In many ways the Glasgow equal-pay dispute feels like the impotent final fury of the dinosaurs after the dust cloud of a prehistoric asteroid impact blacked out the sun and condemned them all to death.
What we’re seeing now is a futile howl of rage against irrelevance by the shady cabal of Labour politicians and senior trade union officials who used to treat the city as their personal fiefdom, as they sink into inglorious extinction.
We highly recommend clicking that link to read the whole series of tweets from Labour member and solicitor Ian Smart, who readers won’t need reminding is no sort of friend of the SNP or inclined to their defence. Because the story goes much deeper than the common-or-garden hypocrisy we saw yesterday.
We don’t know whether Sky News’ senior Scotland correspondent James Matthews recognised double-jobbing Labour MP and councillor Hugh Gaffney on today’s strike march in Glasgow or not. (We suspect he did, but as Gaffney’s only been an MP for a year and a half we can’t be sure.)
What’s certain is that he gave him plenty of time, opportunity and cues to disclose who he was, and Gaffney didn’t take any of them, leading to this extraordinary clip.
The indyref sometimes caused feelings to run rather high, and people on both sides made themselves very unpopular with those on the other side. But four years of water has flowed under the bridge since then, and not everyone is still in the same trenches.
Some high-profile names have switched to from No to Yes (often but not exclusively as a result of Brexit), and the reception afforded to floor-crossers like Murray Foote, Eric Joyce, Jackie Kemp, Mike Dailly, Tom Morton and Simon Pia hasn’t always been an entirely warm one, with some unable to keep a lid on their old grudges.
And in a similar vein, some of the remarks in recent days on the reported switch to Yes of Billy Connolly – a few from people I thought better of – are deeply offensive and potentially deeply damaging.
Well well, look who suddenly believes in second referendums.
It’s fascinating to note how you can completely reverse Kezia Dugdale’s position on the subject simply by substituting the word “Scotland” for the words “the UK” in that second tweet, and imagine she was talking about the independence march in heavily-Remain-voting Edinburgh earlier this month instead of the (proportionately smaller) one in London yesterday.
Tory MP Kirstene “dumber than a box of” Hair is best known for being the member of the UK Parliament who didn’t vote in the Brexit referendum because it was too difficult.
The Scottish Daily Mail today has a big headline relaying the seemingly-unambiguous bad news that unemployment in Scotland has apparently risen by 11,000.
But cheer up, folks, because better times are ahead.
We’re pretty sure it was “Listen to you about being ‘better together’, so that they ended up with a Tory government they didn’t vote for but which was imposed on them by the people in a much larger country, and which has a long track record of imposing brutal, callous welfare policies on the poor for largely ideological reasons, and which has entirely predictably continued to do so”.
We’re blacklisted by the press regulator IPSO, but fortunately when we raise issues with especially blatant inaccuracies in UK newspapers alert readers sometimes take up the cudgel and file complaints with them because we can’t.
Cynicus on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “‘And then Swinney (and indeed all his idiot apologists) will have to turn to expectant SNP voters and say “Ehm,…” Mar 5, 01:33
Angus on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “Those were the days of the Alex Salmond led SNP, which was genuinely pro-independence. What followed has been the SNP…” Mar 5, 00:36
Cynicus on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “RobertG says: 4 March, 2026 at 9:05 pm “I am far from convinced with the polling projections. I suspect that…” Mar 5, 00:13
Big Jock on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “He already has the excuse lined up. The war in Iran. Which England is dragging Scotland into. Now is not…” Mar 5, 00:08
Rob on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “Even in the extremely unlikely event that the UN agrees with you there will still need to be a referendum.” Mar 4, 23:44
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “IAIN UIG Chaochail a bhean. Ghoid iad a chàr. Mharbh iad a chù. Bhuail òrd air làr. Sìor spadadh dhe…” Mar 4, 22:50
Andy Wiltshire on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “If by some miracle there is a referendum, and indy wins, I sometimes wonder if we would be forced to…” Mar 4, 22:28
100%Yes on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “I’ll tell you who believes Swinney the one’s making a living out of pretending to support Independence when they don’t.” Mar 4, 22:28
Hatey McHateface on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “Are you having a laugh? “RUK unionists incomers are now in the majority” Why do you continue to insist that…” Mar 4, 21:40
RobertG on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “I am far from convinced with the polling projections. I suspect that the curent SNP will really strugle to win…” Mar 4, 21:05
Mark Beggan on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “That will put the fear of God into the Leftwing activists. Explains why they always cover their faces and refuse…” Mar 4, 21:04
Geri on Two Men Unalike: “I’m not on the new thread, unlike some I could mention. Best you keep yer shit all in one place…” Mar 4, 21:04
Mark Beggan on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “The daddy of post colonial theocracy is Toast.” Mar 4, 20:50
Hatey McHateface on Two Men Unalike: “Wow, Geri, that’s spooky! I just predicted your imminent re-appearance on the new thread. I hope you’re not stalking me.…” Mar 4, 20:37
Iain More on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “And nobody “Yes Voter” with half a brain believes him.” Mar 4, 20:25
Hatey McHateface on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “The knock-off Shaheds being sent in their direction carry a heavily ironic punch. High explosive karma for 4 years supplying…” Mar 4, 20:22
Geri on Two Men Unalike: ““people who adhere to that kind of belief systems have no place in our modern world and no place in…” Mar 4, 20:20
Hatey McHateface on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “We need another Barbie to take her place. Is there a Barbie in the house? Actually, yes, and she’s overdue…” Mar 4, 20:11
Hatey McHateface on Scotland’s Most Frightened: ““put the UK including Scotland into a Middle East War” You need to pay better attention. The fatwa has already…” Mar 4, 20:09
Sven on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “And now Mr Swiney has lost a candidate as Ms Sally Donald withdraws from the May elections whilst the subject…” Mar 4, 19:49
James Barr Gardner on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “Between allowing the US to use UK airbases to attack Iran and shooting down an Iranian drone over Jordan, over…” Mar 4, 19:40
Mark Beggan on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “Don’t you just love those missiles slamming into anything Iranian. Yum yum.” Mar 4, 19:31
100%Yes on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “If the PM was to grant dunderhead a referendum he’d only F*ck it up. John does nothing for me apart…” Mar 4, 19:04
agentx on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “I remember the days on here when if anybody had a negative comment about the SNP there were sarcastic cries…” Mar 4, 18:57
Hatey McHateface on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “How does the progress being made with the UN C-24 application tie in with this? No referendum will ever be…” Mar 4, 18:47
Mark Beggan on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “The wheels on the bus go round and round… All day long.” Mar 4, 18:44
duncanio on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “The dream shall never die. But Swinney’s wish might prove to be his nightmare.” Mar 4, 18:40
Karen on Scotland’s Most Frightened: “Ha ha, you stole my line: “Are you saying we should vote SNP1 just for the bant?”” Mar 4, 18:21
Hatey McHateface on Two Men Unalike: ““wise up to this shift in the global paradigm” You are coy on what you believe that shift to be.…” Mar 4, 18:06
