Scotland’s energy rip-off continues unabated, and its impact on Scotland is merciless. GB Energy is to put up a plaque on an office in Aberdeen whilst Scottish pensioners can’t afford to put on the heating. Oil continues to boost the UK coffers as a senior British business figure calls Scottish renewables “a golden ticket for UK growth”.
But as Scottish pensioners freeze, Scottish industry’s being devastated, and workers are being made redundant.
And this afternoon in the chamber the SNP also voted against the only alternative.
Alba MSP Ash Regan laid down the above motion, which supports what as far as we knew was still the SNP’s official policy in the absence of another Section 30, in so far as they even know what their policy is.
Today that motion was voted down by 125 votes to 1.
Astonishingly, there isn’t a single word of apology anywhere in this statement.
There isn’t a scintilla of contrition, not the tiniest glimmer of admission of culpability or responsibility. There isn’t even a weasel-worded expression of “regret”.
Rape Crisis Scotland is unfit for purpose, and its CEO must resign.
On 15 October 2012, I signed the Edinburgh Agreement with David Cameron to secure the independence referendum of September 2014.
On the same day Peter Kellner of the polling company YouGov wrote one of his condescending commentaries from London dissing any hope for the Yes campaign.
Kellner’s view was almost universal, and not just among the London pack of journos and politicians. Most, if not all, of the Scottish media agreed with him.
However, by September 2014 things looked very different.
We’ve just watched the BBC’s new documentary, and we’re confused.
You can see both episodes on iPlayer now, or on TV tonight and tomorrow, but there’s no mistaking what’s being advertised – a personal drama between the two biggest players in Scottish politics in the last 300 years.
The dogged persistence of alert Wings contributor Benjamin Harrop with regard to the Hamilton inquiry has been truly heroic, and today it has borne fruit in dramatic style.
The 10-page adjudication from the Scottish Information Commissioner that you can download by clicking that image is a somewhat labyrinthine (but fascinating) read, but the upshot of it is that the Commissioner has now ordered the Scottish Government to release all of the legal advice it was given with regard to its refusal to publish the written evidence submitted to James Hamilton for his inquiry into the events around the alleged conspiracy to falsely convict Alex Salmond of sexual assaults.
(See, even that one-sentence summary was quite hard going.)
Lorncal on The Idiot Rodeo: “Listened to another Martin Geissler podcast. Couldn’t believe it. The female presenter said that the judge might yet prove to…” Dec 16, 00:32
Hatey McHateface on The Idiot Rodeo: “Have you seen photos of our MSPs? If the bints were forced to undress in front of the blokes, the…” Dec 15, 23:25
Marie on The Idiot Rodeo: “They are not required to undress in changing rooms at Holyrood and put on a uniform in order to do…” Dec 15, 23:08
Aidan on Let’s make this simple: “@Dan – I’m sorry that all this discussion about Scottish politics bothers you on this Scottish politics blog.” Dec 15, 22:42
bobo bunny on The Idiot Rodeo: “And who are you suggesting we vote for?” Dec 15, 21:10
bobo bunny on The Idiot Rodeo: “As the saying goes – never interrupt your enemy when they are making a mistake. The SNP government have lurched…” Dec 15, 21:08
Captain Caveman on Let’s make this simple: ““Honesty, drive, determination, competence, and above all, a solid grounding in reality” That’s one hell of a checklist for most…” Dec 15, 19:59
Charles (not the R3 one) on The Idiot Rodeo: “Tommo was, in my opinion, exactly correct when he wrote : “These people are obsessives – toilets seem to figure…” Dec 15, 19:38
Hatey McHateface on Let’s make this simple: “@Aidan One heck of a lot of “ordinary”, “normal” Scots would welcome the chance to vote for a party of…” Dec 15, 19:00
Hatey McHateface on The Idiot Rodeo: ““got a genuine logical argument against Scottish independence I can rip tae shreds?” Sure. There’s yersel. A genuine contender for…” Dec 15, 18:45
Hatey McHateface on The Idiot Rodeo: “@Stuart, leave Oor Northy alane. If he wisnae oan here, posting his repetitive mince/shite combos, he’d be oot oan the…” Dec 15, 18:25
Northcode on The Idiot Rodeo: “I’m thinking “rip to pieces” would have been a better expression to round off my last comment… “tear to shreds”…” Dec 15, 18:03
James on The Idiot Rodeo: “As expected. Another 90 minute patriot.” Dec 15, 17:45
Northcode on The Idiot Rodeo: “Ach! I I meant to post my last comment here. Oh, well… I’ll just have to post it again -…” Dec 15, 17:42
agentx on The Idiot Rodeo: “Northcode is really having a bad day – he has replied to the wrong post now.” Dec 15, 17:30
Northcode on The Idiot Rodeo: ““Will it come on 10 stone tablets?” Knaw, it’s aw digital – it disnae weigh onythin’ at aw… idiot (dae…” Dec 15, 17:20
Mark Beggan on The Idiot Rodeo: “That’s ok. We never read the first one either.” Dec 15, 16:47
Tommo on The Idiot Rodeo: “Is there not an odd similarity between the above ‘ooot for indy’ nonsense so well eviscerated and the ‘judgement’ in…” Dec 15, 16:39
Dan on Let’s make this simple: “Ooh, there’s excellent potential here. After the summer of dung beetle battles, we could now piss away even more time…” Dec 15, 16:23
Stuart on The Idiot Rodeo: “PAPER ONE IN THE 10 PART BAIRD SERIES! 10 parts, I cannae wait! Will it come on 10 stone tablets?…” Dec 15, 15:53
diabloandco on The Idiot Rodeo: “OT RSPCA heavily advertising their appeal , please remember that we have the SSPCA and they need anything we can…” Dec 15, 15:51
sog on The Idiot Rodeo: “The NHS Fife legal team may have dug deeply. One off-colour joke was all they presented.” Dec 15, 14:17
sog on The Idiot Rodeo: “It saddens me that the Greens are following the same downward path.” Dec 15, 13:16
sog on The Idiot Rodeo: “I worked in Engineering. Post-9/11 I read a report, I think by the NY City, on the sequence of events,…” Dec 15, 13:14
Northcode on The Idiot Rodeo: “Oops! Just realised I’ve posted this that last comment already… apologies.” Dec 15, 12:58
Northcode on The Idiot Rodeo: “Alf Baird posted an excellent (I think so, anyway… and that’s all that really matters) comment yesterday. I feel it’s…” Dec 15, 12:35
Northcode on The Idiot Rodeo: “Here’s a spare and random thought I had about some stuff… NORTHCODE’S SPARE AND RANDOM THOUGHT BEGINS… There is no…” Dec 15, 12:12
SilentMajority on The Idiot Rodeo: “Does our ‘government’ awaken each morning, and go through a rendition of “Eeny-meeny-miny-moe!” to decide which opinion to support today…’are…” Dec 15, 11:35
Aidan on Let’s make this simple: “What is the “cunning plan” that you refer to here? As far as I can see, and perhaps there’s something…” Dec 15, 11:24
Alf Baird on How Far To Go, How Far: “Sovereign Scots voted in successive majorities of SNP ‘nationalists’ to withdraw Scotland from the UK charade and to prevent an…” Dec 15, 11:12
