It’d be quite hard to find an image that more completely summed up the wretched state of the SNP in 2025 than this one. Look at that tiny handful of miserable faces, sitting dejectedly around a near-empty function room. It’s so bleak Mike Leigh could make an entire movie out of it.
And we know what you’re thinking – that we sat through some internet livestream to find the most pitiful-looking freezeframe imaginable to show them in a bad light. But nope. Kevin Stewart MSP posted this cheery snapshot of his own free will on Twitter on Sunday morning, presumably in the hope of boosting party morale in some way.
Nor was it even the fact that his death was captured in all its shocking, bloody horror on video, and inescapable on social media, nor that it came just the day after footage broke of another appalling killing in the States, the unprovoked stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska by a violent lunatic who’d been released on no-fee bail despite 14 previous arrests and should never have been at large.
In the end, the most chilling thing about this particular crime is this: Charlie Kirk was killed for doing exactly what civilised people are supposed to do.
The Scottish Greens, who until last year were a party of government, claim to have 7,600 members. This month they conducted an election to choose two people as their “co-conveners”, from a list of four candidates, and almost 90% of the party’s members decided that they didn’t want any of them.
(All of which she chose to accompany with a series of photographs that made her look like a sinister Cockney chav crime matriarch in a Guy Ritchie movie. She once dubbed herself Scotland’s “chief mammy”, but now comes across more like Ma Baker.)
But we’ve only just finished reading the whole book, so here’s the actual review.
Scotland’s two main political parties have published their 2024 accounts. The SNP’s can be found here, and Scottish Labour’s here. Neither tells a massively inspiring tale.
(Click pics to enlarge.)
The SNP lost £445,000 despite being boosted by donations totalling almost £940,000 from just FOUR individuals. Scottish Labour made a profit of £350,000 but only because it was bailed out to the tune of £777,000 by the UK party, otherwise it would have made a very similar loss to the SNP’s (specifically £428,000).
Neither of those things are surprising, since 2024 was a UK general election year and those are when parties spend big. But the devil, as always, is in the details.
Before becoming a politician Nicola Sturgeon had a brief and somewhat unsuccessful career in the world of law. Which means she has no excuse whatsoever for this:
Because in law, yes it does. That’s EXACTLY what it means.
The media coverage of the gender-ideology revelations in Nicola Sturgeon’s memoir has been based on a couple of short sentences from it, but since the main section of the book devotes 14 pages to the subject it’s worth checking out in depth, at least until something more interesting happens.
And the thing it revealed is what Sturgeon’s book is really about. Because as more and more extracts have found their way into the public domain this week, the overarching theme of “Frankly” has become impossible to miss.
As more and more of Nicola Sturgeon’s memoirs ooze out into the public sphere like pus leaking from a burns-victim’s blisters, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of rank, festering untruth spreading out in all directions.
For good measure she then accused the MSPs investigating her conspiracy against him of being mere puppets controlled and directed by Salmond, an obvious nonsense immediately refuted by them directly, in case the idea of Murdo Fraser taking orders from Alex Salmond wasn’t already too idiotic to contemplate.
sarah on Off-topic: “My husband is the only other person who talks of those wooden stairs to Bedfordshire! We too will be wending…” Dec 31, 22:34
sarah on The Fear Of The Briar: “You’d put off restoring Scotland as a country just because of the current batch of MSPs? You’ll never get a…” Dec 31, 22:29
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Curious Fringes: “‘ST PATRICK’S BREASTPLATE’ (The prayer as recorded is dated on linguistic grounds to the early 8th century.) « Crist lim.…” Dec 31, 22:23
Tinto Chiel on Off-topic: “@Sarah: something else for your Hogmanay hootenanny and to prove Julie Fowlis is trilingual: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu_3-VDi7wY Going up wood hill to…” Dec 31, 22:15
sarah on Off-topic: “Hi everyone, sorry to arrive so late at the party. My excuse is that I am still writing my annual…” Dec 31, 22:05
alan scott on The Fear Of The Briar: “That National poll looks like a lot of nonsense to me. When the evil Toaries are in power some polls…” Dec 31, 22:03
Northcode on The Curious Fringes: “Thanks, Sam. A terrific description by Liz Niven on the power and range of the Scots leid. Of course I…” Dec 31, 21:48
Tinto Chiel on Off-topic: “My comment is now in moderation…..” Dec 31, 20:53
Tinto Chiel on Off-topic: “Yes, I will raise a glass for Alex as well, Marie. Haven’t opened my Christmas bottle of Aberlour yet but…” Dec 31, 20:52
Marie Clark on Off-topic: “Thanks for that Tinto. I just love Auld Lang Syne to its original tune and we don’t get to hear…” Dec 31, 20:32
Watching from afar on The Fear Of The Briar: “Does anyone have confidence in the calibre of Scottish politicians to run a menage let alone a nation in the…” Dec 31, 20:16
Northcode on The Fear Of The Briar: ““…I dread to think what would become of Scotland if we ever got independence under the incompetence of the SNP…”…” Dec 31, 20:15
Tinto Chiel on Off-topic: “For all old-timers and “Lurkers”, IMHO the best version of an old classic (forgive the SaTC references): www.youtube.com/watch?v=foZG74PSl2A May The…” Dec 31, 20:12
Tinto Chiel on Off-topic: “Dan said: “The site has been allowed to be overrun with trolls, constantly interrupting and goading folk, and it is…” Dec 31, 19:57
aLurker on Off-topic: “I only popped in to leave a New Years greeting and find myself surprised and pleased that there is still…” Dec 31, 19:33
Alf Baird on The Fear Of The Briar: “Scotland is to England and Farage what Alaska is to the USA and Trump. Similarly, both territories were ‘procured’ by…” Dec 31, 19:27
Alf Baird on The Curious Fringes: ““a solid 3.6% of Scots believe we will be Independent by 2031” More importantly, polls indicate at least 50%+ of…” Dec 31, 19:14
100%Yes on The Fear Of The Briar: “Yes Heather, there is a lot of people who claim to be Indy supporters promoting misinformation about the state of…” Dec 31, 19:05
aLurker on The Fear Of The Briar: “Hi Sarah Aye it would be great if ALL of the REAL independence politicos would get together and try and…” Dec 31, 18:33
ScottieDog on The Fear Of The Briar: “It’s not just the finery they’re preserving. When the edifice collapses, all the skeletons come out the cupboards. The British…” Dec 31, 18:27
Andy Ellis on The Fear Of The Briar: “I think you’re being a tad complacent: recent opinion polls seem to suggest that a sea change is coming. From…” Dec 31, 18:19
Ian Stewart on The Fear Of The Briar: “Well a pollster reported in The Times today seems to think Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish independence is a certainty…” Dec 31, 18:13
Marie Clark on Off-topic: “Hi Dan, Thanks for the news about BDTT it was kind of you to pass on our good wishes to…” Dec 31, 18:11
Scot Finlayson on The Fear Of The Briar: “Had a feeling since 2014 and after the Sturgeon`s Brexit capitulation,(i was outside Bute House expecting a call to war…” Dec 31, 18:09
agentx on The Fear Of The Briar: “Alf Baird says: “Reform are the only major party opposed to……..” ——————————————————— By no stretch of the imagination – (apart…” Dec 31, 18:00
Dan on Off-topic: “Hi Folks, Had a catch-up call earlier with BrianDtt and let him know you were asking after him and sending…” Dec 31, 16:35
James on The Curious Fringes: “Take the hint, Unionist fuckwit.” Dec 31, 16:29
James on The Curious Fringes: “Ok then; “Unionist Prick Troll”. Happy Hogmanay to all when it comes. With the obvious exceptions.” Dec 31, 16:26
Andy Ellis on The Curious Fringes: “@Hatey 3.08 pm Aye, Alf, and as the poll in the next article shows, a solid 3.6% of Scots believe…” Dec 31, 15:37
Hatey McHateface on The Fear Of The Briar: “C’moan Confused. Still 9 hours to go. Save some for the bells.” Dec 31, 15:19