As readers who were once children will probably recall, papier-mache is a substance in which incredibly flimsy material – such as tissue paper or newspaper – is turned into something rather more hard and durable by dint of combining multiple layers of it with a simple flour-and-water solution.
What’s less well-known is that the process also happens IN newspapers.
For a case study, let’s look at this article in today’s Times.
The Scottish Daily Mail almost explodes with fury over new crime statistics today:
Which is weird. Because there’s less crime in Scotland than there’s ever been at any time in modern history. How do we know that? Because the Mail tells us so.
We stuck this short clip up on YouTube yesterday as a throwaway while watching the Labour conference in slack-jawed astonishment (a visitor from an alien planet would have concluded it was the gathering of a party that had just won a landslide victory, not lost its third general election in a row), but on reflection it deserves a proper post.
If you know anything at all about the story of how female Glasgow City Council employees have fought for equal pay, you’ll probably be as outraged as we are at Baxter’s bulletproof brass neck. But the video actually demonstrates what appears to be Scottish Labour’s master strategy for winning back Scotland.
Labour will start their autumn conference in Brighton properly today, but the comrades have already been at the seaside over the weekend. We thought we’d see how the UK’s official alternative to the Tories was getting along.
This weekend’s Scottish Mail On Sunday carries a column from UK Cabinet Office minister Damian Green which, if anyone was still in any doubt, rings just about every warning bell imaginable in terms of the Tories’ plan to use Brexit to cripple devolution both in principle and in practice.
It’s tucked away on page 27 and doesn’t appear on the Mail’s website, but you can read the whole thing by clicking the pic above. And below, we’ve pulled out the key sentences that should have the blood of devolution-loving No voters running cold.
Young Lochinvar on Pick Your Poison: “Geri Strangely fitting.. The “gayest wee Parliament” in the world will transition to be the “queerest wee Parliament in the…” May 9, 01:58
Geri on Pick Your Poison: “I hope Cowardly John draws the short straw & has to inform them it’s the LAW that they use the…” May 9, 01:43
Young Lochinvar on Pick Your Poison: “Sarah But, but.. Anne Thewliss burst into tears! Again.. And anyway, back in the day they used to say the…” May 9, 01:33
Cynicus on Pick Your Poison: “Final results for Highlands and Islands: Vic Currie (Reform) Ariane Burgess (Scottish Greens) Tim Eagle (Conservative) Max Barrowman (Reform) Morven-May…” May 9, 01:28
Geri on Pick Your Poison: “Can they not count? Why do they always have issues? According to X reporter – there were four counts at…” May 9, 01:27
GM on Pick Your Poison: “Interesting question. We’ll see how the Holyrood ladies deal with it.” May 9, 01:24
Geri on Pick Your Poison: “It gets worse Lorna… Allegedly, one has a crowd funder cause they don’t have a work visa (WTF?) & the…” May 9, 01:04
Confused on Pick Your Poison: “I see some foreign p00f on a student visa has gotten elected to the Scots parliament; I wonder how he…” May 9, 00:56
Cynicus on Pick Your Poison: ““ Is no-one else annoyed and embarrassed that 26 hrs after the polls closed the final results still haven’t been…” May 9, 00:53
Young Lochinvar on Pick Your Poison: “Oh well.. Hey ho! That’s that then for some more years.. “Honest” John has got what he “really” wanted all…” May 9, 00:53
L.U.T.B on Pick Your Poison: “Christ on a bike! Is no-one else annoyed and embarrassed that 26 hrs after the polls closed the final results…” May 9, 00:27
Big Jock on Pick Your Poison: “I don’t think any of us can take another 5 years of this sand dancing. It is like trying to…” May 9, 00:13
GM on Pick Your Poison: “I hope the lady takes the Scot gov. to the cleaners. It is the only thing that will shift them,…” May 9, 00:08
Cynicus on Pick Your Poison: “sarah says: 8 May, 2026 at 10:22 pm “This is now officially the worst set of MSPs we have been…” May 9, 00:02
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Pick Your Poison: “EX-GOVERNOR: ‘STOP HOUSING MEN IN SCOTLAND’S PRISONS FOR WOMEN’ All men who identify as women should be immediately removed from…” May 8, 23:41
Lorncal on Pick Your Poison: “The thing is, Aidan/Caveman, everything has to be tried before you go for broke. It’s like the wee boy or…” May 8, 23:09
GM on Pick Your Poison: “A court case might stir things up a bit. I suspect Scotland (does it still exist at Holyrood?) is too…” May 8, 23:06
Lorncal on Pick Your Poison: “Every silver lining has a cloud, Geri, and the Greens’ cloud – hopefully as black as the Earl of Hell’s…” May 8, 22:39
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Pick Your Poison: “Beannachd leat, a Sheumais. Piseach ort! (Blessings/ Good-bye, James. All the best!)” May 8, 22:33
Lorncal on Pick Your Poison: “I know. It’s the same everywhere. It will be around three-quarters to a million votes lost to Unionists and the…” May 8, 22:29
sarah on Pick Your Poison: “This is now officially the worst set of MSPs we have been cursed with. Is there a single one with…” May 8, 22:22
James Che on Pick Your Poison: “I will say goodby to everyone on wings over Scotland, and to Rev Stu for many years providing information, stats,…” May 8, 22:14
Geri on Pick Your Poison: “SNP wasted regional votes in my area around 88,000. Seats 0 Reform – around 59,000. Seats 3. #@#@#” May 8, 21:50
robertkknight on Pick Your Poison: ““Izzie says: 8 May, 2026 at 5:43 pm Well it looks like we (SNP) have won. But Im not hete…” May 8, 21:46
red sunset on Pick Your Poison: “A good number of constituencies below 50% turnout, typical seems to be around 55% turnout” May 8, 21:14
SilentMajority on Pick Your Poison: “What an absolute shower of embarrassments we now have ‘in power’…” May 8, 21:09
Geri on Pick Your Poison: “53.2% https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2026/scotland/results” May 8, 21:07
