In its kneejerk “SNP BAD” reaction to the Alistair Carmichael affair, the Unionist establishment – politicians and media alike – has furiously tried to divert attention from Carmichael’s smear and attempted cover-up by harking back to an incident in 2012, when the press gave vast amounts of coverage to a claim that Alex Salmond had “lied” about legal advice regarding an independent Scotland’s EU membership.
Because we took a short break over the weekend, we sadly missed Labour’s solemn commemorations of the 1979 confidence vote, and as a result we don’t know whether anyone actually did don a black armband or lay a wreath to remember the miners that Labour didn’t support when they went on strike a few years later.
The categorical support of Andy Murray for Scottish independence, though only finally unambiguously revealed in today’s Sunday Times (the tennis star’s day-of-poll tweet backing Yes could by a strict semantic interpretation have been said to be somewhat equivocal), isn’t much of a surprise.
So it’s perhaps worth reminding ourselves what the media told us.
This week Scottish Labour quietly abandoned their “biggest party forms the government” election campaign after it was comprehensively debunked by this site and, belatedly, the mainstream media. An alert reader reminded us this evening of how the party wasn’t always so attached to the rules.
Because back in 2007, when Labour was neither the biggest party nor the incumbent administration, it had a damn good try at forming the government anyway.
Only a few diehards in the press are still clinging this morning to the Labour fiction we exposed yesterday, namely the flat-out empirical falsehood that “the biggest party gets to form a government” in the event of a hung Parliament.
By now we imagine most readers have already seen the alleged leak of the Ashcroft polling results which aren’t due to be officially released until 11am today [EDIT 00.47am: out now], and which suggest some jaw-dropping SNP gains.
We’re not going to go off half-cocked until those have been confirmed, so instead here’s something sent in by an alert reader. It’s an extract from the autobiography of former Radio 1 DJ Liz Kershaw, and describes events around the funeral of Princess Diana. We think you’ll find it enlightening.
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
