Millionaire-funded diehard loyalist forelock-tugging faction Scotland In Union published an extraordinary blog post yesterday.
Its 606 words comprised a sort of Caledonian Cringe Greatest Hits, allegedly penned by someone called Fiona Annesley (of whom we’re told nothing else, and who has no detectable online presence), but the line that particularly caught people’s eye was this:
The complete series so far. If you’ve got a story like this to tell, or you know anyone who does, Phantom Power want to hear from you – drop them a line.
I went to “Dunkirk” at the cinema today. If you want to know what it’s like, just watch this trailer 40 times in a row and save yourself the £12.
It’s a poor movie, disjointed and aimless and curiously lacking in tension or narrative given the real-life subject matter. (It’s remarkably short on dialogue, which is lucky because you can barely make out any of what little script or story there is from behind the endlessly howling one-note airhorn of the soundtrack. It’s a bit like someone filmed an IKEA assembly manual in live action during a Formula 1 race.)
But I couldn’t help thinking that part of the reason it was so unengaging was because it felt akin to watching a boxing match between two fighters you don’t like. If Mike Tyson took on Tyson Fury, would you cheer for the rapist or the anti-Semitic homophobe?
Today’s Daily Record covers the story we mentioned yesterday about a report from a Scottish Labour campaign group making the pretty factually-uncontestable point that the branch office’s dismal strategy in last month’s election held the UK party back.
Broadly speaking, the psychological phenomenon known as the Pollyanna Principle is a tendency to neurotically see the most positive possible view of a situation. It’s not generally widely found in newspapers – for whom bad news as a rule sells much better than good news – but for some reason the Scottish press makes a uniform exception when it comes to military shipbuilding.
This, for example, is today’s Herald:
Now, in itself that headline is – unusually – true, so far as it goes. But it only takes until the first sentence of the article text before things start to fall apart.
Deep in the summer news desert, the papers today are struggling for material again. The Sunday Herald has a shock-horror front-page exposé about some photos from an Orange Lodge party that turn out to be from 2010 and 2013, while the Scottish Mail On Sunday reaches all the way back to 1940 to fill a couple of pages.
The best we can say is that at least this time it took four months for the Secretary Of State’s promise to completely and utterly collapse, not 48 hours.
BLMac on Narrowing the options: “Maybe we’ll see the Augean Stables cleaned before the next election.” Jul 3, 23:05
Skip_NC on Narrowing the options: “Sturgeon had no clue what she was parroting when she said that. It’s a minor point but I am curious…” Jul 3, 22:34
McDuff on Narrowing the options: “Your tenacity in this matter is a credit to you rev and I am reminded of a recurring line in…” Jul 3, 21:37
BH on Narrowing the options: “Looks like mate in 1. Neat zugzwang. Well played. Will they really play knockboardover?” Jul 3, 21:03
Iain Ross on Narrowing the options: “If, as Sturgeon says, the accounts are prepared on “a cash flow basis”, why do the notes to accounts show…” Jul 3, 20:58
Alf Baird on Fob, Fob, Fobbing Along: ““Cheap leccy!” In my analysis I found that most of the world’s oil rich nations also have the lowest energy…” Jul 3, 20:47
Stephen Cowley on Narrowing the options: “Nicola Sturgeon stated on camera that the SNP accounts were prepared “on a cash flow basis”. Presumably this means that…” Jul 3, 20:31
Hatey McHateface on Narrowing the options: “You can’t know that for sure, Mark, until you’ve worked your way through the OnlyFans directory. I hear Snooty Cow…” Jul 3, 20:28
Mark Beggan on Narrowing the options: “Did you see my clever use of words there? That snooty cow will never show her Blips. So we will…” Jul 3, 20:05
Andrea on Narrowing the options: “@cynicus, Actually “outwith” is a word I come across quite regularly, and I use it myself. I think I saw…” Jul 3, 20:04
Stuart MacKay on Narrowing the options: “I can just imagine the reply… It wasn’t in the public interest to prosecute someone for embezzling the public.” Jul 3, 19:57
Confused on Fob, Fob, Fobbing Along: “main, unless you understand the market auction process and can explain what a CFD is, you need to STFU about…” Jul 3, 19:54
robertkknight on Narrowing the options: “Dripping with sarcasm….love it!” Jul 3, 19:52
TimePilot on Narrowing the options: “Meanwhile in London readers, looks like someone has turned to comfort eating and drinking…. (caution advised this is not pretty)…” Jul 3, 19:05
Hatey McHateface on Narrowing the options: “Surprised you’re still here. Thought you’d be at the funeral. Lasts until Thursday so there’s still time.” Jul 3, 19:01
Hatey McHateface on Fob, Fob, Fobbing Along: “So true, Wally the Winking Walrus. All over Scotland, facts fall into line to suit the first deployer of “bum…” Jul 3, 18:56
Hatey McHateface on Fob, Fob, Fobbing Along: “Cheap leccy! Two words that tell us you haven’t a scooby what you’re wanging oan aboot. If you really, really…” Jul 3, 18:44
twathater on Fob, Fob, Fobbing Along: “As always Confused, bang on the money , the only things holding us back is the progressive “Be Kind arseholes”…” Jul 3, 18:30
Captain Caveman on Fob, Fob, Fobbing Along: ““Keep believing your own prejudices.” Wow, that’s rich coming from you pal. 😀 Odious apologist.” Jul 3, 17:24
James on Fob, Fob, Fobbing Along: ““Confused” shoots ’em down in flames. Yet again lolz “None of you anglo bumboys has even the good sense to…” Jul 3, 17:23
Ian Smith on Narrowing the options: “Martin Guisler hinted that it wasn’t his colleague’s finest day that they considered the original missing funds investigation a big…” Jul 3, 17:12
Cynicus on Narrowing the options: “Andrea says: 3 July, 2026 at 2:28 pm “Ingathered” is my new word of the day.” ========== Like “outwith” it…” Jul 3, 17:10
Ian Smith on Fob, Fob, Fobbing Along: “Does doing well mean our medium income is so low that fewer class as poor? Poverty dropped during the 2008…” Jul 3, 17:05
Mark Beggan on Narrowing the options: “I think all could be forgiven if the KC showed Scotland her Blips live on TV.” Jul 3, 16:38
James on Fob, Fob, Fobbing Along: “So where does the cash go, Adrian? Westminster. You and your half-wit chum below you are a pair of fucking…” Jul 3, 16:36
Luigi on Narrowing the options: “You’ve got em squirming, Rev. No more wiggle room. They must love you.” Jul 3, 16:18
Colin Dawson on Narrowing the options: “I’m guessing that any civil procedings would be brought against the SNP, as an organisation, and/or senior officers of the…” Jul 3, 16:17
