We weren’t sure whether tomorrow’s Cairnstoon was going to be delayed by technical gremlins (it turns out it isn’t), so we prepared an emergency backup plan on the same theme and you may as well see it now as a sort of trailer.
It’ll be good every time they dig him up yet again in the future too.

(With profound apologies to Oliver Frey.)
Tags: and finallycartoons
Category
comment, culture, history, scottish politics
Hey readers, remember that time when England went to war with Germany?

You know, just England, under its Union Jack flag. Nobody else.
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Category
comment, history, media
Things were different in 2009.

Of course, they meant if they LOST the first one. But readers might feel that a certain degree of irony has perhaps manifested itself since then, particularly in terms of people knowing “what they would be in for” after June 2016.
So just to recap the UK government’s rules for the Yes movement:
– If you win, you don’t really win and you have to go again in case things change.
– If you lose once, that’s it forever, no matter how much things change.
Always remember what we’re dealing with, folks. The rules are always whatever they say they are, regardless of what they might have said a minute ago, and no matter what happens we’re swimming against the sea.
Tags: hypocrisy
Category
comment, history, scottish politics, uk politics
That’s the only reasonable interpretation of this tweet from Jenny Marra MSP.

Because clearly if the Scottish Parliament of 1707 was an illegitimate oligarchy that didn’t represent the people – and it certainly didn’t – then it can’t have had any right to sign away the sovereignty of Scotland and the Acts Of Union must immediately be repealed and a new referendum held to decide whether Scotland should join the UK.
And of course, we already know how that would go.
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Category
history, idiots, scottish politics
The Times, 30 June 1998.

Wait, Michael who? Well, this should be good.
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Tags: and finallyfrom the archives
Category
history, scottish politics, uk politics
You could actually weep for some of the people in our country.

But the point Yes supporters understand and Unionists don’t is that it’s everything to do with the question – because “who is or might be Prime Minister, or which party is in government” is never our choice. It’s the choice of England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland together. One of those countries outnumbers the others by 8 to 1.
More than that, it isn’t just who is Prime Minister now, or who may be in the future – it’s every single Prime Minister in my 35 years of existence on this planet.
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Tags: Al Harron
Category
analysis, comment, history, scottish politics, uk politics, video
…for the EU election results, a reminder of days gone by.

Inexplicably, the Scottish Tory manifesto for the 2014 Euro election forgot to include the paragraph saying “Of course, if you vote No this September, then England votes to leave the EU in the most catastrophic manner possible, Scotland will be dragged out too no matter how it voted, and we’ll just tell you to shut up if you complain about it”.
It was probably meant to go in that space at the end, but you know how it is, mistakes happen. No harm done, eh?
Category
europe, history, scottish politics, uk politics
Almost exactly two years ago, this website suggested that it might not be the smartest idea for Labour to go along with Theresa May’s call for a snap election. (Under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act, it couldn’t have happened without Labour’s support.)

And it occurred to us today that if they hadn’t, the current government would only have a maximum of one year left to run.
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Tags: toldyouso
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analysis, comment, europe, history, uk politics
Lordy, is it that time again already?

Let’s leave aside the most toweringly and obviously cretinous aspect of that insanely illogical claim for a moment – namely, if the McCrone Report was such a smoking gun proving independence would be bad, why did the UK government suppress it for 30 years rather than sending a copy to every home in Scotland and shouting it from the rooftops every single day? – and just quickly look at what it actually said.
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Category
history, idiots, scottish politics
Another slow news day, so here’s one from the archives:

Don’t worry, we’re not going to make you try to read it that size.
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Tags: from the archives
Category
comment, europe, history, scottish politics
If there’s one thing you can say for the Tories, it’s that right or wrong, they always stick to their principles.

Oh, not YOU, Scotland.
Category
history, scottish politics, uk politics