It’s a pretty desperate day for news in the Sunday papers. The Sunday Herald has a rather overplayed piece on the already-tepid T In The Park “scandal” for its front page, while Scotland on Sunday falls back on its standard last-resort panic move of getting Gordon Wilson – who last led the SNP more than TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO – to blather on about something or other.
In the Observer, Kevin McKenna (who seems to be experiencing voter’s remorse over switching to the Nats in May after a lifetime backing Labour) appears to have written the exact same column as last week – a vague and woolly “SNP bad, Labour fightback starts here” spacefiller – and the Mail On Sunday digs up the ever-reliable boss of the CBI to warn that the sky will fall in if the SNP does anything ever.
Over on the Sunday Times they’re really scraping the barrel in a desperate attempt to somehow flog yet another week out of the Michelle Thomson story, prominently (and entirely gratuitously) mentioning the MP in a piece about an allegedly-dodgy house sale which she has not even the slightest sliver of any sort of connection to.
But it was something else in the same paper that caught our eye.
Alert social-media users will have noticed that it’s hard to avoid a constant low-level buzzing from a faction of the Yes movement, calling on the next Scottish Government (in the event, as currently seems likely, that it’s another SNP majority) to issue a Unilateral Declaration of Independence, or UDI for short.
And in the context of achieving Scottish independence UDI is indeed the answer, if we assume that the question is “What’s the stupidest thing the SNP could possibly do?”
These pages from the 14 March 1998 issue of NME (just 10 months after the election of Tony Blair’s first Labour government) are a fascinating historical document.
They needed saving. So we found them and we saved them.
We’ll never tire of documenting the Daily Record’s increasingly panicked attempts to get David Cameron to enact the Record’s dodgy promise of last September and save it from having to answer for the pup it sold Scotland.
By now you should all have had a chance to marvel at the extraordinary madness that is Scottish Labour’s 51-page suicide note of SNP members who’ve said rude words on the internet since 2012.
You may even have had time to read a data protection expert (and Labour voter)’s assessment of all the ways in which the dossier breaks the law.
Over and over again in the years leading up to the independence referendum, Scots were warned of the many dire consequences of voting Yes. Among the No campaign’s prime targets for scare tactics were subsidies for renewable energy.
UK government subsidies drying up certainly sounded like a scary prospect.
For the last month or so, the Unionist parties have briefly enjoyed the opportunity to taunt the SNP in the Commons over Full Fiscal Autonomy, challenging the party to bring forward proposals and accusing it of being afraid of the policy it campaigned and won on in the election. The Nats called the bluff, and today got the unsurprising result.
The reason given by Secretary of State David Mundell – who declined to appear on today’s edition of “Good Morning Scotland” to defend or explain the decision – was that FFA “would cost every family in Scotland £5,000”.
And we thought that figure had a rather familiar ring to it.
On the day Jim Murphy stands down as leader of the Labour Party North Britain branch office, we’d like to take this opportunity to offer our humble, heartfelt tribute to both him and the insightful political commentariat of Scotland.
Hatey McHateface on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “Show some respect, Mark. It’s an insult to a marathon runner to call him a jogger.” Aug 19, 18:54
Hatey McHateface on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: ““the ongoing United Nations decolonization initiative by the Scottish people” Gies a brek indeed, Alf. Somebody should ask 100 random…” Aug 19, 18:38
Aidan on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “Of course here we go again, the actions of the 73 MSP’s, elected by the Scottish electorate, are all the…” Aug 19, 18:30
Hatey McHateface on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “Check out Saffron Robe at 3:42 pm Anybody with an internet connection can type in: “Who appoints Scotland’s Lord Advocate”…” Aug 19, 18:24
Alf Baird on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: ““The holder requires a recommendation from the FM, and ratification of that recommendation by the HR parliament.” Gies a brek…” Aug 19, 18:08
Hatey McHateface on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “I mind being absolutely horrified when, as a youngster, I read about what happens to the babies born into the…” Aug 19, 18:03
Saffron Robe on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “Excellent explanation, Alf. Thank you. You’ve provided a clear and well-reasoned analysis of the underlying mechanism behind the smoke and…” Aug 19, 15:42
lothianlad on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “You have them scared Stu! you are making them accountable! SNP police Scotland know they are not to investigate further…” Aug 19, 15:27
Mark Beggan on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “Is someone having a drought? Boo hoo, what a shame, nevermind. I recommend phoning Cambridge University. They do a water…” Aug 19, 14:22
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “DETRANSITIONER ‘MISLED AND DISFIGURED BY GENDER-AFFIRMING MEDICS’ A man in the US has launched legal action against medics he believes…” Aug 19, 13:36
Hatey McHateface on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “Aidan “there has been less of that recently” Confused has cornered that market. The competition has had to concede defeat.” Aug 19, 13:23
Captain Caveman on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “Yes indeed Aidan; this is bad enough in Jay’s case, let alone Twat’s. Like I said, beyond irony.” Aug 19, 13:16
Southernbystander on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “It’s not exactly hitting the headlines James. Looking it up (as I had heard nothing about this), the first search…” Aug 19, 13:15
Aidan on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “Of course Hatey, The script goes: – if there is any demonstrated link to England, blame the English. – if…” Aug 19, 13:14
Aidan on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “Not to mention that TH is one of the worst offenders when it comes to bizarre rants posted in the…” Aug 19, 13:10
Hatey McHateface on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “I’ve just checked, Alf. Dundas was deid by 1811. No, not at tea time, but over 2 centuries ago. You…” Aug 19, 12:46
TURABDIN on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “Another Mackintosh building the philistine mob are embarrassed by. Student accom? I can hear the shrill tones of the fire…” Aug 19, 12:19
Mark Beggan on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: ““Scotland” That’s that third world Juniper republic or ‘the bent tomato’. Just below Angola for civic corruption and just above…” Aug 19, 11:17
Captain Caveman on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “@Hatey Perhaps you could help me out, as I too must be suffering from “a pitiful excuse of an education”.…” Aug 19, 11:17
Alf Baird on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: ““What if independence is the only way to bring about justice?” That would seem a reasonable assumption since a colonized…” Aug 19, 10:30
Hatey McHateface on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “On 29th August, the people of Iceland vote on whether accession talks with the EU should be re-opened. The previous…” Aug 19, 08:49
Hatey McHateface on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “A smarter poster would have placed that comment elsewhere, twathater. 🙂 But never mind that. Perhaps you could help me…” Aug 19, 07:37
Hatey McHateface on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “That’s enough about the drought and the water companies.” Aug 19, 07:30
Mark Beggan on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “Schadenfreude. Watching the Academia of Woke ville frantically swim about in their own excrement has got to be up there…” Aug 19, 06:38
twathater on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “So Jay you said “Too many of the comments made on ‘Wings’ appear as those of an in-fighting rabble who,…” Aug 19, 03:54
Peter McAvoy on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “The Herald today mentions that more student accommodation is to be built on the site of the former Herald premises…” Aug 19, 01:58
Alex towns on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “Swinney gave it in private but means diddly. He was open about not having a committee membership etc so wasn’t…” Aug 19, 00:25
Alex towns on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “What utter pish. A indie Scotland would have the same career driven assholes in the same positions making sure they…” Aug 19, 00:24
Ian Smith on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “If police were made aware that the SNP had pilfered the cash, are they duty bound to sit on their…” Aug 18, 23:13
Hatey McHateface on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “Aidan, I don’t think that’s what was said. I think the lady simply agreed with James. I think I understand…” Aug 18, 23:08