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.
Robert McAllan on The Sacrifice: “Willie, what you perceive as a ‘wolf’ has all the characteristics of a JACKAL and that is to flatter what…” Mar 23, 10:45
Willie on The Sacrifice: “At first glance I wasn’t quite sure of the tethered goat was Murrel or Swinney. Maybe it can be both.…” Mar 23, 09:33
Sven on The Sacrifice: “socratesmacsporran @ 08.48. I well recall in the 1980s hearing an elderly speaker, probably in his late seventies, commenting that…” Mar 23, 09:06
socratesmacsporran on The Sacrifice: “I am old enough to remember TW3 (That Was The Week That Was) on Saturday nights on television. We used…” Mar 23, 08:48
Hatey McHateface on The Sacrifice: “Nae shit, Sherlock!” Mar 23, 08:21
Hatey McHateface on The Sacrifice: “A standing ovation, no less! I’m starting to worry afresh about a resurgence in Jacobite support. Let these people have…” Mar 23, 08:18
100%Yes on The Sacrifice: “@ Lorn 6:17 I think you’ll find gender ID is a dead duck and the SNP has kicked it into…” Mar 23, 08:11
yoon scum on The Sacrifice: “I strongly believe that many in Scotland treat voting for a party the same as they treat supporting a football…” Mar 23, 07:33
Callum on The Sacrifice: “When published Peter Murrell’s memoirs will be far more interesting than Nicola Sturgeon’s” Mar 23, 07:10
yoon scum on The Sacrifice: “You forgot the part about her suddenly leaving said shared home just before plod appeared” Mar 23, 06:44
yoon scum on The Sacrifice: “If you think the SNP wouldn’t grasp any chance for indy then you’re a loony HOWEVER If you think you…” Mar 23, 06:40
Cynicus on The Sacrifice: “Should Chris not have used artistic licence to give the scapegoat a beard?” Mar 23, 01:10
Mark Beggan on The Sacrifice: “The sad story of the little Nasty and the Gravy Kiddettes.” Mar 23, 00:49
Anthem on The Sacrifice: “I feel your pain. She is laughing at all of us. A civil law suit should do the trick, but…” Mar 23, 00:10
Mark Beggan on The Sacrifice: “” and I looked into brainwashing house and they were all running around playing with each other then my Father…” Mar 22, 23:33
Former President Xiden on The Deep-Fried Banana Republic: “So the Crown office spent 4 years trying to decide on a case in which there was ‘not a scrap…” Mar 22, 23:18
agent x on The Sacrifice: “It’s cost £2.1m and Sturgeon is joking about it!” Mar 22, 22:25
Hatey McHateface on The Sacrifice: “Oh dear. Exactly as I predicted earlier, Sturgeon’s comedy circuit debut appears to have gone well. Disapproving, heckling, unhappy Sovereign…” Mar 22, 22:22
agent x on The Sacrifice: “https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/25029859.nicola-sturgeon-jokes-police-probe-comedy-festival/ Read and boke!” Mar 22, 22:21
James Barr Gardner on The Sacrifice: “How long will wee peem be alive ?” Mar 22, 22:13
Maxxmacc on The Sacrifice: “Best. Cartoon. Ever!” Mar 22, 20:18
diabloandco on The Sacrifice: “Hear! Hear!” Mar 22, 19:53
Hatey McHateface on The Deep-Fried Banana Republic: “Here you go, Mia: Per Apathy Ad Indy I’ve made you a wee cod-Latin motto so you can continue to…” Mar 22, 18:29
Lorn on The Sacrifice: “100%: independence was scuppered by gender ID during the most fertile time of opportunity ever in the party’s history. It…” Mar 22, 18:17
Lorn on The Sacrifice: “You are very probably right, Sven. All so predictable and so depressing.” Mar 22, 16:50
Skip_NC on The Sacrifice: “I don’t see sunlit uplands. I see a well-hidden cliff. Note Muscleguy’s point above.” Mar 22, 16:20
Mia on The Deep-Fried Banana Republic: ““but how does that help anybody?” How does continuing to take part in and legitimising with our vote a rigged…” Mar 22, 16:18
Skip_NC on The Sacrifice: “This is a good point. Saint Nicola of Dreghorn and Colin Beattie admitted to being incompetent, lazy, incurious or uncaring-…” Mar 22, 16:16
Mia on The Sacrifice: ““berates all and sundry for being critical of and not showing empathy for SHE” Well, as far as I am…” Mar 22, 15:48
Young Lochinvar on The Sacrifice: “Apols for the typos above..” Mar 22, 15:27