In many ways, the fabricated, hysterical furore of Humza Yousaf Vs Elon Musk is the ultimate in summer-silly-season politics stories.
Absurdly plainly, the former First Minister ISN’T going to take any legal action against the billionaire owner of Twitter. He only likes bullying small nurseries, and even then he doesn’t follow through. He didn’t even sue us for calling him racist a few months ago, so there’s zero chance he’s going to square up to the world’s richest man.
Every now and again you’ll go to clean them up and find something that you’ve been meaning to write about in a quiet moment, and this certainly counts as a quiet moment in Scottish politics, so let’s do this one now.
Because the story above is from March, but we don’t think we’ve ever seen anyone anywhere talk about just how weird it is, or what it tells us about the 2024 SNP.
We’ve been off for a little break in the country, and as far as we can tell we’ve missed absolutely nothing in the moribund world of Scottish politics. We did, however, arrive back just in time for something mildly interesting, or at least revealing.
It’s the latest episode of a new podcast by veteran Scottish political journalist and broadcaster Bernard Ponsonby and jobbing opinion columnist Alex Massie, inventively titled The Ponsonby And Massie Podcast.
The first 35 minutes or so weren’t very noteworthy, other than the curious omission – when predicting the makeup of the next Scottish Government – of the idea of a Labour-SNP coalition, which to this site remains by far the most practical and logical outcome of the 2026 Holyrood election.
As we’ve repeatedly pointed out, Wings has made NO comments about the “workplace harassment” allegations made against Alex Salmond several years ago. We’ve only commented on the CRIMINAL allegations, and workplace harassment isn’t a crime. (It’s a matter for an employment tribunal, not the police.)
But the real question is WHY Andy Wightman is so doggedly attached to these two complainers that he’s determined to keep digging himself further into a hole of lies. And everyone knows what you tend to find when you start digging holes.
David Davis may be the last of his kind – a libertarian Tory from a council-scheme and grammar-school background, and also one of the few remaining big beasts occupying the political jungle of the back benches.
(He could in fact have been Tory leader, and would have been if David Cameron and George Osborne hadn’t teamed up to defeat him in 2005 after he won the first ballot.)
So on the rare occasions when he leads a Commons adjournment debate, as he did last Thursday evening, those with an educated eye for politics sit up and take notice.
In any functional nation, Friday’s revelations in Parliament by Sir David Davis would have been headline news. An extremely powerful figure, the then-First Minister’s chief of staff, was named and accused of conspiring with the Scottish Government, civil service and media to imprison an innocent man – the former leader of the country – on very serious charges of sexual assault, and of seeking to destroy his reputation by illegally leaking the false allegations to the press.
Liz Lloyd had never been publicly named as the suspect before that moment, so it was almost immeasurably bizarre that only two of Scotland’s newspapers (and two of its lowest-selling), namely The Times and – belatedly – The National, bothered to even report the accusation, far less spend any time seriously delving into it.
But it still wasn’t as odd as THIS response from a former Green MSP.
What on Earth is being suggested here? Let’s try to find out.
It’s both a comprehensive refresher of events surrounding the Scottish Government’s conspiracy to convict Alex Salmond on false charges, and a sharp reminder of why Scotland is, in truth, not yet a country in a fit administrative state for independence.
But one part in particular ought to be the headline news tonight.
Independence is dead as a political issue in Scotland for the next few years. This much should not be in any dispute. A Labour government with a crushing majority sits firmly in Westminster with absolutely no intentions of granting a second referendum, and the SNP has loudly and clearly abandoned any other strategy.
This fact is understandably painful and difficult to come to terms with for anyone who’s devoted the last 13 years (or more) to pursuing that cause and now isn’t quite sure what to do with theirself. But for those who still aren’t ready to face up to the unpleasant reality, there’s always the comforting world of fantasy.
Because there’s always money to be made from snake oil and pie in the sky.
The average rape sentence in Scotland is seven years, so to get six years plus three years’ supervision for the technically lesser crime of sexual assaults means they must have been pretty grim ones.
So we know that Cameron Downing is a very bad man. Which does rather invite the question of why he was so popular in the SNP.
Cynicus on When the law breaks the law: “Here you go https://archive.is/AkJ3C History, remember, is written by the winners. The winner here was NOT The Bruce but his…” Feb 25, 00:50
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “Good one, Confused. No messing about. Straight to what’s on your mind. Ach, maybe immediately is better. Straight doesn’t quite…” Feb 24, 23:08
Confused on When the law breaks the law: “I am deeply annoyed at the rejection of my planning proposal for TOP HAT BUGGERY LAND at trinity college quadrangle,…” Feb 24, 22:57
Confused on When the law breaks the law: “I think Main has tourettes and his tics make him post all day – time for a wee film “John…” Feb 24, 22:56
Young Lochinvar on When the law breaks the law: “AX Very droll 🙂 Try original sources? Very educational: “learns you things”..” Feb 24, 22:34
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “Unicorn Land. Immensely popular with the youngsters, whilst staying true to our rich, cultural heritage. Maybes a nod to our…” Feb 24, 20:29
agentx on When the law breaks the law: “FGS – no-one wants fun and enjoyment and jobs in Scotland. Misery rules OK?” Feb 24, 19:51
Scot Finlayson on When the law breaks the law: “They should never have kept with the name `Flamingo Land`, Loch Lomond Leisure or Eagles View Holidays. we need to…” Feb 24, 19:39
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “Behold! The other pole of the Baird/Northy axis appears. As if from nowhere. Alert readers will be verifying Northy’s claims.…” Feb 24, 19:34
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “Hate to break this to you, Alf, but no kid learns to speak their parent’s language in school. No force…” Feb 24, 19:23
Northcode on When the law breaks the law: ““In the 2022 census, 1,508,540 people reportit that they cuid speak Scots, wi 2,444,659 reportin that thay cuid speak, read,…” Feb 24, 19:06
Alf Baird on When the law breaks the law: “Postcolonial theory is quite clear about the immense importance of indigenous language of the colonized people and the effect of…” Feb 24, 18:57
agentx on When the law breaks the law: ““airbrushed out of Anglocentric British history.” ————————————————- If it was airbrushed out how do you know about it? Contradiction of…” Feb 24, 18:27
agentx on When the law breaks the law: “Yeah can’t have people enjoying themselves in Scotland or creating jobs.” Feb 24, 17:58
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “If you’re right, Alf, as Scots speakers are a mere 30% of the population, then obviously Indy is doomed. The…” Feb 24, 17:31
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “MSM still all in a lather over the Davidson story. It’s unbelievably entertaining to see the Wokists putting their own…” Feb 24, 17:16
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “@Jay Sorry, just noticed your cry for help. Don’t feel bad that you’re unable to contribute anything of merit to…” Feb 24, 17:00
Alf Baird on When the law breaks the law: ““None of the statistics …can be sensibly interpreted without first being broken down into ethnic categories.” The same may be…” Feb 24, 17:00
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “There’s a rumour they’ve been taking lessons from Your Party. The one with Corbyn, the Sultana bint, and noo oor…” Feb 24, 16:30
100%Yes on When the law breaks the law: “Plans for Flamingo Land resort at Loch Lomond rejected! At last the SNP does something right for Scotland.” Feb 24, 16:03
Young Lochinvar on When the law breaks the law: “Happy anniversary of the battle of Roslin 1303. 3 victories for the price of one, yet another airbrushed out of…” Feb 24, 15:41
agentx on When the law breaks the law: ““More than 3,000 pages of internal Scottish Government emails and legal notes — now dubbed the “Salmond Files” — have…” Feb 24, 15:37
bobo bunny on When the law breaks the law: “The prosecution of Alex Salmond, the ongoing protection of the alpabetties and the jailing of Craig Murray tell all you…” Feb 24, 14:59
bobo bunny on When the law breaks the law: “Shows you how Tas, Corri, Kenny and Neale run Alba if they could not be arsed to consult with other…” Feb 24, 14:55
Young Lochinvar on When the law breaks the law: “Trade Envoys: investigate the lot of them! Watch out “Beefy Botham”! Numbers 32:23 an’ that..” Feb 24, 14:34
DMcV on The Future Is Yesterday: “So, the SNP won’t bring Independence, per NotRev’s monomania; who can? ALBA? Who will disaffected ALBA voters, dozens of them,…” Feb 24, 13:18
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “Don’t tell him, Sara! With due acknowledgement to the immortal words of Captain Mainwaring.” Feb 24, 12:10
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “I found a FOI request online from which I post a fragment: “As stated in my original response of 16…” Feb 24, 12:06
100%Yes on When the law breaks the law: “James Kelly, asking for Sara Salyers to a video debate. If I was Sara I would turn him down, better…” Feb 24, 11:55
