At least, we assume there was a sizeable current being passed through it, as little else could explain the visibly uncomfortable half-hour experienced by hapless Stonewall chair Iain Anderson with Beth Rigby last night, or the seemingly random changes every few seconds in his facial expressions, body language and accent.
(Just about the only constant, other than his sweating top lip, was the deeply irritating modern phenomenon of stupid people starting every sentence with the word “So…”.)
If you’re a connoisseur of vacuous, nervous awkwardness you’re in for a real treat. If you want to see a human being actually answering any questions with even the tiniest shred of coherence, pertinence or honesty, maybe give it a miss.
Just for a change, let’s have a Friday-night competition!
Sharp-eyed readers will have noticed that former First Minister Alex Salmond is staging a show in the Spiegeltent at the Edinburgh Fringe next month, from 4-13 August.
You may even have seen a bit of online criticism from certain po-faced pseudonats about the fact that Salmond is sharing a platform with – gasp! – a Yoon, in the shape of the “last of the traditional Tories”, David Davis MP.
When Humza Yousaf was campaigning to be elected leader of the SNP, he pledged that he would be not only the First Minister, but also the “First Activist”. It transpired that this in fact meant chapping a few doors in Dundee, just down the road from his home in Broughty Ferry (and on the way to his Glasgow constituency).
But what might a real “First Activist” have done with the position and power?
Can you spot the subtle change between these two National stories, readers?
Now, as they’re both in The National the standard of journalism is obviously completely dreadful, and so neither of them actually explains their headline. Nobody is named or quoted even anonymously, and there’s no elaboration other than that “[a member of] the NEC appeared to halt any proposal to use the next General Election as a proxy constitutional vote”, with no indication of HOW they “appeared” to do that.
But they DO raise the question of where on Earth – whoever becomes its new leader – the SNP goes from the smouldering bomb crater that Nicola Sturgeon has left it in.
Just 24% of respondents supported the idea of intact males who’d committed even non-violent and non-sexual crimes being housed alongside women, while a mere 15% – all of them red-flag danger cases in urgent need of having their hard drives checked – thought that rapists and sexual assaulters with their dingle-dangles still swinging in the wind had any business being incarcerated with the vulnerable and traumatised females who make up most of the female prison population.
Four times as many wanted them locked up with their fellow male offenders, while it would appear that approximately a quarter of Britons are whimpering custard-witted doughbrains who didn’t understand the question.
We’ll leave you to digest this startling and unexpected news, readers.
Cynicus on The Love Of Big Brother: ““ It is for banning things, one a week.” ========= Many years ago, The Herald published a letter making that…” Oct 4, 01:21
Insider on The Love Of Big Brother: “Indeed Jonathan ! I was astonished to see the prices supermarkets in England were charging for whisky last Christmas……A litre…” Oct 3, 22:56
Andy Wiltshire on The Love Of Big Brother: “They’ve long been trying, but it never seems to work.” Oct 3, 22:27
factchecker on The Love Of Big Brother: “At last – a professorial post based on fact. Please keep it up.” Oct 3, 21:54
factchecker on In The Eyes Of The Law: “Excellent post. Has a basis in fact. Please keep it up.” Oct 3, 21:44
Hatey McHateface on The Love Of Big Brother: ““Decolonization of course permits a liberated people to more fully develop” “The colonial status quo is never an option to…” Oct 3, 20:28
Alf Baird on The Love Of Big Brother: ““the post colonial boys never come up with any policies” What they do say is that “what they do with…” Oct 3, 20:11
McDuff on The Love Of Big Brother: “It seems to me that the SNP is determined to make its self unelectable.” Oct 3, 20:11
Hatey McHateface on The Love Of Big Brother: ““A colonised people are by implication subject to foreign ideology so long as they remain colonised” There you go, Alf,…” Oct 3, 19:43
Hatey McHateface on The Love Of Big Brother: “The UK illegal tobacco market is estimated at £5 billion to £6 billion PA. With the discrepancies shown above between…” Oct 3, 19:36
Alf Baird on The Love Of Big Brother: ““I don’t agree that this constitutes “foreign ideology”” A colonized people are by implication subject to foreign ideology so long…” Oct 3, 19:12
Captain Caveman on The Love Of Big Brother: “Yes, trademark lefty delight, schadenfreude and faux moral superiority, wielding puritanical, joy-sapping, virtue signalling woke “progressive” policies as though they…” Oct 3, 18:41
Spartan 117 on The Love Of Big Brother: ““There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always—…” Oct 3, 18:22
Northcode on The Love Of Big Brother: “I think it’s worth setting out what the Scottish Government’s proposed supermarket rules actually aim to achieve. Supermarkets have strong…” Oct 3, 18:21
Spartan 117 on The Love Of Big Brother: “More proof we are ruled by Authoritarian Communists, as if any further was needed.” Oct 3, 18:18
Captain Caveman on The Love Of Big Brother: “*righting any wrongs, even. (Duh)” Oct 3, 18:04
Captain Caveman on The Love Of Big Brother: “@GM I don’t agree that this constitutes “foreign ideology” – the likes of the SNP have wholeheartedly made it their…” Oct 3, 17:54
gm on The Love Of Big Brother: “Holyrood is a colonial administrative device. I agree with that. it is hardly surprising that they steal their wages and…” Oct 3, 17:29
Northcode on In The Eyes Of The Law: “In case it wasn’t clear in my last post, a judicial review can only look at whether the decision-making process…” Oct 3, 17:15
Captain Caveman on The Love Of Big Brother: “There really is no end to your grievance chimpery, is there? I mean, it couldn’t possibly be that the SNP…” Oct 3, 17:06
Alf Baird on The Love Of Big Brother: ““Holyrood, is not a place where policy is developed, debated and legislated on in response to public demand for reasons…” Oct 3, 16:35
Jonathan Offal on The Love Of Big Brother: “It’s worth noting that the “Alcohol tax” isn’t a tax. None of the money goes to the public, to alcohol…” Oct 3, 15:48
GM on The Love Of Big Brother: “There will be an element of that nae doot For example, there is plenty evidence that some in Holyrood and…” Oct 3, 15:44
Bill Cowan on The Love Of Big Brother: “The thing is, with the minimum price on alcohol and the massive discrepancies in price between England and Scotland, it…” Oct 3, 15:39
dearieme on The Love Of Big Brother: ““Utterly fascist in nature”: I don’t think so – I don’t remember allegations that Benito was a nutritionist nut. But…” Oct 3, 15:31
Patsy Millar on The Love Of Big Brother: “I think our government is now treating ‘1984’ as an instructional document!” Oct 3, 14:51
willie on The Love Of Big Brother: “Nutzlose Esser and Lebensunwertes Leben. The next policies for this utterly fascist government. Tried before, will be tried again!” Oct 3, 14:39
willie on The Love Of Big Brother: “Utterly fascist in nature and it begs the absolute question as to what right, and by what authority these scum…” Oct 3, 14:35
Alf Baird on The Love Of Big Brother: “You can buy 3 ferries for the price of 1, but such practices are banned in SNP la la land:…” Oct 3, 14:20
Captain Caveman on The Love Of Big Brother: “I don’t really buy that line of argument. Matters of personal efficiency, effectiveness, productivity and usefulness all seem like very…” Oct 3, 14:19