12 eggs, 1 basket 131
Posted on
December 17, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Author Archive
Start as you mean to go on 342
Posted on
December 16, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
When Jim Murphy spoke on last night’s Scotland Tonight, he’d been the “leader” of Scottish Labour for approximately 60 hours. Here’s how he’s going to play it.
Let’s quickly examine those statements, shall we?
You only sing when you’re winning 212
Posted on
December 15, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
An intriguing extract from the weekend’s YouGov poll for The Sun:
It’s not the biggest vote of confidence, is it?
The man who should know 117
Posted on
December 15, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
The Times, 14 December 2014:
“Scottish Labour has an ‘intellectual deficit’ because it is filled with ‘time-servers’ given seats to keep them quiet, according to Paul Sinclair, who served alongside Johann Lamont, the Scottish Labour leader, and at the heart of the ‘no’ campaign against Scottish independence.
As someone who wrote Johann Lamont’s speeches for the last three years, on this occasion we’re going to defer to Mr Sinclair’s superior expertise.
Inching towards the truth 321
Posted on
December 14, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
We remain perplexed, readers, by the apparent total lack of interest in the mainstream Scottish media about how many members the Scottish Labour “party” has.
Membership levels are a topical subject in the light of the extraordinary explosion in SNP and Green membership after the referendum, and with a general election just months away in which the make-up of Westminster’s 59-strong Scottish contingent could be crucial to the shape of UK politics for the next five years.
The number of members the main Unionist party north of the border can call on to knock doors and deliver leaflets will therefore be a very significant factor in the outcome. Yet on this morning’s Sunday Politics, when presented with an ideal and pertinent opportunity to question new Scottish “leader” Jim Murphy on the subject, Gordon Brewer didn’t even try to ask. What’s with that?
But seriously 328
Posted on
December 13, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
We suppose we should offer a few thoughts on this, then.
And we don’t mean Kezia Dugdale’s freakishly gigantic hands.
Final destination 64
Posted on
December 13, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
In an alternative universe, Keir Hardie reacts to news of the election of Jim Murphy.
Open to question 154
Posted on
December 12, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Whatever happened to that show, eh?
As alert readers may have noticed from social media, there’s very little going on in the world of Scottish politics right now so we’re having a wee Q&A session on Ask.FM to while away the time until we see who’s won Labour’s poisoned chalice tomorrow. If there’s anything you ever wanted to know about Wings, or me personally, why not pop over there and join us?
(Rude or boring questions will of course be deleted unanswered. “Rude” in this case includes asking questions that have already been answered. There’s currently a big backlog, but I’m working through it, and the link will stay live for the forseeable future.)
English votes for Scottish laws 235
Posted on
December 11, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
One of our ever-alert agents uncovered this for us today. Published quietly last week by the House Of Commons Library and completely unremarked-upon by the Scottish media, it’s a document whose introductory text makes the relevant point concisely and eloquently without any need for elaboration or explanation on our part.
The emphasis is ours. England gets what England’s MPs vote for more than 99% of the time. Scotland gets what Scotland’s MPs vote for less than a quarter of the time. We’ll leave it at that.
The limits of ambition 114
Posted on
December 11, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Labour have already been widely derided for their feeble plan to increase the minimum wage to £8 by 2020 – a level likely to barely keep pace with inflation. But it turns out they’ve got a goal even more pathetic for people trying to survive on meagre incomes.
The inconvenient truths 449
Posted on
December 10, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Today’s media is dominated by reports on the release by the US government of a deeply horrifying dossier admitting and detailing the massive scale of torture carried out by the CIA on often-innocent detainees during the USA’s “war on terror”.
You can’t chuck a brick at the internet without hitting a hundred links on the subject, so we’re not going to pick any out in particular, but many reflect on the UK’s willing complicity in many of the abuses, with the Labour government of Tony Blair having allowed Prestwick Airport to be used as a stop-off for torture flights.
There’s also a rather telling article in the Scotsman.
A number of complaints 82
Posted on
December 10, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Just keeping you in the loop, readers.
