The unholy union 102
Posted on
May 20, 2017 by
Chris Cairns
Becoming the squirrel 545
Posted on
May 18, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
I went to the dentist this morning, and boy was I ever in for a shock when I got back.
So I guess we’d better talk about this for a minute.
Willie And Me 187
Posted on
May 18, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
If you weren’t listening to the Kaye Adams show earlier, and you probably weren’t, this was my call to Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie.
(The Kaye Adams Programme, BBC Radio Scotland, 18 May 2017)
.
(Alert readers may have noticed that I had to adopt a wee bit of subterfuge to get on by saying – truthfully – that I was from Bathgate, because BBC Scotland don’t tend to take my calls when I say where I am.)
As you’ll hear, Rennie had no answer to the question (even when put to him again by Adams), trying to deflect the issue onto SNP BAD instead.
His position was that the British people should have the right to another vote in case they’ve changed their mind about Brexit, even though there’s been no material change of circumstances, but that the Scottish people SHOULDN’T have the right to another vote on independence even though there HAS been a huge material change.
All I can say is that I tried.
A creeping feeling 100
Posted on
May 17, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
No.11: Kathi, from Bernburg, Germany.
Kezia gets the messages 110
Posted on
May 17, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
From today’s interview on Good Morning Scotland:
(Good Morning Scotland, BBC Radio Scotland, 17 May 2017)
.
That needs transcribing for the record.
This won’t take very long 82
Posted on
May 17, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Because in the 124-page Labour manifesto released yesterday, these 115 words are the entire amount of text devoted to Scotland:
(That’s not a fake screenshot, btw. The giant Union Jack is really there.)
So let’s take a very quick stroll through them.
A question of values 171
Posted on
May 16, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
We were intrigued to hear Labour activist Duncan Hothersall tell radio listeners this morning that his party’s opposition to independence was rooted in “Labour values”, and most specifically by his assertion that “nationalism and socialism are opposites”.
So we thought we’d take a look back at our last Panelbase opinion poll, which we conducted in February, and see what the values of Unionists were.
The training of memory 114
Posted on
May 16, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
The Labour general election manifesto is officially launched today, as if it mattered. It will reportedly say that the party will block a second independence referendum if it’s in power at Westminster, which of course it won’t be.
And while Labour’s position on anything – particularly anything involving Scotland – is a complete irrelevance, it’s still quite fun to listen to them tying themselves in knots.
So with no further ado, ladies and gentlemen, we bring you Duncan Hothersall.
(Good Morning Scotland, BBC Radio Scotland, 16 May 2017)
.
The Invisibles 205
Posted on
May 15, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Readers who’ve been following the ongoing avalanche of disturbing revelations about bigotry, sectarianism and racism among the ranks of Scottish Conservative politicians probably won’t need to be told that the party’s talent pool is desperately shallow.
More than a quarter of its Scottish candidates for the forthcoming UK general election actually already hold elected office – nine of them as councillors, four as MSPs, one as an MEP and of course the sole defending member, David Mundell.
(Several of the councillors have only been in their jobs for a matter of a few days and are already looking to scurry off to London for new ones.)
As for the rest, though – and following the discovery that at least two of its council candidates earlier this month had no idea that they were standing – the party’s clearly been doing some more hasty press-ganging.
Ruth’s fishy friends 378
Posted on
May 12, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
This week the Scottish media went in quite heavily with the news that Ruth Davidson had signed up “Scottish fishing industry leaders” to back the UK government over the Scottish Government, after the latter had warned that Westminster planned to sell out the industry again during Brexit negotiations.
To be honest we didn’t pay it a lot of heed, assuming that “Scottish fishing industry leaders” just meant Bertie Armstrong again – a longstanding ultra-staunch Unionist and Leave supporter with a track record as a reliable anti-independence rentaquote – and nothing in the coverage led us to believe otherwise.
But then we saw a picture:
Mr Armstrong is the white-haired and bearded chap standing immediately to the right of Davidson in the photo, with his hand on the top corner of her pledge. But who’s the fellow immediately to the left of her?
A stranger inside 187
Posted on
May 11, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Below is a clip from last night’s Reporting Scotland. It features regular election loser Christine Jardine, an ex-BBC journalist who the Lib Dems have tried unsuccessfully for years to crowbar into Parliamentary seats all over Scotland (like Aberdeenshire East in 2016, Gordon in 2015, the European Parliament in 2014, Aberdeen Donside in 2013 and Inverness and Nairn in 2011).
She’s currently contesting Edinburgh West, which the party has some credible hopes of winning, having held the seat for almost 20 years prior to 2015. And it seems that her former employer has decided to try to give her a helping hand.
And, y’know, they’re really not allowed to do that.
