mercy: ““Jesus of Nazareth” or “Jesus, son of Joseph” or “Christ Jesus” or “Jesus The Christ” or just that familiar plain…” Apr 5, 12:25
Northcode on The quality of mercy: ““As of March 2026, the UN General Assembly has not formally declared colonialism IN TOTO a crime against humanity,…” I…” Apr 5, 11:55
factchecker on The quality of mercy: “A simple internet search shows that “As of March 2026, the UN General Assembly has not formally declared colonialism in…” Apr 5, 11:13
TURABDIN on The quality of mercy: “When talk & reason fail. Frantz FANON’s Perspective on Violence The Role of Violence in Decolonization Frantz Fanon, a prominent…” Apr 5, 10:53
Alf Baird on The quality of mercy: ““Colonisation of Scotland since 1707” According to the UN colonialism is a scourge and a crime against humanity, which must…” Apr 5, 10:27
James Che on The quality of mercy: “There are corners and legal jams one can bring upon ones self through greed and Colonialism. Westminster parliament of the…” Apr 5, 09:00
James Che on The quality of mercy: “Rev Stu, Thanks for inserting two of my old comments in your new post first of all, It can be…” Apr 5, 08:49
Young Lochinvar on The quality of mercy: “Yahweh help the Is Rye Ale Ees if the I rans find the downed US pilot first. It’s a Vietnam…” Apr 5, 03:53
James on The quality of mercy: “Well, that’s “Phil” shot down in flames….. But Adrian’s working through the holidays….” Apr 4, 23:57
Confused on The quality of mercy: “since we seem to be regressing to “ropey old shite, debunked n-teenth times … ” – let’s put an old…” Apr 4, 23:32
Confused on The quality of mercy: “quite right, my fellow Scot. if the scotch were left alone with excess revenue from copious oil, gas, wind and…” Apr 4, 23:29
Phil on The quality of mercy: “Time, no- long overdue, to face some facts. This site, brilliant as it is, suffers from some fundamental flaws: first,…” Apr 4, 23:01
robertkknight on The quality of mercy: “The SNP are about as interested in independence as a vegetarian is in a mouthful of steak tartare. Fuck ’em.…” Apr 4, 22:13
Lorncal on The quality of mercy: “‘Wokism’ and the hard left are the real problem and they will follow into an independent Scotland unless they are…” Apr 4, 21:06
factchecker on The quality of mercy: “Professor, you must try harder to throw off the colonial yoke. You of all people should show a good example.…” Apr 4, 19:30
Geri on The quality of mercy: “The Fascism is strong in you, Areswipe. You don’t get to choose anything. You don’t even have a vote here.…” Apr 4, 18:59
Geri on The quality of mercy: “Very true. Start with overhauling the school curriculum. That’s where the mindset starts along with dumbing down critical thinking. People…” Apr 4, 18:52
