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A careful choice of words 385

Posted on April 23, 2016 by

With fears growing that hundreds of jobs may be lost in the Clyde shipyards as the UK government slowly backs away from the commitments made during the independence referendum campaign, Kezia Dugdale was full of righteous outrage last night.

kdships

But note how delicately that tweet is phrased. The clear implication – while not directly stated – is that only the Tories were responsible for the promises.

Is that the case, though?

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The constant revision of memory 418

Posted on April 21, 2016 by

We’ve noted on numerous occasions previously that one of this site’s prime functions is merely to remember things – to serve as a repository of fact which can be referred to when politicians or the media try to mislead people about what happened in the past. It was a thought we were struck by again on reading The Times this morning.

kfmanif

Because as we beheld Kenny Farquharson’s account of the SNP’s manifesto launch, and how its emphasis on the word “RE-ELECT” was unfamiliar and “very different” to their last Holyrood manifesto launch, we were sure that wasn’t how we recalled it.

So we checked.

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The lady’s often for turning 228

Posted on April 15, 2016 by

While we’re on the subject of Ruth “line in the sand” Davidson of the Ruth Davidson No Surrender To The SNP Anti-Referendum Party making U-turns, we thought we might remind you of another one, this time from rather more recent history than 2011.

natruthsmall1

Just nine months ago, apparently Ms Davidson’s view was that “it would be wrong for the Tories to stand in the way” of another referendum “if the SNP gets a democratic mandate from the public”.

Sounds like a firm, resolute commitment to democracy and the incontrovertible right of the people of Scotland to determine their own destiny. Stirring stuff. We approve.

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Sense less common 70

Posted on April 15, 2016 by

The Scottish Conservatives manifesto for Holyrood, 2011:

tory2011

But maybe it’s different if you’re openly campaigning to lose.

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Every day is a new day 81

Posted on April 13, 2016 by

Not so very long ago, someone said this:

guardiandarlingcuts

Of course, it’s not that day any more.

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Let’s get the party started 257

Posted on April 01, 2016 by

Because this just happened:

And that’s about as close to a guarantee as you’ll get, readers.

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Hindsight in reverse 136

Posted on March 30, 2016 by

Kezia Dugdale gave an interview to Good Morning Scotland earlier today that viewed from above would probably look rather like the runway at Baghdad Airport in 1991.

runway

If we tried to pick out all the individual bomb craters in one post, readers’ eyes would glaze over long before the end. So we’re going to have to do it in bits.

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Pack up, don’t stray 90

Posted on March 26, 2016 by

We were mucking about doing some other stuff today when we came across these. We thought they looked quite striking all put together.

scottishelectionmaps

No other reason than that, really.

At Easter the prophet rose again 191

Posted on March 25, 2016 by

A message of hope for Good Friday from everyone’s favourite Labour activist:

HothersallPredicts13

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Once upon a time 152

Posted on March 24, 2016 by

“Dry your eyes. On your feet.”

Sometimes the world’s random turns throw up a charmed piece of timing. That was the first tweet that I read on 19th September 2014, sitting on the side of the bed, eyes burning, wondering what on Earth I could possibly do with a day for which I’d bought champagne, but which broke my heart before dawn.

dryeyes

I’d resisted Twitter for a while, then fallen in love with it, weirdly comfortable with the disembodied voices of strangers. Small phrases, 140 characters: at its best, little postcards that made me smile, laugh or think.

For whatever reason, that tweet cut through, its arrival perfect to give me a virtual shake. I’d tell the writer – if I knew who they were – that I managed to carry out half of their instruction to us hollow-eyed, political orphans that day, though I failed miserably for a while on the first bit.

Today we should have become independent. We’re not, and it’s not okay, but since I don’t think we can ignore the power that time and timing can possess, and since words are all I’ve got, I’d like to tell you a story.

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The Wee Black Book 315

Posted on March 24, 2016 by

Scotland isn’t independent today.

wb2b

Let’s not get fooled again.

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Funny how things come around 179

Posted on March 19, 2016 by

From a BBC report on the 2004 Scottish Labour conference:

mcconnelltories

And to give the former First Minister his due, he wasn’t wrong.

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