Yesterday we reported how the only people who were risking the privatisation of key ferry services to the Western Isles were the Scottish Labour politicians and media crowing about how the decision to keep them in the hands of publicly-owned operator Caledonian MacBrayne had been made for political reasons.
(Which, were it true, would render the award of the contract illegal under EU law.)
Here’s (a few seconds into the clip) George, Baron Foulkes Of Cumnock.
Born in 1942 in Oswestry in Shropshire and privately educated at The Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School in Hertfordshire, George was first elected by the public in 1979, serving for 26 years. During his time as an MP he was convicted of a drunken violent assault on a policeman and fined £1,050. In 2005 he was ennobled into the House Of Lords and will make laws for UK citizens until he dies, no matter what voters say.
You’d think he’d have learned better manners by now.
As we write there’s a protest going on outside the Scottish Parliament regarding the privatisation of ferry services to the Western Isles. It was formally announced almost three hours ago that there definitely wasn’t going to be any privatisation and that the service would remain in public hands, but the protest still went ahead.
The people conducting the protest, who’ve got the exact thing they wanted, are now doing their level best to lose it again. Welcome to Scottish politics.
Over the past few days, readers, we haven’t been able to avoid noticing a recurring theme among Unionist types on social media – namely that the Holyrood election results are proof that support for independence is declining.
But it’s not until you ask them to explain that it gets completely mental.
For much of its life, this site has been warning readers that, as their default position, they should always assume newspaper headlines are a lie until proven otherwise.
Today, Britain’s biggest-selling newspaper admitted it in public.
You win a historic third election with a second massive landslide, getting more than twice as many seats as your nearest challenger – the first time such a thing has ever happened in a Holyrood election – on the back of what’s (self-evidently) by and large a very popular policy programme and record, and before you’ve even taken your seats in the chamber all the parties you just thrashed out of sight line up to explain how you’ve been doing everything wrong.
And as alliances go, they don’t get much less holy.
We’re supposed to be taking a few days off, but it’s been tipping it down outside for 36 solid hours, so when an alert reader emailed us a question relating to this article from Monday, we couldn’t help but go and research it just to pass some time.
They’d asked how many of the Tory MSPs elected last Thursday had been rejected by the voters of a constituency seat on the same day, and we were startled by the answer – of the 24 Conservative members of the Scottish Parliament elected on the list last week, every single one was also a failed constituency candidate.
In amongst a torrent of pretty mad analysis of the election result at the weekend, we noticed the most insane reason yet suggested for the loss of the SNP’s majority:
The co-founder of a much-lauded but little-read pro-independence website asserted that the SNP were cruising to victory until the Nats got the backing of the Scottish Sun and Nicola Sturgeon was pictured posing with the front cover endorsing her party.
The whole litany of gaping flaws in that argument is something the Yes movement has needed to talk about for some considerable time now. So let’s bite the bullet and do it.
Hatey McHateface on Only An Excuse: “Ah’ve telt ye afore aboot posting tae early, Aul Lochnagar. Ye divnae hit yer stride until aroond 2 AM. So…” May 23, 08:11
Young Lochinvar on Only An Excuse: “I’mnogay McI’mnogayface @ 7.34 Wi-Fi back up and running in padded cell land and he’s off and chuntering again before…” May 23, 08:11
Xaracen on Only An Excuse: “Hmm, feels more like a vergence in the Force.” May 23, 08:05
Hatey McHateface on The Queer Parliament: “No such thing as a Yoon, Geri. How could there be, when there never was a Union? You really need…” May 23, 07:45
Hatey McHateface on Only An Excuse: “Loving your ongoing linguistic developments, Geri. “fckn” “crms” “Naz” Any chance you could make like the ancient language bods and…” May 23, 07:34
Geri on Only An Excuse: “America is losing its empire because every foreign blow-in with a grudge going back fckn decades were allowed inside their…” May 23, 01:56
Geri on The Queer Parliament: “Shiteface “As our generous host evidences to us week after week after week, Scotland’s malady is tribalism. That leads to…” May 23, 00:23
Young Lochinvar on Only An Excuse: “I’mnogay McI’mnogayface @ 10.43 I shouldn’t even respond but if you have the steely patience to search back through your…” May 23, 00:01
Hatey McHateface on Only An Excuse: “Come back the morn. Translate yer post frae jakey tae English.” May 22, 23:57
Bilbo on Only An Excuse: “Aye…Monroe Doctrine…” May 22, 23:44
Bilbo on Only An Excuse: “Is there are a glitch in the Matrix 😉” May 22, 23:40
Hatey McHateface on Only An Excuse: “Fascinating stuff, Alf. So you’re saying Hechter essentially predicted last Saturday’s bourach. The basturt in the black was simply “tending…” May 22, 23:40
Hatey McHateface on Only An Excuse: “Looks like Cuba is the next domino: https://unherd.com/newsroom/trumps-castro-indictment-will-turn-screws-on-cuban-regime/” May 22, 23:28
Alf Baird on Only An Excuse: “Colonial society implies colonial institutions and colonial mindsets. I mind us working class laddies playing fitba, and the cultural contrast…” May 22, 23:17
Hatey McHateface on Only An Excuse: “That’s more like it, Aul Lochnagar. Fill yer boots with some accusations of shirt lifting. There’s no readers can be…” May 22, 22:43
Young Lochinvar on Only An Excuse: “Bilbo @ 10.05 Subjects of no interest to Uncle Sam and Friends Of Is rye ale. No interest equals no…” May 22, 22:35
Hatey McHateface on Only An Excuse: “Steady the buffs! Leave some Buckie for the other jakeys.” May 22, 22:26
Young Lochinvar on Only An Excuse: “I’mnogay McI’mnogayface @ 8.55 Oh dear.. You protest too loudly. 🙂 Yer gay pals giving you a hard time for…” May 22, 22:14
Bilbo on Only An Excuse: “I see that Main & co isn’t commenting on these topics. Hardly surprising, British nationalist thugs rioting. Different colours, same…” May 22, 22:05
Bilbo on Only An Excuse: “Ohhhh. I made a typo. I’m sure Main made a note or it. Not to worry, anyhooos he’ll be on…” May 22, 22:01
Bilbo on Only An Excuse: “Leave the yank wank shite to Main. He leaves it.” May 22, 21:45
Hatey McHateface on Only An Excuse: ““business, charity or public service provider that took a wrong turn and started letting men who identify as women use…” May 22, 21:44
Hatey McHateface on The Queer Parliament: “Knock out post, Lorncal. A settled, consistent, serious majority in Scotland in favour of Independence cannot be denied. And would…” May 22, 21:36
Scot Finlayson on Only An Excuse: “Celtic v Dundee in the Cup in Feb, Celtic one goal down used all there subs 90 mins played, Tierney…” May 22, 21:19
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Only An Excuse: “‘SINGLE-SEX SPACES MUST BE SINGLE-SEX’, GOVT INSISTS IN FINALISED EHRC CODE OF PRACTICE Single-sex spaces are to be protected, with…” May 22, 21:04
Lorncal on The Queer Parliament: “Alf: Professor Robert Black did not challenge Crawford and Boyle as far as I am aware. If he did, then…” May 22, 21:04
Hatey McHateface on Only An Excuse: “Why don’t you work up to broadcasting to the world about how emphatically and consistently heterosexual you are, Auld Lochnagar?…” May 22, 20:55
Hatey McHateface on The Queer Parliament: “Aren’t you colonised, Northy? You’ll be cringing roond this place then. Maybe I’m not understanding your posts because you persist…” May 22, 20:48
Northcode on The Queer Parliament: ““You’ve ignored my question…” I totally answered your question, fool. It’s not my fault your reading comprehension of your first…” May 22, 19:34
Young Lochinvar on Only An Excuse: “There’s been doubling down against criticism of the race of the actress chosen to play Helen of Troy in the…” May 22, 19:31
