Those of you who read our post of earlier today probably didn’t feel there was anything ambiguous going on in it. When Ruth Davidson intervened in an election debate to protest that the chair, the BBC’s Louise White, was being unfair to Nicola Sturgeon, it was pretty obvious who she meant, and White’s response removed any doubt.
Which makes this eye-witness account of the event, spotted by an alert reader this afternoon, odd in several ways.
We were rather gobsmacked, readers, when we tuned into this morning’s BBC Radio Scotland phone-in at 9am. Ostensibly discussing the promotion of “Rangers” to the Premiership, presenter Louise White adopted the most astonishingly, openly partisan and aggressive approach we’ve ever heard from a host on the state broadcaster (which is no small feat), on the subject of whether the club was a new one or not.
Callers were harangued, interrupted and hustled on for daring to suggest the truth. It was a jaw-dropping display of disregard for not only impartiality but basic journalistic regard for the plain, uncontestable facts of the matter.
But don’t panic, football-haters. This post is about something else.
This is an intriguing and engrossing extended chat between Christopher Silver and Iain Macwhirter for what will hopefully become a regular series by the excellent Phantom Power Films, creators of Altered States and lots more:
It’s well worth whiling away a little bit of your afternoon on.
If there’s one thing the Scottish Conservatives love to do, it’s lecture the SNP about vetting its candidates. Here’s Ruth Davidson on Michelle Thomson, for example:
We haven’t seen this published anywhere else, so we may as well do it. We dropped a brief line to the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust a few days ago querying their award of a £50,000 grant to disgraced lying MP Alistair Carmichael, specifically in the context of the fact that their own website expressly excludes grants for “legal fees”.
Ross on The Plague: “I’d be installing a doorbell camera ASAP. Eufy make ones that don’t need a subscription.” Aug 4, 17:13
Effijy on The Plague: “The police in the U.K. are making the Keystone Cops look like professional crime fighters. This idiot is wasting very…” Aug 4, 16:53
Ronnie on The Plague: “To quote Charlie Brown “Good Grief”” Aug 4, 16:52
Ian Morrison on The Plague: “Just incredible. I read the other week about how many of the ludicrous actions of the plods recently are down…” Aug 4, 16:36
Karen on The Plague: “Jeezo, what you go through for us all! Thank you. But what jumped out at me was that Ian Livingstone…” Aug 4, 16:33
sarah on The Plague: “Rev, first of all, I am so sorry for the hell you have been put through. Most of it unnecessary…” Aug 4, 16:28
Frank Gillougley on The Plague: “Here’s my tuppence worth. This has got MI5 all over it. The quality polis, just as the judicial bollocks, are…” Aug 4, 16:23
Adam Hibbert on The Plague: “Is there any kind of restraining order available to you, as a target of his harassment? If that requires a…” Aug 4, 16:23
Ex President Xiden on The Plague: “The banging on your door at 2:15 am sounds like a breach of the peace to me.” Aug 4, 16:21
Bob Johnston on The Plague: “You are a brave man. I am not, but any funding calls you make in the future will not be…” Aug 4, 16:19
Patsy Millar on The Plague: “Just sending love and hugs. You need both for what you have been put through.” Aug 4, 16:14
Kate L on The Plague: “This is unbelievable Rev. I’m so glad the excellent Free Speech Union were able to assist you against this new…” Aug 4, 15:57
Mike on The Plague: “Jeez, is there no end to the uselessness of the constabulary. There must be some redress for these baseless accusations…” Aug 4, 15:53
Aidan on Or Something: “The leadership of Liberate is a ragtag bunch of retirees and some cranks, as you might expect. They’ve paid a…” Aug 4, 14:20
Jay on Or Something: “Does the SNP have astructure of financial authority such as would indicate who spent monies on what goods and or…” Aug 4, 13:35
Young Lochinvar on Or Something: “HMcH @7.53 & 10.44 Ah! First the mouse squeaks Then the coney roars! Save us from these “terrors”!! 🙂” Aug 4, 13:22
BLMac on Or Something: “Judging by the responses a reasonable person might come to the assumption that cronies of the embezzlers are embedded in…” Aug 4, 13:21
Hatey McHateface on Or Something: ““shredded banners declaring Scotland’s ambition to be free” There you go again, Northy. Appropriating to all of Scotland the democratically…” Aug 4, 12:23
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “@CC There’s one experience where Scotland comes out top every time. Summer evenings, post rush hour, away from the cities,…” Aug 4, 12:10
Chas on Or Something: “Maybe the likes of you drove them away Northy?” Aug 4, 11:57
Northcode on Or Something: “I suspect most independence supporters have already abandoned this place. It feels like a post-apocalyptic, tumbleweed-strewn wasteland where tattered Saltires…” Aug 4, 11:28
Ex President Xiden on Or Something: “If that’s the case why don’t the crown office just say that?” Aug 4, 11:13
Captain Caveman on The Nobodies: “@Hatey You get idiots in all manner of cars, it isn’t the car’s fault. How many Audi drivers do you…” Aug 4, 11:01
Hatey McHateface on Or Something: “@ Chas says: 4 August, 2026 at 10:06 am Never underestimate the effect on a black representative of a former…” Aug 4, 10:57
Hatey McHateface on Or Something: “It’s certainly all too easy to wonder how commemorating some not very nice boys hacking each other to bits 600+…” Aug 4, 10:44
Ian Smith on Or Something: “Refusing to hand over the books to a financial audit committee must come as close to evidence of who was…” Aug 4, 10:42
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “@CC I see a few of them around here. They absolutely boss the reserved disabled parking and the double yellows…” Aug 4, 10:22
Chas on Or Something: “Who are the Office bearers, high heid yins, of Liberation Scotland, Salvo or any of their offshoots, if there are…” Aug 4, 10:06
Captain Caveman on The Nobodies: “Hey Aidan, it’s the PHEV hybrid Sport, meaning it has e-motor shove, as well as the 6-cyl Ingenium petrol engine…” Aug 4, 09:44
TURABDIN on Or Something: “thank you for that signal historical reference. it is all too easy to airbrush history, other people’s history. the stanza…” Aug 4, 09:39
