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.
A few weeks ago we rather cruelly highlighted an old post from Kezia Dugdale’s blog in which she bitterly bemoaned the practice of candidates who’d been rejected by voters in constituency seats still being able to get into Parliament via the “back door” of the regional lists.
Cynicus on Steadying The Ship: “Mark Beggan says: 16 May, 2026 at 4:19 pm “Sven meaning: Norse, boy, lad, young warrior.” ======== Its actual Old…” May 17, 01:02
Red on Steadying The Ship: “Why does nobody in the Scottish Parliament care about the industrial scale rape of Scottish children by Muslim colonists? Is…” May 17, 00:50
George Ferguson on Steadying The Ship: “@Sarah You are positively the most positive person on this site. But for over a decade money has gone into…” May 17, 00:21
ABruce on Steadying The Ship: “I’ve already contributed for Mark, Sarah. I hope many more will do so.We can’t let the bastards win.” May 16, 22:53
Alf Baird on Steadying The Ship: “” that we do, in fact, hold two contradictory, but, nevertheless, valid senses of ourselves.” You might, Lorncal, tho A…” May 16, 21:47
william G Walker on Steadying The Ship: “OTT Sorry mis-type above. It shouls have said: JAMBO says that “there are only three inavoidable rules in life –…” May 16, 21:39
Lorncal on Steadying The Ship: “Scottish antisyzygy is probably nearer the truth, Alf. Almost every Scottish writer, poet, artist, playwright, philosopher and political commentator displays…” May 16, 21:23
sarah on Steadying The Ship: “O/T Turning away from the topic of being stuck with the most embarrassingly incompetent bunch of MSPs ever, there are…” May 16, 21:10
william G Walker on Steadying The Ship: “OTT Jambo says that “There are only three inavoidable rules in life – death, taxes the Scottish Football Establishment based…” May 16, 20:54
Alf Baird on Steadying The Ship: “” We syriacs/assyrians know the schizoid condition well.” And ditto for us schizoid Scots. As David Purves wrote: “Since the…” May 16, 19:26
George Ferguson on Steadying The Ship: “The punishment has begun. After watching fitba all day. We are listening to Take the Floor. Apparently the second half…” May 16, 19:20
Mark Beggan on Steadying The Ship: “The English electorate are far from stupid. The arrogance of the Labour party passing seats to their mates so they…” May 16, 19:14
Alf Baird on Steadying The Ship: “Even today Hume’s self-hatred of Scottish culture looms large among assimilated native intellectuals and elites who ‘mimic the colonizer’ (Memmi)…” May 16, 18:58
Xaracen on The Broken Rainbow: “’I have always believed the truth will set us free and always will.“ Well, that can’t be true, Hatey; I…” May 16, 18:14
TURABDIN on Steadying The Ship: “@CYNICUS. no they are not, they are my «construct. Hume was very «antisyzygic». We syriacs/assyrians know the schizoid condition well.…” May 16, 18:03
Northcode on Steadying The Ship: ““you are the biggest contributor of irrelevant, pointless drivel BTL.” Wow! I’ve just realised you’re right… I’m a bore, you’re…” May 16, 17:57
George Ferguson on Steadying The Ship: “Anybody that has met John Swinney knows he has the Charisma of an ex Insurance Salesman of course prior to…” May 16, 16:44
Cynicus on Steadying The Ship: “TURABDIN says: 16 May, 2026 at 1:11 pm” “THIS IS THE PREAMBLE TO AN ACADEMIC WORK. HUME IN AND OUT…” May 16, 16:35
Mark Beggan on Steadying The Ship: “Sven meaning: Norse, boy, lad, young warrior.” May 16, 16:19
Cynicus on Steadying The Ship: “Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh says: 16 May, 2026 at 10:33 am “Cynicus: « the name of the author is Robert Curry. Not…” May 16, 16:19
twathater on Steadying The Ship: “It’s nice to see the gross stupidity of the engerlish electorate publicised daily on broadcast and media , I thought…” May 16, 16:18
Mark Beggan on Steadying The Ship: “If your name is your destiny Turabin then you are a reference manual with incorrect spelling!” May 16, 15:40
Mark Beggan on Steadying The Ship: “Samuel that’s a good Jewish name. Means prophet, heard by God.” May 16, 15:36
Mark Beggan on Steadying The Ship: “You have been eating too much sugar again.” May 16, 15:29
Mark Beggan on Steadying The Ship: “So what about your name Sam?” May 16, 15:16
Captain Caveman on The Broken Rainbow: ““Now that you admit they’ll not be providing you with a running commentary, they’ll not be sending you any decision…” May 16, 15:12
Mark Beggan on Steadying The Ship: “Correct but it was Beggins. Changed when my grandfather came to Scotland. Mark Beggan translated means Brave of the small.” May 16, 14:58
TURABDIN on Steadying The Ship: “Neu terminologie fir auld…. United Kingdom/United Kleptocracy? Westminster/Wastaminster? WASTA is the cronyism that oils government & everything else in the…” May 16, 14:27
sam on Steadying The Ship: “Well named? The surname Beggan is of Irish origin and is derived from the Gaelic word “beagán,” which means “little”…” May 16, 14:16
