On one level you have to feel a bit sorry for Scottish Unionists. Having believed until very late in the day that they’d win a crushing victory in the 2014 indyref and put the matter to bed for a century, they’ve never been able to relax since.
And this week the fear has them well and truly in its grip.
The hapless Scottish Secretary demonstrated the lack of self-awareness for which he’s famous when he said at the weekend that the thing he warned would threaten the Union (a defeat for the PM’s Brexit deal) was going to happen on Tuesday, at which point – having said he’d resign if the Union was threatened – he’s made it absolutely clear that he ISN’T going to resign.
Brexit isn’t really this site’s remit, which is why we’ve been relatively quiet in recent weeks as the UK’s shambolic exit from the EU hogs all the news and Scottish politics has been relegated to a largely-dormant backwater in the press.
Yes supporters don’t speak with one voice on the EU, and while we’re in favour of it we’ve long said that the indy movement can’t really move on until the fog clears and we know for sure what Brexit’s going to look like. Deciding whether to be part of the EU should be a decision for an independent Scotland to make, not a precondition.
But dear lord, this is such a mess it needs to be examined.
We all knew this already, of course. Last year we commissioned a poll from Panelbase which found an enormous 41-point gap between Yes and No voters on immigration. But it was still nice to have it both confirmed and laid out so clearly by Sir John Curtice on Good Morning Scotland earlier today.
(About 1h 55m in. We’re having some trouble recording sound on our new PC at the moment, we’ll get you a proper audio link as soon as we’ve figured it out.)
It’s worth keeping to hand the next time some witless Scottish Labour goon tries to tell you that independence is bad because it’s “separatist” and that voting for the Union is the international-solidarity option. Because that’s a flat-out lie.
We now have the verdicts on Brexit from three of the UK’s four nations. The Scottish Parliament, speaking for the Scottish nation, voted overwhelmingly this afternoon to reject both Theresa May’s draft agreement and leaving the EU without a deal.
We’re on about Day 79 of NoScottishPoliticsNewsGate (today’s big “EXCLUSIVE!” in the Herald is something we told you about last Friday, and was also an “exclusive” in yesterday’s Scottish Sun), so we found ourselves getting diverted by something else in the papers this morning.
The Scottish Daily Mail had a piece on the cost of train journeys from Scotland, and living in Bath you don’t need to tell us how scandalously expensive British railways are compared to almost any other country in the Northern Hemisphere.
But the Mail is the Mail, and it couldn’t help distorting even an open-goal of a story like that until it had almost no relation to reality. And it’s a very useful illustration, should anybody need yet another one, of how this country’s newspapers vastly mislead their readers without actually technically lying.
At a time of unprecedented political chaos and uncertainty, just about the only thing you can still count on is that for any given situation, senior Labour figures will issue proclamations both firmly in favour of it and stoutly opposed to it, usually the same day.
So the stories below, which are respectively from today’s Scotsman and today’s Times, won’t come as much of a shock to anyone.
But against the odds, we think we’ve made some sense of it.
The front page lead of today’s Scottish Daily Mail:
As alert readers of this site will know, the Mail has a particular fondness for presenting statistics bereft of any context so that people have no idea how big or small they really are. So is 1,600 passengers a week receiving compensation for delays a lot or a little? Let’s find out.
Dan on The Guilty Party: “Ah, jist checked and the “willie” I responded to had a capital W so maybe not yourself. But the premise…” Jun 26, 07:58
Dan on The Guilty Party: “I responded to your post on previous thread, seeing as you asked a question. A lot of folk spend too…” Jun 26, 07:48
Aidan on Hey Lord Don’t Ask Me Questions: “I expected you to have a full on tantrum and you didn’t disappoint, it’s a common reaction when you point…” Jun 26, 07:11
willie on The Guilty Party: “It doesn’t take much to disable a party. Under Salmond the SNP and the wider independence movement were motivated and…” Jun 26, 01:13
Young Lochinvar on The Guilty Party: “Rarely, for once, I agree with you. Don’t get over excited, you normally post anti Scots sh1te that I don’t..” Jun 26, 01:05
Steve A on Hey Lord Don’t Ask Me Questions: “Indeed, it may not be possible to polish shite- but with a bit of ingenuity, it could be “gold plated”…” Jun 26, 00:58
Steve A on Hey Lord Don’t Ask Me Questions: “Indeed, it is not possible to polish shite. But, with a bit of ingenuity, I am certain it would be…” Jun 26, 00:48
AdamH on The Guilty Party: “Good people. I beg you to watch the video in full. To hear two ordinary women who wanted to help…” Jun 26, 00:33
BLMac on The Guilty Party: “Don’t worry full exposure will happen shortly, but maybe not in the way you seek… https://www.awarenessdays.com/awareness-days-calendar/national-nude-day/” Jun 26, 00:12
Young Lochinvar on Hey Lord Don’t Ask Me Questions: “AI Dun No clues are given to whose eyes yer trying to scratch out with that rant, but, in the…” Jun 26, 00:09
Young Lochinvar on Hey Lord Don’t Ask Me Questions: “HMcH HE’S back and projecting, deflecting and plain making things up “Smaug stylee”.. Yes it’s the bond of military brotherhood…” Jun 25, 23:32
Aidan on Hey Lord Don’t Ask Me Questions: “Right, so you’re going to sit there, with a straight face, and tell us that you aren’t a ranting loon?…” Jun 25, 23:25
Alf Baird on The Guilty Party: “Fearghas’ logic follows the postcolonial reality, Hatey, where two main population shifts may be anticipated: 1. their privileges ended, the…” Jun 25, 22:45
Ian Smith on Hey Lord Don’t Ask Me Questions: “You can be 99.999% sure that there will never be a defamation case that puts Sturgeon in the witness box…” Jun 25, 22:16
Colin Dawson on The Guilty Party: “How many of those who attended that NEC meeting were elected as supposedly “Good Guys” at the 2020 conference and…” Jun 25, 22:12
Red on The Guilty Party: “I want my country back and I want these people gone.” Jun 25, 22:05
James Barr Gardner on The Guilty Party: “The Police did not interview me at all strange seeing as I was the only one who went public about…” Jun 25, 21:54
Hatey McHateface on The Guilty Party: “A rare departure from common sense for you, Fearghas. I won’t be exhilarated post Indy by a flood of chancers,…” Jun 25, 21:02
Hatey McHateface on Hey Lord Don’t Ask Me Questions: “Just noticed some odd posts from somebody who tells us he voluntarily signed up, first chance he got, to be…” Jun 25, 20:55
Hatey McHateface on The Guilty Party: “World Hijab Day. I’m beyond outraged that nae cant telt me.” Jun 25, 20:25
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Guilty Party: “One could fairly assume Scottish independence would have triggered the exhilarating return of very many highly able exiles – rather…” Jun 25, 20:22
agentx on The Guilty Party: “I have said it before and I will say it again:False accounts were submitted to the Electoral Commission. The Electoral…” Jun 25, 20:07
Spartan 117 on The Guilty Party: “I don’t think any bullet was dodged, after Alex’s resignation we ended up with The Murrills and their misanthropic posse…” Jun 25, 19:48
Spartan 117 on The Guilty Party: “A pretty damning dissection of this murky business. Interested to note an ex-leader of Highland Council in the middle of…” Jun 25, 19:46
MP on The Guilty Party: “I suspect they’re hanging on and hoping that Murrell repays a good chunk of the money, and then they’ll say,…” Jun 25, 19:41
sarah on The Guilty Party: “@ wullie: if we had actually managed to leave the Union in 2014 – remember that it was only an…” Jun 25, 19:33
SOG on The Guilty Party: “In my career I became a Fellow of a Professional Body, which has rules about obligation of probity to employers…” Jun 25, 19:28
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Hey Lord Don’t Ask Me Questions: “See also Christian Institute News Release (Thursday, 25 June 2026): “Government Unveils Controversial ‘Conversion Therapy Ban’ Draft Bill Amid Renewed…” Jun 25, 19:26
Young Lochinvar on Hey Lord Don’t Ask Me Questions: “Er you go, right on cue two bleats from The Banter Boys no.2, (yawn BTW), just waiting now for Banter…” Jun 25, 19:16
Captain Caveman on Hey Lord Don’t Ask Me Questions: ““it would all have blown over by now.” What would’ve “blown over”? The imaginary voices in your head, presumably? The…” Jun 25, 18:54
