You’d have to be living in a pretty strict prison not to have heard the big story from today’s Olympics in Paris, in which male Algerian cheat Imane Khelefi was put in a boxing ring with young Italian woman Angela Carini and allowed to hit her in the head for 46 seconds until she retired, in tears and in fear for her safety, saying “I had to preserve my life”.
Sound like your kind of fun, men? It’s surprisingly easy!
We’ve been off for a little break in the country, and as far as we can tell we’ve missed absolutely nothing in the moribund world of Scottish politics. We did, however, arrive back just in time for something mildly interesting, or at least revealing.
It’s the latest episode of a new podcast by veteran Scottish political journalist and broadcaster Bernard Ponsonby and jobbing opinion columnist Alex Massie, inventively titled The Ponsonby And Massie Podcast.
The first 35 minutes or so weren’t very noteworthy, other than the curious omission – when predicting the makeup of the next Scottish Government – of the idea of a Labour-SNP coalition, which to this site remains by far the most practical and logical outcome of the 2026 Holyrood election.
As we’ve repeatedly pointed out, Wings has made NO comments about the “workplace harassment” allegations made against Alex Salmond several years ago. We’ve only commented on the CRIMINAL allegations, and workplace harassment isn’t a crime. (It’s a matter for an employment tribunal, not the police.)
But the real question is WHY Andy Wightman is so doggedly attached to these two complainers that he’s determined to keep digging himself further into a hole of lies. And everyone knows what you tend to find when you start digging holes.
David Davis may be the last of his kind – a libertarian Tory from a council-scheme and grammar-school background, and also one of the few remaining big beasts occupying the political jungle of the back benches.
(He could in fact have been Tory leader, and would have been if David Cameron and George Osborne hadn’t teamed up to defeat him in 2005 after he won the first ballot.)
So on the rare occasions when he leads a Commons adjournment debate, as he did last Thursday evening, those with an educated eye for politics sit up and take notice.
In any functional nation, Friday’s revelations in Parliament by Sir David Davis would have been headline news. An extremely powerful figure, the then-First Minister’s chief of staff, was named and accused of conspiring with the Scottish Government, civil service and media to imprison an innocent man – the former leader of the country – on very serious charges of sexual assault, and of seeking to destroy his reputation by illegally leaking the false allegations to the press.
Liz Lloyd had never been publicly named as the suspect before that moment, so it was almost immeasurably bizarre that only two of Scotland’s newspapers (and two of its lowest-selling), namely The Times and – belatedly – The National, bothered to even report the accusation, far less spend any time seriously delving into it.
But it still wasn’t as odd as THIS response from a former Green MSP.
What on Earth is being suggested here? Let’s try to find out.
It’s both a comprehensive refresher of events surrounding the Scottish Government’s conspiracy to convict Alex Salmond on false charges, and a sharp reminder of why Scotland is, in truth, not yet a country in a fit administrative state for independence.
But one part in particular ought to be the headline news tonight.
Independence is dead as a political issue in Scotland for the next few years. This much should not be in any dispute. A Labour government with a crushing majority sits firmly in Westminster with absolutely no intentions of granting a second referendum, and the SNP has loudly and clearly abandoned any other strategy.
This fact is understandably painful and difficult to come to terms with for anyone who’s devoted the last 13 years (or more) to pursuing that cause and now isn’t quite sure what to do with theirself. But for those who still aren’t ready to face up to the unpleasant reality, there’s always the comforting world of fantasy.
Because there’s always money to be made from snake oil and pie in the sky.
The average rape sentence in Scotland is seven years, so to get six years plus three years’ supervision for the technically lesser crime of sexual assaults means they must have been pretty grim ones.
So we know that Cameron Downing is a very bad man. Which does rather invite the question of why he was so popular in the SNP.
The SNP have been pretty clear about the reason they think they got a battering in last week’s election: it was because people were voting to kick out the Tories.
Now, that’s obviously nonsense. There were almost no Tories in Scotland to start with – just 10% of voters had a Tory MP – and only one of the six actually lost his seat. (Which was entirely down to the ham-fisted interference of Douglas Ross rather than an SNP surge – the SNP’s vote share in the seat in question went DOWN.)
If you wanted to keep Tories out in Scotland all you had to do was keep voting for your current MP, most of whom were SNP, rather than risk splitting the anti-Tory vote by switching to Labour and risk letting the Tories squeeze through in the middle. (Which would have happened in many seats had the Tories’ own vote not collapsed.)
But if it was true that the SNP lost because the electorate thought the election was about getting rid of the Tories, whose fault was that?
Northcode on The Fear Of The Briar: ““…I dread to think what would become of Scotland if we ever got independence under the incompetence of the SNP…”…” Dec 31, 20:15
Tinto Chiel on Off-topic: “For all old-timers and “Lurkers”, IMHO the best version of an old classic (forgive the SaTC references): www.youtube.com/watch?v=foZG74PSl2A May The…” Dec 31, 20:12
Tinto Chiel on Off-topic: “Dan said: “The site has been allowed to be overrun with trolls, constantly interrupting and goading folk, and it is…” Dec 31, 19:57
aLurker on Off-topic: “I only popped in to leave a New Years greeting and find myself surprised and pleased that there is still…” Dec 31, 19:33
Alf Baird on The Fear Of The Briar: “Scotland is to England and Farage what Alaska is to the USA and Trump. Similarly, both territories were ‘procured’ by…” Dec 31, 19:27
Alf Baird on The Curious Fringes: ““a solid 3.6% of Scots believe we will be Independent by 2031” More importantly, polls indicate at least 50%+ of…” Dec 31, 19:14
100%Yes on The Fear Of The Briar: “Yes Heather, there is a lot of people who claim to be Indy supporters promoting misinformation about the state of…” Dec 31, 19:05
aLurker on The Fear Of The Briar: “Hi Sarah Aye it would be great if ALL of the REAL independence politicos would get together and try and…” Dec 31, 18:33
ScottieDog on The Fear Of The Briar: “It’s not just the finery they’re preserving. When the edifice collapses, all the skeletons come out the cupboards. The British…” Dec 31, 18:27
Andy Ellis on The Fear Of The Briar: “I think you’re being a tad complacent: recent opinion polls seem to suggest that a sea change is coming. From…” Dec 31, 18:19
Ian Stewart on The Fear Of The Briar: “Well a pollster reported in The Times today seems to think Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish independence is a certainty…” Dec 31, 18:13
Marie Clark on Off-topic: “Hi Dan, Thanks for the news about BDTT it was kind of you to pass on our good wishes to…” Dec 31, 18:11
Scot Finlayson on The Fear Of The Briar: “Had a feeling since 2014 and after the Sturgeon`s Brexit capitulation,(i was outside Bute House expecting a call to war…” Dec 31, 18:09
agentx on The Fear Of The Briar: “Alf Baird says: “Reform are the only major party opposed to……..” ——————————————————— By no stretch of the imagination – (apart…” Dec 31, 18:00
Dan on Off-topic: “Hi Folks, Had a catch-up call earlier with BrianDtt and let him know you were asking after him and sending…” Dec 31, 16:35
James on The Curious Fringes: “Take the hint, Unionist fuckwit.” Dec 31, 16:29
James on The Curious Fringes: “Ok then; “Unionist Prick Troll”. Happy Hogmanay to all when it comes. With the obvious exceptions.” Dec 31, 16:26
Andy Ellis on The Curious Fringes: “@Hatey 3.08 pm Aye, Alf, and as the poll in the next article shows, a solid 3.6% of Scots believe…” Dec 31, 15:37
Hatey McHateface on The Fear Of The Briar: “C’moan Confused. Still 9 hours to go. Save some for the bells.” Dec 31, 15:19
Hatey McHateface on The Curious Fringes: “Aye, Alf, and as the poll in the next article shows, a solid 3.6% of Scots believe we will be…” Dec 31, 15:08
Confused on The Fear Of The Briar: “reform smashing it in these northern constituencies www.youtube.com/shorts/IG7XTz8INtA Has OberGrueppenFuehrer Nigel von Farage made any statement about the Bondo-Caust? -…” Dec 31, 15:00
Hatey McHateface on The Fear Of The Briar: ““Reform are the protest vote against the incumbents” True, but far more importantly, that makes Reform the last throw of…” Dec 31, 14:59
Xaracen on The Curious Fringes: “Blethers, Hatey. It was James VI of Scotland who reset New Years’ day in Scotland from the 25th of March…” Dec 31, 14:51
Hatey McHateface on The Curious Fringes: “Your memory is playing you false, James. It’s: “Feck”. “Arse”. “Drink”. “Gurls”. You see, if Father Jack had been uncontrollably…” Dec 31, 14:44
Chris Downie on The Fear Of The Briar: “Another very good article and one which is on point, but I think there is at least one more twist…” Dec 31, 14:41
Hatey McHateface on The Curious Fringes: “Leaving 50% as … mince? Let’s hope so. The alternatives are even worse.” Dec 31, 14:38
Hatey McHateface on The Curious Fringes: “The “BTL” (appears 4 times) refers to Below The Line. Hopefully all is now clear.” Dec 31, 14:35
Alf Baird on The Curious Fringes: “Aye, Scots hiv come a lang wey in the lest few year tae better unnerstaund oor doun-hauden colonial condeetion. An…” Dec 31, 14:30
Aidan on The Fear Of The Briar: “It’s possible the conservatives offer better terms, but equally I can see a world where they see being a junior…” Dec 31, 14:29
Towbar Sullivan on The Fear Of The Briar: “There is nothing to stop the SNP standing for election in England. In fact, I myself am considering standing as…” Dec 31, 14:23
