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The ambulance chasers 302

Posted on January 11, 2016 by

We called it early.

dbtw

In the end it took almost exactly four hours.

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The full range of opinion 95

Posted on January 11, 2016 by

From a speech by David Mundell today:

fullrange

The art of the filibuster 249

Posted on January 10, 2016 by

This is what a man who REALLY doesn’t want to answer a question looks like.

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The shifting foundations 201

Posted on January 08, 2016 by

As we noted on Tuesday, Scottish Labour’s opening election salvo for 2016 has been to blame the Scottish Government for unaffordable house prices.

scotsmanhousing

Of the 450 most obvious flaws in that argument, not least the extraordinary efforts a 13-year Labour government went to to keep the housing bubble inflated, the one that caught our eye was that in the past three years we were regularly told of one thing that definitely WOULD bring prices down dramatically, but which Labour pathologically fought every step of the way.

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Some very brief thoughts on RISE 394

Posted on January 07, 2016 by

(And the rest of the “pro-indy left”.)

If you’re primarily or solely contesting regional seats, and you’re chiefly (as seems to be the case) targeting people who are going to use their first vote for the SNP, “Vote for us so that we can provide strong opposition to the SNP” is a pretty weird pitch.

You’re basically asking people to use their second vote to cancel out their first. And that’s quite a tough angle to be trying to sell them. Just saying, like.

The judgement of silence 220

Posted on January 06, 2016 by

We suppose we shouldn’t technically be surprised that today’s newspapers carry no analysis whatsoever of Kezia Dugdale’s big speech yesterday detailing Scottish Labour’s first big election pledge – a £6000 handout to first-time home buyers.

slabhouse

After all, current polling suggests Scottish Labour have about as much chance of exerting any influence in the next Scottish Parliament as Lemmy has of posthumously winning the Eurovision Song Contest, so it doesn’t really matter if Kezia Dugdale promises every voter a free unicorn made of diamonds and glitter.

Still, if only for the mental exercise, it’s worth taking a look in detail.

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Kezia For Independence 149

Posted on January 05, 2016 by

The tweets below are all genuine, and taken from the Scottish Labour Twitter account earlier today during its live-tweeting of Kezia Dugdale’s speech. We’ve rarely heard a more compelling and concise argument for a Yes vote. We take our hats off to her.

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Clickbait corner 68

Posted on January 05, 2016 by

It’s always good to see someone take a strong moral stand.

dhgg

When indeed, eh?

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The sewer press 261

Posted on January 05, 2016 by

So, this appeared in the Herald today:

beggherald1

And that’s a problem, because it’s a complete and utter lie.

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Meet the new year, same as the old year 94

Posted on January 05, 2016 by

As politics wakes up from the holidays, any readers still bothering to gaze at the pages of the Scottish media could be forgiven for a crushing sense of deja vu.

2016papers

In more senses than one.

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Towards a better, kinder 2016 343

Posted on January 03, 2016 by

The Herald columnist Iain Macwhirter has had some wise words to say on the subject of social media in the past few weeks, most recently on New Year’s Day:

imac1

The month before, though, he’d been even more to the point.

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Answers without words 167

Posted on January 02, 2016 by

We tweeted this proposition last night (the quote comes from a blog post yesterday by Scottish Labour madcase and all-round comedy relief Ian Smart):

rdfm

We thought you might enjoy some of the responses as much as we did.

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    • Mark Beggan on The Shortest Day: ““What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.” – Captain, ‘Cool Hand Luke’ That is exactly what we’ve got here…Aug 30, 13:29
    • James Che on The Shortest Day: “Alex Salmond like other politicians never read the details, and the SNP today ignore that the old parliament of England…Aug 30, 13:25
    • James Che on The Shortest Day: “North Code. You sadly missed the point on the Scotland act and the 2014 referendum. It is not up to…Aug 30, 13:00
    • Mark Beggan on The Shortest Day: ““Same Shit Different Day” was specifically written for you James. You own that one.Aug 30, 12:59
    • Mark Beggan on The Shortest Day: “There are some men who think they are women and some women who think they are men. There are even…Aug 30, 12:52
    • Aidan on The Shortest Day: “The really incredible part of the story is how David Cameron/George Osbourne, when divising economic policy in 2008/9, were able…Aug 30, 12:24
    • Chas on The Shortest Day: “Easy answer Sam. Who will do the how’s and when? The SNP? Are there people waiting on the periphery ready…Aug 30, 12:24
    • 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
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    • 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
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    • 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
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    • 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
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