The Christmas truce on social media ended unusually early this year as Magnus Gardham, the political editor of the Herald, filed a column which had all the hallmarks of a man who’d overdone the sprouts and redirected the usual outcome of such an error out of his mouth rather than the other end of his digestive tract.
Backed up with a series of borderline-trolling tweets from his Herald colleague David Leask (who ambitiously referred to Gardham as a “genius”), the piece triggered a mild stushie on Twitter which we fully expect to see written up in tomorrow’s papers as “VILE CYBERNATS IN ABUSE STORM”, because it’s Christmas and you’ve got to fill pages with something.
This was a brief exchange between the Scotland correspondent of the Guardian and the Political Editor of the Daily Record on Twitter last night. (The hug referred to is the one between Nicola Sturgeon, Leanne Wood of Plaid Cymru and Natalie Bennett of the Greens at one of the leaders’ debates for the May general election.)
Remarkably, it seems some angry Unionists are still trying to dispute the known facts surrounding the Forth Road Bridge closure. We’d like to think this quote from today’s Central Fife Times – from Tony Martin, the man who was convenor of the authority managing the bridge until a few months ago – was unambiguous enough to settle it once and for all.
That’s from the man who ought to know more about it than any human alive, and who as a Lib Dem councillor has no reason to make excuses for the Scottish Government.
This tweet mysteriously vanished from Blair McDougall’s Twitter timeline last night:
We’re not sure why, as we know that Scottish Labour love nothing more than to attack the Scottish Government (no matter how ham-fistedly) over education.
And we’re pretty sure it’s not because McDougall felt guilty about picking out only the negative aspects of what Scotland’s biggest teaching union called a “largely positive picture” of the state of Scottish education – and which the OECD itself said contained “much to be positive about” – because if there’s one thing we know for sure about Blair it’s that his conscience isn’t troubled by misleading people.
Our best guess was that even he was just too embarrassed at having made an attack line out of the fact that 20% of the country’s schools were “only” rated “satisfactory”, thereby implying that “satisfactory” status was actually in some way unsatisfactory.
In doing so, of course, he was echoing the words of his hapless leader Kezia Dugdale, who in September told the Holyrood chamber that “no parent wants a satisfactory education for their child”. Maybe McDougall just realised belatedly that he was reading from the wrong month’s script.
We’ve spoken a number of times before on this site about the “gish gallop” or “swarm of wasps” debating technique, in which a person attempts to bury their opponent under such an overwhelming tsunami of false, misleading or nonsensical claims in a short space of time that they can’t possibly debunk it all.
The Urban Dictionary gives an example of the form:
Faced with such a rushing torrent of drivel, it’s almost impossible for an opponent to know where to start in order to begin to even scratch the surface (if you can scratch a torrent). And that brings us directly to Severin Carrell’s article in today’s Guardian.
Captain Caveman on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “You cut a truly lamentable, laughable figure, Alf. No one to blame but yourself I’m afraid.” Oct 1, 11:38
Mark Beggan on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Just another day in the NI. We don’t care. If you care so much then go live there.” Oct 1, 11:34
Hatey McHateface on Whatever Can Have Happened?: ““28 years of no marches, then permission given” Correct, permission given. By the same legal decision making process that didn’t…” Oct 1, 10:52
Alf Baird on Whatever Can Have Happened?: ““we’ve been shafted by our own kind” Well noticed, although postcolonial theory does tell us that ‘colonialism is always a…” Oct 1, 10:52
Hatey McHateface on Whatever Can Have Happened?: ““unless you class biblical names as Scottish” Superb ignorance of our historic Scottish Christian heritage there. Every now and again,…” Oct 1, 10:33
Hatey McHateface on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “C’moan, Bob, now do the bit where they all awarded themselves medals. Come tae think on’t, that might be the…” Oct 1, 10:19
willie on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Yes, some interesting comments and speculations why Big John has shifted position and now wants an independent enquiry. One thing…” Oct 1, 10:02
sam on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Long ago I knew the name Mina as the name of a woman who was of Scottish origin. It seems…” Oct 1, 10:00
robertkknight on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Jeez… The Rev was simply quoting from Winnie Ewing’s speech at the opening proceedings in 1999, and whilst some may…” Oct 1, 09:42
Spartan 117 on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Sorry Alf, that’s complete and utter pish. You can’t accept the simple truth (Occam’s Razor applied) that we’ve been shafted…” Oct 1, 09:35
diabloandco on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “I support Chas and I think the clue might be in the word temporary. Rachel wasn’t that Scottish either unless…” Oct 1, 09:28
Hatey McHateface on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Noo, noo, CC, nae need tae be sae harsh. “Mr” Lavrov will be a bit of an expert on taking…” Oct 1, 09:25
John McNab on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Your writings are almost always entertaining and absorbing, meenister, but when you come away with such achingly pretentious nonsense like,…” Oct 1, 09:17
Aidan on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “@CC – Lavrov and his boss “P” enjoy a favourability rating of around 3% in the U.K. So tying the…” Oct 1, 09:15
Captain Caveman on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Yeah, because “Mr Lavrov” is such an impeccable, credible, neutral source with no axe to grind at all, eh Alf……” Oct 1, 08:58
Hatey McHateface on Whatever Can Have Happened?: ““Most folks here now understand” Where’s “here” then, Alf? Wings BTL, or Scotland, or the inside of yer heid? Loving…” Oct 1, 08:57
Alf Baird on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “The “the HR government” is merely an arm of the England-as-UK government Hatey. As well as ‘justice’ system questions this…” Oct 1, 08:08
Hatey McHateface on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Could have been worse. He might have wanted to call it after some rubble-strewn shithole in the ME. Plenty would.…” Oct 1, 08:02
twathater on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “I received an email from CHAS , Childrens Hospice Appeal SCOTLAND from their Chief Executive Rami Okasha stating , “I…” Oct 1, 02:18
BLMac on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “No doubt the result of any enquiry (it may just be another carrot for the remaining gullible SNP members) will…” Sep 30, 23:16
charlie on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Time to start kicking the can down the road, slowly and judicially with only the public paying.” Sep 30, 22:38
Hatey McHateface on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “@ am firinn says:30 September, 2026 at 8:58 pm “Exactly what legislature do you think passed the Scotland Act 1998?”…” Sep 30, 21:32
am firinn on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Exactly what legislature do you think passed the Scotland Act 1998?” Sep 30, 20:58
am firinn on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Remind me what institutions “Scotland” had to raise against these sections in 1998?” Sep 30, 20:57
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Apologies to Mark Beggan. I was 2 minutes later than you.” Sep 30, 20:05
agentx on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Adopting Alternative International Frameworks The review is explicitly tasked with examining alternative Law Officer models used in other jurisdictions. The…” Sep 30, 19:57
Hatey McHateface on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “And he’s back. And he’s put the cracked record on again. Readers new to this saga might not know that…” Sep 30, 19:37
Ross on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “Playing devil’s advocate… Who will the Lord Advocate be accountable to if not the Govt? The Parliament?” Sep 30, 19:34
Hatey McHateface on Whatever Can Have Happened?: “When required to register for the daily attendance allowance. Just like in the HoL.” Sep 30, 19:07
