For some time, most polls for “Who’d make the best UK Prime Minister?” – the stat that really decides who wins general elections – have shown a solid lead for “Don’t know”, narrowly ahead of Theresa May and a long way ahead of Jeremy Corbyn.
It’s a prime symptom of a UK-wide contempt for politicians the magnitude of which we’ve never seen in our lifetime, and Scottish voters are in no way immune.
We loaded this question from our latest Panelbase poll in the party leaders’ favours, because you don’t have to think any of them is doing a GOOD job to say that one of them is doing the BEST job out of the four. Everything is relative – and we also didn’t ask the question specifically about Brexit.
But even with those get-outs, “They’re all useless” came out on top by a clear seven points over Nicola Sturgeon, and the rest weren’t even at the races.
Tonight sees what’s likely to be a highly-charged Scottish Cup quarter-final replay at Ibrox Stadium. Defeat will effectively end the losing side’s season, and games between the participants, Aberdeen and Rangers International, have tended to be fierce affairs ever since the latter club was formed in controversial circumstances in 2012, with this season’s clashes already having seen numerous red cards.
(Mainly for the home team’s temperamental striker Alfredo Morelos.)
Football authorities will be hoping for a minimum of flashpoints on the field which might lead to repeats of shocking recent scenes of abuse and violence from spectators, which have prompted the nation’s media to wring its hands in theatrical angst and demand that something be done.
The public’s view on the subject, meanwhile, has remained absolutely consistent.
Sundays have been the low point of Scottish political journalism for a while now. Traditionally a day when newspapers are heavy on comment and light on news (because politics tends to happen on weekdays), they unleash all the weary old dinosaurs who’ve been driving away readers for the last 30 years.
So you really have to stand out to be noticed for especially appalling hackery on a Sunday, which is probably why nobody from Scotland On Sunday wanted to have their name on this toe-curling piece of second-hand, lifted-from-another-paper garbage.
Professor Ronald MacDonald, you say? That name seems to ring a bell.
MARR: “What would [Theresa May] need to bring back [from Brexit negotiations] to win you over?”
DAVIS: “She needs to bring back a clear ability on the part of the United Kingdom to be able to leave this treaty when it chooses to. There is no other treaty in the world I’m aware of where a sovereign nation undertakes to join up and can only leave when the other side says so.”
We’re pretty sure we can think of an example, David.
Michael Glackin of the Sunday Times is the only serious contender to the Scotsman’s demented Brian Wilson as the most poisonously, blindly instinctive hater of anything even passingly connected to the SNP or independence in the Scottish media. His weekly bilious rants in the paper make even Scottish Daily Express hacks wince and say “Blimey, that’s a bit strong”.
But even by those standards, this week’s column is quite something. So let’s take a little look at just how much of an idiot you can make of yourself if you never allow facts to get in the way of your rage.
Watching the Six Nations rugby tournament every year is usually quite a dispiriting experience – not just because of Scotland’s invariably underwhelming performances (broken up by the occasional false dawn), but because talking about it on social media always results in an extremely tedious flood of comments about how rugby is a sport played and watched exclusively by middle-class Tory No voters.
(That’s Scotland skipper Greig Laidlaw there, with Wings mascot Hamish.)
Speaking as someone whose interest in the tournament (in the pre-inflation days when it was the Five Nations) was first sparked when my extremely working-class Bathgate comprehensive school started taking pupils to Murrayfield in the 1980s – 50p for the bus and 50p for the match ticket, which got you a seat on wooden benches actually on the grass – this attitude has always instinctively felt like complete nonsense.
So when we did our latest Panelbase poll during this year’s competition, we figured we may as well actually find out.
Today is International Women’s Day, and we wouldn’t normally pay much attention to that fact because this is a Scottish politics website, not a feminist one. But the Scottish Government is currently putting itself at odds with women in a way it would have been hard to imagine when Nicola Sturgeon became First Minister, and since what Wings does specialise in is hard data – and at the request of a lot of women – we thought it was worth putting some solid numbers on a few things in our latest poll.
Captain Caveman on A matter of class: “@Aidan Wow. Such elementary, innumerate schoolboy errors must be very embarrassing for our learned friend, one imagines.” Dec 29, 13:35
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “Marie. They want the blood of our children, An interesting observation, if the first Great Britain 1707-1800 is not the…” Dec 29, 12:50
Mark Beggan on A matter of class: “Come to the light James. Free yourself from the colonial shackles. Join us in the Feasting halls. Your Fascist brothers…” Dec 29, 12:41
Alf Baird on A matter of class: ““Call it institutional bias, ideological capture, or just the law doing its job” My contention is that the public persecution…” Dec 29, 12:41
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “The voluntary union is another one of those social Contracts that has been sold as a white elephant. Binding on…” Dec 29, 12:30
Mark Beggan on A matter of class: “If it has been debated in Westminster then why are you going on about it? Do you think that repeating…” Dec 29, 12:26
Aidan on A matter of class: “In a turn of events everyone expected those figures are wrong; – GDP per capita in Scotland is about $53,000…” Dec 29, 12:24
Northcode on A matter of class: ““…invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany.” A temporary invasion lasting a haunfu o years is not colonization. The Scots were…” Dec 29, 12:02
Aidan on A matter of class: “I’m glad to hear that you must go, please don’t feel like you need to come back later.” Dec 29, 11:55
Alf Baird on A matter of class: ““public spending to GDP % ratio in the U.K. is not dissimilar to Norway” Aye, which also explains why public…” Dec 29, 11:48
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “Mark beggan, You obviously did not read it, just made a silly derogative comment, I do not get payed for…” Dec 29, 11:45
Northcode on A matter of class: ““…someone who claims to be a slave…” I’m a house slave and have managed to figure out my English master’s…” Dec 29, 11:43
Mark Beggan on A matter of class: “It pays to feed the wee birds. Just seen a Great spotted woodpecker in the garden. That’s my day made.” Dec 29, 11:42
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “Here in the land of reality called Scotland , we are already dealing with the first White elephant we were…” Dec 29, 11:37
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “As a salesman for the new world of civic Society and Social Contracts you will have prove it works for…” Dec 29, 11:33
Tinto Chiel on Off-topic: “Hi, Ian and Marie. Yes, to absent friends, of whom there are now too many. Life is but a melon…” Dec 29, 11:28
Northcode on A matter of class: ““…it’s essential to compare oranges with oranges.” Agreed… although in AI Dan’s latest incomprehensible collection of internet generated word dribblings…” Dec 29, 11:26
Aidan on A matter of class: “For someone who claims to be a slave you seem to spend a disproportionate amount of time posting drivel on…” Dec 29, 11:24
Marie on A matter of class: “They want the blood of our children for their upcoming wars. Give them nothing.” Dec 29, 11:23
Aidan on A matter of class: “The other thing is that the public spending to GDP % ratio in the U.K. is not dissimilar to Norway/Sweden/Denmark…” Dec 29, 11:21
Mark Beggan on A matter of class: “@James Cheyne Do you get paid directly from Qatar or is there a middle man account. Please don’t tell me…” Dec 29, 11:14
Northcode on A matter of class: ““It was God who gave Pictavia to the Picts who in turn, in an act of great generosity pleasing to…” Dec 29, 11:13
Northcode on A matter of class: ““those nations joyfully celebrating their liberation are significantly worse off than Scotland by almost every metric…” Yes… the Scots might…” Dec 29, 11:04
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “So unable to retire with as I should be able to, I keep posting to let everyone know the errors,…” Dec 29, 11:03
Northcode on A matter of class: ““One of the biggest differences compared to the U.K. and continental Europe is that Scandinavia didn’t industrialise…” One of the…” Dec 29, 11:00
Captain Caveman on A matter of class: “Yes, very good points Aidan. Fundamentally, in any comparative discussion such as this, it’s essential to compare oranges with oranges.…” Dec 29, 10:57
Marie Clark on Off-topic: “Good to hear from you Ian. Time to raise a glass to missing friends indeed. Cheers” Dec 29, 10:51
Aidan on A matter of class: “Of course most of those nations joyfully celebrating their liberation are significantly worse off than Scotland by almost every metric,…” Dec 29, 10:42
Mark Beggan on A matter of class: “@ Andy Ellis “Social Democracy” Unless women are treated with the respect that they deserve and everyone takes responsibility for…” Dec 29, 10:40
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “Andy Ellis, You will have forgive for stating where you can stuff your believe in Social Contracts, £10,000 worse off…” Dec 29, 10:35
