Our most extra-specially alert readers may have recently noticed the website of some dodgy chancer claiming that a recent opinion poll by Survation showed high support for a pro-independence list party led by Alex Salmond.
Unfortunately, no such poll existed. The site owner blanked every request to back up his assertion with a link to the supposed survey, and it rapidly became clear that it was a totally fabricated piece of attention-seeking which we won’t indulge with a link.
We were looking for something else this afternoon, but accidentally found this:
Just two weeks before the last Holyrood election, widely-respected analysts Weber Shandwick had put together a prediction of how the results would pan out. Just for a bit of fun, let’s compare it to the reality.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet the new World Speed-Reading Champion:
Almost 1200 words in 15 seconds is mighty impressive going in anyone’s book. (Either that or it’s REALLY slow for a 12-word tweet.) But we wondered if there might be any other reason why Mrs Angus Robertson wouldn’t want people reading that article.
We’ve just been out for our evening constitutional in the relatively cool night air (Bath sweltered at an oppressive 30C today and Bear Patrol was pretty gruelling), and we thought readers might be interested in what we saw.
The city has observed lockdown with great diligence, as we’ve previously documented, and to be honest we’re not sufficiently familiar with the latest rules to say it wasn’t still doing so tonight. But a nearby park, around 9.30pm, was a disconcerting scene.
The ramifications for Scottish politics of the failed stitch-up of Alex Salmond over false allegations of sexual abuse have hardly begun to be felt. The Parliamentary inquiry into the affair, which formally began yesterday and is due to start interviewing people in August, looks set to be swamped in material – or at least, whatever material hasn’t been quietly and conveniently disposed of already – and nobody knows how long it’ll take to reach any sort of conclusion.
It seems a safe bet that the SNP leadership will be praying it doesn’t do so before the 2021 Holyrood election, for all sorts of reasons – not least that it appears beyond any credible doubt that Nicola Sturgeon lied to Parliament about the investigation.
But while Salmond was found innocent on every charge, he continues to be attacked from behind a shield of anonymity by the accusers that the mainly-female jury declined to believe, supported and co-ordinated by organisations funded almost entirely by the Scottish Government and with very close personal links to it.
So when we were putting out our latest Panelbase poll, we thought we’d find out what the people of Scotland thought about it.
Now, as we noted earlier this month, that might just be down to people getting weary of false dawns. But it might also indicate that a measure of realism is belatedly beginning to dawn on the Yes movement about the lack of connection between nice poll numbers and actually securing another referendum.
factchecker on The Nobodies: “Sarah claims “John Swinney could, based on the SNP/Green majority, simply inform Burnham of the date of independence and then…” Jul 30, 13:04
100%Yes on The Nobodies: “The Scottish government is giving public money to fund a “Queer Milk Group” in which male transvestites meet weekly to…” Jul 30, 12:59
sarah on The Nobodies: ““Queer Milk Group”. Scottish executive [Swinney etc] are giving £700,000 to these men to poison babies with chemically induced chest…” Jul 30, 12:55
Aidan on The Nobodies: “Shut up James” Jul 30, 12:39
James on The Nobodies: “Agent Walloper.” Jul 30, 12:17
Knuckle_Heid on The Nobodies: “Excellent post Chas and (probably like yourself) I was thrilled to see Peter Magyar topple Orban in the recent elections,…” Jul 30, 12:07
Marie on The Nobodies: “The world and his dog knows that ISIS and its related militias are C-I-A backed. Most notorious BFF of US…” Jul 30, 11:31
Aidan on The Nobodies: “As usual Northcode, your response is vague and makes references to concepts at a very high level, without any contextualised…” Jul 30, 11:29
agentx on The Nobodies: “House rule No.1: Thou shall not question the Baird.” Jul 30, 11:07
sarah on The Nobodies: ““Drive the diehard independence supporters out of the SNP” by focussing on gender policy. That was discussed by senior SNP…” Jul 30, 10:52
Northcode on The Nobodies: “Your argument is built on a misunderstanding of the terrain. You compare Scotland only to places that suffer more, as…” Jul 30, 10:42
Aidan on The Nobodies: “Thank you both – and an excellent point on Memmi regarding the French occupied territories. In fairness, the mockery doesn’t…” Jul 30, 09:59
100%Yes on The Nobodies: “Any news on Sturgeon making a challenge, yet?” Jul 30, 09:17
Captain Caveman on The Nobodies: “Precisely and definitively put, Aidan – which goes a very long way to explain the incredulous mockery that Alf is…” Jul 30, 09:01
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “Absolutely top post, Aidan. The entire “Scotland as colony” and “let’s force abody tae spik Scots” tropes serve only as…” Jul 30, 08:33
Aidan on The Nobodies: “Alf’s work is fundamentally unserious for a number of reasons which I’ve pointed out length, but to summarise: – Alf’s…” Jul 30, 08:03
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: ““Want me to describe how” Of course. But you won’t. For all sorts of reasons. But mainly because you can’t.” Jul 29, 22:58
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “Ah, Confused, some casual racism of the real kind, not the “doctrinal” sort dreamed up by Alf. And some of…” Jul 29, 22:51
Confused on The Nobodies: “what does that even mean? I pointed out the “blowback” / unintended consequences of – the west – “arming up…” Jul 29, 22:50
Marie on The Nobodies: “Well Burnham and most of his cabinet (and most Westminster MPs) are members of L-F-O-I and many accept donations. Westminster…” Jul 29, 22:34
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “Another from Confused in which we glean some indication of what his main concern is. But enough of that. His…” Jul 29, 22:27
Confused on The Nobodies: “your posts are like a one man “dirty protest”, and never troubled by any coherent point. Still, quantity, not quality.…” Jul 29, 22:17
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “Which side did em fight for? Can’t be too careful!” Jul 29, 22:15
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: ““on the wrong side of history and morality” Oh, yeah, sure. I’m not cheering on the people who want to…” Jul 29, 22:12
Confused on The Nobodies: “Sudan? I pointed out a while ago that the worst nutters we have imported to roam our streets tend to…” Jul 29, 22:12
Young Lochinvar on The Nobodies: “Happy anniversary tomorrow of the Battle of Boroughmuir (Edinburgh) 1335. Fought during the second wars of independence, another one the…” Jul 29, 21:47
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: ““sitting on it’s fat arse” Ah, Wally W, you’re another who should make the effort to post in Scots. That…” Jul 29, 21:38
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Nobodies: “« In another place [Carl] Schmitt calls sovereignty “true state omnipotence.” He holds that sovereignty lies with the person who…” Jul 29, 21:07
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “You give way too much attention, Northy, to the voices in yer heid.” Jul 29, 19:28
