Alert readers can’t have failed to notice a desperate Scottish Labour dusting off the old “Tartan Tories” attack on the SNP recently, over the Nats’ unwillingness to join in with Kezia Dugdale’s kerrazy kaper of hiking up income tax.
So after today we can only assume they’ll be looking for some similarly pithy zingers for their colleagues in Wales. They can have this one for free.
It’s curious that as the Scotland Bill negotiations deadlock drags on, well beyond its original deadline of 12 February and now hurtling headlong towards the extended 23 February one with no sign of progress on the horizon, that nobody is remarking on one of the most striking facets of the new devolution proposals.
Remember “pooling and sharing”, readers? Whatever happened to that?
Since the astonishing election of 56 SNP MPs to the UK Parliament last May, the Unionist media – suddenly deprived of a whole contacts book full of friendly Scottish Labour bench-warmers ready to feed it cosy stories over a boozy expenses lunch in Whitehall – has raked through every bin and gutter in the land looking for anything (however pathetic) that it can try to puff up, distort, and rope into service as “dirt” on each of the Nat members, in an attempt to discredit them and the party.
So let’s just have a little look in here and – YIKES!
It notes that in 2006, the year before the SNP came to power, 65% of Scots identified themselves as “Scottish not British” or “more Scottish than British”, but by 2014 – the year of the independence referendum – that number had fallen to just 49%.
It concludes, correctly, that just as we noted on Sunday, support for independence is fundamentally political in nature, not nationalist. But that only tells half the story.
So Scotland currently has no debt? No responsibility for any share of the enormous £1.5 trillion burden run up by the UK? We’ll take that deal. Where do we sign?
Barely a week – indeed, barely a day – has gone by over the last year or so without some angry, confused and hurt-sounding Unionist pundit or politician churning out yet another article on the theme of “WHY AREN’T YOU GRATEFUL THAT WE SAVED YOU FROM INDEPENDENCE, YOU APPALLING PLEBS?”
As far as the No side are concerned, the oil-price slump is a slam-dunk game-ender which finally conclusively proves that Scotland is too wee and too poor to run its own affairs, and their uncomprehending bewilderment as support for a Yes vote not only fails to disintegrate but keeps increasing even as the oil price sinks lower and lower has been quite a phenomenon to behold.
So we were interested to see today’s Sunday Times report a YouGov poll done for the comedy grumpy-old-white-guys support group (and spectacularly unsuccessful tactical voting enthusiasts) Scotland In Union, and somewhat miss the point of the results.
There’s nothing unusual about reading something in the Scottish media that makes your eyes widen. But a piece we saw in the Courier earlier today stretched ours out to Clockwork Orange-like proportions.
Now that’s a pretty intriguing opening (as the bishop said to the actress). At first we took it to mean that an independent Scotland could effectively take over Britain’s EU membership in the event of a Leave vote, ending any debate about whether and when it would be admitted on its own.
The title of this article is a phrase that people use when publishing a transcript of someone’s intended speech, to signify that this is what they INTENDED to say, but that the reader should verify it with the actual speech to check whether they did, because sometimes there are last-minute changes or the person simply forgets bits.
sam on The Shortest Day: “https://russincheshire.substack.com/p/the-spreadsheet-that-broke-britain?r=lwml0&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web “In 2013 Thomas Herndon, an unsung, 20-something economics student from Massachusetts, was handed a homework assignment. He was tasked…” Aug 30, 11:57
Aidan on The Shortest Day: “It’s nonsense to suggest that this single paper was the entire basis for the post-2010 coalition economy policy, not least…” Aug 30, 11:47
Hatey McHateface on The Shortest Day: “You barsturt, CC. I really didn’t want to know that! Another fondly remembered experience from the past that the young…” Aug 30, 11:46
factchecker on The Shortest Day: “Perhaps that’s because that’s how democracy works in the 21st century. The reason we (the people of Scotland) were not…” Aug 30, 11:43
Hatey McHateface on The Shortest Day: “Sure, Bob. If you tell us you don’t celebrate Christmas either, we’ll believe you. After all, that was never a…” Aug 30, 11:41
Knuckle_Heid on The Shortest Day: ““….Good Governance in Scotland….” er, you what, Dave? As has long been documented on WoS, since 2015 your “Government” has…” Aug 30, 11:38
Hatey McHateface on The Shortest Day: “Respect to you, Northy, for daring to utter some of the truths that most won’t. It remains but to add…” Aug 30, 11:36
sam on The Shortest Day: “It can’t be said with any certainty what any independent country will look like as time passes. Within my considerable…” Aug 30, 11:33
Dan on The Shortest Day: “robertkknight says: at 10:37 am “It’s raining outside…” https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyrv84yd9ko #WetterTogether” Aug 30, 11:26
Aidan on The Shortest Day: “Good man Spartan! I’m guessing you have your PPL? It’s something I’d love to do, particularly in Scotland where we’re…” Aug 30, 11:17
robertkknight on The Shortest Day: “…and it’s NOT a “holiday weekend” in my country.” Aug 30, 11:04
100%Yes on The Shortest Day: “Oh dear, it’s now dawned on the zombie SNP membership. I’m not laughing I’m applaud you’ve been taken in so…” Aug 30, 10:58
sam on The Shortest Day: “Spreadsheets get it wrong. It does happen. As so often with you, you let your prejudices overwhelm your limited intelligence.…” Aug 30, 10:44
Chas on The Shortest Day: “It may have escaped your notice that most!! Of the Scots thst were around in 1707 are now deed.” Aug 30, 10:40
robertkknight on The Shortest Day: “It’s raining outside…” Aug 30, 10:37
Northcode on The Shortest Day: “The Scottish Independence Referendum (Franchise) Act 2013 set the scope for the franchise for the referendum. It defined those able…” Aug 30, 10:27
Chas on The Shortest Day: “I believe that roughly 50% of Scots, residing in Scotland, are in favour of Independence. I am one of them.…” Aug 30, 10:25
Captain Caveman on The Shortest Day: “Absolutely Hatey, it’s my favourite building in the entire world. As an Engineer, it’s surely an unsurpassed gem for that…” Aug 30, 10:24
Hatey McHateface on The Shortest Day: “Ha, James, any Sovereign Scot alive today can choose to ratify the Union. Until you can get your head around…” Aug 30, 10:13
Hatey McHateface on The Shortest Day: “I’m not ruling out, sam, the possibility that you truly believe that one fifth of UK adults choose not to…” Aug 30, 10:08
James Che on The Shortest Day: “Saffron Robe, Regards your comment yesterday, Indeed, Scots were delberately not asked to join the 1707 treaty of union, because…” Aug 30, 09:57
Hatey McHateface on The Shortest Day: “Hope you take the time to visit the Pantheon, CC. It’s an amazing example of architecture and engineering. It’s also…” Aug 30, 09:53
Hatey McHateface on The Shortest Day: “Good post, Bob. Seeing as how it’s a holiday weekend, why not spend the rest of the day fretting about…” Aug 30, 09:47
Hatey McHateface on The Shortest Day: “Loving the way Alf effortlessly equates Scots with Yes voters there. Thus proving what I’ve always said about the true…” Aug 30, 09:41
James Che on The Shortest Day: “There are of course individual names on a old list, with signatures that explicitly name the people that are in…” Aug 30, 09:40
sam on The Shortest Day: “The Keynes Mutiny – “Growth in a time of debt” https://russincheshire.substack.com/p/the-spreadsheet-that-broke-britain?r=lwml0&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web” Aug 30, 09:32
James Che on The Shortest Day: “The Scots remain out with the treaty of union, The devolved government in the Country of Scotland from Westminsters Scotland…” Aug 30, 09:31
robertkknight on The Shortest Day: “A majority of Scots, 53%, voted Yes in 2014. That majority for Yes was overturned as a result of non-Scots…” Aug 30, 09:31
Hatey McHateface on The Shortest Day: “Then there’s the cognitive dissonance you need to master before you willingly hand over your hard earned to buy expensive…” Aug 30, 09:27
J Robertson on The Slowest Dawning: “WFD James is that Whats for dinner or World Federation for the Deaf ?” Aug 30, 09:27
