Anyone seeking to make a compelling argument for the proposition that Scotland’s politicians and lawmakers are simply too farcically incompetent to ever be trusted with running an independent country had a gift-wrapped Godsend delivered to them last week by the idiot student children of Edinburgh.
But we can’t really put the blame on the colourfully-haired, keffiyeh-clad cretin kiddies of the capital for that, because it’s their elders and betters who opened the door.
With Reform now pretty consistently miles in front in polling for the next UK election, logically this is brilliant news for the Scottish independence movement, isn’t it?
So can anyone explain why the SNP is so desperate to stop them?
As recently as this weekend, the Scottish Government claimed that it has “made clear it accepts the Supreme Court ruling [in For Women Scotland] and is taking forward the detailed work necessary”.
But as with so much the Scottish Government says, it’s a barefaced lie.
Police Scotland have nevertheless denied that prisoners in their custody are being excessively pampered, following reports that a man was hustled out of St Leonard’s station in Edinburgh with an electric blanket over his head.
Meanwhile, following the Supreme Court ruling in the For Women Scotland case, the force’s HQ at Tulliallan was burgled by a gang of militant transactivists who stole all the toilets. Officers say they have nothing to go on.
One of the very few phrases universally recognised in Scotland but which will draw blank looks anywhere else in the UK is the dry, dark “Well, ye ken noo”. Until recently it had no equivalent that we can bring to mind in the rest of the English-speaking world, although arguably that gap has now been at least partly filled by the acronym “FAFO”.
(We try not to swear on the site, so let’s say it stands for “Fool Around, Find Out”.)
So now the smoke has cleared, the troops have departed the battlefield and the winner is enjoying the spoils, what did we find out on Thursday night, and what didn’t we?
Despite everything, we almost allowed ourselves just the very tiniest little micro-flicker of optimism when we read Tommy Sheppard’s latest in The National.
Because that much is certainly true, and it’s uncommonly candid to have anyone in the SNP admit it. So what’s the answer?
At the weekend, Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman was filmed applauding as a notoriously unhinged transactivist ranted through a megaphone to a small and almost exclusively male crowd of protestors about how he was going to openly break the law by continuing to use women’s public toilets, and addressing JK Rowling with the words “We should all take a shite on you, you heinous creeping old bitch”.
At another protest, Chapman herself asserted that the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling on the correct interpretation of the Equality Act 2010 was motivated by not by a solemn consideration of the law or by the arguments of counsel who appeared before it, but by “bigotry, prejudice and hatred”.
Chapman is – incredibly – Deputy Convener of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee of the Scottish Parliament, and as such her comments sparked a storm of wholly justified outrage over her flagrant breach not only of Parliamentary rules but also of the law – specifically the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008, which requires all MSPs to uphold the independence of the judiciary.
Southernbystander on Vibecoding A Better World: “As someone who does creative work (music, video) I am not into generative AI for all the usual, obvious reasons…” Oct 29, 19:15
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “They’re clarty cants in Salisbury. The usual cocktail of germ-laden piss, snot and fecal matter covering their doorknobs, handbags, etc…” Oct 29, 18:10
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: ““I took early retirement from HMRC in 2005” That being the case, sarah, you may be in a position to…” Oct 29, 18:03
Williams on Vibecoding A Better World: “Can you please figure out how to port newish games to MACOS, pretty please? I can only get to the…” Oct 29, 14:30
Iain D on Vibecoding A Better World: “It constantly amazes me that despite the warnings and recent events relating to how AI is very much NOT aligned…” Oct 29, 13:59
sarah on Vibecoding A Better World: “It was starting to go wrong just before I took early retirement from HMRC in 2005. It was, I believe,…” Oct 29, 12:36
diabloandco on Vibecoding A Better World: “Can you no use babywipes for cleaning up Novichok ? I seem to remeber that’s what the folk of Salisbury…” Oct 29, 12:32
James Che on Vibecoding A Better World: “Sarah, I too am extremely appreciative that I had held on to old fashioned paper work and resisted going full…” Oct 29, 11:10
Minceheid on Vibecoding A Better World: “Are you sure you’re not thinking of Jet Set Willy? That game had a generous helping of bugs which made…” Oct 29, 11:07
Rev. Stuart Campbell on Vibecoding A Better World: “If you think the human-run aspects of HMRC are any better I have some extremely distressing news for you.” Oct 29, 10:45
James Che on Vibecoding A Better World: “Being deleted from AI automated computers led to extreme poverty in my case while trying to pay for funerals and…” Oct 29, 09:18
BLMac on Vibecoding A Better World: “Damn, we’ve just got past the SNP’s cabal of angry men in frocks identifying as women debacle. Are we now…” Oct 29, 09:17
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: “Consensus across the MSM is clear – yesterday’s “do nothing” budget fired the starting gun for a WM GE in…” Oct 29, 09:04
sarah on Vibecoding A Better World: “Yes, you’re right. Plus a filing cabinet can’t be hacked. But let the Rev have a break and enjoy himself…” Oct 29, 09:01
James Che on Vibecoding A Better World: “The perfect example of Where AI and computers running government can go wrong that could effect and affect everyone on…” Oct 29, 08:59
Dan on Faces In Sand: “Sigh… Response held in moderation because the links must have had “bad” words…” Oct 29, 08:29
James Che on Vibecoding A Better World: “The suspicion that AI would have have any more humanity in its laws and policies than the SNP to run…” Oct 29, 08:23
Nicky T Naquetti on Vibecoding A Better World: “I remember the glory days of “Digitizer”. It is hard to forget lines like: “It’s not every day a large…” Oct 29, 08:13
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: “From an article about Rosebank in the Guardian Online: “The Guardian also revealed on Tuesday that the Treasury had already…” Oct 29, 07:44
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: ““Which explains what happens in a colony, ‘where the colonized wish to develop and the colonizer holds him back’ (Memmi)”…” Oct 29, 07:25
Aidan on Faces In Sand: “Okay – so reading between the lines this is another one of these schemes dreamt up in the public sector…” Oct 29, 06:54
twathater on Faces In Sand: “There is a very interesting post on Mark Collets blog if anyone is interested” Oct 29, 02:38
WhoRattledYourCage on Vibecoding A Better World: “Do Fairlight or Manic Miner, only without the fucking bugs in them that made them crash when you got near…” Oct 28, 23:39
Southernbystander on Faces In Sand: “I’m afraid the moon is merely made of cheddar so I think you might have been had.” Oct 28, 23:14
Alf Baird on Faces In Sand: ““as part of that study did ask any shipping or freight operators whether they’d be interested in shipping their goods…” Oct 28, 22:06
Spartan 117 on Faces In Sand: “You’ll get no argument from me Dan regarding any of your points raised. The closure of Grangemouth was an utterly…” Oct 28, 21:56