This post is mostly here to give people somewhere to chat about the council election results as they come in. But this song, with a hat-tip to alert reader SparkleMonkey, is dedicated specifically and personally to the now-former Scottish Labour councillor (and one-time leader of Aberdeen City Council) Willie Young, who was ejected by the electorate earlier today.
Today is going to be a day of realignment in Scottish politics, in which the Tories will formally become the main opposition to the SNP. (Having already pipped Labour to second at Holyrood and having as many Westminster MPs as them.) Expect modest SNP gains and big Tory ones, both mainly from Labour, who have already lost overall control of Glasgow, their last stronghold.
Everything’s different after today, folks. Scotland’s choice will never have been more stark: extreme Tories in the UK for years and years to come, or self-governance. Let the chips fall where the people choose.
The Scottish media has today leapt all over the front-page lead story from yesterday’s Sunday Times, in which “top economist” Douglas McWilliams of right-wing thinktank the Centre for Economics and Business Research made an apocalyptic prediction of a huge deficit turning an independent Scotland into “a Third World country”.
The Express’ customarily restrained coverage is pretty typical.
We wondered if Mr McWilliams used to have a more optimistic view.
The votes for “God Save The Queen” being driven by Tories, English-born residents and supporters of a particular football club probably won’t come as the biggest shock in the world to anyone.
(Alert viewers will of course have noticed that due to MI5 INTERFERENCE in the poll, there were actually two votes for Hoots Mon, which have been suspiciously rounded down to one. We are conducting an investigation, by which we mean brutal purge.)
An interesting and illuminating exchange has taken place in the last few days between the First Minister and Times columnist Kenny Farquharson, one of the many senior journalists who’ve recently jumped from the sinking ship of The Scotsman to take up less prestigious but more secure positions elsewhere.
It started on Saturday night, when Farquharson tweeted this:
Put your hands on your hearts, readers, and tell us that in the event of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin leading the USA and Russia a year or so from now, you can’t see this actually literally happening. [EDIT: The fight, not nuclear apocalypse. Obviously.]
Look us straight in the eye and tell us there’s a 0% chance.
It’s been such an exciting, action-packed week for Scottish Labour since a dynamic and thrusting PPB launched the 2015 branch-office conference that we worried there might be a danger people had forgotten it already. So we’ve brought it back for a curtain call, in a version a bit more appropriate for what remains of their core vote.
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “I have a crisp tenner that says calling somebody a pygmy – a derogatory term with racist overtones – is…” Jun 16, 23:27
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “You don’t get it, Marie. Again. An immigrant ceases to be an immigrant when she loves her adopted country. Then…” Jun 16, 23:17
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “Then I’d have to create yet more identities! Have a heart, Bob. I’m struggling to keep track of even the…” Jun 16, 23:08
robertkknight on Response Level Upgrade: “This place should be renamed “Hatey McHateface Over Wings”. Rev… Any chance of limiting BTL comments to 5 per person…” Jun 16, 22:55
Oneliner on Response Level Upgrade: “He called the Donald a ‘war criminal’” Jun 16, 22:21
Marie on Response Level Upgrade: “Americans are generally thought of as patriots who love their flag and their country and put their hands on their…” Jun 16, 21:48
sam on Response Level Upgrade: “Pygmies, literally and figuratively, fail to recognise words of the inaugural speech of Jimmy Reid as Rector of Glasgow University.” Jun 16, 21:29
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “MSM reporting that two petitions calling for FIFA to review the refereeing of the Scotland-Haiti match have now reached 155,000…” Jun 16, 21:21
Mark Beggan on Response Level Upgrade: “A Leftist is someone who wants the immigrant and all his mates to come to their country so they can…” Jun 16, 20:41
Mark Beggan on Response Level Upgrade: “A patriot is someone who wants the immigrant to go back to their own country ASAP by the fastest route.” Jun 16, 20:32
Aidan on Response Level Upgrade: “And of course using that definition Alf, every region and county within the U.K. would similarly be a colony, lacking…” Jun 16, 20:31
Southernbystander on Response Level Upgrade: “I know James, and I am, after all, just a ‘wanker’, though I draw the line at ‘effete arsehole’ as…” Jun 16, 20:28
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “An immigrant is somebody who hates their adopted country. Discuss.” Jun 16, 20:10
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: ““distributes funds necessary to keep […] much of the native proletariat on side, being ‘the most favoured section of the…” Jun 16, 20:07
Alf Baird on Response Level Upgrade: ““the book” This may be the correct term given that I assume you are referring to the only research-based book…” Jun 16, 20:05
Mark Beggan on Response Level Upgrade: “‘A patriot is someone who loves their country. A nationalist is someone who hates everybody else’s country’” Jun 16, 19:59
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “Can I just say, Marie, that in the Land Of The Stupid Comments, the writer of the Most Stupid Comment…” Jun 16, 19:58
Alf Baird on Response Level Upgrade: ““Public life in Scotland is dominated by fake-nats, bourgeois leftists, anglos, and every variety of grifter and opportunist” Excellent synopsis,…” Jun 16, 18:22
Mark Beggan on Response Level Upgrade: ““Only have to look at the manner in which opposite sides on political debates dehumanize each other for daring to…” Jun 16, 17:48
Mark Beggan on Response Level Upgrade: “Well done American Homeland Security. I wouldn’t let a baldy grifter who doesn’t know the difference between a man and…” Jun 16, 16:18
Aidan on Response Level Upgrade: “Do you honestly think the British state would pay three people to entertain an irrelevant idiot like you James? If…” Jun 16, 16:18
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “Havers, sam. It’s all the fault of colonialism.” Jun 16, 16:08
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: ““hundreds of Scotland fans who had previously been granted an ESTA had had their travel permits withdrawn at the last…” Jun 16, 15:56
Spartan 117 on Response Level Upgrade: “Interesting quotes with much food for thought. Only have to look at the manner in which opposite sides on political…” Jun 16, 15:48
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “It might be a very subtle witticism, Northy. Chas might be hinting at how the reflection in the mirror connects…” Jun 16, 15:47
