So this site is thrilled by the announcement from the SNP that they will, after much speculation in the media, vote against (and therefore likely condemn to defeat) the UK government’s plans to relax England’s fox-hunting ban to a point at which it would be de facto repealed entirely.
And not just because foxes are a lot cuter than Tories.
The Scottish Daily Mail today leads with a screaming banner headline announcing in its trademark style that, according to a poll it commissioned with Survation, Scots are massively opposed to any income tax rises when Holyrood eventually gets power over the rates under the new Scotland Bill.
And the reason that’s weird is that we commissioned a poll on the very same thing just days before, and got a dramatically different answer.
Yesterday we listed some of the nastier items from George Osborne’s horrifying 2015 budget that Labour had said they wouldn’t be opposing, including the public-sector payrise freeze, the reduction in the benefit cap and the slashing of child tax credit for families with more than two children.
Of course, it’s entirely natural that the Labour Party and The Economist should be on opposite sides. But somehow everything seems to be the wrong way round.
85.1% of the Scottish electorate voted against the Conservatives in May. Scotland has a Tory government anyway, because of how England voted, because Scotland is part of the UK and so doesn’t get to choose its own governments. The people who ensured that could happen don’t get to whine about what that Tory government does.
So do everyone a favour and shut your mouths today, No voters. We warned you until we were blue in the face. This is what you wanted. This is what you got. Suck it up.
The headline screams unequivocally that according to a new Survation poll, fear of the SNP influencing a Labour government was the reason that English voters swung back to the Conservatives, defying polls that said the Tories would be the largest party but be short of an overall majority.
(Weirdly it says that their goal in doing so was to “keep Salmond out of power”, even though (a) Alex Salmond is a humble backbench MP who doesn’t even lead the SNP group at Westminster, let alone the party, and (b) he won his seat anyway.)
The article then produces a flurry of graphs and figures showing that various numbers of supporters of the four UK parties switched their votes to various other parties after being polled (as always happens).
But then there’s something quite important missing.
I started lurking on PoliticalBetting.com in the run up to the referendum and enjoyed reading the “robust” debates. A couple of months after the vote I got more actively involved and was immediately puzzled as to why many PBers, commentators, party strategists and – particularly – supposedly infallible bookmakers were all struggling to accept the accuracy of the Scottish opinion polls.
At this point the polls were already indicating that Scottish Labour was going to lose many of its 41 seats and could end up with fewer than five. I started commenting that from where I sitting in Stirling the opinion polls were accurate, the SNP surge was real and indeed that it had not yet peaked.
Captain Caveman on A matter of class: “@Dan Bringing someone’s kid into it is lower than a snake’s belly. I mean, I know you’re a miserable, bitter…” Dec 27, 14:49
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “@Alf 6.45 pm Like gender ideology, so-called ‘civic nationalism’ ideology is also “Delusional nonsense” of the ‘snake oil’ variety, and…” Dec 27, 14:47
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “If you were educated you would know there is no Scottish government or parliament in Scotland, because there would be…” Dec 27, 14:24
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “@ Dan 11.13am In the unlikely event you’ve ever been able to convince a woman to let you near enough…” Dec 27, 14:22
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “TURABDIN, Indeed a matter optics, He speaks of England as it it were all of Britain, but that Britain has…” Dec 27, 14:07
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “The thing is Turabdin, it’s not that he’s wrong exactly it’s just that the progress his own country country has…” Dec 27, 13:55
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “The parliament of Great Britain lasted between the years from / for Scotland and England 1707 – 1800. That is…” Dec 27, 13:43
TURABDIN on A matter of class: “A MATTER OF OPTICS, a Spectator message from the former Polish ambassador «to London», https://archive.ph/bG0Qa Should have gone to spec…” Dec 27, 13:26
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “The irony that both the sets of politician in Scotland and England disclaim king James as nothing but a pretend…” Dec 27, 13:25
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “Colin Alexander, If you go into the Irish parliaments old records you will find the Anglo- Irish treaty 1800. That…” Dec 27, 13:00
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “Colin Alexander. The UK constitution is that of the parliament of England and Ireland, not Scotland. 1: because there is…” Dec 27, 12:26
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “Nice neat Dicey theory, Except the Monarch of England was the Monarch of England passed by the laws of parliament…” Dec 27, 12:04
factchecker on A matter of class: “James says the UK Parliament says ”We did not ask the Scots to join, because in all probability they would…” Dec 27, 11:56
Alf Baird on A matter of class: “….and consequently, (as we see in Peggie v NHS Fife and in so many other instances) all institutions in a…” Dec 27, 11:56
Northcode on A matter of class: “” It is certainly not something that the international community would either welcome in a newly independent Scotland or accept…” Dec 27, 11:45
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “Scotland is a Colony by deceit, not Due to it actually being a Colony, but because the propaganda knew Scottish…” Dec 27, 11:33
Colin Alexander on A matter of class: “ChatGpt: “Dicey’s claim of unlimited parliamentary sovereignty rests on long-standing judicial obedience to Acts of Parliament, not on any explicit…” Dec 27, 11:28
Northcode on A matter of class: ““Civic nationalism DOES represent the silent majority” If it’s silent how can it possibly be known if civic nationalism forms…” Dec 27, 11:23
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “Due to the many records wrote down to make a Union puzzle theory fit the narrative that they wished to…” Dec 27, 11:17
Dan on A matter of class: “Franchise Fanny says: “Just like the troons and their allies in the TWAW debate you’ve actually convinced yourselves somehow that…” Dec 27, 11:13
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “The people in Scotland need to pay more attention to research and records of what has passed behind closed doors…” Dec 27, 11:06
Aidan on A matter of class: “Indeed Andy and as far as I am aware there isn’t a single example of a country anywhere in the…” Dec 27, 10:49
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “Westminster parliament in England is fully aware that their actions in Scotland over Centuries wobble on a axis and pivotal…” Dec 27, 10:45
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “And all this going on while Westminster parliament Hansard records in the Select Committee make Statements like the following in…” Dec 27, 10:36
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “So what values would you prefer Scot? You’d prefer to live under the benevolent rule of Uncle Vlad or Chairman…” Dec 27, 10:16
Dan on A matter of class: “Stuff going on in Scotland. https://www.isp.scot/december-20th-december-26th-2025/” Dec 27, 10:00
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “@Bilbo 8.02pm Civic nationalism DOES represent the silent majority though Bilbo. No amount of self referential posting by Professor Baird…” Dec 27, 09:47
Bilbo on A matter of class: “The third article was excellent and a lot I agree on, particularly Covid being used as a sort of ‘Jubilee’…” Dec 27, 08:27
Bilbo on A matter of class: “Ah, the one referred to as Franchise Fanny. You paint two extremes then push your narrative under a voice of…” Dec 27, 08:02
willie on A matter of class: “Absolutely Scott Finlayson. Germany. like in the 1930s is in absolute full swing rearming to the absolute hilt. The white…” Dec 27, 01:57
