We’ll be honest, readers, we’re actually quite happy that the Tories are now the lead Unionist party in Scotland. Because after four and a half years, we’ve pretty much run out of things to say about the epic, unquenchable stupidity of Scottish Labour.
Of course, that Lamont should choose to blame the SNP for cuts coming down the line from the Tory government at Westminster (that only controls Scotland’s budget at all because Lamont and her colleagues campaigned for Scotland to remain in the UK) is no surprise.
But it’s the sheer jaw-dropping lack of self-awareness in that last line which lays bare the incredible inability of her pseudo-party to learn a single lesson from the revolution in Scottish politics that’s been going on for most of the last decade.
There’s been a lot of nonsense from both sides of the EU referendum campaign, but of all the terrible arguments for voting one way or the other, the worst has to be that the UK is not currently independent.
For supporters of Scottish independence, watching people claim the UK is not independent is like someone in Aberdeen who just had their disability benefits cut listening to a middle-class couple on a joint income of £100,000 moaning about paying a few hundred pounds a year more in council tax for their band H mansion in affluent Rubislaw Den South.
It’s particularly loathsome seeing the genuine arguments for Scottish independence being re-purposed by people who claimed they were invalid two years ago – no more so, perhaps, than in the case of George Galloway, the man who wants independence for every country in the world except his own.
The idea that the UK’s situation is comparable to Scotland’s is simply laughable, and since laughing is good for the soul, let’s look at a few points in detail.
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.
Mark Beggan on Wider Than A Mile: “If you can’t beat them join them. Let’s talk about the past, let’s talk about Ireland! The Crumlin Road break…” Jun 12, 12:06
James Che on Wider Than A Mile: “Englands Westminster parliament cannot and could not consume a parliament of Scotland that does not exist as it was dissolved…” Jun 12, 12:05
Aidan on Wider Than A Mile: “I’m sorry I don’t follow this, what released Scotland from its oligations, what process was followed and what were the…” Jun 12, 12:05
James Che on Wider Than A Mile: “The deceit and hoax come about when Westminster pretends that it had…not dissolved the parliament of Scotland from a union…” Jun 12, 11:58
Mark Beggan on Wider Than A Mile: “Is this the article that allows you to read so far then wants money to read further? If Ireland sunk…” Jun 12, 11:52
Aidan on Wider Than A Mile: “Do you normally get like this when you lose an argument Northcode? No wonder you spend your whole time posting…” Jun 12, 11:49
Northcode on Wider Than A Mile: “Fuck off AI Dan… this place is for Scots who want England’s ‘raggedy arse kicked out of Scotland’ and yet…” Jun 12, 11:38
James Che on Wider Than A Mile: “Aiden, By dissolving the Scottish parliament so early on from what was supposed to create the united parliament of Great…” Jun 12, 11:34
Mark Beggan on Wider Than A Mile: “I think you need a woman James.” Jun 12, 11:33
Aidan on Wider Than A Mile: “That is factually incorrect though James, during the period 1707 – 1800 Scottish MP’s and peers sat in the GB…” Jun 12, 11:31
James Che on Wider Than A Mile: “Aidan, By 1801/1802 Scotland was not in the parliament of Great Britain at all, Due to the monarch of England…” Jun 12, 11:18
Mark Beggan on Wider Than A Mile: “Ireland is to busy getting butt fucked by Europa. That’s how they pay rent to Brussels.” Jun 12, 11:17
Aidan on Wider Than A Mile: “@Alf – using post-colonial theory and the colonial markers you’ve described, is Yorkshire a colony?” Jun 12, 11:04
Aidan on Wider Than A Mile: “The Treaty of Union creates a single parliament for Great Britain, and within that single parliament the arithmetic was such…” Jun 12, 10:51
Alf Baird on Wider Than A Mile: ““Perhaps we should go back to those halcyon, happy days when we weren’t colonised. How does 1996 sound?” Prior to…” Jun 12, 10:47
robertkknight on Wider Than A Mile: “Absolutely wrong! A united Ireland will fundamentally change politics in Scotland. There is a distinct probability that much of the…” Jun 12, 10:40
xaracen on Wider Than A Mile: “Aidan said; “You mean apart from Article 1 which does exactly that. Ultimately here you remain in a minority of…” Jun 12, 10:22
xaracen on Wider Than A Mile: “I said above, “nothing in it transfers, bequeaths or incorporates the ‘sovereignty of the English Crown in the brand new…” Jun 12, 10:17
Minceheid on Wider Than A Mile: “Red says: 11 June, 2026 at 10:25 pm Am I wrong? In a word, no; it’s all just common sense,…” Jun 12, 10:13
Northcode on Wider Than A Mile: “There are various extreme psychological pathologies at work in Scotland, but there’s one type the SNP often exploits more than…” Jun 12, 10:10
Aidan on Wider Than A Mile: “You mean apart from Article 1 which does exactly that. Ultimately here you remain in a minority of one, nobody…” Jun 12, 09:51
Hatey McHateface on Wider Than A Mile: “Just 5 more years, xaracen, and the millions of Sovereign Scottish voters will see the sense of your arguments. I…” Jun 12, 09:51
Hatey McHateface on Wider Than A Mile: “Please don’t use the racist term “fair” again.” Jun 12, 09:45
xaracen on Wider Than A Mile: “Everyone except you, Aidan! This is your usual English establishment tripe. Nothing in the Treaty of Union as written, signed…” Jun 12, 09:33
xaracen on Wider Than A Mile: “After the end of every session of the Scottish parliament it would host an additional mandatory session, held under the…” Jun 12, 09:14
Aidan on Wider Than A Mile: “That’s a very fair point Hatey” Jun 12, 09:14
diabloandco on Wider Than A Mile: “Thanks Fearghas, it’s why I come on here every time the RSPCA give us a new , expensive and horrific…” Jun 12, 09:05
Hatey McHateface on Wider Than A Mile: “You insist on spelling your name wrong, Aiden. So why should we believe anything else you write?” Jun 12, 08:16
Aidan on Wider Than A Mile: “The first and third article of the Union of Ireland Act 1800 is explicit in merging the parliaments of Great…” Jun 12, 07:57
Hatey McHateface on Wider Than A Mile: “A snapshot of what’s really going on: https://unherd.com/2026/06/can-whitehall-stop-the-riots/” Jun 12, 07:56