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.”
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The quality of mercy: “Hopefully a better link: LIBERATION SCOTLAND UN UPDATE www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGn2SXcM7zw” Apr 4, 00:29
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The quality of mercy: “LIBERATION SCOTLAND UN UPDATE (2 April 2026) « Peter Young (IndyScotNews) discusses with Alan McMahon, Craig Murray and Sara Salyers…” Apr 4, 00:07
Geri on The quality of mercy: ““Independence is not even in SNP voters’ top three priorities” Neither is the top two cause they’re completely out of…” Apr 3, 22:04
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The quality of mercy: “The seminal (and still available) book by Will Storrar – SCOTTISH IDENTITY: A CHRISTIAN VISION was published by Handsel Press…” Apr 3, 22:02
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The quality of mercy: “The joke was of course first cracked by Tom Nairn. You should watch (minister) Professor Will Storrar’s 10 minute tribute…” Apr 3, 21:20
Geri on The quality of mercy: “The problem is these independence marches used to be a collective of all different political parties or none at all.…” Apr 3, 21:16
Northcode on The quality of mercy: “” …the shift from an independence movement to a liberation movement…” Yes, indeed, Alf. I have, for some time now,…” Apr 3, 21:03
Geri on The quality of mercy: “Offshore/North Sea: Reserved to the UK Parliament under the Scotland Act 1998. The licensing, exploration, and exploitation of offshore oil…” Apr 3, 21:02
Karen on The quality of mercy: “Google “What was Graeme McCormick promised?” And it comes up with “Swinney committed to moving forward with the independence campaign…” Apr 3, 20:40
sarah on The quality of mercy: “O/T: naming no names but have you noticed the absence of certain prolific btl commenters? It is a bank holiday…” Apr 3, 20:18
Geri on The quality of mercy: “Swinney says nothing of the sort. Scotlands oil is a reserved matter to our Overlords & they told us it…” Apr 3, 20:17
Alf Baird on The quality of mercy: ““Do NOT vote for them” Thankfully postcolonial theory predicts the dominant national party now co-opted by colonialism disintegrates. Hence the…” Apr 3, 19:44
Geri on Sicknote Slippers: “It wasn’t an independence march. It was a march against the rise of the hard right which is what that…” Apr 3, 19:37
agentx on The quality of mercy: ““SNP and Greens join independence march ahead of Holyrood election” 28 March 2026 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy817d0pjdxo” Apr 3, 19:19
TURABDIN on The quality of mercy: “someone opined that the Scots will be free when the last minister is strangled with the last copy of the…” Apr 3, 17:53
Mark Beggan on The quality of mercy: “Baby Swinney says; Drill Baby Drill.” Apr 3, 17:43
Wally Jumblatt on The quality of mercy: “Whether people realise it or not, the ghost of Sturgeon / Murrell has to be brutally exorcised before any progress…” Apr 3, 17:40
Breastplate on The quality of mercy: “Yes, the cringing Scots who will take no responsibility or accountability for making their own decisions are simply, British Nationalists.…” Apr 3, 17:01
Young Lochinvar on The quality of mercy: “Meanwhile in Baron Von Trumphausens “world”; the US has a fighter headed to the moon (made of cheese, great cheese,…” Apr 3, 16:58
Captain Caveman on Clocks And Calendars: ““Bash harder” That’s your line, Fatso. Ugh.” Apr 3, 16:55
DebatableLands on The quality of mercy: “Believing in independence as an idea and being prepared to do something about it, are different things. Lack of enthusiasm…” Apr 3, 16:37
Andrew F on Sicknote Slippers: “But where is the evidence that the protest is “openly antisemitic”? The link doesn’t support the claim.” Apr 3, 15:26
Northcode on The quality of mercy: “The recent “Believe in Scotland” pretence at showing support for Scottish independence was never going to fool most of the…” Apr 3, 15:14
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The quality of mercy: “« I remember him [José Bergamín (Pepe)] saying to me one day that he had realized the Spanish people had…” Apr 3, 15:10
panda paws on The quality of mercy: “I don’t think that the 50% of the population who support independence aren’t committed to it being delivered. I think…” Apr 3, 14:53
100%Yes on The quality of mercy: “Why would the BBC report on a Indy march? The BBC knows the SNP and believe in Scotland have no…” Apr 3, 14:49
Betty Boop on The quality of mercy: “Spot on! There was a time when we could be confident that the leadership believed in Scotland and worked for…” Apr 3, 14:48
