The Daily Record gets up high on its outrage horse this morning with a front-page story titled “Double-crossed on devo”, echoing Jim Murphy’s claim of yesterday that the Tories’ manifesto pledge on “English votes for English laws” is a “betrayal” of the “Vow” signed by the three UK party leaders before the independence referendum.
Unsurprisingly, the Record gives rather less prominence to the news that the Vow isn’t worth the fake parchment it wasn’t written on than it did to repeatedly hyping it up and then proclaiming that it had already been delivered.
Last week we listened to a Radio Scotland phone-in debate on Trident, hosted very deftly by John Beattie, who managed to steer callers away from political points and keep the discussion on the merits or otherwise of the weapons system itself.
Sadly that didn’t dissuade the usual coterie of nutters/local councillors phoning in insisting that (a) North Korea would invade/blast Scotland off the face of the Earth the moment we let our guard down, and (b) Helensburgh would immediately revert to the Stone Age at the loss of jobs were the few hundred Trident sailors who spend about a week every year in the town to be reassigned to other posts in the navy.
We didn’t have time to ring in ourselves, but we did manage to think of a much better idea that solved both of those problems without lumbering Scotland with a gigantic nuclear white elephant, and one that would also free up an awful lot of valuable police time and resources that are currently spent arresting a bunch of hippies.
We try to avoid openly editorialising on this site, readers. While unashamedly partisan in our leanings, as a rule we prefer to present the facts and let people come to their own conclusions from the evidence.
But we’re not sure we’ve ever seen anything more craven and pathetic than this.
We’ve been quiet today because we’ve been wading through the 80-odd painfully-dry pages of the Labour 2015 election manifesto, folks. It’s a deeply tedious read – screeds and screeds of waffly text about how nice things are nice and good things are good but bad things are bad. A couple of things did jump out, though. Here’s one.
Alert readers will of course recall that the party’s solemn pledge in Scotland is to provide 1000 more nurses (hastily revised from the comical “1000 more than whatever the SNP say”) from the proceeds of the Mansion Tax, even though NHS Scotland is devolved and no Westminster government can in fact hire a single Scottish nurse.
But hang on. Something’s not right about those numbers.
A super-alert reader pointed out something about today’s Sunday Politics that we hadn’t noticed. Before the galaxy-class trainwreck that was the Scottish leaders’ debate, the networked section of the show had a piece on Scottish polling, and our eagle-eyed viewer spotted that the chart of projected seats wasn’t in proportion.
So we measured, and this is what it should have looked like.
With there only having been three hours of the Scottish political party leaders (and Jim Murphy) debating on TV so far this week, and four days to wait for another one, BBC Scotland thought they might need another 40 minutes on this afternoon’s Sunday Politics Scotland to discuss the issues around the forthcoming general election.
It went well, but for busy readers in a hurry we’ve edited the show down to a compact nine-minute cut, which still gets across everything the full version did.
A great example of adult discourse, expertly set. Well done, everyone.
There’s very little actual political news today, so the papers have largely been forced to either basically not have any at all (the Sunday Post and Scottish Sun On Sunday) or make up totally mad stuff for laughs to fill the space.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Scottish Liberal Democrat manifesto 2015:
I voted for this pathetic shower of useless snivellers for 23 years, folks. I’ve learned my lesson. Once again, I can only hang my head and beg forgiveness.
With the “biggest party forms the government” lie now sunk and rusting slowly on the seabed (weighed down even further by polls suggesting that Labour actually will be the largest party even if they lose all of Scotland to the SNP), and four weeks of campaigning left to fill, Scottish Labour have had to grab a hammer, smash the glass on the “EMERGENCY – IN CASE OF DESPERATION” box and clutch desperately at whatever they found inside.
The abject answer is “Project Fear 2 – This Time It’s Full Fiscal Autonomy”.
After this week’s STV and BBC debates, in which the Scottish Labour branch-office manager’s combative performances were favourably received by the Scottish media, Wings exclusively interviews armed-forces enthusiast Jim Murphy for a response to the latest numbers from YouGov, pausing first for the delivery of some refreshments.
Geri on Seven Days Too Long: “They’re as thick as shit. No wonder the Eppy class shafts them. Dumb doff capping serfs only have the attention…” May 3, 20:53
Iain More on Seven Days Too Long: “Get a life yah toxic wee Sassanach Troll” May 3, 20:04
Aidan on Seven Days Too Long: “No Insider is right Alf, James Cheyne has lost the plot” May 3, 19:34
Mark Beggan on Seven Days Too Long: “These people that told you this are they still in your head?” May 3, 19:31
Mark Beggan on Seven Days Too Long: “When you are right and everyone else is wrong usually means a mental breakdown. How’s the sex change going?” May 3, 19:19
Iain More on Seven Days Too Long: “It is a waste of time asking for a Section 30. Scotland isn’t going to get one whatever. The Yoons…” May 3, 19:05
James Che on Seven Days Too Long: “I have always liked the unionist on here as they are so helpful in making my post entertaining when they…” May 3, 18:57
Mark Beggan on Seven Days Too Long: “Raising a glass of fine malt single whiskey to Graham Linehan. A soldier in the war against evil.” May 3, 18:54
James Che on Seven Days Too Long: “As I mentioned these records of the non- union with Scotland can be researched and checked out, The dummies are…” May 3, 18:50
twathater on Seven Days Too Long: “Unfortunately for you James Che makes more sense with her contributions than you ever did with your constant support for…” May 3, 18:06
Izzie on Seven Days Too Long: “Just back from deliveting SNP both votes leaflet. Knocked them in. People seem to have forgiven (forgotten) campervangate? and Alex…” May 3, 18:06
Insider on Seven Days Too Long: “Alf Baird 3:25 Aye, you and “James Che” certainly made a good pair ! Is that the sound of wedding…” May 3, 16:35
Alf Baird on Seven Days Too Long: ““lost the plot” No so; James has merely confirmed what we all know, and as Liberation Scotland and Professor Robert…” May 3, 15:23
Geri on Seven Days Too Long: “Bilbo Apologies, my reply ended up in the wrong place. Anyway, update… I’ve since watched an interview with him. It…” May 3, 15:10
Sven on Seven Days Too Long: “He should be okay as long as he doesn’t go onto the roofs of any high building or too near…” May 3, 13:29
Mark Beggan on Seven Days Too Long: “James was locked in a cupboard as a child. That’s when the voices started.” May 3, 13:00
Mark Beggan on Seven Days Too Long: “Even the Scottish Greens are afraid of the Tit Whisperer. A gay Jew who is best chums with Islamic cut…” May 3, 12:53
Towbar Sullivan on Seven Days Too Long: “OIC…I didn’t realise. I’ll say a prayer for the poor demented old dear.” May 3, 12:47
Insider on Seven Days Too Long: “Towbar Don’t be too hard on “James”. It is actually a very old lady who has sadly “lost the plot”.…” May 3, 12:28
Geri on Seven Days Too Long: “Oh Sturgeon had her moments. Who could forget her idiotic post glorify the death count of Rs with various muscle…” May 3, 12:19
Towbar Sullivan on Seven Days Too Long: “James, have you been on the poitin? It was the 1800 Acts of Union, there was an Anglo-Irish Agreement, but…” May 3, 11:51
Bilbo on Seven Days Too Long: “@ Geri Have you not considered that Polanski, as a person well known in the media at the present time,…” May 3, 11:23
James Che on Seven Days Too Long: “Recognising that the elections held in Scotland are actually the elections of United kingdom of Anglo-Irish parliament agreement 1800 and…” May 3, 11:21
James Che on Seven Days Too Long: “These records can be checked, Once you dissolve one of the Countries of only two parties to the 1706/07 treaty…” May 3, 11:06
James Che on Seven Days Too Long: “Today The UK is the united kingdom and parliament of England and Ireland, And does not include Scotland (twice).” May 3, 10:56
