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.
Scottish schoolchildren start their exams today. We wish them good luck, because if any of them have taken their lead in language skills from the nation’s media they’re going to be in a lot of trouble.
For 10% of extra course credit, let’s find out why.
We had to rub our eyes when we got up this morning, because we thought we must have opened the wrong issue of the Times tablet app by mistake – the lead Scotland story seemed to be a reprint of a piece from the previous day’s Sunday Times.
We greatly enjoyed Any Questions on Radio 4 this week. Well chaired by Jonathan Dimbleby, it was a mostly grown-up and adult discussion of issues around nationalism and independence, perhaps assisted by the fact that – we gather – Scottish Labour branch manager Kezia Dugdale was unable to take part and was replaced as a Labour representative by Lord Falconer, who offered some considered and intelligent views.
The only slight wasp in the ointment was Tory list MSP Adam Tomkins, who delivered his usual boorish, patrician and arrogant debating style, which was frequently met with boos, jeers and catcalls from a feisty Blantyre audience. But he did come out with one rather unexpected and off-message policy position.
This appears to be a genuine question from a YouGov poll going out to selected areas of the country today. We’ve had a couple of people confirm it to us who we have no reason to disbelieve. (It also asked this.)
The particular political arrangement it’s testing the waters of public opinion on there is fascist dictatorship. God help us all.
Following on from Ian Murray’s last night, we received another election leaflet from an alert reader today, this time one delivered to them by the Scottish Conservatives.
Let’s just look at that highlighted section again.
We had a little fun last night at the expense of Ian Murray, the sole surviving Scottish Labour MP, who’d sent his constituents a list of his achievements in office that was actually a blank sheet of paper. And in fairness, he was extremely quick off the mark in response, producing a video tweet within four hours.
And it seems that he’s actually been keeping VERY busy.
An alert reader received a letter today about the forthcoming general election, from Scottish Labour’s only current MP, Ian Murray. (Although you’d have to know that in advance, as he doesn’t mention the Labour Party in it once.)
Here’s a close-up of part of it:
And below, we swear, is what’s on the other side of the page.
There’s no particular reason to post this today, other than that it’s only come to light this week and today happens to be the 20th anniversary of the article below.
While it’s often said (mainly by nationalist types) that the Scottish Parliament and its electoral system were specifically designed to prevent the SNP from coming to power and holding an independence referendum, there’s been very little in the way of explicit evidence to back that statement up.
The 27 April 1997 issue of the Scottish Sun, though, had it in spades.
So we thought we should save it from Twitter’s fleeting attention span for posterity.
Northcode on The Secondhand Amendment: “Trump is a trumpeting harbinger; the pompous, witless and ignorant harbinger unknowingly heralding the approaching grand executioner of imperial metropoles.…” Jan 21, 07:24
Northcode on The Secondhand Amendment: ““…If you think the ‘trans’ lobby/’woke’ has nothing to do with our lack of forward motion on independence, I don’t…” Jan 21, 07:15
Young Lochinvar on Learning Insanity: “H McH Oi vey y’all! I reckon your poster boy will have given himself an aneurism long before that! What’s…” Jan 21, 03:54
Saffron Robe on The Secondhand Amendment: “I don’t think the exact provenance of the fabricated quotes or misquotes matters much. What matters is that false data…” Jan 21, 00:10
robertkknight on The Secondhand Amendment: “Someone should tell the Marmalade Man-baby to let Greenland alone else we’ll pave over his precious golf courses then bury…” Jan 20, 22:38
Lorna Campbell on The Secondhand Amendment: “Dunx: yes, it does. However, it will spout only that which has been fed into it. When asked for a…” Jan 20, 22:17
Lorna Campbell on The Secondhand Amendment: “Northcode: Scotland is no different position to any other country infested with this ideology whose entire aim is to subvert…” Jan 20, 22:01
Ex President Xiden on The Secondhand Amendment: “You should never question the actions of those who deign to rule over us until you have walked a mike…” Jan 20, 21:25
Bilbo on The Secondhand Amendment: “All this woke nonsense emanates from the USA. All these other countries are dependent on America, whether financially or militarily.” Jan 20, 21:21
Northcode on The Secondhand Amendment: “Any Scot who thinks the abomination that is the barely animated ragged corpse called the Scottish Government is more than…” Jan 20, 20:58
sam on The Secondhand Amendment: “Again from Iain MacKinnon “So, just about 1800, you have this man, John Sinclair of Ulbster. He was a Gaelophile.…” Jan 20, 20:50
sam on The Secondhand Amendment: “What do you mean? There were many colonies. This from Iain MacKinnon. “Did Finlay go with you to a place…” Jan 20, 20:45
PC Foster on The Secondhand Amendment: “https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/why-i-am-suing-my-trade-union/” Jan 20, 19:23
TURABDIN on The Secondhand Amendment: “WHY IS TRUMP SO ANGRY? https://archive.ph/OJUzd Infantile peavishness or too much constipation causing American food? Henry 8, that figures.” Jan 20, 14:47
sam on The Secondhand Amendment: “100%Yes below. Yes, 100% Yes. Assimilation of Intuit culture and monopolised trade” Jan 20, 14:35
Lorna Campbell on The Secondhand Amendment: “Was listening to Scotcast re the FWS case against the SG on the question of men in the women’s prison…” Jan 20, 14:11
Hatey McHateface on The Secondhand Amendment: ““timed to do maximum damage to the independence vote” Wow! Professor Baird believes the SNP are still driving hard for…” Jan 20, 13:52
Lorna Campbell on The Secondhand Amendment: “Yes, Nae Need, I agree. However, I can understand the self-interest of those who claim to be ‘trans’. That does…” Jan 20, 13:43
Lorna Campbell on The Secondhand Amendment: “Computers cannot make up facts that are not actually there. They can introduce errors as to provenance. This is not…” Jan 20, 13:28
Lorna Campbell on The Secondhand Amendment: “She knows that AI could not have made some of the errors in the way they were made. It had…” Jan 20, 13:19
Lorna Campbell on The Secondhand Amendment: “Of course, AI is used extensively, but not in the way that this judgement pans out, so, either lies are…” Jan 20, 13:09
Confused on The Secondhand Amendment: “aircrew training video for the new F47 stealth superfighter (this should be the real top gun) www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECRWT9TEaj0 us foreign policy…” Jan 20, 13:01
Lorna Campbell on The Secondhand Amendment: “James, every piece of legislation, in Scotland’s history, and every piece of legislation in England’s history referred to two sexes…” Jan 20, 12:59
Confused on The Secondhand Amendment: “not you, Scotland! https://archive.ph/PrffD but wait … trump is on a roll; while “the current thing” is no longer iran,…” Jan 20, 12:59
100%Yes on The Secondhand Amendment: “No mention of the Inuits, why am I not surprised. Took great detail to write the Kingdom of Denmark, interesting…” Jan 20, 12:46
Alf Baird on The Secondhand Amendment: ““it’s hard to know it’s true meaning and who exactly is a fascist” According to Cesaire, numerous intellectuals including Robinson,…” Jan 20, 12:43
James Cheyne on Learning Insanity: “Lorna, Do not confuse the two separate speeches the monarch made as they were on two separate chronological time lines.…” Jan 20, 12:37
