He popped up on Talk TV last night, explaining how a middle-aged man twerking at a number of very young children – some of whom seemed visibly distressed – during a recent Pride march was fine because maybe the children had asked him to (which they manifestly hadn’t), and anyway it was their parents’ fault that it happened.
And, y’know, readers can make their own judgements about that.
Tuesday’s front page headline in The National was roughly the political equivalent of introducing yourself to your new next-door neighbour by saying “Hi, nice to meet you, I’m Jimmy from No.22 and it definitely wasn’t me who killed your cat last night”.
Humza Yousaf’s great masterplan of an independence strategy is imploding faster than the OceanGate Titan, and scarcely any less disastrously. And unless you’re one of the colleagues, family or friends of the tragic victims on board the doomed vessel, it’s even more painful to watch.
Still wondering what Humza Yousaf’s going to say to the SNP’s pretend “conference” on independence strategy this coming Saturday? Well, wonder no longer, because this morning he told Sky News.
In other words, he’s waving the white flag and praying for a miracle.
According to SNP President and acting CEO Mike Russell, SNP members are too thick to understand the concept of changing their vote, and integrity is “disruptive”.
We’re not very clear on why a revote would be susceptible to “hacking” in any way that the original vote isn’t, but we’re sure there’s a great explanation.
We’ve just been leaked this footage, apparently taken by an alert traveller, of Nicola Sturgeon at Edinburgh Airport, reacting badly to receiving news that Peter Murrell has been “unavoidably detained” and won’t be making their rendezvous to Rio.
The great unknown in the SNP leadership contest is an extremely significant one: who are the voters? Nobody but Peter Murrell really knows how many members the party has, but almost nobody believes the claimed number of over 100,000. (Our guess, based on pretty much nothing but a gut feeling, is 75,000 plus or minus 5000.)
But more to the point, nobody knows who they are. The average member age in most political parties is over 50, and according to figures published in 2019, more than 80% of SNP members are over 40, with half of those being over 60. There’s also an almost 3:2 bias in favour of men.
Humza Yousaf will not be the next First Minister of Scotland. We’re calling it now. His trainwreck of a performance on last night’s leadership election debate on STV dealt a blow to his chances that we can’t see him recovering from, and the SNP establishment is now under such intense scrutiny over the electoral process that the chances of a fix being orchestrated by Peter Murrell are receding fast.
In the debate Yousaf declared that Nicola Sturgeon was the best politician in the UK, that he wasn’t as good as her, and that she’d failed to find a successful strategy for independence and therefore he couldn’t either.
sam on Holiday Relief: “I wonder if Alf will be at Holyrood tomorrow, meeting 12.15, to protest and meet FH with regard to ferries…” Jun 18, 11:38
Northcode on Holiday Relief: ““…completely missed the big news for the independence movement…” It seems unlikely McAlpine missed the news of the Liberation.Scot petition…” Jun 18, 11:37
Aidan on Holiday Relief: “Perhaps Robin is aware that the highly vaunted “approach to the UN” has been completely rebuffed at the first hurdle?…” Jun 18, 11:27
sarah on Holiday Relief: “That is interesting, Alf. I generally agree with what Robin says and I hadn’t noticed theses striking omissions. Can someone…” Jun 18, 10:58
Alf Baird on Holiday Relief: “A daeless Swinney and his hot-air speechwriter seems an easy target, however Robin and certain other seemingly pro-indy intellectuals within…” Jun 18, 10:06
Sven on Holiday Relief: “Crazycat @ 23.12. I believe that policy was effectively jettisioned back in 2015 when Ms Sturgeon forced the then PM…” Jun 18, 09:02
Hatey McHateface on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: ““roll back over and cosy up with yer new “bestie” P3nisbreath McP3nisbreathface..” Aw naw! Signature double-tap there from Wings’ only…” Jun 18, 08:24
Callum on Holiday Relief: “‘The world’s most embarrassing relaunch’ by Robin McAlpine | 16 Jun 2025 “So anyway, we have learned loads here. Mainly…” Jun 18, 08:22
Sven on Holiday Relief: “Off Topic; Hardly surprising that our SNP led devolved administration (was never a government) have declined to have an inquiry…” Jun 18, 08:21
Captain Caveman on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “Heh! Gone “fishing” have we YL? About the only thing you’ll catch (in your piss-stained shoes) is an empty bottle…” Jun 18, 07:55
Hatey McHateface on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: ““Is it my imagination or is our coloniser becoming bolder in its shameless extraction of Scotland’s wealth?” Every night before…” Jun 18, 07:36
Hatey McHateface on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “Whats this then? Three lengthy posts from NC, all of them written in the King’s English? Isn’t that the language…” Jun 18, 07:28
Northcode on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “A little, hopefully informative and not overly didactic, light-hearted diversion. Aristotle is one of my favourite ancients and was a…” Jun 18, 06:25
Northcode on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “The only plans they’re concerned with are their pension plans. And the only future they’ll be shaping will be the…” Jun 18, 06:07
Northcode on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “Great news! It turns out I was feeling a wee bit sensitive the other day and just needed some me…” Jun 18, 05:40
Young Lochinvar on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “Fred Flintstone aka (so called Captain Caveman) at 8.26am with a p1sh English beer hangover! Good morning jaikie!! Just up…” Jun 18, 05:00
GM on Holiday Relief: “I PDF’ed most of his articles in the period after Iain died. I go back to them from time to…” Jun 17, 23:46
crazycat on Holiday Relief: “The legislation only applies to England and Wales. It always used to be SNP policy not to vote in cases…” Jun 17, 23:12
Insider on Holiday Relief: “agent x…… Well, we must all wait with bated breath to see what “post colonialism” tells us ! It will…” Jun 17, 22:45
Towbar Sullivan on Holiday Relief: “This vote on Abortion – did the SNP go AWOL? There’s no record of them voting at all. WTF? https://votes.parliament.uk/votes/commons/division/2058” Jun 17, 22:35
George Ferguson on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “@James 9:56pm Welcome to the World of lost deposits. I was a member of the SNP and Alba. I thought…” Jun 17, 22:35
Scot Finlayson on Holiday Relief: “What is wrong with this British Labour government, Starving kids, freezing pensioners, allowing the mass rape of young girls, assisted…” Jun 17, 22:23
James on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “Voting for me? Dunno what planet you’re on, George. I ditched my membership in 2018 when the missing money/Salmond stitch…” Jun 17, 21:56
George Ferguson on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “@James An SNP thug. Nuf said. When you come up with intelligent policies I will start voting for you again.…” Jun 17, 21:20
George Ferguson on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “@James 8:26pm According to Grok I am an Architect from Bristol. Of course I think freeports is an opportunity just…” Jun 17, 20:51
sarah on Holiday Relief: “Reading some of Iain Lawson’s blog articles today showed what quality of thinking and personality is missing from the SNP.…” Jun 17, 20:32
James on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “Are you the same George Ferguson who bigs up Freeports?” Jun 17, 20:26
agent x on Holiday Relief: “How much has the Scotland 2050 thing cost and who is paying for it?” Jun 17, 20:17
George Ferguson on Let’s Not Make Some Plans: “@Hatey McHateface 7:25pm And the tradegy is my wife was friendly with the Murkle cluster. Not long married I represented…” Jun 17, 19:59