Really smart and very stable 290
Posted on
February 17, 2018 by
Chris Cairns
The seven-year ditch 266
Posted on
February 15, 2018 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Power retention 66
Posted on
February 15, 2018 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
We still have no reliable internet, just occasional five-minute bursts or a shonky 4G phone connection, but there’s a BT Openreach man in the garden and as soon as he gets hold of a different kind of all-terrain BT Openreach man we’re hopeful that the problem will finally be fixed by the end of today, after two weeks.
In the meantime, we couldn’t help but be struck in passing by the collapse of talks on reopening the Northern Ireland’s devolved Assembly, which has now been closed for over a year following the failure of an election to deliver a workable administration.
If there’s a better illustration of just how limited the powers of devolution in the UK are than the fact that the region seems to have muddled along just fine for 13 months without the parliament, we’re having a hard time thinking of what it might be. The old saying that “power devolved is power retained” has never been more visibly true.
If Scotland wants to thrive, it can only do so with all the meaningful powers of a nation under its own control, and at the end of the day there’s only one way to get those.
Riding the rollercoaster 367
Posted on
February 13, 2018 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
From the archives #6 193
Posted on
February 12, 2018 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Ruth Davidson is available 79
Posted on
February 09, 2018 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Not to discuss the UK government’s Brexit impact report on Scotland, of course. Not a single senior Scottish Tory will face the media about that, having all viciously rubbished the Scottish government’s assessment just last month as “scaremongering”, even though it turned out to be almost identical to the UK government’s version that we’re still not allowed to officially know about.
(Some hapless minor goon was dispatched to make a fool of himself today instead.)
But it seems she’s got plenty time to go on the radio if it’s something important.
Between that, Kezia Dugdale swanning off to the jungle for a few weeks in the middle of a Parliamentary session, and Douglas Ross squeezing the occasional bit of MSP work in between linesman gigs, it’s getting harder and harder to keep a straight face when the opposition go on about the SNP sticking to the “day job”.
Any day now 103
Posted on
February 09, 2018 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Bear with us just a little longer, folks.
We’re hoping to have a man in the garden with a ladder some time this afternoon.
What Adam Didn’t Know 304
Posted on
February 07, 2018 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
The Scottish Conservatives have taken us all on quite a ride with regard to the UK government’s Brexit impact analysis on Scotland. In October, David Mundell told us it definitely existed. Then just a week later he told us it definitely didn’t. And this month he finally admitted it did.
But his Scottish Tory colleagues knew one thing for sure all along – if it did exist, then it certainly wouldn’t resemble the ridiculous, over-the-top, hysterical scaremongering figures conjured up by the Scottish Government.
You know where this is going, right? Let’s all save some time.
Justice’s torn blindfold 383
Posted on
February 06, 2018 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
So it seems we opened quite a can of worms when we broke the story of the Scotland In Union donor leak last month. Yesterday saw the disturbing tale of police armed with battering rams seizing computers and phones from David Clews of right-wing Unionist group UK Unity, a former SIU member suspected of being the source of the leak.
For the record we have absolutely no idea if he’s the source or not (and we don’t know who is – the file was passed to us anonymously through a now-deleted email account), but however much of a mad zoomer someone might be we find ourselves rather uncomfortable with the deployment of such an excessive display of intimidatory police force in the defence of the interests of the wealthy establishment.
Clews might be a Unionist – and a fairly unpalatable one at that – but we very much doubt it was ever going to be necessary to smash his door down, and it’s striking to see the magnitude of the state’s reaction against one of its own the moment they might step out of line and do anything to displease either the titled and landed gentry who provide most of SIU’s money, or their loyal bootboys.
So having been subjected to a ridiculous arrest (and completely spurious, months-long confiscation of electronic equipment) ourselves last year for doing our job, we didn’t view the raid with quite as much schadenfreude as readers might expect.
But it wasn’t the most disturbing thing to arise from the story.
Life comes at you fast 75
Posted on
February 05, 2018 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Because sometimes you just can’t even.
Let’s all take a moment and imagine Labour stepping up to that situation, shall we?
