Alert readers may recall that a few months ago the Scottish press got itself in a right old lather about a temporary closure of the Forth Road Bridge. The SNP were attacked relentlessly in the media for what a subsequent inquiry in fact found to have been an “unforeseeable” fault on the bridge which posed no risk to life. But fair enough.
This week, 17 schools in the Edinburgh area were closed down over fears that they might be unsafe after the wall of one of them fell off in high winds, two years after another wall in an Edinburgh school collapsed and killed a 12-year-old girl.
All 17 had been built under a controversial PFI scheme signed in 2001, when the UK government, Scottish Parliament and Edinburgh City Council were all controlled by Labour, and which isn’t due to be finally paid off for another 20 years.
The Scottish press and opposition’s incandescent and somewhat vague fury at the Scottish Government working to bring billions of pounds in investment to Scotland has continued undiminished in this weekend’s newspapers. Scottish Labour in particular are getting themselves very worked up about today’s Sunday Times.
“Incredible”? Sounds exciting. Let’s find out more.
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:
agentx on Vibecoding A Better World: “Information commissioner in Salmond case: ” A Scottish government spokesperson said: “The Scottish government welcomes the decision of the Court…” Oct 30, 23:23
robertkknight on Vibecoding A Better World: “Sickening indeed, but what can you expect from a pig but a grunt. Talking of pigs… It’s proof, not that…” Oct 30, 22:12
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “You just don’t get the genocides these days like you used to. Although I guess that once WW3 really kicks…” Oct 30, 20:52
100%Yes on Vibecoding A Better World: “Can’t wait, its has to have genocide and all the nasty bits or no one will believe it. Nobody does…” Oct 30, 20:24
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “I would imagine asking AI to indentify the alphabetties would be a dawdle. Although I do sometimes think I must…” Oct 30, 20:10
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “@Minceheid The behaviour you seek is available in the latest AI-enabled, fully embodied “companions”. I hear that you can programme…” Oct 30, 20:05
Black Joan on Vibecoding A Better World: “See also the disgraceful Post Office scandal. All the innocent Postmasters were obviously thieves and villains because the computerised system…” Oct 30, 20:02
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “After the break. A video confirming that England was annexed by France. Tune in next week for a video confirming…” Oct 30, 19:56
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “Scots believe that bad things come in dozens.” Oct 30, 19:50
sarah on Vibecoding A Better World: “Sickening, isn’t it? Court of Session letting Scottish executive off the hook.” Oct 30, 18:52
Stuart MacKay on Vibecoding A Better World: “The one thing AI agents are insanely good at is rummaging through piles of information. Someone with time on their…” Oct 30, 18:08
robertkknight on Vibecoding A Better World: “The establishment protects its own… https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c95yne2ye0p6o” Oct 30, 17:32
TURABDIN on Vibecoding A Better World: “SOME believe that bad things come in threes. Scotland has had two really bad things that personal union under James…” Oct 30, 12:40
100%Yes on Vibecoding A Better World: “A video below confirming that before and after 1707 the French had documented that Scotland had been annexed by England…” Oct 30, 10:43
TURABDIN on Vibecoding A Better World: “«I have never voted in my life… I have always known and understood that the idiots are in a majority…” Oct 30, 09:44
Minceheid on Vibecoding A Better World: “WhoRattledYourCage says: 29 October, 2026 at 10:11 pm Wait, I mean Monty Mole Ach, I’m more of a Chuckie Egg…” Oct 30, 09:20
Minceheid on Vibecoding A Better World: “You know, I don’t like the fact that all AI thingies seem to be so tediously and cloyingly polite. I…” Oct 30, 08:29
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “Stephen Glover writing in the Mail Online this morning: “vanity, tribal loyalties and blind devotion to party stand in the…” Oct 30, 08:06
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: ““smart SNP computers identifying as…” According to Fanon, Memmi, et al, the smart SNP computers will identify as colonialist elites.…” Oct 30, 07:22
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “You obviously have an internet connected device. Fire up your usual search engine (it’s Google on mine) and type into…” Oct 30, 07:09
WhoRattledYourCage on Vibecoding A Better World: “Wait, I mean Monty Mole, sorry. It’s the alliteration and very similar name that confused me. You couldn’t finish the…” Oct 29, 22:11
MrD on Vibecoding A Better World: “Got a link to where I can learn how to Claude please Stu? Wouldn’t know where to begin.” Oct 29, 22:05
Peter McAvoy on Vibecoding A Better World: “As stated on the BBC Scotland news website today it was announced that Gentex in Stranrear is to close and…” Oct 29, 20:12
Southernbystander on Vibecoding A Better World: “As someone who does creative work (music, video) I am not into generative AI for all the usual, obvious reasons…” Oct 29, 19:15
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “They’re clarty cants in Salisbury. The usual cocktail of germ-laden piss, snot and fecal matter covering their doorknobs, handbags, etc…” Oct 29, 18:10
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: ““I took early retirement from HMRC in 2005” That being the case, sarah, you may be in a position to…” Oct 29, 18:03
Williams on Vibecoding A Better World: “Can you please figure out how to port newish games to MACOS, pretty please? I can only get to the…” Oct 29, 14:30
Iain D on Vibecoding A Better World: “It constantly amazes me that despite the warnings and recent events relating to how AI is very much NOT aligned…” Oct 29, 13:59
sarah on Vibecoding A Better World: “It was starting to go wrong just before I took early retirement from HMRC in 2005. It was, I believe,…” Oct 29, 12:36
diabloandco on Vibecoding A Better World: “Can you no use babywipes for cleaning up Novichok ? I seem to remeber that’s what the folk of Salisbury…” Oct 29, 12:32
