He’d very kindly sent us a copy of the same article he’d sent the Beeb. We attach it below. We’ve highlighted in bold the only bits that didn’t make it into the BBC piece.
When our dear old pal the Scottish Labour super-goon Duncan Hothersall tweeted this earlier today, we just couldn’t resist a wee fact-check. We love to see people take the moral high ground, but numbers are fluid these days and you can’t be too careful.
Some manner of strange, alien vortex swallowed the very concept of arithmetic as we know it earlier this evening. The answer to the question “what is 431 minus 425?” was variously reported by the media as -7, -14, +31 and -30, with nowhere that we could find offering the seemingly obvious answer of “6”. But that was only the beginning.
Because language wasn’t immune from the sudden redefinitions either. The Tories, who finished 155 seats behind the SNP, nevertheless proclaimed themselves not only the winners of the election, but the sole winners.
With all 32 councils now having declared, the Scottish local elections are over and the SNP have won again, taking 431 seats. Last time round in 2012 they took 425.
You might think you know the difference between 431 and 425. But you don’t.
This post is mostly here to give people somewhere to chat about the council election results as they come in. But this song, with a hat-tip to alert reader SparkleMonkey, is dedicated specifically and personally to the now-former Scottish Labour councillor (and one-time leader of Aberdeen City Council) Willie Young, who was ejected by the electorate earlier today.
Today is going to be a day of realignment in Scottish politics, in which the Tories will formally become the main opposition to the SNP. (Having already pipped Labour to second at Holyrood and having as many Westminster MPs as them.) Expect modest SNP gains and big Tory ones, both mainly from Labour, who have already lost overall control of Glasgow, their last stronghold.
Everything’s different after today, folks. Scotland’s choice will never have been more stark: extreme Tories in the UK for years and years to come, or self-governance. Let the chips fall where the people choose.
Earlier this morning an alert reader directed us to an article in the Daily Express which seemed to make an eye-catchingly remarkable claim. It turned out to be one actually made by Ruth Davidson on Saturday (which had already been reported in the Express that day), when she appeared on Iain Dale’s radio show on LBC.
A 27% swing? From the SNP to the Tories? Putting the Tories AHEAD in the polls? That would be such a stupendously Earth-shattering development in Scottish politics that you’d think the media would have made more of it than a couple of mentions in an embarrassing low-circulation comic like the Express.
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
