Just a brief update on some legal shenanigans. Having received no response to TWO lawyers’ letters, I’ve filed a court claim against Express Newspapers over false and defamatory claims made in an article by Siobhan McFadyen (sourced by JK Rowling) on the Sunday Express website of 30 October, as detailed in this Wings article.
The court fee was partly funded by popular politics pundit John McTernan.
Alert readers will remember that last month we debunked a front-page story from the Scottish Daily Mail about SNP MPs’ expenses, which made the spectacularly untrue claim that they were more expensive than their Unionist predecessors, when in fact they cost significantly less and did far more work.
A couple of days ago the Mail finally ran a “clarification”. And we thought you might like to know exactly how much more the Mail values lies than truth.
The highlighted areas on the picture above occupy 440,107 pixels.
We’ll be honest, there are some bits of this that make us wince, and unfortunately most of them come in the first two minutes where they’ll do the most damage in terms of getting a persuadeable voter to watch the rest of it. But it’s an important piece of work, containing stuff even we didn’t know about, and it should be seen.
Particularly alert readers may recall a phenomenon we haven’t covered much recently, whereby aspects of politics magically transform as they cross the border between Scotland and the rest of the UK. But this week we’ve had a sighting in a new area.
Reiner Luyken is a 65-year-old German journalist who’s spent more than half of his life in the Highlands, and seems to have a knack for upsetting the neighbours.
We’re sure it was just an unfortunate one-off misunderstanding.
Alert readers may have noticed with barely-concealed disinterest that Scottish Labour have announced their intention to have another really hard think about devolution.
With Labour not looking like being in power at either Holyrood or Westminster for at least a decade, and their opinions therefore being about as relevant as our ideas as to who should play in the back four for Real Madrid next weekend, most papers treated the news with the gravitas it deserved, such as this report in the Sunday Post:
But we thought it might be a snappy idea to keep track of all the times the Unionist parties have promised that they’ve come up with the ultimate form of devo-X.
Unionists got very excited last week about a YouGov poll for the Times which showed that not only had the post-Brexit bump in support for independence been undone, but that it was now (fractionally) below the level recorded in the indyref for the first time since the September 2014 vote.
(It was a slightly curious poll, with a massively disproportionate number – over 27% – of its respondents born outside Scotland, mostly from the rest of the UK, but it was weighted so that shouldn’t have been much of a factor. It also found majority support for a second EU referendum, despite a 30-point margin for Remain, but opposition to a second indyref despite the margin for the Union being just 12 points.)
Nevertheless, given that nothing’s happened since the end of June that ought to have damaged the case for Yes (the oil price is currently at a 12-month high, for example, almost twice what it was in January), the 10% drop in support is a troubling one for the independence movement.
But it shouldn’t be. Because what the poll shows is that there is currently a majority of people in Scotland prepared to vote for independence.
The Prime Minister of the UK, whose party has one MP in Scotland, officially tells the Commons that she doesn’t believe people on benefits should be able to survive.
Northcode on When the law breaks the law: “Part of our debate would perhaps be concerned with a definition of ‘colonisation’ A modern definition of colonialism: ” [colonialism]…” Feb 23, 22:00
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on When the law breaks the law: “AUTISTIC DETRANSITIONER AWARDED $2m AFTER HER BREASTS WERE REMOVED AT 16 An autistic woman who underwent a double mastectomy at…” Feb 23, 20:27
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on When the law breaks the law: “PUBERTY BLOCKER TRIAL HALTED OVER SAFETY CONCERNS Work on NHS England’s planned puberty blocker trial has been paused after the…” Feb 23, 20:00
Garavelli Princip on When the law breaks the law: “Well Young Lochinvar, I know Hatey well. He was my boss: Head of Lavatorial Services. Where do you think he…” Feb 23, 18:30
Willie on When the law breaks the law: “Obviously in not mounting an appeal Durham and Darlington dont have the unlimited resources like the Fife NHS have. Incredible…” Feb 23, 17:56
Willie on When the law breaks the law: “Touted with the great hurrah the reality is that the MV Isle of Islay was delivered one year and three…” Feb 23, 17:41
Young Lochinvar on When the law breaks the law: “I wonder if host Alan Cummings would have been so fulsomely inclusive and supportive if the tick in question hard…” Feb 23, 17:19
sarah on When the law breaks the law: “Sara’s response has been posted onto Liberation Scotland’s facebook. She shows JK up for what he has become.” Feb 23, 17:04
Young Lochinvar on When the law breaks the law: “HMcH @2.30 Hay fit, straw fit.. Based on that I very much doubt it. Oi Vey! How does that sit…” Feb 23, 17:01
100%Yes on When the law breaks the law: “James Kelly, is best ignored and forgotten about, he’s a thorn in the Indy movement side. You could write pages…” Feb 23, 16:36
sarah on When the law breaks the law: “@ 100%Yes: I hope you succeed in bringing Alba under the Alliance to Liberate Scotland umbrella. I’ve been dropping the…” Feb 23, 15:07
Cynicus on When the law breaks the law: ““ From the ashes of Culloden and the tragedy of the Highland Clearances to the cliffs of Quebec…” ======== It…” Feb 23, 15:05
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “Anybody know if they swore an oath of allegiance to the British Sovereign and his successors? And if they did,…” Feb 23, 14:30
100%Yes on When the law breaks the law: “Both me and my wife have just rejoined the Alba Party to support any new leaders and to stick two…” Feb 23, 14:26
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on When the law breaks the law: “GROUSE BEATER: ‘ALBA PARTY NEWS’ « […] Four senior ALBA members have offered to take over the party to ensure…” Feb 23, 14:03
sam on When the law breaks the law: “Frae BBC “A health trust spent more than £600,000 on an employment tribunal which found it harassed a group of…” Feb 23, 13:56
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on When the law breaks the law: “HOW SCOTTISH REGIMENTS FORGED BRITAIN’S EMPIRE Intro text on YouTube site – « When you picture the British Empire, you…” Feb 23, 13:50
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “Scotland all over the MSM today, as the waves of synthetic outrage swell into a tsunami sweeping all of yesterday’s…” Feb 23, 13:45
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “I’ve viewed it 110 times. Northy 615. Who’s the ither twa?” Feb 23, 13:29
Hatey McHateface on When the law breaks the law: “Haha, “humble Scot”. Maybes you forget your claims to be a millennia-old, interstellar-travelling, Pict. But the denizens of Area 51…” Feb 23, 13:22
sam on When the law breaks the law: “@ factchecker “Part of our debate would perhaps be concerned with a definition of ‘colonisation’, which fills the posts of…” Feb 23, 12:54
agentx on When the law breaks the law: “Alf Baird says: 22 February, 2026 at 2:47 pm ““real” nationalists should be focused on… self determination” That is correct,…” Feb 23, 11:44
factchecker on When the law breaks the law: “A rational and factual answer, NC – thanks. Part of our debate would perhaps be concerned with a definition of…” Feb 23, 11:23
Aidan on When the law breaks the law: “I’m not sure you are in the position to lecture others about worthless diversionary “contributions” Alf since you and the…” Feb 23, 11:02
Northcode on When the law breaks the law: “Excuse my facetiousness, factchecker. Sometimes what I think of as playful banter might come across as rudeness in this place.…” Feb 23, 10:08
factchecker on When the law breaks the law: “NC says ““And therefore presumably a word imposed on us by our colonisers in the distant past.” You presume wrongly,…” Feb 23, 09:38
Northcode on When the law breaks the law: ““And therefore presumably a word imposed on us by our colonisers in the distant past.” You presume wrongly, yet again,…” Feb 23, 09:00
factchecker on When the law breaks the law: “Many thanks for the injection of fact, NC. “Bring, Bryng, v. Also: pryng. P.t. and p.p. brocht, broght, broight; broucht,…” Feb 23, 08:46
Northcode on When the law breaks the law: “The ignorance of Scotland’s colonists (unionists or colonialists if preferred… same thing) on all things Scottish does not in the…” Feb 23, 08:30
