In many ways the Glasgow equal-pay dispute feels like the impotent final fury of the dinosaurs after the dust cloud of a prehistoric asteroid impact blacked out the sun and condemned them all to death.
What we’re seeing now is a futile howl of rage against irrelevance by the shady cabal of Labour politicians and senior trade union officials who used to treat the city as their personal fiefdom, as they sink into inglorious extinction.
We highly recommend clicking that link to read the whole series of tweets from Labour member and solicitor Ian Smart, who readers won’t need reminding is no sort of friend of the SNP or inclined to their defence. Because the story goes much deeper than the common-or-garden hypocrisy we saw yesterday.
We don’t know whether Sky News’ senior Scotland correspondent James Matthews recognised double-jobbing Labour MP and councillor Hugh Gaffney on today’s strike march in Glasgow or not. (We suspect he did, but as Gaffney’s only been an MP for a year and a half we can’t be sure.)
What’s certain is that he gave him plenty of time, opportunity and cues to disclose who he was, and Gaffney didn’t take any of them, leading to this extraordinary clip.
The indyref sometimes caused feelings to run rather high, and people on both sides made themselves very unpopular with those on the other side. But four years of water has flowed under the bridge since then, and not everyone is still in the same trenches.
Some high-profile names have switched to from No to Yes (often but not exclusively as a result of Brexit), and the reception afforded to floor-crossers like Murray Foote, Eric Joyce, Jackie Kemp, Mike Dailly, Tom Morton and Simon Pia hasn’t always been an entirely warm one, with some unable to keep a lid on their old grudges.
And in a similar vein, some of the remarks in recent days on the reported switch to Yes of Billy Connolly – a few from people I thought better of – are deeply offensive and potentially deeply damaging.
Well well, look who suddenly believes in second referendums.
It’s fascinating to note how you can completely reverse Kezia Dugdale’s position on the subject simply by substituting the word “Scotland” for the words “the UK” in that second tweet, and imagine she was talking about the independence march in heavily-Remain-voting Edinburgh earlier this month instead of the (proportionately smaller) one in London yesterday.
The BBC’s Scottish politics website today prominently carries this story:
Our famously alert readers may recall as far back as five-and-a-half months ago, which was the last time the Scottish media tried to whip up demented scare stories about baby boxes, which have been given to every new mother in Finland for approximately 70 years and caused absolutely no documented problems.
So what’s fresh about the story to justify this significant new coverage? Let’s see.
Tory MP Kirstene “dumber than a box of” Hair is best known for being the member of the UK Parliament who didn’t vote in the Brexit referendum because it was too difficult.
The Scottish Daily Mail today has a big headline relaying the seemingly-unambiguous bad news that unemployment in Scotland has apparently risen by 11,000.
But cheer up, folks, because better times are ahead.
We’re pretty sure it was “Listen to you about being ‘better together’, so that they ended up with a Tory government they didn’t vote for but which was imposed on them by the people in a much larger country, and which has a long track record of imposing brutal, callous welfare policies on the poor for largely ideological reasons, and which has entirely predictably continued to do so”.
Geri on Sicknote Slippers: “Aye, “Trust in Nicola” I’m still waiting on this grand plan she was supposedly working on in the background. Whit…” Mar 29, 23:26
100%Yes on Sicknote Slippers: “Well done to Fiona for her tweet it must have taken this coward hours to reply with a correct response.…” Mar 29, 23:07
Mark Beggan on Sicknote Slippers: “Fat Pete has joined the elite. and the far right he will defeat. All his career he’s been on the…” Mar 29, 23:05
100%Yes on Sicknote Slippers: “To be honest Farage can be PM for all I care and certainly couldn’t give a flying F*cking if he…” Mar 29, 23:01
100%Yes on Sicknote Slippers: “His only regret is he was never elected to be speaker of the house of commons. Your not a rich…” Mar 29, 22:49
Dan on Protest But Don’t Survive: “It’s been fairly obvious to most informed folk that the NuSNP are the problem with regard to progressing Scotland’s return…” Mar 29, 22:41
Davie on Sicknote Slippers: “Farage will not be the nest Prime Minister. He is a charlatan, a rehashed Tory and establishment containment. Like them…” Mar 29, 21:15
TURABDIN on Sicknote Slippers: “Hey, mr Wishy Washy, the «far right» within the rotting BritState is a peculiarly English problem, let them deal with…” Mar 29, 20:01
Geri on Protest But Don’t Survive: “Why don’t you tell the group what socialism is? I’m sure we’d all love to read yer take on how…” Mar 29, 20:00
robertkknight on Sicknote Slippers: ““The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but…” Mar 29, 19:53
H Scott on Sicknote Slippers: “The far right were on the Royal Mile haranguing the indy march. Peter Wishart could have killed two birds with…” Mar 29, 19:50
James on Sicknote Slippers: “Wait…Pishfart is one of the SNP UK agents who are ‘Lords-in-waiting’, but “…a pretty openly anti-Semitic protest..” Really? Seen any…” Mar 29, 19:41
Young Lochinvar on Sicknote Slippers: “Wet P1shfart is a bad parody of himself..” Mar 29, 19:19
Sven on Sicknote Slippers: ““When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to call “Present” or “Not Guilty”.…” Mar 29, 19:15
sarah on Protest But Don’t Survive: “Well, all the sensible ones! And despite the obvious exceptions, most are sensible, nice people. 🙂” Mar 29, 19:03
James on Protest But Don’t Survive: “Nah…. “The Untold History of the United States” by Oliver Stone.” Mar 29, 19:01
Terry on Sicknote Slippers: “Well done for highlighting this.” Mar 29, 19:00
James on Protest But Don’t Survive: ““Agent” – aye; you’ve given yersel the proper pen name, right enough.” Mar 29, 18:42
Rev. Stuart Campbell on Protest But Don’t Survive: ““All the other thinkers and activists would gladly work with you.” LOLZ” Mar 29, 18:27
James on Protest But Don’t Survive: “Well said, Northcode….and somehow appropriate maybe, to paraphrase; “We find ourselves opposed by forces that operate in the shadows, without…” Mar 29, 18:27
Rev. Stuart Campbell on Protest But Don’t Survive: “What we have to do about it is destroy the SNP. Until people realise that, there’s no moving forward.” Mar 29, 18:26
twathater on Protest But Don’t Survive: “C’mon now James the cave dweller has every right to come on to a supposed indy supporting blog and give…” Mar 29, 18:18
Young Lochinvar on Protest But Don’t Survive: “Sven If she wasn’t prosecuted on the basis of “not being in the public interest” then she shouldn’t appear on…” Mar 29, 17:43
100%Yes on Protest But Don’t Survive: “Kitkat state’s shops shouldn’t sell these stolen treats and should contact kitkat.” Mar 29, 17:25
Sven on Protest But Don’t Survive: “Off Topic. Well, now we know Ms Sturgeon’s next earner, she’ll be a “celebrity” guest on the ITV Programme The…” Mar 29, 17:25
100%Yes on Protest But Don’t Survive: “The Hard Left, I never knew there was such a thing? Socialist have given a lot more than they have…” Mar 29, 17:20
Young Lochinvar on Protest But Don’t Survive: “Well well well. From the horses “mouth”.. Humza Useless on becoming a backbencher: “I had nothing to do”! Hardly a…” Mar 29, 17:12
