A major piece by the Corporation’s Scotland editor James Cook focused on interviews with two of the three contenders – excluding Ash Regan – on the basis that both had launched their official campaigns yesterday while Regan’s isn’t expected to be until later this week.
So this is interesting. Last week we were about to release some results from our latest Panelbase poll when events intervened. Naturally we’d asked a few questions about gender issues, and one of them concerned the Scottish Government’s potential legal challenge to the UK government’s use of a Section 35 order to block the Gender Recognition Reform bill.
There were three options in the question, and as luck would have it the three potential new leaders of the SNP each advocates a different one.
When assessing who might be the best choice for the next leader of the SNP, and by extension of the independence movement, it’s a pretty good rule of thumb to beware of anyone being bigged up by the Unionist media.
Can you spot the subtle change between these two National stories, readers?
Now, as they’re both in The National the standard of journalism is obviously completely dreadful, and so neither of them actually explains their headline. Nobody is named or quoted even anonymously, and there’s no elaboration other than that “[a member of] the NEC appeared to halt any proposal to use the next General Election as a proxy constitutional vote”, with no indication of HOW they “appeared” to do that.
But they DO raise the question of where on Earth – whoever becomes its new leader – the SNP goes from the smouldering bomb crater that Nicola Sturgeon has left it in.
The SNP constitution states that a leadership election should take place over a period of four and a half months. Having not had one in almost 20 years, the SNP are now to conduct one from start to finish in the space of four and a half weeks.
The voting period of two weeks (who needs two weeks to vote after three weeks of debate?) means that it’ll be over just a week too late for the party to be able to hold its “special democracy conference” to determine its independence strategy for the next couple of years, but also that the new leader will be in place just in time to file a legal challenge over the Gender Recognition Reform bill before the April deadline.
(Something the party president Mike Russell publicly called for today, in an apparent attempt to influence the outcome of the election. Indeed, he called for candidates not to go back on ANY of the outgoing leader’s policies, which rather invites the question of why they should bother electing a new leader at all.)
Nicola Sturgeon told Scotland’s press this morning that despite her weariness, she could have managed a few more months or even a year as First Minister, which would at least have got her halfway to keeping her promise to serve a full term if she was elected in 2021.
Which just makes her timing all the harder to explain.
We did so because we’d just been told – by a completely random source – that Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney would both resign today, and Brown would be the interim leader while a replacement was elected. We’d never spoken to this person before, but the manner in which they said it made us take it more seriously than all the “someone told me” rumours we get told and ignore every other day.
As yet only the first part has been confirmed, but you have to admit that our source is looking pretty darn hot right now.
We’ve just had the results back from some very interesting new polling, and the first snippet is a particularly instructive one.
When challenged on questions of gender, the reflex response of politicians of most parties in the Scottish Parliament is to bang on about how overwhelmingly MSPs voted for the Gender Recognition Reform bill.
Curiously, so far no journalist has bothered to ask whether they care that according to every poll, they’re utterly failing to represent the views of their constituents on the subject – which is, after all, what they’re supposed to be there for.
So we just asked directly if people felt their MSPs were doing their jobs.
Ouch. By well over 2 to 1, respondents felt that they were being let down by the people who are supposed to speak for them. (Excluding DKs the margin is just shy of 70/30, very similar to the margin by which people in polls oppose self-ID generally.)
But it’s when you drill down into the detail that it gets a bit disturbing.
Derek on Just Good Friends: “It’s amazing how obvious it is to other men when a certain type of right-on “anti-misogynist” guy is a wolf…” Jul 10, 16:17
Mark Beggan on Just Good Friends: “Another winner from the BBC.” Jul 10, 15:58
Sven on Just Good Friends: “Corrado Mella @ 14.09. I do believe that we’ve all got it, Corrado. It’s achieving independence and sorting out the…” Jul 10, 15:43
lothianlad on Just Good Friends: “The disgusting SNP! Only the most cowardly and idiotic still support them. They sure aint for independence.” Jul 10, 15:41
Ian on Just Good Friends: “Despite his belief that transwomen are women, he isn’t accused of raping a transwoman. Odd that they know what a…” Jul 10, 15:17
GM on Just Good Friends: “It has been 40/50 years in development and in my opinion is still developing/degenerating but I agree with your assessment.” Jul 10, 14:56
sarah on Just Good Friends: “The guillotines would be operated by the abusers. What we need is direct democracy where the people have direct and…” Jul 10, 14:28
Corrado Mella on Just Good Friends: “I will repeat this until y’all get it. The modern western structures of power are the perfect environment for the…” Jul 10, 14:09
robertkknight on Just Good Friends: “Can’t argue with a single word, Lorn.” Jul 10, 13:55
Mark Beggan on Just Good Friends: “Those who slip justice in this life are first in line for justice in the next.” Jul 10, 13:49
Mark Beggan on Just Good Friends: “Well said. It has failed. The backlash is yet to come.” Jul 10, 13:45
Alf Baird on Just Good Friends: “In always looking to punish non-conformists and other non-believers, woke-ism seems another form of fascism which divides the working class…” Jul 10, 13:36
Sven on Just Good Friends: ““If you choose bad companions, no one will believe that you are anything but bad yourself.” Aesop’s Fables.” Jul 10, 13:10
Mark Beggan on Just Good Friends: “The Myra Hindley of Politics.” Jul 10, 12:58
Liz on Just Good Friends: “I was at one of those Burns suppers back in the day. I’m sure one of the guest comedians was…” Jul 10, 12:56
TURABDIN on Just Good Friends: “WE, THE PROGRESSIVES’ — runs the argument — ‘are the wise and good; we know what reforms the world needs;…” Jul 10, 12:35
Casper1066 on Just Good Friends: “Birds of a feather…….” Jul 10, 12:23
Rev. Stuart Campbell on Just Good Friends: “Oh my word that’s extraordinary. Just grabbing it before it vanishes, will edit it in when I’ve got it.” Jul 10, 12:22
Confused on Too Tight To Mention: “the anglos always were pirates, it’s in their DNA “wherever wood floats, you will find an englishman, stealing all he…” Jul 10, 12:09
Confused on Just Good Friends: “I would love to get the full story on Leeza Lawrence demise; total radio silence. I am thinking … chemsex…” Jul 10, 12:09
Confused on Too Tight To Mention: “We have a lot of formorian sea devils on this forum. Have you guys not worked it out yet? -…” Jul 10, 12:07
Brotyboy on Just Good Friends: “If you’d seen the 2 trannies on the plane yesterday you’d not be saying TWAW. No self respecting woman would…” Jul 10, 11:59
sarah on Just Good Friends: “Well analysed and informative, Lorn. Thank you.” Jul 10, 11:58
Lorn on Just Good Friends: “For starters, we do not know that Iain Robertson is actually guilty of anything. Innocent men have been arrested and…” Jul 10, 11:42
sarah on Just Good Friends: “Haha! Excellent, robertknight!” Jul 10, 11:39
robertkknight on Just Good Friends: “In a remarkable coincidence, Sturgeon (acipenseridae) are also bottom feeders. Fancy that!” Jul 10, 11:36
Anon A Mouse on Just Good Friends: “Of course, Iain famously laid on a Burns Supper for the SNP in Glasgow where Nicola was the guest of…” Jul 10, 11:23
sarah on Just Good Friends: ““same face grinning in the background…”. “Foreground”, surely, Rev?” Jul 10, 11:14
James Cheyne on Too Tight To Mention: “It has been argued that the old members of the old Scottish parliament joined the new parliament of Great Britain,…” Jul 10, 10:48
Shug on Just Good Friends: “You can understand why the Swinney’s of this world did not speak up. She must have beed an absolute bitch…” Jul 10, 10:38