As more horrific experiences from survivors of rape torture gangs surface from across the UK, we must focus not on knee-jerk political posturing but on the root cause that led to the failure of these children by our society.
Political inaction has now opened the door to inevitable political mileage, nurtured from stoking vengeance in a rightly-angered public. Those only interested in creating cultural conflicts no more support justice for survivors than those who allowed this abomination to fester by looking away or worse, covering up the problem.
For any functioning society, inflicting unimaginable pain on children on an alarming scale seems unimaginable. Yet, the evidence has been in front of us for years – so why has immediate action to ensure the safeguarding of children – and vulnerable adults – not been a pressing priority?
Any rational assessment of Scottish (or indeed UK or world) politics at the moment tends to be negative and depressing, so since it’s a new year we thought we’d make an extra-special effort at writing something positive.
Unfortunately that does require us to enter the realm of fantasy. But hey, everybody needs a little holiday from time to time, right?
Polling in Scotland, the UK and Wales in the last few days has shown Great Britain taking a fairly heavy swerve to the right after just five months of Sir Keir Starmer’s government. Labour now lead Reform (who have five seats to Labour’s 411) by just three points in the UK and are even more remarkably now in THIRD place in Wales, a country where the party has won every single election for over 100 years.
Scotland, meanwhile, is heading for a hung Parliament in 2026 in which – as this site has been telling its readers for the last year and a half – the only possibility of a stable administration will be an SNP-Labour coalition.
The proceedings at the Supreme Court this week were a tough follow even if you could get the court’s abominably bad livestream to work. They’re all archived here now, but non-lawyers will probably glaze over quickly during the nine hours of intense legalese.
We’re not allowed to clip up any illustrative sections, on pain of possible contempt of court, so perhaps the best way to explain the key parts of what happened in a vaguely comprehensible way is by showing you some commentary from social media.
In many ways, the fabricated, hysterical furore of Humza Yousaf Vs Elon Musk is the ultimate in summer-silly-season politics stories.
Absurdly plainly, the former First Minister ISN’T going to take any legal action against the billionaire owner of Twitter. He only likes bullying small nurseries, and even then he doesn’t follow through. He didn’t even sue us for calling him racist a few months ago, so there’s zero chance he’s going to square up to the world’s richest man.
We’ve been off for a little break in the country, and as far as we can tell we’ve missed absolutely nothing in the moribund world of Scottish politics. We did, however, arrive back just in time for something mildly interesting, or at least revealing.
It’s the latest episode of a new podcast by veteran Scottish political journalist and broadcaster Bernard Ponsonby and jobbing opinion columnist Alex Massie, inventively titled The Ponsonby And Massie Podcast.
The first 35 minutes or so weren’t very noteworthy, other than the curious omission – when predicting the makeup of the next Scottish Government – of the idea of a Labour-SNP coalition, which to this site remains by far the most practical and logical outcome of the 2026 Holyrood election.
David Davis may be the last of his kind – a libertarian Tory from a council-scheme and grammar-school background, and also one of the few remaining big beasts occupying the political jungle of the back benches.
(He could in fact have been Tory leader, and would have been if David Cameron and George Osborne hadn’t teamed up to defeat him in 2005 after he won the first ballot.)
So on the rare occasions when he leads a Commons adjournment debate, as he did last Thursday evening, those with an educated eye for politics sit up and take notice.
The 2005 election was the last time the Daily Record and the Scottish Sun both endorsed the same party at a UK general election. So, y’know, something is going on.
duncanio on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: “twathater I have supported SSRG, Salvo and Liberation since inception, having attended the Edinburgh Proclamation gathering on 1st September 2022…” May 27, 19:13
Alf Baird on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: “We cannot treat “the colonial question…as a subsidiary part of some more important global matter” (Robin D. G. Kelley). And…” May 27, 18:47
twathater on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: “I agree with you Sarah regarding Roddy and Peter Bell, duncanio criticises Liberate for having no publicly clear immediate route…” May 27, 18:25
Dave G on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: “I’m glad you even manage to see a “Brit” identity. It is now routine to walk down High Street or…” May 27, 18:18
Aidan on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: “Yes, that was the motivation behind the blue sea rule. The legal principles on decolonisation and NSGT’s were agreed by…” May 27, 17:42
duncanio on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: “Sarah – We don’t have the luxury of time. Every time there is an election it could be the last…” May 27, 17:33
Xaracen on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: “But, Aidan, how can the ‘blue water’ requirement be “fundamental” when you made it clear to me that its purpose…” May 27, 17:04
James Cheyne on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: “I have been squinting quickly through, Textual Amendments to “Scotland union with England” Acts House of Lords ( privileges Committee…” May 27, 16:43
Northcode on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: “Hello, Sam. Good to know you’re still about this place. “We are much the same genetic material now as in…” May 27, 16:21
sarah on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: “That is indeed interesting about the party whip system. I’d love to see their candidate win.” May 27, 16:14
sarah on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: “@ duncanio at 11.23 p.m. and twathater at 03.33. Thank you, twathater for correctly pointing out my motivation for supporting…” May 27, 16:12
Northcode on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: ““Towards decolonization and then liberation.” Indeed, Alf. The third and final phase of Scotland’s decolonization has begun there’s no doubt…” May 27, 16:04
Kelpie on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: “I live in Hamilton so we have people canvassing and leaf-letting for the by-election next week. I’ve never had so…” May 27, 16:01
James Barr Gardner on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: “Wallonia has the right of veto in Belgian Federal decisions, it’s population of 3.7 million is 31.4% of Belgium……..” May 27, 15:32
Breastplate on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: “Yes, John, you’re correct, it is something you eat, particularly in Scotland. What the English call rolls, tend to be…” May 27, 14:25
Alf Baird on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: “A soond analysis Robert. Yer deid richt, thar’s faur too mony jubous poleetical assumotions in this piece. Poetry theory is…” May 27, 14:10
sam on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: “Hello again Northcode. Genetic studies of the Scots identify how little change there has been within Scots. We are much…” May 27, 13:55
Hatey McHateface on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: “It’s defo interesting you don’t believe in viruses, Billy. Back in the early decades of the last century, the inhabitants…” May 27, 13:11
Lorn on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: “Spot on, Susan. In order to do that, we need to create new and sustainable industries across the board, and,…” May 27, 12:44
Lorn on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: “It is true, twathater, that our politicians have gone out of their way to penalize women who do not work…” May 27, 12:37
Billy Carlin on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: “Hatey McHateface Oh Dear! One of those who do not want to use their own brains. First off there was…” May 27, 12:32
James Cheyne on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: “The down fall and hollowing out of Scotland and changing its ethic population and culture were dilberate actions talen, The…” May 27, 12:30
Hatey McHateface on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: “@ Billy Carlin says:27 May, 2025 at 11:31 am So what you’re saying is that we don’t actually need Indy…” May 27, 12:25
Aidan on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: “I won’t be aghast, the failure to even address the fundamental ‘blue water’ requirement just continues to show that this…” May 27, 12:23
Hatey McHateface on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: ““Towards decolonization and then liberation” And wads of moolah. You forgot that. And to most Scots, that’s the bit that…” May 27, 12:17
Hatey McHateface on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: “Aye, BP, those fecking nationalist, sovereignty-defending, freedom fighters, eh? If only they would cave. Have you seen the price of…” May 27, 12:12
Billy Carlin on What Are We, And Where Are We Going?: “Insider 26 May 2025 at 7.17 pm You use your brain and go and do some simple research – you…” May 27, 11:31
