Remember before the referendum, readers, when the £30bn cost of decommissioning oil platforms was a nightmarish unaffordable millstone around a future Scotland’s neck that proved it couldn’t be independent?
It turns out it wouldn’t have been so bad after all.
Since we’ve been talking about mad letters from Scottish Labour MPs today, we’re sharing this one with you too. We’ve been trying to make sense of it all evening.
We haven’t made any progress. It’s not just a simple accidental transposition of words, because if you switch “increased” and “decreased” around it’s still gibberish – why would the threat have decreased because of proliferation? If anyone can explain it, do drop us a line.
An alert reader pointed us today to this audio clip of Jim Murphy. It’s not tagged, but we THINK it’s from a Radio Clyde interview about three weeks ago which oddly didn’t seem to get picked up at the time by anyone in the media.
Jim Murphy didn’t turn up at Westminster today to vote with the Tories for £30bn of austerity cuts, like 28 of his Scottish Labour colleagues did. That’s because he was taking some Scottish journalists to lunch to explain an important thing to them.
We’ve been sat staring at a blank paragraph for the last 10 minutes trying to think of something satirical to say. We’ve got nothing, readers.
Alert readers may recall that since the election of Jim Murphy as Scottish Labour branch office manager he’s barely gone a moment without promising to “reach out” to Yes voters. Last month he even pledged that he’d employ some in his team if he won the Labour job.
We imagine they’ll be fair hammering on his door after the latest addition to his crew, because today’s Herald reveals that Murphy’s new chief of staff, and joining “Better Together” director Blair McDougall among Jim’s backroom boys, is to be our old pal John “there will be no referendum” McTernan.
We had to extend our festive semi-break for a day to deal with some administrative matters, readers, but it’s just as well, because the thing that happened today would have defied our best attempts at either analysis or satire.
That’s a real thing we didn’t make up. Saints preserve us.
We know there’s a lot of talk of the other Unionist parties stepping aside in order to give Scottish Labour a clear run in 2015, in a desperate attempt to stop the SNP from picking up too many seats, but this is surely taking it a bit far.
Alf Baird on Before Action: “” I follow the argumentthat the Lord Advocate and the Solicitor General are in the Scottish government and are subordinate…” Aug 22, 14:21
Mark Beggan on Before Action: “Come on Northy it’s Saturday. Take a chill pill. Peace and love to all mankind.” Aug 22, 14:08
Iain Ross on Before Action: “The police assertion that no new evidence has come to light would suggest that they already knew that the SNP…” Aug 22, 14:03
gm on Before Action: “The SNP elite needed money, they always needed money. The gang that lead the SNP had and have no interest…” Aug 22, 13:05
gm on Before Action: “For years. Up until very recently I would not have believed it possible, Northcode. For a lad of your stripe…” Aug 22, 12:48
gm on Before Action: “That makes sense to me. COPFS are blocking it not the police (The top Polis seems to be hiding btw).…” Aug 22, 12:17
100%Yes on Before Action: “James, its below. https://www.thenational.scot/news/26483678.wings-blogger-threatens-police-legal-action-snp-600k-fund/” Aug 22, 10:50
Northcode on Before Action: “COPFS and Police Scotland might well have identified the individual responsible for the illegal diversion of SNP ringfenced funds, but…” Aug 22, 10:32
Northcode on Before Action: “That’s actually a polite, intelligent and respectful response to James Che’s comment. And the gentle humour at the end perfectly…” Aug 22, 10:29
Mark Beggan on Before Action: “That should have read; Don’t rape women, men, children or animals. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. Editor” Aug 22, 10:09
Mark Beggan on Before Action: “Billy Bus Ticket is having a hard time as boss. He has aged incredibly in such a short time. By…” Aug 22, 10:04
Mark Beggan on Before Action: “I still think my Time Machine plan is the only feasible way to solve this conundrum.” Aug 22, 09:59
Hatey McHateface on Before Action: “So it’s open season on the 50% who aren’t women? Or is Burnham in the grip of the trannies, trying…” Aug 22, 09:50
Mark Beggan on Before Action: “Neither would I. As long as they don’t shit in parks.” Aug 22, 09:47
Mark Beggan on Before Action: “Andy Burnham s pamphlet; Don’t rape women. Don’t try to swim with your clothes on. Welcome to Britain!” Aug 22, 09:37
Hatey McHateface on Before Action: “Sorry, James, but I don’t think you and I share a common definition of “officially”. More generally, I think you…” Aug 22, 09:31
Mark Beggan on Before Action: “They really get in the way of a good fantasy. With their bloody referendums and democratic processes. Stalin never had…” Aug 22, 09:28
Aidan on Before Action: “How incredibly boring” Aug 22, 09:26
James Che on Before Action: “Mark, I would never suggest any other nation of these Island are parasites, that want parts of England to become…” Aug 22, 09:25
Hatey McHateface on Before Action: “And yet it’s an easily verifiable fact there are more Scots living in England than English living in Scotland. Given…” Aug 22, 09:22
James Che on Before Action: “Retaining the SNP in a pretendy Scottish parliament and a supposed treaty that was never concluded whilst not being adhered…” Aug 22, 09:15
James Che on Before Action: “100% yes, Is there a link anywhere for everyone as this old techno I use is extremely basic. and maybe…” Aug 22, 09:08
James Che on Before Action: “As you stated Hatey, to quote yourself, the 1707 treaty of union is old guff, and nobody pays attention to…” Aug 22, 08:58
Mark Beggan on Before Action: “They are here because the cannot afford the same property in England. Purely selfish James. They are not here to…” Aug 22, 08:54
100%Yes on Before Action: “Today Wings has a wee mention in The Rag about the topic above.” Aug 22, 08:48
Robert on Before Action: “The charity has done wrong, obvioulsy. The consequeces for the individuals in the charity would depend on whether they had…” Aug 22, 08:42
James Che on Before Action: “It sounds bold, In what sense? If “we ” Scotland are not in a treaty. And treaty articles is not…” Aug 22, 08:42
James Che on Before Action: “Aye, an there english people living in Scotland that chose to live in Scotland, not England. There were people in…” Aug 22, 08:33
Rob on Before Action: “It seems to me that DCC Houston is doing his level and diplomatic best to direct our attention to COPFS.…” Aug 22, 08:31
Hatey McHateface on Before Action: “That’s all very well, GM, but if you want to be taken seriously on here, learn to drop quotes from…” Aug 22, 08:22