The Observer, for example, blamed the stat on “neo-Nazis”.
But even if that were true, it wouldn’t of course disprove the claim. A stopped clock is right twice a day, and something isn’t intrinsically false just because a neo-Nazi says it. Hitler had some pretty messed-up ideas but the world didn’t become flat just because he said it was round.
The Cass Review into gender medicine, which has been almost six long years in the making, was finally published this morning, and despite the fears of some – including us – that it was going to be watered down, it’s turned out to be an absolutely explosive document even on a quick skim. (It’s 388 pages long.)
The most damning aspect, though, is almost certainly this one:
Those quotes annihilate any concept of an “innocent good intentions” defence for the gender clinics. Because if you genuinely believe that you’re doing good, you don’t try to bury all the evidence.
Ruth Davidson finally emerged today from a summer of hiding from press stories about her racist and sectarian councillors and MSPs to give a bizarre, nervy and gabbling interview to Good Morning Scotland.
Highlights included calling Show Racism The Red Card an “anti-Semitic” organisation and proposing the building of eight entire new towns in Scotland (the funding source and potential locations for this colossal undertaking were not specified), all filled with social housing which would nevertheless be for sale under Right To Buy.
(Which if it could somehow magically be done would of course lead to the homes being quickly sold at heavy discounts, leaving councils insufficient money to fund their replacements and creating another massive housing bubble and crisis.)
But our very favourite bit was when (at 2h 17m) she said this:
To be honest, readers, if we encountered a 30-sq-foot drunk waving a broken glass around in a pub, we’d just be looking for the door as fast as possible. But clearly Ruth Davidson frequents different sorts of bars to us.
So just for a bit of light-hearted Friday fun, we thought we’d ask: what WOULD you say to that person in that situation?
This is amazing, readers. It’s an extract from this afternoon’s The Big Debate on Radio Scotland, in which a journalist – the BBC’s Gordon Brewer – finally gets round to asking someone from Scottish Labour how they can make the extra £500m they need to fund their tax-credits “policy” while keeping all taxes the same.
You might have to listen through a few times to get your head round it, because that really is what a grown woman actually tried to get away with in front of a live audience.
An alert reader pointed us today to this audio clip of Jim Murphy. It’s not tagged, but we THINK it’s from a Radio Clyde interview about three weeks ago which oddly didn’t seem to get picked up at the time by anyone in the media.
Below is a clip from today’s “Morning Call” on BBC Radio Scotland. Speaking (from 16m 24s on the full show) are SNP MSP Mark McDonald, presenter Kaye Adams and Labour MSP Lewis Macdonald. There are a couple of noteworthy moments.
A caller named “George” had rung in concerned that the SNP might be giving up on their goal of independence, and Adams invited Mark McDonald to set his mind at rest. Here’s what happened in the next three minutes.
Today we’ve become quite obsessed with Jim Murphy’s pathological avoidance of a straight answer to the question of whether income tax should be fully devolved to the Scottish Parliament or not. The BBC now has a report on his much-trailed speech in Glasgow, but we’ll get to that in a moment. First it’s worth having a listen to this.
It’s an interview taken from the “Pienaar’s Politics” podcast on Radio 5 Live earlier this month. And it makes for an intriguing study of the art of evasion.
We know some readers hate listening to audio (we do too), so here’s a full transcript of this interview from this morning, with some brief added commentary.
GeoffC. on The New Britain: “Parties aren’t winning by gaining seats, they’re losing fewer than the other lot. It’s all a Shambles – perhaps we…” Dec 3, 16:24
Young Lochinvar on The New Britain: “Interesting. It’s certainly the approach that did for the Soviet Union. Watched Scotland Tonight yesterday evening and listened to the…” Dec 3, 16:21
sam on What Went On: ““The Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) has become one of the most influential forces in global education. The growing…” Dec 3, 16:21
maxxmacc on The New Britain: “At risk of repeating myself. The only country which can deliver Scottish independence is America. We could somehow get another…” Dec 3, 16:19
John C on The New Britain: “I didn’t expect much from Labour & Starmer but to say they’ve made a mess of their first five months…” Dec 3, 16:18
Mark Beggan on The New Britain: “And if this shit doesn’t stop there will be no Scotland to fight over.” Dec 3, 16:02
fillofficer on The New Britain: ““Barring a nuclear war or an alien invasion” there’s an alien invasion being predicted for tomorrow, funnily enough (on X…….i…” Dec 3, 16:02
Mark Beggan on The New Britain: “Spot on. It’s got nothing to do with Scotland now. It’s about stopping the Woke Madness by what ever means…” Dec 3, 15:58
Cuilean on The New Britain: “‘Alba’ does not have ‘national’ it its title. The word ‘national’ being so easily spun, pejoritively and it is also…” Dec 3, 15:51
Campbell Clansman on The New Britain: “The two council by-elections should give an indicator of public opinion. The minor, fringe parties (Monster Raving Loony, Alba, ISP)…” Dec 3, 15:49
aLurker on The New Britain: “Jeezo. Imagine replacing ‘Honest’ John with BAP / Freeports Forbes or walking ignoramus Shona Robison. How about Neil- ‘I didn’t…” Dec 3, 15:44
sarah on The New Britain: “I did suggest on previous occasions that SNP then Alba should stand in English constituencies on a platform of “independence…” Dec 3, 15:43
Tormod on The New Britain: “Unfortunately, I agree with your last 4 paragraphs” Dec 3, 15:43
Craig on The New Britain: “1. Create a new party 2. Use AI to propose an overarching manifesto to provide maximum benefit to the majority…” Dec 3, 15:40
Ebenezer Scroggie on The New Britain: “I can’t remember which wannabe Prez of the US it was who, upon hearing that he had lost the election,…” Dec 3, 15:39
100%Yes on The New Britain: “There is only one place that can make a difference for anyone living on these Islands and that’s Westminster, 56mp…” Dec 3, 15:36
sarah on The New Britain: “I don’t know anything much about most SNP MSPs – nothing good, certainly – but they don’t seem to have…” Dec 3, 15:35
Alf Baird on What Went On: “Colonialism is the root cause of pretty much all Scotland’s social, cultural, political and economic problems. But we should not…” Dec 3, 15:33
sarah on The New Britain: “Unfortunately you are correct, Rev. But can we put a stick in the Unionist parties tri-cycle wheels? Could you ask…” Dec 3, 15:28
Ted on The New Britain: “That’s a circular argument. Immigrants are needed to replace British workers who are not encouraged to work either for Benefits…” Dec 3, 15:27
Doug on The New Britain: “Things can change very quickly these days as the recent collapse of landslide Labour proves. If the current leadership of…” Dec 3, 15:22
Derek Thomson on The New Britain: “Without immigration, the health service would collapse. I assume you’re a fit and healthy 80 year old.” Dec 3, 15:21
100%Yes on The New Britain: “The Alba Party is a none starter and it always has been, its time to rethink before its to late.…” Dec 3, 15:20
Ted on The New Britain: “Immigration both legal and illegal, is the far and away biggest issue in the UK. Reform UK is the only…” Dec 3, 15:01
Patsy Millar on The New Britain: “Spot on yet again.” Dec 3, 15:00
Michael Laing on What Went On: “Interesting. While I find it hard to tell objective fact from the conspiracy theories and propaganda regarding Covid, we were…” Dec 3, 14:51
gregor on What Went On: “World Economic Forum: Organizations: European Commission: https://www.weforum.org/organizations/european-commission/ Partners: Pfizer: https://www.weforum.org/organizations/pfizer/” Dec 3, 14:18
Zander Tait on What Went On: “O/T. I see that Kirsty Wark has weighed in on the Gregg Wallace stooshie accusing him of innuendo. A heinous…” Dec 3, 14:14