This evening’s Question Time saw one of the most incident-packed passages on the show in recent memory. From left to right onscreen the panellists were Paul Marshall (hedge fund manager, head of a chain of academy schools and co-author of the Lib Dems’ infamous “Orange Book”), Alex Salmond, Tory minister Greg Clark, Labour’s shadow home secretary Andy Burnham and right-wing think-tanker Jill Kirby.
We’d hoped to be bringing you in-depth analysis of the Scottish Labour manifesto by now, readers, but a couple of hours after their launch event there’s still no sign of it anywhere (we’ve checked their website, Facebook page and Twitter feed, all blank).
So we’re going to nip out to the shops for a bit. In the meantime, here’s some footage we recorded of the fantastic live stream of the launch the party put out.
While we’re on the subject of Ruth “line in the sand” Davidson of the Ruth Davidson No Surrender To The SNP Anti-Referendum Party making U-turns, we thought we might remind you of another one, this time from rather more recent history than 2011.
Just nine months ago, apparently Ms Davidson’s view was that “it would be wrong for the Tories to stand in the way” of another referendum “if the SNP gets a democratic mandate from the public”.
Sounds like a firm, resolute commitment to democracy and the incontrovertible right of the people of Scotland to determine their own destiny. Stirring stuff. We approve.
Dismayingly, this magnificent piece of virtuoso television interviewing from last night’s Scotland Tonight doesn’t appear to have been recorded in full splendid isolation for posterity anywhere, so it would be a grave failure of duty on our part not to preserve it for those viewers unfortunate enough to have been otherwise engaged.
This is an intriguing and engrossing extended chat between Christopher Silver and Iain Macwhirter for what will hopefully become a regular series by the excellent Phantom Power Films, creators of Altered States and lots more:
It’s well worth whiling away a little bit of your afternoon on.
STV’s Bernard Ponsonby asks Kezia Dugdale about the possibility of a future second referendum should the Scottish electorate express a clear democratic wish for one:
(Not taken out of context. To see the full clip, go to around 1h 43m here.)
We don’t normally ask you to watch videos as long as this, readers. (Although at 4m 22s it’s still not War And Peace.) As a rule the key part of any TV discussion can be boiled down to a few seconds, but this one needs to be taken in at a bit more length.
It happened on last night’s Question Time from Dundee, and was already 10 minutes into a discussion about whether there might be a second independence referendum and what might trigger it, in particular the prospect of Scotland voting to remain in the EU in June but the rest of the UK voting to leave, dragging Scotland out forcibly.
At that point, host David Dimbleby made an inexplicable intervention, abandoning his position as supposedly neutral moderator to pluck a “fact” out of thin air with which to attack the SNP’s John Swinney. Here’s what unfolded.
An alert reader just found this. It’s quite something.
We especially liked this bit:
“The growing practice of the socialist government is to take decisions vitally affecting Scotland in Whitehall… this is a process which we have every intention of setting in direct reverse.”
We thought you might like to see this snippet from a recent edition of the BBC News channel’s newspapers round-up, spotted by an alert reader.
We particularly enjoy the obviousness with which presenter Martine Croxall is being fed random titles into her earpiece by a panicking producer in response to freelancer stringer Matthew Green’s unexpected observation.
Alf Baird on The Longest Road: “Well, they are certainly “a major problem” but I would argue the root ’cause’ is colonialism which makes them (and…” Feb 16, 17:38
Effijy on The Longest Road: “Interesting! Is this really an honourable quest for justice with his own funds, Where did those funds come from as…” Feb 16, 17:30
agentx on The Longest Road: “@ Bobo bunny. Did you even listen to the interview? I found him very straightforward with what he said and…” Feb 16, 17:29
GM on The Longest Road: “I certainly hope so. We will see.” Feb 16, 17:26
Sven on The Longest Road: ““The axe is broken, another we have yet to find”. Thankyou for that link, Fearghas, it moved my spirit.” Feb 16, 17:23
Doreen A Milne on The Longest Road: “Paul seems to be a decent bloke and I admire his commitment, financial and moral, to seeking justice and the…” Feb 16, 17:13
100%Yes on The Longest Road: “Either way Alf, we do have a major problem and its the SNP and Sturgeon who are the cause of…” Feb 16, 16:53
Bobo bunny on The Longest Road: “So what’s in it for him? By the time the case comes to court, the referendum will be over. Why…” Feb 16, 16:52
Scot Finlayson on The Longest Road: “No fan of British nationalists esp winging British labour types, but in this case , “The enemy of my enemy…” Feb 16, 16:43
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Longest Road: “There is a poem online. It is essentially about The Bruce. But it can be dusted off in honour of…” Feb 16, 16:11
Alf Baird on The Longest Road: ““There is two sorts of nationalism in Scotland at the moment” What you refer to is more the co-option of…” Feb 16, 15:57
Den on The Longest Road: “The case has a better chance of success if the SNP are nowhere near government after May, I’d love for…” Feb 16, 15:06
Hatey McHateface on The Modern Politician: ““I predict in 20 years time” it will be about one generation along (20 + 12) from the last effort…” Feb 16, 14:45
Lorna Campbell on The Longest Road: “Well done, that man!” Feb 16, 14:43
100%Yes on The Longest Road: “There is two sorts of nationalism in Scotland at the moment, 1 who supports Independence and believe in democracy and…” Feb 16, 14:39
Calum on The Longest Road: “Fair play to Paul – he’s not wrong about the state of Glasgow in particular under the SNP but Labour…” Feb 16, 14:31
Marie Clark on The Longest Road: “What a nice man. Good to know that there is still some good people in this mad world of ours.…” Feb 16, 14:20
crisiscult on The Longest Road: “Respect to the guy for being led by a sense of justice above anything tribal. The host of that programme…” Feb 16, 14:09
James Che on The Modern Politician: “Wether lowland or highland Scots, you were dissolved from the treaty of union in 1707. By the parliament of England…” Feb 16, 12:58
Confused on The Modern Politician: “Chomsky – what now for him, does he disappear down the memory hole? Turns out america’s “#1 dissident” and critic…” Feb 16, 12:56
Hatey McHateface on The Modern Politician: ““Scotland could walk away now” But we’ve got seas on three sides, and English cants on the fourth. So where…” Feb 16, 12:55
James Che on The Modern Politician: “One day the penny will drop, Hoping it will be soon , but I realise that Scotland has been deceived…” Feb 16, 12:41
Hatey McHateface on The Modern Politician: “There you go, Northy. A rare opportunity to praise Alf, for praising you, for praising Alf. Dinna get confused, noo!” Feb 16, 12:23
Hatey McHateface on The Modern Politician: ““independence is necessary, to enable self-recovery of indigenous languages” I see, Alf. So your published hostility on here to state…” Feb 16, 12:16
James Che on The Modern Politician: “Scotland has not had a monarch of Scotland because Scotland was dissoled from the treaty in 1707. The monarch of…” Feb 16, 12:14
Hatey McHateface on The Modern Politician: “Ye missed ane, Northy: 11. Repatriation (if Reform get their way) of all holders of alien, abusive, foreign, beliefs. As…” Feb 16, 12:08
Hatey McHateface on The Modern Politician: “Aye, sam, nae doot whitsoeever that thinking aboot the stuff that happened in 1608 keeps maist daecent, richt-thinking Scots awak…” Feb 16, 12:02
sam on The Modern Politician: “From an interview with Iain MacKinnon https://www.inmotionmagazine.com/global/mackinnon-iain-intview1.html#Anchor-Part-11481 “(But,) there’s a key difference in between what happened in Scotland and what…” Feb 16, 11:39
