She’s currently contesting Edinburgh West, which the party has some credible hopes of winning, having held the seat for almost 20 years prior to 2015. And it seems that her former employer has decided to try to give her a helping hand.
And, y’know, they’re really not allowed to do that.
Something really quite strange happened yesterday. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was caught red-handed in the act of telling a bare-faced, unarguable lie in the middle of a general election campaign, and nobody cared.
Reacting to the Crown Prosecution Service decision not to prosecute dozens of Tory MPs who’d broken the law in getting elected in 2015, the PM offered up a quote, which was reported in most of the newspapers:
Nice wee bit of snark on “all the major parties, and the Scottish nationalists” there. But there’s a slight problem with the statement, which is that it’s an absolute lie.
He’d very kindly sent us a copy of the same article he’d sent the Beeb. We attach it below. We’ve highlighted in bold the only bits that didn’t make it into the BBC piece.
Some manner of strange, alien vortex swallowed the very concept of arithmetic as we know it earlier this evening. The answer to the question “what is 431 minus 425?” was variously reported by the media as -7, -14, +31 and -30, with nowhere that we could find offering the seemingly obvious answer of “6”. But that was only the beginning.
Because language wasn’t immune from the sudden redefinitions either. The Tories, who finished 155 seats behind the SNP, nevertheless proclaimed themselves not only the winners of the election, but the sole winners.
With all 32 councils now having declared, the Scottish local elections are over and the SNP have won again, taking 431 seats. Last time round in 2012 they took 425.
You might think you know the difference between 431 and 425. But you don’t.
This post is mostly here to give people somewhere to chat about the council election results as they come in. But this song, with a hat-tip to alert reader SparkleMonkey, is dedicated specifically and personally to the now-former Scottish Labour councillor (and one-time leader of Aberdeen City Council) Willie Young, who was ejected by the electorate earlier today.
Today is going to be a day of realignment in Scottish politics, in which the Tories will formally become the main opposition to the SNP. (Having already pipped Labour to second at Holyrood and having as many Westminster MPs as them.) Expect modest SNP gains and big Tory ones, both mainly from Labour, who have already lost overall control of Glasgow, their last stronghold.
Everything’s different after today, folks. Scotland’s choice will never have been more stark: extreme Tories in the UK for years and years to come, or self-governance. Let the chips fall where the people choose.
Saffron Robe on Shield Of The Phantom: “A thought-provoking video with two excellent speakers — especially relevant in the current geo-political climate: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iYw2f9i6s0” Feb 1, 19:50
Young Lochinvar on Shield Of The Phantom: “I see Sandy Brindley has stepped down. Muted comment on controversies she has been involved in, BBC certainly isn’t making…” Feb 1, 19:00
Lorna Campbell on Shield Of The Phantom: “H McH: a judge should deliver a judgement solely on the evidence and the jury’s deliberations – which saved Alec…” Feb 1, 18:58
Saffron Robe on Shield Of The Phantom: ““Fanon and Memmi – foreign boys who knew SFA about Scotland, our people, our history, our culture, or our unique…” Feb 1, 18:58
Young Lochinvar on Shield Of The Phantom: “Depends on how much you support and want to see protected the transgressors eh.. Small potatoes though compared to what’s…” Feb 1, 18:45
Hatey McHateface on Shield Of The Phantom: “Just you, x. “Rich people have sex” is the biggest story since the Cuban Missile Crisis. Try to see your…” Feb 1, 18:36
Lorna Campbell on Shield Of The Phantom: “If those with money and power can be accused without evidence, the rest of us are easy meat.” Feb 1, 18:33
Hatey McHateface on Shield Of The Phantom: “@Cynicus Seems fair enough to me. After all, the mosque is built on the ruins of the earlier temple. What…” Feb 1, 18:31
Hatey McHateface on Shield Of The Phantom: “Any advance on tertiary? Anybody prepared to believe that syphilis hasn’t been curable since before President Trump was born? Anybody…” Feb 1, 18:15
agentx on Shield Of The Phantom: “Is it just me or are the general public just not as interested in the Ep files as the News…” Feb 1, 18:15
Hatey McHateface on Shield Of The Phantom: “G’wan, Marie, mak a start. What with being named after the Mother of God, you must have special insight.” Feb 1, 18:08
Cynicus on Shield Of The Phantom: ““Extreme orthodoxy of EVERY main ABRAHAMic (my emphasis) faith is frightening” -Marie ======== Trump’s son in law Kushner donates to…” Feb 1, 17:30
Aidan on Shield Of The Phantom: “@Xaracen – I posted one of the quotes from the judgement further up in the thread. You can read the…” Feb 1, 16:01
Lorna Campbell on Shield Of The Phantom: “You are right, H McH, as far as domestic legislation is concerned, but not international legislation, which a treaty is.…” Feb 1, 14:19
Marie on Shield Of The Phantom: “Monarchy is a religious relic – time to get rid. Religions are anti-scientific nonsense – ALL of them. The archaic…” Feb 1, 13:47
James Cheyne on Shield Of The Phantom: “Marie, Maybe all nonsense to you or I, but the monarch of England believes in that nonsense, follows his beliefs,…” Feb 1, 13:14
Marie on Shield Of The Phantom: “Another appalling scandal being deliberately hidden from us. Thanks for the info.” Feb 1, 13:05
James Cheyne on Shield Of The Phantom: “DaveL Thats because It is medical malpractice to follow an ( ideology ) medically when practicing medicine, “To do no…” Feb 1, 12:59
James Cheyne on Shield Of The Phantom: “Confused, It is a sexual deviance among the elites to pray on young people and children and women, The only…” Feb 1, 12:52
Saffron Robe on Shield Of The Phantom: “Very good comment in reply to the points Lorna raises, Alf, as are all your comments. I like how you…” Feb 1, 12:50
Marie on Shield Of The Phantom: “Halal, Kosher, not eating meat on Fridays – it’s all archaic nonsense.” Feb 1, 12:36
DaveL on Shield Of The Phantom: “A quote from msn news: “A woman who received a double mastectomy at the age of 16 under the guise…” Feb 1, 12:32
James Cheyne on Shield Of The Phantom: “Good day to you too north Code, The worlds still unrelentingly crazy even for a Sunday, my own religion is…” Feb 1, 12:30
Confused on Shield Of The Phantom: “interesting rumour – trump has tertiary syphilis, after 20 years it starts to rot the brain and it removes your…” Feb 1, 12:17
James Cheyne on Shield Of The Phantom: “Marie, Indeed a king that change his faith to differ than that wrote down in the treaty of union, And…” Feb 1, 12:13
James Cheyne on Shield Of The Phantom: “Scotland holds itself captive, a prisoner without bars,” Feb 1, 12:07
James Cheyne on Shield Of The Phantom: “To peruse around the details of Scotland/ England supposed union is not only extremely amusing and interesting, but also alters…” Feb 1, 12:01
James Cheyne on Shield Of The Phantom: “Lorna Campbell, For Scotland, and perhaps England, the way out of the all the confusing modern day politics is the…” Feb 1, 11:08
Marie on Shield Of The Phantom: “I find religious people absolutely terrifying now. Extreme orthodoxy of EVERY main Abrahamic faith is frightening. People in power who…” Feb 1, 10:53
Xaracen on Shield Of The Phantom: “Aidan, you said; “in his opinion on the subject Lord Hope of Craighead said explicitly that the treaty did extinguish…” Feb 1, 10:47
