The motion completely ignored both the findings of the Cass Review and the Supreme Court judgment in For Women Scotland, but not a single MSP spoke in opposition to it. (Jenni Minto, the Minister For Public Health And Women’s Health, actually broke down in tears at the end because she wasn’t managing to get children’s futures permanently destroyed with sufficient urgency, mainly because the UK Parliament took legislation out of Holyrood’s hands to protect them.)
To be honest, we’re mainly putting these here so you don’t have to keep looking at that picture of Alan Cumming.
But they also show what you can achieve, whether in football or politics, if you actually attack rather than being content to endlessly shuttle it all sideways and backwards until you get beaten without even taking a shot.
Perhaps the key graphic from last night’s by-election in Caerphilly is this one (green means Plaid Cymru in the context of Wales):
In the end, Plaid won pretty comfortably in what had been predicted to be a very tight contest between them and Reform, with a majority of almost 4,000. But Plaid aren’t going to be the next government of the UK, so what’s the real story?
Last month, when half a football team of armed police ambushed and arrested comedy writer Graham Linehan at Heathrow Airport for a couple of tweets, we said this:
Today, even more swiftly than we thought, this happened:
We should point out right at the start that a reader donated £12 back in the summer specifically to send us to Nicola Sturgeon’s book event in Bath last night.
So on the surface level this is just flat-out hilarious.
Firstly because, as we showed you yesterday, the “significant proportion of Scotland’s population” which appears to have been won back to the SNP since John Swinney became its leader is… 1%.
We were going to write something today for the anniversary of Alex Salmond’s tragic death, but then we read Kevin McKenna’s piece in today’s Herald On Sunday and we can’t improve on it, so go and have a read of that before you do anything else.
Alex always believed in looking forward, not back, so we doubt he’d be overly fussed at the pathetic “tribute” paid to him at the SNP conference this morning. What would undoubtedly have exercised him a lot more would have been the wretched current state of the party he loved and built from almost nothing into the dominant force in Scottish politics.
And nothing typifies that wretched state better than the craven and gutless capitulation of a speech given by Tommy Sheppard yesterday, opposing the rebel amendments to John Swinney’s non-strategy on independence.
It said a lot more than he thought it did, but none of it good.
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.
sam on When the law breaks the law: “The first food bank in the UK opened in 2000. In 2026 there are about 2600 food banks. The main…” Feb 25, 17:25
Cynicus on When the law breaks the law: “Young Lochinvar 25 February, 2026 at 2:10 am CY…… ….You can take your choice but Unless you have an axe…” Feb 25, 17:24
sam on When the law breaks the law: “Child poverty in England is at 31 %. In Scotland it is 22%. Still too high but the difference is…” Feb 25, 17:14
sam on When the law breaks the law: “People in Scotland, a rich country with many resources, do not have healthy lives. The average period of good health…” Feb 25, 17:01
agentx on When the law breaks the law: ““The Scottish government has announced it will establish a Scotland-wide grooming gangs inquiry chaired by Prof Alexis Jay, who led…” Feb 25, 16:54
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on When the law breaks the law: “MP URGES LESSONS TO BE LEARNT FROM DETRANSITIONER HARMED BY ‘AFFIRMING CARE’ A girl ushered into social and medical treatments…” Feb 25, 16:22
Alf Baird on When the law breaks the law: “There is neither dignity nor morality in colonialism, whose very aim is ‘to widen inequality’ (Memmi) based on ‘hateful racism’…” Feb 25, 15:44
lothianlad on When the law breaks the law: “100% correct. I tried several times to get the SNP run council and the MP, MSP to have this recognised.…” Feb 25, 15:32
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: ““The responses showed an alarming amount of ignorance and a lack of concern” One interpretation, certainly. Other interpretations are possible,…” Feb 25, 14:12
sam on When the law breaks the law: “The neoliberal policies that Scotland in the UK has experienced since 1979 seem like a kind of colonialism, A rentier…” Feb 25, 13:47
Ian Smith on When the law breaks the law: “If 80% of people are Scottish or Scottish and British only, why is joining the EU so popular?” Feb 25, 13:22
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “Nae fear o hoarse joabbies, TFIOD. Unicorn joabbies smell, taste and look indistinguishable frae Pick’n’Mix, richt doon tae the individual…” Feb 25, 12:55
The Flying Iron of Doom on When the law breaks the law: “Hatey McHateface says: 24 February, 2026 at 8:29 pm Unicorn Land. You know, I quite like that idea. My only…” Feb 25, 09:04
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “I would expect a lot of support for an amended proposal, especially among those Scottish patriots who extol the virtues…” Feb 25, 08:41
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “@Cynicus That’s an empty slogan that doesn’t stand up to thoughtful assessment, parroted by the dense. History is written by…” Feb 25, 08:01
Young Lochinvar on When the law breaks the law: “CY Yes. But Fraser was better, Comyn effed up at Fa’kirk, did the dirty at Dumfries while Bruce won the…” Feb 25, 02:10
Cynicus on When the law breaks the law: “Here you go https://archive.is/AkJ3C History, remember, is written by the winners. The winner here was NOT The Bruce but his…” Feb 25, 00:50
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “Good one, Confused. No messing about. Straight to what’s on your mind. Ach, maybe immediately is better. Straight doesn’t quite…” Feb 24, 23:08
Confused on When the law breaks the law: “I am deeply annoyed at the rejection of my planning proposal for TOP HAT BUGGERY LAND at trinity college quadrangle,…” Feb 24, 22:57
Confused on When the law breaks the law: “I think Main has tourettes and his tics make him post all day – time for a wee film “John…” Feb 24, 22:56
Young Lochinvar on When the law breaks the law: “AX Very droll 🙂 Try original sources? Very educational: “learns you things”..” Feb 24, 22:34
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “Unicorn Land. Immensely popular with the youngsters, whilst staying true to our rich, cultural heritage. Maybes a nod to our…” Feb 24, 20:29
agentx on When the law breaks the law: “FGS – no-one wants fun and enjoyment and jobs in Scotland. Misery rules OK?” Feb 24, 19:51
Scot Finlayson on When the law breaks the law: “They should never have kept with the name `Flamingo Land`, Loch Lomond Leisure or Eagles View Holidays. we need to…” Feb 24, 19:39
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “Behold! The other pole of the Baird/Northy axis appears. As if from nowhere. Alert readers will be verifying Northy’s claims.…” Feb 24, 19:34
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “Hate to break this to you, Alf, but no kid learns to speak their parent’s language in school. No force…” Feb 24, 19:23
Northcode on When the law breaks the law: ““In the 2022 census, 1,508,540 people reportit that they cuid speak Scots, wi 2,444,659 reportin that thay cuid speak, read,…” Feb 24, 19:06
Alf Baird on When the law breaks the law: “Postcolonial theory is quite clear about the immense importance of indigenous language of the colonized people and the effect of…” Feb 24, 18:57
agentx on When the law breaks the law: ““airbrushed out of Anglocentric British history.” ————————————————- If it was airbrushed out how do you know about it? Contradiction of…” Feb 24, 18:27
agentx on When the law breaks the law: “Yeah can’t have people enjoying themselves in Scotland or creating jobs.” Feb 24, 17:58
