The media and Unionist politicians (we really need to come up with a word to describe that single entity), when not concocting hysterical frothing diatribes against Michelle Thomson or complaining about the Scottish Government giving money to T In The Park – a position we must confess we find ourselves in some sympathy with – have recently been loudly protesting about last year’s “underspend” in the Holyrood budget.
There’s an extremely good article here by Dr Craig Dalzell of the Scottish Greens dealing with the broader issue of why such complaints are idiotic, so rather than go over the ground again we thought we’d look at another angle.
We apologise for another post on the subject of The Wright House, everyone, but we do love getting our teeth into a puzzle, especially when it comes with a side order of lots of juicy evidence of the Scottish media telling people outright lies.
This should be the last one for the forseeable future, and we’ve actually got some solid info to impart this time rather than just a confused expression, so buckle up.
Even the alertest readers will probably already be confused by the baffling tale of Douglas and Jacqueline Wright, who sold their home to Edinburgh West MP Michelle Thomson. We certainly were last night, but on delving a little more into the media coverage of their story, things got a whole lot worse.
Older readers may remember an ITV show called The Krypton Factor, which had an “observation round” section in which contestants were shown a short video clip and then asked a series of questions about it.
The newspaper is a fantastic concept. A cheap, accessible product, it’s a brilliant way of keeping yourself broadly abreast of current affairs. You turn a page and are presented with a diverse selection of interesting stories, often on subjects you’d never have thought to go and seek out in the self-refining echo chamber of the internet.
(Theoretically links on websites serve the same purpose, but dodging “sponsored” advertorial, gutter-level clickbait, pop-ups, autoplay video and pages that judder and leap around so much while loading all this rubbish that you’re about 50/50 to have an epileptic fit before you can read the story, has made clicking on one into a game of Russian Roulette fewer and fewer people are willing to take a chance on.)
This site has never believed that the ongoing steep decline in newspaper sales is a fundamental problem with the format. Rather, the truth is that people stop buying papers because they’re full of garbage.
Most of Scotland’s news outlets, including the Times, Herald, Daily Record, Daily Mail, Express and the BBC, run today with the story that one in three Police Scotland officers intend to leave the force in the next three years, according to a recent survey for the Scottish Police Authority.
(The print edition of the Scotsman makes it the front-page splash, although the article has mysteriously vanished from its website.)
But a couple of pieces of important information are inexplicably missing.
You might have thought that the publication of the “Project Fear” book last month was an embarrassment for the motley collection of highly-paid but hapless Labour and Tory apparatchiks who ran “Better Together”, but it turns out there was worse to come.
Politics Home today reports what sounds like some alarming news:
Young Lochinvar on The quality of mercy: “Jay Good luck getting a coherent non-nazi reply..” Apr 5, 23:38
George Ferguson on The quality of mercy: “I was trying to remember when I last walked up Carlton Hill in support of Scottish Independence. I have landed…” Apr 5, 23:37
Mark Beggan on The quality of mercy: “That’s very interesting Jay you lunatic.” Apr 5, 21:28
Jay on The quality of mercy: “Evening Mr.Beggan. For decades there has been a ridiculous useage of the terms ‘Left’, ‘Right’ and ‘Centre’ which are rarely…” Apr 5, 20:49
Alf Baird on The quality of mercy: ““The residue of colonialism has deep roots” Yes, so long as the colonized native elite crave the colonizers culture and…” Apr 5, 20:03
Dan on The quality of mercy: “Such is the fragile vanity of the US Administration, one could easily envisage them kicking off a war with Denmark…” Apr 5, 18:47
TURABDIN on The quality of mercy: “AMERICA & allies have a rather big problem….and it’s not located in west Asia. What a collection toadies those allies…” Apr 5, 18:29
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