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And Nothing Happened Forever 71

Posted on May 09, 2026 by

Well, we told you so. We told you in March (and indeed long before) that the 2026 Holyrood election was a giant waste of time and money that would deliver exactly the same useless Parliament we already had, and so it proved.

The SNP ended up giving half-a-dozen seats to the Greens, Labour donated a handful to the Lib Dems, the Tories split into two parties with 29 seats instead of a single party with 31 and that was about it. The SNP, Greens and Lib Dems stayed first, fourth and last. A pro-indy tally of 72 became a pro-indy tally of 73 and almost every SNP list vote elected Unionists instead, just as we told you for almost a year it would do.

We also told you that the only place there was even a chance of an SNP list seat was in the  Highland region, where they did indeed sneak one at the very death, only because they’d somehow pulled off the incredible feat of losing Kate Forbes’ old seat of Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch despite starting with a 15,000 majority in a seat where only 39,000 people voted.

So there we are.

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Pick Your Poison 193

Posted on May 07, 2026 by

At the end of last year we noted the unusual and persistent levels of divergence in Scottish political polling. As polls have become much more frequent during the election campaign, nothing about that has changed. The final polls, published yesterday, are so far apart from each other that they tell us basically zip.

Analysing this mess is meaningless, so we’ll just give you some highlights.

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The value bet 68

Posted on May 06, 2026 by

To pass the time on (praise be to Baby Jeebus) the last day of the Holyrood election campaign, we thought we’d do a catch-up summary of all the seat projections we could find from last month and this month. Here it is.

Now, as it happens we think the potential seat ranges are significantly wider. There are so many factors of uncertainty that while there’s no credible doubt who’s going to be the biggest party, we reckon SNP seats could potentially be anywhere from about 47 to 68 (most likely the upper part of that range), with corresponding ramifications below.

But there’s one potentially interesting thing in that bottom half.

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Anas Sarwar is a winner 32

Posted on May 06, 2026 by

Specifically, of the Single Most Toe-Curlingly, Face-Palmingly Cretinous Thing Said In The 2026 Holyrood Election Campaign, And Possibly Any Election Ever, Prize.

We mean, wow. We could easily write a 1000-word article purely on the top 10 things that are fatuously, obviously idiotic about those three short sentences, and so could you. So imagine how embarrassed the poor Daily Record must be today.

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Binfire Of The Vanities 181

Posted on May 04, 2026 by

For a nation that prides itself on hating the Tories, this is very odd.

And if you don’t see how, let us illustrate.

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Seven Days Too Long 315

Posted on April 30, 2026 by

It’s nearly over, readers. Just one more week of this to endure.

The most miserable Holyrood election campaign of all time will end next Thursday with an election which will deliver Scotland’s most miserable devolved government of all time. Only the exact form, colour and shape of the misery remains to be determined.

So as the SNP promise through forked tongues to cut the cost of living with a pledge they know full well they have no chance of being able to actually implement, while using the powers they DO have to INCREASE the cost of everything that makes life WORTH living, let’s look at exactly what flavour of dog vomit we can expect to be choking down along with our state-approved organic broccoli and fat-free gruel for the next half-decade.

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Push The Button 196

Posted on April 25, 2026 by

We’ve been thinking about this all morning, readers.

To the point where we’d vote for any party pledging to implement it at once.

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The Pit Of Vipers 248

Posted on April 19, 2026 by

It’s hard to know where to start with the Sunday Mail’s lead story today.

Especially if one doesn’t want sent to prison.

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The Narcissism Of No Differences 96

Posted on April 17, 2026 by

So that’s the full set of manifestos in.

You can download them all here in a oner, if you’re REALLY bored. But we don’t advise it, because we can just tell you what they say in a couple of minutes.

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Happy Anniversary 119

Posted on April 16, 2026 by

It was exactly one year ago today that the Supreme Court delivered its judgment in the case of For Women Scotland Vs The Scottish Ministers, a judgment which has still not been implemented by the Scottish or UK governments, so it was quite bold of the SNP to choose it as the launch date for their manifesto.

The judgment (which the SNP are in fact still fighting in court) is not referenced in the document and the phrases “women’s rights” and “single-sex” do not appear anywhere in it, although it does say “We are committed to upholding and protecting the human rights of trans people as far as possible within our powers and we will do all we can to ensure that trans people’s identities are recognised and respected”.

So, y’know, more of the same to come for the next five years.

Do You Believe In The Westwood? 317

Posted on April 10, 2026 by

As all alert readers will know, this site likes to keep a watchful eye on the shady and disturbing activities of paedophilia-plagued charity LGBT Youth Scotland. So we were naturally intrigued to hear that they’d hired a new convenor last month.

And if you’re sitting there thinking, “Blimey, AI Christopher Walken looks very very ill”, well, stay tuned, because this story gets more and more interesting.

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Not So Octopus 126

Posted on April 09, 2026 by

Alert readers will have noticed something of a minor furore in recent days around a boneheaded Scottish Greens candidate (as if there were any other kind) calling for the complete abolition of prisons.

So far Kate Nevens – who on the latest polling has a very reasonable chance of being elected on the list – has resisted calls to step down, which is probably for the best as, incredibly, her replacement would be even worse.

With the implosion of Your Party concentrating the nutter vote firmly in Green hands, the next term of the Scottish Parliament is set to feature the worst array of MSPs in Holyrood’s history, with almost everyone in the SNP with any sort of ability or experience resigning to be replaced by hyper-obedient young party drones, while the opposition are mostly putting forward the same old faces who’ve been such utter failures for the last 20 years.

It’s a grim prospect, but we do have a solution to propose.

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    • Heather McLean on And Nothing Happened Forever: “The franchise for the Scottish Parliament needs to be revisited and reformed so that only permanent residents in Scotland can…May 9, 12:39
    • Geri on And Nothing Happened Forever: “The moment I read about the work visa – klaxons sounded. USaid activists are funded from all over the world…May 9, 12:23
    • Minceheid on And Nothing Happened Forever: “Bilbo says: 9 May, 2026 at 10:32 am In 2020, the Scottish Parliament passed the Scottish Elections (Franchise and Representation)…May 9, 12:19
    • Lorncal on And Nothing Happened Forever: “Izzy: there is not one day passes that does not witness someone enter the BTL commentary to tell everyone how…May 9, 12:15
    • Andrew Kidd on And Nothing Happened Forever: “I think the voters rather than the press will make an association with the performance of pro-indy parties and the…May 9, 12:14
    • Northcode on And Nothing Happened Forever: “Aye, Geri… setting my facetious nature aside for a moment, garnering so many votes in just a couple of months…May 9, 12:11
    • TURABDIN on And Nothing Happened Forever: “«You are offered a piece of bread and butter that feels like a damp handkerchief – and sometimes, when cucumber…May 9, 12:09
    • Stevo on And Nothing Happened Forever: “You have seen the news this morning. The crypt has been opened and he’s back as and economic advisor!May 9, 12:06
    • Lorncal on And Nothing Happened Forever: “Bilbo: indeed. Nowhere else would this be allowed. I believe that Lorna Slater was born in Scotland and moved to…May 9, 11:59
    • Cuphook on And Nothing Happened Forever: “It’s not too early, and it’s not really an electoral issue: it’s about polarity. The Greens are limited to university…May 9, 11:58
    • panda paws on And Nothing Happened Forever: ““even the BBC highlighted that if a party wins big on the constituency the party isn’t going to win any…May 9, 11:54
    • Minceheid on And Nothing Happened Forever: “Bilbo says: 9 May, 2026 at 10:59 am * It is possible that the Green MSP has been illegally elected…May 9, 11:51
    • Andrea on And Nothing Happened Forever: “I never trust AI, as Judge Kemp taught me.May 9, 11:47
    • Andrea on And Nothing Happened Forever: “Dear me… What about Lorna, is she a dual national? I couldn’t find any info.May 9, 11:46
    • Rev. Stuart Campbell on And Nothing Happened Forever: “That’s what they said about Theresa May, and Boris Johnson, and etc etc etc.May 9, 11:44
    • Bilbo on And Nothing Happened Forever: “@ Sven I’ve got a feeling that the fella isn’t Transgender or Queer but a grifter. It’s a good way…May 9, 11:38
    • Bilbo on And Nothing Happened Forever: “You would be treated with a bit more respect if you actually took the time to spell check rather than…May 9, 11:34
    • TURABDIN on And Nothing Happened Forever: “Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;…May 9, 11:30
    • KOF on And Nothing Happened Forever: “Satan’s nonce parties win again. Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth…May 9, 11:29
    • Izzie on And Nothing Happened Forever: “Im sorry this platform has degenerated into baseless name callimg and hurling of insults. We used to have discussion. I…May 9, 11:28
    • Sven on And Nothing Happened Forever: “Nice one Bilbo, thanks for that info.May 9, 11:13
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on And Nothing Happened Forever: “Thanks Alf. Excellent pitch.May 9, 11:13
    • Bilbo on And Nothing Happened Forever: “Meanwhile, in England the Muslim / left and radical right are squaring up to each other. Listen to the victory…May 9, 11:12
    • Geri on And Nothing Happened Forever: “Wake up! The SNP do not want Independence. They consistently vote AGAINST it. Ash Regan offered it on a plate…May 9, 11:06
    • Northcode on And Nothing Happened Forever: “In Gumpian Logic justice is as justice does. Or, put another way, “Justice exists only where actions make it real.”…May 9, 11:02
    • Bilbo on And Nothing Happened Forever: “With the disappointing result of no AtLS candidates not being elected, you need to look at the very few positives.…May 9, 10:59
    • BroughtyBoy on And Nothing Happened Forever: “The big winner is Stephen Flynn. Ready to take leadership in early 2028. Swinney will take the pain of the…May 9, 10:48
    • Bono bunny on And Nothing Happened Forever: “Is it possible to ascertain how many Reform MSP’s got in due to SNP 1 + 2?May 9, 10:43
    • Bilbo on And Nothing Happened Forever: “Just ran the Scottish Elections (Franchise and Representation) Act 2020 through AI and it has come out of the following…May 9, 10:39
    • Geri on And Nothing Happened Forever: “Aye, not a bad result for an alliance only established eight weeks ago & with very limited coverage & funding.…May 9, 10:35
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