We’re still trying not to pay attention to the election because it’s so tedious and awful and pointless, but this is worth putting on the record because it’s in The National and otherwise nobody’s going to read it.
Because we’re still more than two years out from the next Holyrood election, and it’s really hard to see how it’s going to pan out. So let’s throw some figures around.
These are strange and grim times for the Scottish independence movement, but we never thought it’d ever get so strange that we’d be quoting Effie Deans.
Since pretty much day one, Wings has said that the only honest and honourable way to campaign against independence would be for Unionists to say Scotland isn’t a country, but a mere region of the UK. But they lack the courage to admit what their true beliefs are, and so they fall back on fear and lies disguised as concern, all cloaked in “proud Scot” protestations.
While that might be a miserable way to conduct yourself, it’s understandable, because the moment that you acknowledge Scotland as being a country, all the debating lines against independence crumble to ashes. They’re powerless in the face of the principle that countries should choose their own governments, for good or ill, because that’s what democracy is, and few people are willing to stand openly against democracy.
And what Effie Deans’ concession of this site’s cornerstone argument reveals is that Unionists finally feel safe against any threat of independence in the foreseeable future, and with good reason.
Fair play to The National, the use of the word “HIS” in this banner on their front page today might be the single funniest thing ever printed by a Scottish newspaper.
Because everyone and his dug in Scotland knows whose strategy it actually is, and how many years Pete Wishart spent traducing it as nonsense and furiously venting his overworked spleen at anyone who advocated it – right up to the point where Nicola Sturgeon adopted it in a desperate last attempt to keep the indy faithful pushing the SNP gravy bus, at which point it became the greatest masterplan of all time.
But today’s piece in the indy equivalent of the Daily Express (albeit with only a tenth of the sales) is so jawdropping that we doubt even Robert Oppenheimer would be up to the job of putting a scorchmark on Wishart’s brass neck, so let’s spend five minutes having a look at it before we go out for a bit of sunshine.
Humza Yousaf is played here by Morgan Freeman, the big plane carrying the bomb is the independence movement and Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer are in the chopper.
Willie on The Party Of The Dead: “Ah Hatey, you raise a point. Number 10 North. The relocation of Nr 10 function to Manchester. Its a strange…” Aug 11, 10:41
Chas on The Party Of The Dead: “‘Case in point in the Carse of Gowrie at the moment. 2000 acres of prime farmland (next to the biggest…” Aug 11, 10:31
Captain Caveman on The Party Of The Dead: ““According to Andy Wightman” Explains a lot.” Aug 11, 10:26
sam on The Party Of The Dead: “Large estates in Scotland historically have not been good for the Scottish people on them. According to Andy Wightman “83%…” Aug 11, 10:20
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: “Now you’re just boasting about the better class of rammie you enjoy in your hoose. We’re traditionalists. “Ach, shite!” delivered…” Aug 11, 10:19
Captain Caveman on The Party Of The Dead: “Sam seems to be telling us “there are some land owners who aren’t 100% perfect” in 30,000 (cut and pasted)…” Aug 11, 10:02
Minceheid on The Party Of The Dead: “Hatey McHateface says: 11 August, 2026 at 8:13 am Short and to the point, MH. But couldn’t you have phrased…” Aug 11, 10:01
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: “Hero to Zero in 3 weeks: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/10/andy-burnham-national-listening-tour Got to hand it to the Guardian. It must have taken a little…” Aug 11, 09:53
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: “From Robin McAlpine’s latest: “independence is our ‘product’ and the current available specifications of our product are rubbish, filled with…” Aug 11, 09:34
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: “If everybody competes in a letter box, then what’s the problem? Demographics tells us that’s what will happen eventually. So…” Aug 11, 08:54
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: “An interesting thread. I await with interest sam linking to a study proving that immigrant ethnic minorities are greatly under-represented…” Aug 11, 08:45
Dan on The Party Of The Dead: ““Highly lucrative sports”? Is that the old huge economic boost created by shooting line being floated per chance. https://www.commonweal.scot/articles/the-goriest-twelfth https://revive.scot/think-tank-claims-government-report-on-driven-grouse-shooting-shows-the-bloodsport-is-economically-unviable/” Aug 11, 08:44
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: “Aw, c’moan noo, diabloandco. Wasn’t the CG ruined fir mony by those boys strutting aboot in kilts an tartan an…” Aug 11, 08:30
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: “If there’s one area of expertise in which Dan is King, it’s the making of soup. Only fair we also…” Aug 11, 08:19
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: “Short and to the point, MH. But couldn’t you have phrased it in Scots? For the True Sovereign Scots reading…” Aug 11, 08:13
Aidan on The Party Of The Dead: ““Local government is also heavily influenced by large landowners in the area, seen as major sources of income and employment”…” Aug 11, 07:53
Oneliner on The Party Of The Dead: “There is no common wealth. It’s in either London or The Cayman Islands. Why promote the myth?” Aug 11, 06:51
sam on The Party Of The Dead: “https://www.thelandmagazine.org.uk/articles/who-owns-land-matters “Who Owns The Land Matters The Scottish Land Commission has found through extensive research that having a system dominated…” Aug 11, 06:46
sam on The Party Of The Dead: “https://www.thelandmagazine.org.uk/articles/who-owns-land-matters “Much environmental work on such land is then paid for by the government, land rights campaigner Peter Peacock points…” Aug 11, 06:38
sam on The Party Of The Dead: “https://www.thelandmagazine.org.uk/articles/who-owns-land-matters “Interviews from back in 2021 with enthusiastic representatives of Savills and Knight Frank show what is going on: We…” Aug 11, 06:31
Young Lochinvar on The Party Of The Dead: “Anniversary today of the 1460 crowning of James III in Kelso Abbey. Not regarded as the best monarch he however…” Aug 10, 23:28
Young Lochinvar on The Party Of The Dead: “Dan I agree we should be doing everything towards reaching zero reliance on importing agricultural production from elsewhere except where…” Aug 10, 22:33
Young Lochinvar on The Party Of The Dead: “AX Don’t watch it myself but the argument could be made for such camera angles to see which female athletes…” Aug 10, 21:59
Young Lochinvar on The Party Of The Dead: “HMcH Fash not so Hatey! A bit of a civil servant sore point over-reaction from you there. 🙂 I don’t…” Aug 10, 21:53
Dan on The Party Of The Dead: “Chas there, showing what a pathetic twat he is in trying to get one over on somebody, and responding to…” Aug 10, 21:46
agentx on The Party Of The Dead: ““New guidelines for broadcasters on using more respectful camera angles when covering live athletics events have been implemented for the…” Aug 10, 21:24
Chas on The Party Of The Dead: “I never realised that the Carse of Gowrie was right next to the river Severn Dan. Everyday is a schoolday…” Aug 10, 21:04
diabloandco on The Party Of The Dead: “And it was very bitty , though I acknowledge they tried.” Aug 10, 20:50
Anthem on The Party Of The Dead: “Woop de doo, I’m sure that got maximum viewing across the rest of the UK.” Aug 10, 20:40