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.
I wasn’t going to mention this on the site because it’s basically a personal matter, but as most readers don’t use Twitter or Facebook it probably ought to be briefly filed for the record, given the amount of media coverage there’s been.
Hatey McHateface on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Careful! You might resurrect the stereotype of the Scots as mean, grasping, penny pinching misers. Everybody knows there is no…” Jun 29, 13:38
Hatey McHateface on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Wheesht, sam, what does it matter what the figures are? Northy’s objective is to establish that anybody disagreeing with his…” Jun 29, 13:29
Hatey McHateface on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: ““no one wants SOSHALISZM, which CAN NEVER EVER WORk” You got that bit right. Well done you. You’ll be one…” Jun 29, 13:21
sam on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Northcode, Your figures cannae be right. 1.5 million Scots are not identifying as British and Scots. It’s not half a…” Jun 29, 12:55
Colin Dawson on The Guilty Party: “Some did, but not all. It would be interesting to see a history of the “Good Guys” campaign as it…” Jun 29, 12:46
Spartan 117 on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Mental, isn’t it. Your summary of what is now regarded as “feminism” is indeed accurate. It is a nilhistic misanthropic…” Jun 29, 12:38
Northcode on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Call it what you like – a unification, a partnership, a marriage, a merger, a fusion, a joining, an alliance,…” Jun 29, 12:13
Confused on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “some stories of note sure; whatever you say jack … https://archive.ph/MtIdp – just keep the pump and dump going there…” Jun 29, 12:04
Confused on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “I am currently gathering contributions for venezuelan earthquake victims. – the money will be ring-fenced through my amazon account. in…” Jun 29, 12:02
Peter Campbell on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “The police wouldn’t submit a report to COPFS on someone they thought wasn’t guilty of a crime. They would only…” Jun 29, 11:30
Southernbystander on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Illuminati? Very small fry. Everything leads back to the madness inducing Nyarlathotep, a deity horrible beyond anything you can imagine,…” Jun 29, 10:54
Alf Baird on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: ““who has the power over the police and COPFS” This would appear to be the UK ‘interior ministry’ otherwise known…” Jun 29, 10:47
James Che on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “They are all under one Colonial State umbrella, “The Scotland Act , including arrangement of votes and voting system.” Jun 29, 10:21
David Miller on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Murrell was the fall guy Sturgeon,Swinney.Beattie .Osawld and the rest of the Corrupt cabal are covering each others backs but…” Jun 29, 10:19
Spartan 117 on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Judging from the last 30+ years of British politics and the apparent deliberate self-harm continuously inflicted deliberately on the population,…” Jun 29, 09:35
Casper on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “I am pleased to know….many will not be sleeping well right now. Has your readership peaked lately….?” Jun 29, 09:28
Grace Green on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “I have personal experience of criminal corruption by Johnston Carmichael aided by lawyers, sheriffs and civil servants. I have been…” Jun 29, 09:15
Shug on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “The questions that follows is who has the power over the police and COPFS to make them align their stories…” Jun 29, 09:03
100%Yes on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “David McAdam, Good question but its one of many the rest of us have been asking ourselves. Is whole fiasco…” Jun 29, 09:01
David McAdam on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Can someone answer what the SNP Auditors for all the years of the Peter Murrell embezzlement were doing? I know…” Jun 29, 08:36
Hatey McHateface on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “So unkind, YL. I’ve merely observed, on several occasions, that your finest work is published after 2 AM. If you…” Jun 29, 07:33
Hatey McHateface on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: ““it’s little wonder they’re unable to grasp postcolonial theory” Of course, you, Alf, Northy, and many others on here all…” Jun 29, 07:19
Hatey McHateface on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Ah, c’moan noo. If we all lost our jobs, just because we turned up at work with a transponder aerial…” Jun 29, 07:11
Young Lochinvar on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “HMcH Tried to reply earlier, it just didn’t appear, and I know posts at this time upset you so very…” Jun 29, 01:01
Saffron Robe on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Excellent comment, Achnababan, which I wholeheartedly agree with. However, I wouldn’t say that there is a significant number of MSPs…” Jun 29, 00:15
Oneliner on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “How naive. So the Holyrood spad who was caught with a transponder aerial in his gusset was acting independently. Where…” Jun 28, 23:56
Rob on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “We are descending down the conspiracy rabbit hole now.] If you raise something the “british state” doesn’t like you will…” Jun 28, 23:24
Hatey McHateface on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “The references to Scotland’s illustrious history as a Kingdom under a long and noble line of Scottish Kings and Queens…” Jun 28, 22:16
Hatey McHateface on Ping-Pong-Fiddle-Aye-No: “Whispers in the shadows. “The swirl of a cape. Masked figures, partially seen in the gloom beneath smashed streetlights. The…” Jun 28, 22:07
sarah on Off-topic: “@ Tinto, I thought Cape Verde’s example was an obvious one for Scotland to follow – their defenders and midfield…” Jun 28, 22:00
