Ever since the SNP’s unexpected majority in 2011, there’s been a constant low-level whine of “one-party state” from various elements of the Unionist establishment. (The first example we could find from a quick Google search was Liberal Democrat buffoon Sir Malcolm Bruce in September of that year.)
It’s a curiously bitter and irrational way to refer to the outcome of democratic elections held under proportional representation, reflecting a worrying contempt for the views of voters, but after the SNP saw the benefits of First Past The Post in May 2015 (having spent decades being its victim), the angry bleating has become far more noticeable.
(The most recent politician to use the phrase was the Lib Dems’ current leader Tim Farron. Perhaps the party is engaging in displacement activity to distract itself from its craven abandonment in 2010 of its lifelong commitment to introduce PR, selling its principles cheaply for ministerial cars and a referendum on what Nick Clegg called the “miserable little compromise” of AV, which was then lost by a humiliating margin.)
The editor of the New Statesman just tweeted this image, trailing an interview with Jim Murphy, who alert readers may recall led Scottish Labour for a few months this year before its apocalyptic disaster of a general election campaign which saw it lose 40 of the 41 Scottish seats it won in 2010:
Oh, wait – maybe he’s trying to claim the credit for it.
Alert readers may recall an incident last year in which the Scottish media got itself very worked up about some independence supporters threatening to boycott holiday company Barrhead Travel after its owner sent a barking-mad letter to staff about how the company would go out of business if Scotland voted Yes.
So we’re sure that you won’t be able to move later today and tomorrow for newspaper articles about something similar, but significantly worse, that happened this weekend.
And that’s all very well, but not exactly stop-the-presses stuff – nobody reading this site is going to be terribly surprised at Scottish Labour being caught out in a lie. But the party’s house newspaper the Daily Record went for a subtly different angle on the story that did manage to provoke us to raise an eyebrow.
So we weren’t expecting this. The Telegraph have sent us a reply after we complained to IPSO about this. It’s worth a read, so we thought we’d let you see it.
Kezia Dugdale talking to Gordon Brewer on BBC Scotland today:
“I’m astonished that you’ve spent 10 minutes in this interview talking about independence and Trident when almost 50% of the poorest kids in the country can’t read […] I’m sure you’d be shocked to know that 50% of the poorest kids leave our schools unable to read.”
We suspect he would too. Because it’s total cobblers.
Alert readers of The National will have noticed an article by me in it today. It reads slightly weirdly, jumping from subject to subject, because it was originally done as an interview but they then decided to cut the questions out to get more text in.
That’s all absolutely fine – they okayed it with me first – but some readers may be interested in seeing the full original piece, which is about twice as long. If you are, you can read it below. If you’re not, um, do what you like. I’m not your mum.
Alf Baird on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “This fits with postcolonial theory on how colonialism is enabled and protected, where the national party elite is ‘co-opted by…” Jun 28, 20:25
GeoffC on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “We shall keenly await Murrell’s book titled “I Was The Scapegoat; Clearly”.” Jun 28, 20:24
Hatey McHateface on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Enough already, Alf! I get it. We Scots can’t do anything because we’re pre-ordained to be doomed. We need others…” Jun 28, 19:55
Alf Baird on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: ““form an anti-colonialism party” Postcolonial theory predicts the political process in a colony always fails the people, Hatey. Which is…” Jun 28, 19:35
aLurker on Off-topic: “Hi all! 😉 Grand to see youse are all doin awa this fine mid summer. There has been a noticeable…” Jun 28, 19:21
Hatey McHateface on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “@ Jay says: 28 June, 2026 at 6:18 pm Ref. my post 7:30 on 27th., there’s a school of thought…” Jun 28, 19:00
Hatey McHateface on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Slap some micro-panels on the top of your tinfoil hat and you’ll get enough current to power a personal cooling…” Jun 28, 18:33
Hatey McHateface on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Back in May, I did seriously hope you might learn a new tune for the next 5-year Hollyrood cycle. More…” Jun 28, 18:23
Jay on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “McHateful, ref. your post 7:30 on 27th., if Northcode were able to pose sufficient threat to a scheme pursued by…” Jun 28, 18:18
Luigi on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: ““So why was NS not prosecuted?” A more plausible answer may have been “Because I was instructed by my masters,…” Jun 28, 17:40
Lee Floyd on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “I’ve said many times before. This site is unquestionably the finest investgative journalism provision anywhere in the UK. If only…” Jun 28, 16:41
robertkknight on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/taking-action/simple-procedure/guide-to-simple-procedure/ You don’t need a fraud case to cause the SNP some fully justified inconvenience… Be certain you have proof…” Jun 28, 15:28
Alasdair Roy on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “However unpopular it may be with my fellow followers on this site I cannot see a prosecution on the missing…” Jun 28, 14:50
Stuart Swanston on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “The Crown Agent used many more grammatically correct complex sentences to say as little as the Deputy Chief Constable. That’s…” Jun 28, 14:19
Alf Baird on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: ““the British State is controlling Scotland” Indeed so, and as you imply, colonial institutions are a central feature of control…” Jun 28, 13:43
aLurker on Off-topic: “Hi Sarah. I’m a rare visitor to WoS these days, but great to see youse still alive and kicking. I…” Jun 28, 13:35
sam on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “https://www.fraudadvisorypanel.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Fraud-in-Scotland-4th-ed-July2020.pdf “Common law fraud Common law fraud is the common‘catch all’ for most fraud prosecutions in Scotland. Fraud is committed…” Jun 28, 12:41
Lorncal on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Yes, H McH: actions have consequences – so often not foreseen. Sometimes, it is actually better to let sleeping dogs…” Jun 28, 12:23
Lorncal on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Yes, well put, except that there is no legal basis for holding a political party to account for spending funds,…” Jun 28, 12:12
Jay on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “For avoidance of misunderstanding: laughter mentioned at 9:19 was thanks to Northcode for comment at 7:50, Saturday, worthy of honorary…” Jun 28, 11:56
Bilbo on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “That’s a valid point if you’re not living in a flat but given the amount of days we actually get…” Jun 28, 10:55
Knuckle_Heid on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: ““What we have here is Police Scotland and the Crown Office both failing to act in the public interest” Absolutely…” Jun 28, 10:34
TURABDIN on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “SCOTLAND…. freed from the opiate of the masses, «sport», a top ranker for corruption along with the porn and drug…” Jun 28, 10:15
Minceheid on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Well, the power efficiency of aircon devices has improved quite a lot in recent years. Given that high temperatures are…” Jun 28, 10:08
Bilbo on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Due to the ‘internal market’ there doesn’t need to be any state sponsored individuals seeking havoc. The senior positions in…” Jun 28, 10:04
Bilbo on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “I don’t follow football and have never been interested in Scotland football games but I had watched the antics of…” Jun 28, 09:56
Captain Caveman on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Wow. Just wow! Surely the finest, absolute textbook example of self projection, Northy; indeed, as good as you’ll ever see…” Jun 28, 09:53
Bilbo on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Thanks for the link Sam. Even the media are calling out the absurdity of it when the admit in the…” Jun 28, 09:52
Graham Macready on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Reading the above it is almost incomprehensible to see the level of incompetence and buck-passing from these organisations. If this…” Jun 28, 09:49
