We’ll be honest, readers, we’re actually quite happy that the Tories are now the lead Unionist party in Scotland. Because after four and a half years, we’ve pretty much run out of things to say about the epic, unquenchable stupidity of Scottish Labour.
Of course, that Lamont should choose to blame the SNP for cuts coming down the line from the Tory government at Westminster (that only controls Scotland’s budget at all because Lamont and her colleagues campaigned for Scotland to remain in the UK) is no surprise.
But it’s the sheer jaw-dropping lack of self-awareness in that last line which lays bare the incredible inability of her pseudo-party to learn a single lesson from the revolution in Scottish politics that’s been going on for most of the last decade.
Yesterday we reported how the only people who were risking the privatisation of key ferry services to the Western Isles were the Scottish Labour politicians and media crowing about how the decision to keep them in the hands of publicly-owned operator Caledonian MacBrayne had been made for political reasons.
(Which, were it true, would render the award of the contract illegal under EU law.)
Here’s (a few seconds into the clip) George, Baron Foulkes Of Cumnock.
Born in 1942 in Oswestry in Shropshire and privately educated at The Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School in Hertfordshire, George was first elected by the public in 1979, serving for 26 years. During his time as an MP he was convicted of a drunken violent assault on a policeman and fined £1,050. In 2005 he was ennobled into the House Of Lords and will make laws for UK citizens until he dies, no matter what voters say.
You’d think he’d have learned better manners by now.
As we write there’s a protest going on outside the Scottish Parliament regarding the privatisation of ferry services to the Western Isles. It was formally announced almost three hours ago that there definitely wasn’t going to be any privatisation and that the service would remain in public hands, but the protest still went ahead.
The people conducting the protest, who’ve got the exact thing they wanted, are now doing their level best to lose it again. Welcome to Scottish politics.
Over the past few days, readers, we haven’t been able to avoid noticing a recurring theme among Unionist types on social media – namely that the Holyrood election results are proof that support for independence is declining.
But it’s not until you ask them to explain that it gets completely mental.
For much of its life, this site has been warning readers that, as their default position, they should always assume newspaper headlines are a lie until proven otherwise.
Today, Britain’s biggest-selling newspaper admitted it in public.
You win a historic third election with a second massive landslide, getting more than twice as many seats as your nearest challenger – the first time such a thing has ever happened in a Holyrood election – on the back of what’s (self-evidently) by and large a very popular policy programme and record, and before you’ve even taken your seats in the chamber all the parties you just thrashed out of sight line up to explain how you’ve been doing everything wrong.
And as alliances go, they don’t get much less holy.
Hatey McHateface on The Turning Point: “@Aidan You can see why it’s so important to sell the “colony” lie. Real former colonies don’t have to shoulder…” Sep 30, 13:52
Hatey Mchateface on The Turning Point: “Farage comes out swinging: “The state pension is not a handout, nor an act of government charity. It is a…” Sep 30, 13:34
Aidan on The Turning Point: “Yes and you could always take the view that since Scotland would be a new state, it cannot have any…” Sep 30, 13:26
Spartan 117 on The Turning Point: “A default and “clean start” would be utterly catastrophic and yet, arguably, the only remaining option for iScot to break…” Sep 30, 13:25
Spartan 117 on The Turning Point: ““Westminster has finally lost control” I’d argue we are already there, have been for several years and that most onlookers…” Sep 30, 13:20
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Turning Point: “The Irish in me suggests perhaps better not to be starting from here: Anyway, as indicated in the past, my…” Sep 30, 13:03
sam on The Turning Point: “The weak of understanding, such as wee Johnny Main attribute my posting of links and quotations from them as being…” Sep 30, 13:02
Hatey McHateface on The Turning Point: “Very interesting what the former “green beacon”, Germany, is doing in the areas of coal mining and the use of…” Sep 30, 12:00
Hatey McHateface on The Turning Point: “@CC The US has expended too much of its arsenal in the ME this year. It will take years to…” Sep 30, 11:47
Aidan on The Turning Point: “Noting that this was written 16-years ago of course. There is no way that rUK Government would be willing to…” Sep 30, 11:42
Aidan on The Turning Point: “Assuming that an IScotland could negotiate a share of the UK’s national debt on a per capita basis (not an…” Sep 30, 11:33
Hatey McHateface on The Turning Point: “Sure, sam, if one side starts by making all kinds of convenient assumptions, then the final settlement can be massaged…” Sep 30, 11:29
Hatey McHateface on The Turning Point: ““The UK is rapidly collapsing” I agree. I’m wondering what the catalyst will be. The event that finally puts it…” Sep 30, 11:20
Captain Caveman on The Turning Point: “@Hatey If all those things you say about the rapidly changing tech of modern warfare are true – and personally…” Sep 30, 11:17
sam on The Turning Point: “Interesting post by Jim Cuthbert on how the negotiations on Scotland’s share of UK debt might be shaped post independence.…” Sep 30, 11:11
Captain Caveman on The Turning Point: “The only “way” out of it that I can see (if you could call it any sort of solution, probably…” Sep 30, 11:11
Hatey McHateface on The Turning Point: “@Spartan An iScotland could default. Cold turkey. I’m not advocating it, but it’s an option. It would mean probably 20…” Sep 30, 10:58
Spartan 117 on The Turning Point: “Yep. Uncomfortable facts. The UK state finances are ruinous like most Western nations. It’s difficult to see any way out…” Sep 30, 10:18
Spartan 117 on The Turning Point: “Good post. ArAndeh very much set out his stall yesterday – Moar Communism is the way, as is outsourcing democracy…” Sep 30, 10:13
Hatey McHateface on The Turning Point: ““Nail hit firmly on the head Hatey” Ground Zero for fixing any problem is to be realistic about what the…” Sep 30, 10:10
willie on The Turning Point: “Sadly we have seen the plunder of a country’s resources before for the benefit of others. That is what empire…” Sep 30, 09:19
willie on The Turning Point: “¬”the infrastructure to capture all this “free” leccy is being mostly paid for by others – English bill payers, multinational…” Sep 30, 09:02
Hatey McHateface on The Turning Point: “It’s truly extraordinary to see the differences between the reviews of Andeh’s stage performance yesterday. Some on the progressive left…” Sep 30, 08:56
Hatey McHateface on The Turning Point: “Back in the day they probably did “used to obstruct and sabotage the Scottish Nationalist movement”. But they’ll have been…” Sep 30, 08:22
Hatey McHateface on The Turning Point: ““a reported one third of Scotlands electricity” If only that was true, Scotland would be on course to make some…” Sep 30, 08:10
Alf Baird on The Turning Point: “““Civil servants, MI5, Special Branch used to obstruct and sabotage the Scottish Nationalist movement.” Sounds exactly like what occurred in…” Sep 30, 07:50
Willie on The Turning Point: “So planning proposal.has now dropped to build the world’s largest data centre in Scotland. And its power usage will be…” Sep 30, 07:17
Spartan 117 on The Turning Point: “@Hatey 6:42pm Don’t get me started on Silliband/Mahatma Andy’s bungling on Pallet Line. Another fine mess completely irrelevant to our…” Sep 29, 21:02
Hatey McHateface on Cowering From Destiny: ““Independent Ireland has remained neutral for the last century thereby avoiding being dragged into Imperial England’s 80 or so colonial…” Sep 29, 20:35
Hatey McHateface on The Turning Point: “Stick to making soup, Dan. There’s no reason for alert readers to question your claims that you know your soup.…” Sep 29, 20:23
