This is the SNP’s latest messaging. Ministers, MSPs, payroll drones and the central party account were all tweeting the graphic and variations on the line yesterday.
And it’s quite difficult even just to count the number of different ways in which it’s not just mind-bogglingly offensive, but also clatteringly, jaw-droppingly stupid.
The wild thing about this poll isn’t the headline that six months after winning a massive landslide majority, Keir Starmer now trails Nigel Farage – leader of a party with five MPs to Starmer’s 411 – as the electorate’s choice for best Prime Minister.
It’s the little grey numbers sitting quietly at the bottom.
Nobody really answered the question in this article from a few days ago. A few of the dimmer bulbs in the indy movement have been getting over-excited at what are still currently a couple of outlier polls from fringe polling companies, which suggest that the 2026 election could unexpectedly return a pro-indy majority due to the Unionist vote being split four ways in the wake of UK Labour’s implosion in government.
That scenario depends on all sorts of dubious propositions, but in any event what none of them have addressed is what that would change even if it did happen, given that Holyrood has a pro-indy majority RIGHT NOW (and has done so on every single day since the indyref more than a decade ago) and it’s produced nothing whatsoever in terms of movement towards independence by any possible measure.
And it occurred to us that we had genuinely no idea what the SNP’s current official indy strategy is, because the party’s been in such farcical chaos and turmoil ever since Nicola Sturgeon’s sudden resignation. So we thought we should go and check.
To be honest, we’re not much the wiser for having read it.
Look, we know that mocking front pages on The National is low-hanging fruit, and this particular example could hardly be any more of a self-parody if it tried.
But just for the sheer mental exercise in that stone-dead last week of December when nobody even knows what day it is, let’s imagine if it came true.
Poor old Tommy Sheppard’s got a contract, so he has to keep talking. And this week he said something that, if anyone really thought the constitution was still a current live political issue, would have attracted a lot more attention than it did.
Because even the SNP are now saying another indyref is – at best – a decade away.
The Hate Crime Act has rather faded into obscurity after the furore surrounding its introduction, with the police apparently just trying to pretend it doesn’t exist by ignoring thousands and thousands of complaints, and the useless Scottish commentariat duly proclaiming as a result that it was all just a big fuss about nothing.
But as soon as everyone stopped looking at it, there it was.
twathater on Faces In Sand: “There is a very interesting post on Mark Collets blog if anyone is interested” Oct 29, 02:38
WhoRattledYourCage on Vibecoding A Better World: “Do Fairlight or Manic Miner, only without the fucking bugs in them that made them crash when you got near…” Oct 28, 23:39
Southernbystander on Faces In Sand: “I’m afraid the moon is merely made of cheddar so I think you might have been had.” Oct 28, 23:14
Alf Baird on Faces In Sand: ““as part of that study did ask any shipping or freight operators whether they’d be interested in shipping their goods…” Oct 28, 22:06
Spartan 117 on Faces In Sand: “You’ll get no argument from me Dan regarding any of your points raised. The closure of Grangemouth was an utterly…” Oct 28, 21:56
Dave on Vibecoding A Better World: “I’m glad to see you back and posting, Stu. I was a bit concerned by the silence and thought that…” Oct 28, 21:36
Aidan on Faces In Sand: “It’s not a question of NO aircraft flying. If; – independence significantly reduces demand on the rUK – Scotland routes;…” Oct 28, 19:51
Dan on Faces In Sand: “Ach, who knew in a self-governing Scotland so many folk would lose their jobs because we wouldn’t have any aircraft…” Oct 28, 19:12
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “Northy, I concluded long ago that loopholes are designed into laws on purpose. Why else does it take years to…” Oct 28, 19:01
Aunty Flo on Vibecoding A Better World: “Great idea, Grant! Don’t forget the baby wipes. (Though not exactly sure what they are supposed to be for)….” Oct 28, 17:59
SystemUser1 on Vibecoding A Better World: “My own experience with that software showed a severe glitch under high load. I found that the interface becomes completely…” Oct 28, 17:57
Northcode on Vibecoding A Better World: “AI isn’t just good at coding because coding is “simple” for AI engines — it’s good at coding because coding…” Oct 28, 17:42
Frank Gillougley on Vibecoding A Better World: “Just relieved that the private conversation BTL is now over! However, I am a fully paid up member of the…” Oct 28, 17:18
Mervyn Flange on Vibecoding A Better World: “It’s not just in the area of Scottish politics that you have made a great contribution. Many readers may be…” Oct 28, 17:01
Aidan on Faces In Sand: “@Alf – as part of that study did ask any shipping or freight operators whether they’d be interested in shipping…” Oct 28, 16:54
Grant on Vibecoding A Better World: “Genuinely curious, do you actually think AI is gonna be the end of us all imminently? Shall I order a…” Oct 28, 16:52
Craig on Vibecoding A Better World: “I did think about using AI to create a new political party that has an AI generated manifesto designed to…” Oct 28, 16:50
Alf Baird on Faces In Sand: “Lorncal: Scotland’s unelected elites never had the constitutional authority to sell the nation in the first place, even under extreme…” Oct 28, 16:21
sarah on Vibecoding A Better World: “Nice to see that you’ve had some fun for a change, Rev.” Oct 28, 15:41
Stephen Welsh on Vibecoding A Better World: “Fantastic!, you need to give Grok Bot a play too, not as smart as Claude (at the moment) but really…” Oct 28, 15:24
Chas on Faces In Sand: “Baird-Do you trawl through the comments section on Wings solely to say the same crap time after time AND ESPECIALLY…” Oct 28, 15:21
Lorncal on Faces In Sand: “Alf: even where they have signed a treaty and where they have acquiesced in their own subsumption for over 300…” Oct 28, 15:04
sam on Faces In Sand: “Northcode, Just in case you missed it ( I have been elsewhere) I asked today upthread what you think would…” Oct 28, 15:01
sam on Faces In Sand: “Northcode, What constitutes a mandate?” Oct 28, 14:56
Alf Baird on Faces In Sand: ““I consider it rather self evident that if a regional hub was needed anywhere near here, then Oslo and/or Dublin…” Oct 28, 14:54
Captain Caveman on Faces In Sand: “@Spartan CEng? Respect and kudos 🙂” Oct 28, 14:37
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: “Put even more simply, Alf, you become a regional hub by being in a suitable location for lots of places…” Oct 28, 14:29
Spartan 117 on Faces In Sand: “@Aidan – sadly its the response I’ve come to expect from political types on comment sections on various websites in…” Oct 28, 14:23