I’ve always been obsessed, in cultural terms, with pivot points: the precise moments at which something significant changes irreversibly.
They can be a goal that ushers in a football team’s golden era – for me, Alex McLeish putting Aberdeen level in the 1982 Scottish Cup final. They can be a twist in a movie, like (first example that comes to mind) the shocking revelation of the bad guy in LA Confidential. They can spring out of nowhere, like the latter, or be something that was visibly on the way but finally crystallises, like the former.
In May 2016, this site published one of the most unfortunately prescient articles in its history. It didn’t actually use the words “woke” or “cancelled”, which weren’t yet in common parlance, but its purpose was very much to warn of the puritan, censorious, hyper-intolerant and catastrophically destructive culture they came to embody.
At the time Nicola Sturgeon had only been First Minister for a year and a half and there were few signs that she was that movement’s commander – or, those inclined to a more charitable outlook than us might posit, its prisoner. It would be two more years before she detonated the bomb that really shattered the unity of the Yes movement when she attempted to fit up Alex Salmond over fake allegations of sexual assaults.
But last night and this morning I was struck by an unexpected pang of pity for the fanatical, fundamentalist Twitler Youth rainbow stormtroopers who make up Sturgeon’s ideological frontline. Sympathy for the little devils, you might say.
And since it’s a somewhat rare feeling, it seemed worth a little exploration.
Just for a little bit of fun. This is actual footage of North Korean TV news (source: NK News) from today, but I thought it deserved a more moving soundtrack.
When the Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts died last month, the first of their songs that popped into my head, for no particular reason, was “Under My Thumb”, a mildly controversial 1966 album track the band never released as a single in the West.
Its most infamous place in history, though, is this.
Until Watts’ death I was only very broadly aware of the events at Altamont Speedway in 1969, a free festival at a racetrack near San Francisco at which four people died in scenes of malevolent chaos and which is widely regarded as the grim headstone of the hippy era.
But on seeing the extraordinary footage above for the first time on the day of Watts’ death – taken from “Gimme Shelter”, notionally the official movie of the show, although the first two-thirds of it are actually a mundane travelogue of the preceding tour dates – I did some proper reading up on it.
And as I did, a horribly familiar feeling started to unfold.
robertkknight on Anything But That: “I wouldn’t restrict such an astute observation to today…” Sep 5, 20:05
Spartan 117 on Anything But That: “Your posts here today have been appalling. Grow up.” Sep 5, 19:46
factchecker on Anything But That: “Alas, there are no facts here to check, merely your incomprehensible meanderings around historical events using terms like ‘sine die’…” Sep 5, 19:44
James Che on Anything But That: “Mark, Its a same when politicians cant convince the electors and have to resort to violence to get their own…” Sep 5, 19:10
Mark Beggan on Anything But That: “I would like yo start a crowdfunder to get James Che laid. The only condition is that he can only…” Sep 5, 18:55
robertkknight on Anything But That: “Praying that Reform win a huge majority of seats in England and damn all in Scotland. That’ll learn the ‘proud…” Sep 5, 18:42
James Che on Anything But That: “These are the reasons that Stu has difficulty holding anyone to account like the SNP under the Crown of Westminsters…” Sep 5, 18:35
Aidan on Anything But That: ““Whatever you do, do not talk about the Status of the treaty of union between Scotland and England as Unionist…” Sep 5, 18:34
James Che on Anything But That: “Factchecker. You may also need to check some other facts such as , 1: the old parliament of Scotland was…” Sep 5, 18:28
Aidan on Anything But That: “Nobody is asking the courts to “create sovereignties” because that phrase has no meaning in the English language. However, what…” Sep 5, 18:16
Mark Beggan on Anything But That: “Polish police now allowed to shoot illegal immigrants and the AFD set to gain power. That’s going to take more…” Sep 5, 18:15
James Che on Anything But That: “Factchecker, Scotland would have to pay the rUK billions. How did you work that one out, Scotland has never entered…” Sep 5, 18:03
James Che on Anything But That: “Whatever you do, do not talk about the Status of the treaty of union between Scotland and England as Unionist…” Sep 5, 17:48
Young Lochinvar on Anything But That: ““Con-artist” perhaps?” Sep 5, 17:28
Mark Beggan on Anything But That: “There go’s the holidays in Spain.” Sep 5, 16:25
Confused on Anything But That: “I bet Simon Weston is happy that the penguins remained British, by God. https://archive.ph/61CcA a fascinating tale, full of spicy…” Sep 5, 16:24
Mark Beggan on Anything But That: ““including prominent politicians” I need to sit down for this! Eh! Duh! Who? name names.” Sep 5, 16:23
Mark Beggan on Anything But That: “If they get arrested they can just say ‘I’m with Stop Oil’ and the police will help them put up…” Sep 5, 16:07
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “If we make the same assumption the elites will make, that each of the 3000 of the “correctly opinioned” deserves…” Sep 5, 16:07
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “My mask self-identifies as a letterbox. Works fine in Scotland, not so good across the border.” Sep 5, 15:59
Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: ““If the negotiators and parliaments lacked the authority to alienate Scottish sovereignty” Wow! Just look at all the heavy lifting…” Sep 5, 15:56
Mark Beggan on Anything But That: “Patrick Grady seen at Holyrood but an official SNP statement said that no one spoke to him. His best chum…” Sep 5, 15:52
Mark Beggan on Anything But That: “With Nicky No Comment on board how could you possibly lose?” Sep 5, 15:48
Minceheid on Anything But That: “agentx says: 5 September, 2026 at 2:30 pm “Dover protest ‘disgraceful’, says Jenrick It’s a little rich of Jenrick to…” Sep 5, 15:45
Mark Beggan on Anything But That: “You’re gonna need a bigger campervan!” Sep 5, 15:45
agentx on Anything But That: “Apparently over 3000 have signed it now.” Sep 5, 15:35
agentx on Anything But That: “The Open Letter: More than 3,000 people—including prominent politicians, trade union leaders, and artists like Nicola Sturgeon and Hannah Lavery—signed…” Sep 5, 15:19
Grendel on Anything But That: “It was at the point where the rising rape statistics in Glasgow were being blamed on free bus travel for…” Sep 5, 15:18
Young Lochinvar on Anything But That: “MB having an Ezekiel 23:19-20 moment all to himself there..” Sep 5, 15:17
TURABDIN on Anything But That: “King America, the immature, paranoid & seriously deep in debt boss of «the west» https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16106615/ANDREW-NEIL-25-years-911-America-terror-war.html#newcomment” Sep 5, 15:07
