Dr Craig Dalzell of the Common Weal is a very sharp guy we’ve run several pieces by on Wings, and he’s currently appearing all over the place with a highly accessible and concise explanation of how an independent Scotland could sensibly run its economy.
If you haven’t been able to make it out to see him, a quiet Sunday might be an ideal time to catch up with it.
So, some official and very brief Wings analysis, because we just watched an army of pundits on the TV all missing the bleeding obvious and talking as if a delay to Brexit was now a done deal.
After tonight’s series of votes in the Commons, all five of which were technically won by Theresa May, there are three possible outcomes. Let’s whizz through them all.
For some time, most polls for “Who’d make the best UK Prime Minister?” – the stat that really decides who wins general elections – have shown a solid lead for “Don’t know”, narrowly ahead of Theresa May and a long way ahead of Jeremy Corbyn.
It’s a prime symptom of a UK-wide contempt for politicians the magnitude of which we’ve never seen in our lifetime, and Scottish voters are in no way immune.
We loaded this question from our latest Panelbase poll in the party leaders’ favours, because you don’t have to think any of them is doing a GOOD job to say that one of them is doing the BEST job out of the four. Everything is relative – and we also didn’t ask the question specifically about Brexit.
But even with those get-outs, “They’re all useless” came out on top by a clear seven points over Nicola Sturgeon, and the rest weren’t even at the races.
Tonight sees what’s likely to be a highly-charged Scottish Cup quarter-final replay at Ibrox Stadium. Defeat will effectively end the losing side’s season, and games between the participants, Aberdeen and Rangers International, have tended to be fierce affairs ever since the latter club was formed in controversial circumstances in 2012, with this season’s clashes already having seen numerous red cards.
(Mainly for the home team’s temperamental striker Alfredo Morelos.)
Football authorities will be hoping for a minimum of flashpoints on the field which might lead to repeats of shocking recent scenes of abuse and violence from spectators, which have prompted the nation’s media to wring its hands in theatrical angst and demand that something be done.
The public’s view on the subject, meanwhile, has remained absolutely consistent.
Watching the Six Nations rugby tournament every year is usually quite a dispiriting experience – not just because of Scotland’s invariably underwhelming performances (broken up by the occasional false dawn), but because talking about it on social media always results in an extremely tedious flood of comments about how rugby is a sport played and watched exclusively by middle-class Tory No voters.
(That’s Scotland skipper Greig Laidlaw there, with Wings mascot Hamish.)
Speaking as someone whose interest in the tournament (in the pre-inflation days when it was the Five Nations) was first sparked when my extremely working-class Bathgate comprehensive school started taking pupils to Murrayfield in the 1980s – 50p for the bus and 50p for the match ticket, which got you a seat on wooden benches actually on the grass – this attitude has always instinctively felt like complete nonsense.
So when we did our latest Panelbase poll during this year’s competition, we figured we may as well actually find out.
We had an interesting exchange with Scottish Labour MP Paul Sweeney this week on the deathless lie that is the “fiscal transfer” – the £10bn or so that Unionists rather startlingly insist the rest of the UK generously donates to Scotland every year out of the goodness of its heart, just for the pleasure of our company.
As you can see, the debate was of a high intellectual standard.
Alert readers will recall that earlier today we conducted one of our regular context checks for statistics misleadingly-incompletely reported in the Scottish press. But while those are like shooting fish in a barrel, there’s one thing that’s an even more reliable open goal for the website editor looking for content in a slow news week.
Ladies and gentlemen, once again we give you… Scottish Labour.
There’s absolutely nothing that happens in Scotland that Scottish Labour are happy with. Day in and day out they can be found putting the bleakest possible spin on any statistic for a dwindling audience of diehard supporters and Scottish journalists.
Something bad happened? SCOTLAND IS TERRIBLE AND IT’S ALL THE SNP’S FAULT. Something good happened? IT WASN’T GOOD ENOUGH AND IT’S ALL THE SNP’S FAULT. And the solution is always the same: let Labour run things.
As readers will have come to expect, the article is entirely free of any figures by which readers could gauge whether 1000 was a high number or not. So as usual, we’ll have to do it for them.
If the Scottish Government can’t pass a budget it’ll fall, and with no majority for any alternative administration that’ll leave no option but to hold a general election.
Meanwhile, at Westminster, the UK government is running out of time to get a Brexit deal through Parliament, and facing all kinds of procedural shenanigans which may very well lead to a UK general election.
Should that happen, the UK will likely ask the EU for an extension to Article 50, which would take us past the European elections in May, which would mean that the UK would have to take part in those elections too (because you can’t have a country that’s still an EU member state having no representation in the European Parliament).
Scottish or UK general elections could lead to a new independence referendum, a new Brexit referendum, or both, sending Scots to the polling stations up to FIVE times (and the rest of the UK up to four) in a matter of months, with all the attendant campaigning, colossal expense, economic uncertainty and governmental standstill that such insanity would bring about.
Alf Baird on Clocks And Calendars: “Thon’s aboot the size o hit, Northcode – i.e. English domination.” Apr 3, 14:01
James Che on The quality of mercy: “The evidence shows that the 1 . 6 million people whom support Scottish independence are not attached to the political…” Apr 3, 13:48
Sven on The quality of mercy: “Mark Beggan @ 13.24. The World Cup is sport, Mark, so it’s arguable that it’s not winning or losing, but…” Apr 3, 13:42
James Che on Clocks And Calendars: “The false political parties registered in England acting in Scotland like actors, are not representatives of the people of Scotland…” Apr 3, 13:30
Mark Beggan on The quality of mercy: “It’s not winning the World cup that matters it’s taking part in the tournament. The might have beens, The could…” Apr 3, 13:24
Rev. Stuart Campbell on Sicknote Slippers: ““That is nonsense ON MULTIPLE LEVELS.. The flag has nothing to do with the alleged policy of the regime. And,…” Apr 3, 13:23
duncanio on The quality of mercy: “Richard Walker and co are are entirely deluded and have been totally deceived by the myth making primary independence industry…” Apr 3, 13:17
James Che on Clocks And Calendars: “Mark Beggan, Further to conversations on this matter it is still standing as fact and that unionists have never been…” Apr 3, 13:12
James Che on Clocks And Calendars: “Mark Beggan, It is sadly true, People looking for reasons for Scotland to be attached to Englands parliaments. When they…” Apr 3, 13:07
Mark Beggan on Clocks And Calendars: “You can always tell when the radical lunatics are in meltdown. They start listing the reasons for their reason to…” Apr 3, 12:45
James Che on Clocks And Calendars: “The point is and often missed by the people in Scotland is that the people in Scotland are not English,…” Apr 3, 12:40
James Che on Clocks And Calendars: “Alf Baird, The Scottish people whom crave to be English and also crave to dispose of belonging to the Country…” Apr 3, 12:28
Northcode on Clocks And Calendars: “A description of the British Isles (as seen through the eyes of the English): Britain is England. British is English.…” Apr 3, 11:47
Alf Baird on Clocks And Calendars: ““And independent Scotland with no falsehoods obscurring your vision.” Yes James, cultural assimilation is what obscures our colonial reality. Those…” Apr 3, 10:54
Geri on Clocks And Calendars: “The Greens don’t care about children cause they’re not their children. They want to control everyone else’s. I’ve never came…” Apr 3, 10:46
James Che on Clocks And Calendars: “It pays pod casts and web sites to continue, theres money and benefits for unionist to keep up the pretence,…” Apr 3, 10:00
diabloandco on Clocks And Calendars: “I just hope the North East has the sense to have a wee look at what Chapman has decided for…” Apr 3, 09:27
Captain Captain on Clocks And Calendars: “Ah, what’s the expression I’m looking for here? “It wisnae us!” Pathetic, but to be expected. I note you swerved…” Apr 3, 08:55
Bilbo on Clocks And Calendars: “Andy boy, you a pal of Jordan Linden?” Apr 3, 07:48
Bilbo on Clocks And Calendars: “You couldn’t make this up. https://archive.is/8uSIu Emma Cuthbertson, who led the Rainbow Greens alongside Guy Ingerson, has resigned her membership…” Apr 3, 07:42
Bilbo on Clocks And Calendars: “The supposed far-left or the supposed far-right isn’t the danger in today’s society, it’s the cosy centre. It’s ironic that…” Apr 3, 07:17
Young Lochinvar on Clocks And Calendars: “Dunx @ 11.55 By all means correct me if I am wrong but I believe Darien was intended as a…” Apr 3, 04:25
Campbell Clansman on Clocks And Calendars: ““the Majority are still voting for the SNP…” The latest poll (Survation, March 23rd) puts the SNP support at 32%–nowhere…” Apr 3, 03:19
Campbell Clansman on Clocks And Calendars: “If (as some people claim here) the SNP is a non-Indy Party, that means that the Alba/Alliance vote is the…” Apr 3, 03:17
Geri on Clocks And Calendars: “Typical Yoon trolling.. Yoon: We live in a safe, cosy & free wee Union. We never kill political opponents or…” Apr 3, 01:27
Geri on Clocks And Calendars: “Cause if yer a Yoon then they haven’t ballsed up. They’re doing just grand dicking about with nonsense. They get…” Apr 3, 01:01
Young Lochinvar on Clocks And Calendars: “Rob & 11.03pm Hmmm.. Wellington, part of the Anglo establishment over there proudly claimed that “being born in a stable…” Apr 3, 00:33
Young Lochinvar on Clocks And Calendars: “Aidan Hmmmm.. Abnormalities.. -Why no fatal accident enquiry? Answer please. – Why was MP Winnie Ewings information requests rebuffed? Answer…” Apr 3, 00:13
Dunx on Clocks And Calendars: “I suspect that Andie’s real name is Jim.” Apr 2, 23:58
Dunx on Clocks And Calendars: “Don’t you think it’s a bit ironic that it was Scotland’s own failed colonial venture in the Darien Gap that…” Apr 2, 23:55
