Rot-away Beach 329
Posted on
July 13, 2024 by
Chris Cairns
Archive for the ‘scottish politics’
Those To Blame 118
Posted on
July 12, 2024 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
The SNP have been pretty clear about the reason they think they got a battering in last week’s election: it was because people were voting to kick out the Tories.
Now, that’s obviously nonsense. There were almost no Tories in Scotland to start with – just 10% of voters had a Tory MP – and only one of the six actually lost his seat. (Which was entirely down to the ham-fisted interference of Douglas Ross rather than an SNP surge – the SNP’s vote share in the seat in question went DOWN.)
If you wanted to keep Tories out in Scotland all you had to do was keep voting for your current MP, most of whom were SNP, rather than risk splitting the anti-Tory vote by switching to Labour and risk letting the Tories squeeze through in the middle. (Which would have happened in many seats had the Tories’ own vote not collapsed.)
But if it was true that the SNP lost because the electorate thought the election was about getting rid of the Tories, whose fault was that?
The Anti-Midas Touch 113
Posted on
July 11, 2024 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
At A Loss 198
Posted on
July 10, 2024 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
To be honest, folks, we’re not quite sure what to do with ourselves at the moment.
Everyone and his wee dug is writing election-aftermath columns and offering the SNP advice of varying intelligence and solemnity about how to recover from the shattering blow they’ve just been dealt by Scottish voters.
But it’s a pointless exercise. They may as well be yelling down a manhole.
Your Enemy’s Enemies 368
Posted on
July 07, 2024 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
The Scottish Greens, in a feat of remarkable hubris and financial profligacy, stood 44 candidates in this week’s general election, knowing that most of them would lose their deposits, which they duly did.
But not quite all of them. And there the comedy arose.
Because while SNP boneheads on social media are raging idiotically at Alba, Wings and others for causing division and damaging the unity of the indy cause yada yada yada, a small handful of Green candidates made a real difference.
All Out Of Bubblegum 78
Posted on
July 07, 2024 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Joanna Cherry’s been on a mission on the airwaves today.
It’s a beautiful thing to watch. The truth usually is.
The Cuckoos 122
Posted on
July 05, 2024 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Don’t say we don’t tell you this stuff, readers.
Because we always do.
End Of Part One 131
Posted on
July 05, 2024 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Well, we hope you all listened to us in January and got your bets in.
Enjoy your winnings. Because the real work starts now.
Sandwich Down 139
Posted on
July 04, 2024 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
We had to go and check for ourselves to make sure this really happened.
But it did.
Do It For John 126
Posted on
July 04, 2024 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
It’s almost 20 years since this last happened.
The 2005 election was the last time the Daily Record and the Scottish Sun both endorsed the same party at a UK general election. So, y’know, something is going on.
Avoiding The Worst 167
Posted on
July 03, 2024 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Survation released their final projection for the election last night. It’s quite a boring image because they had to make it mostly grey to correctly illustrate the margin of Labour’s lead.
Those ranges are substantial, but even their BEST-case scenario for the Tories is below 100 seats. The WORST-case scenario for Labour – 447 seats – still gives them a majority of 244, which would smash the all-time record of 209 set by the Tories exactly 100 years ago. (The best case is a dizzying 384.)
Scotland is probably the hardest area of the UK to call. In most polls there are only a few points between Labour and the SNP, and depending on how the votes are spread and who’s best at getting their support out either could still win the most seats.
That won’t, of course, make the slightest difference to the governance of the UK for the next five years. Even 57 Scottish MPs out of 57, for any party, would be completely meaningless to a government with a majority of over 200.
But it’ll make a big difference to the independence movement. Because if the SNP manages to hold onto to a significant proportion of its seats, we can all wave goodbye to the slightest chance of progress for another decade on top of the one that’s been wasted since Alex Salmond resigned.
