Alert readers can’t have failed to notice a desperate Scottish Labour dusting off the old “Tartan Tories” attack on the SNP recently, over the Nats’ unwillingness to join in with Kezia Dugdale’s kerrazy kaper of hiking up income tax.
So after today we can only assume they’ll be looking for some similarly pithy zingers for their colleagues in Wales. They can have this one for free.
It’s curious that as the Scotland Bill negotiations deadlock drags on, well beyond its original deadline of 12 February and now hurtling headlong towards the extended 23 February one with no sign of progress on the horizon, that nobody is remarking on one of the most striking facets of the new devolution proposals.
Remember “pooling and sharing”, readers? Whatever happened to that?
Last night, MP Natalie McGarry made another heavily-qualified semi-apology to the popular abusive-tweeter enthusiast JK Rowling, because that’s how bullying works. (As far as we know McGarry has still refused Rowling’s demand that she make a sizeable donation to Rowling’s charity under threat of legal action.)
One of George Orwell’s most-quoted lines is “Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations.”
We wonder who was trying to silence the torrent of drivel below, then.
Since the astonishing election of 56 SNP MPs to the UK Parliament last May, the Unionist media – suddenly deprived of a whole contacts book full of friendly Scottish Labour bench-warmers ready to feed it cosy stories over a boozy expenses lunch in Whitehall – has raked through every bin and gutter in the land looking for anything (however pathetic) that it can try to puff up, distort, and rope into service as “dirt” on each of the Nat members, in an attempt to discredit them and the party.
So let’s just have a little look in here and – YIKES!
It notes that in 2006, the year before the SNP came to power, 65% of Scots identified themselves as “Scottish not British” or “more Scottish than British”, but by 2014 – the year of the independence referendum – that number had fallen to just 49%.
It concludes, correctly, that just as we noted on Sunday, support for independence is fundamentally political in nature, not nationalist. But that only tells half the story.
So Scotland currently has no debt? No responsibility for any share of the enormous £1.5 trillion burden run up by the UK? We’ll take that deal. Where do we sign?
Barely a week – indeed, barely a day – has gone by over the last year or so without some angry, confused and hurt-sounding Unionist pundit or politician churning out yet another article on the theme of “WHY AREN’T YOU GRATEFUL THAT WE SAVED YOU FROM INDEPENDENCE, YOU APPALLING PLEBS?”
As far as the No side are concerned, the oil-price slump is a slam-dunk game-ender which finally conclusively proves that Scotland is too wee and too poor to run its own affairs, and their uncomprehending bewilderment as support for a Yes vote not only fails to disintegrate but keeps increasing even as the oil price sinks lower and lower has been quite a phenomenon to behold.
So we were interested to see today’s Sunday Times report a YouGov poll done for the comedy grumpy-old-white-guys support group (and spectacularly unsuccessful tactical voting enthusiasts) Scotland In Union, and somewhat miss the point of the results.
There’s nothing unusual about reading something in the Scottish media that makes your eyes widen. But a piece we saw in the Courier earlier today stretched ours out to Clockwork Orange-like proportions.
Now that’s a pretty intriguing opening (as the bishop said to the actress). At first we took it to mean that an independent Scotland could effectively take over Britain’s EU membership in the event of a Leave vote, ending any debate about whether and when it would be admitted on its own.
Dave on There May Be Justice: “The SNP’s entire raison d’être and defining mission should have always been about just one thing: independence for Scotland. However,…” Oct 5, 17:32
100%Yes on There May Be Justice: “Well done Rev. Hopefully history being made.” Oct 5, 17:21
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on There May Be Justice: “Attempt at a Gaelic version of the above – AN RÒS BEAG GEAL Chan eil mo shùil air ròs an…” Oct 5, 17:12
Northcode on There May Be Justice: “For those interested, a Scottish judicial review typically takes 6–18 months from lodging the petition to a final decision, depending…” Oct 5, 17:05
Rev. Stuart Campbell on In The Eyes Of The Law: “For the reasons explained in last week’s post about it. Does anyone bother reading past the fucking headline?” Oct 5, 16:22
Rev. Stuart Campbell on The Love Of Big Brother: ““I thought the introduction of these rules matched those already in place in England and Wales from a year ago.”…” Oct 5, 16:20
holymacmoses on There May Be Justice: “The Scottish people owe yourself, Roddy, David and Lynne and no doubt a few more ‘good men’, a huge debt…” Oct 5, 15:44
Gordoz on There May Be Justice: “Q- Why do I always end up agreeing with Rev Campbell ?? A- Turns out he is pretty much the…” Oct 5, 15:44
Northcode on There May Be Justice: ““This is about being a country worthy of independence…” It could be argued that Scotland is the mess it is…” Oct 5, 15:28
panda paws on There May Be Justice: ““So please don’t donate any more money at this stage, unless you ARE one of said eccentric billionaires” I’m not…” Oct 5, 15:22
TURABDIN on There May Be Justice: “There are two mindsets. The one that operates from the general to the particular and one that operates in the…” Oct 5, 15:01
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on There May Be Justice: “Willie writes (5 Oct 2026 at 1:09 pm): « This one’s for Moira…Democracy is a fragile flower » —————- Brings…” Oct 5, 13:53
Terry on There May Be Justice: “Proud to be part of this – especially when I complained to the police about the donations I gave, got…” Oct 5, 13:25
Aidan on The Love Of Big Brother: “Yes “Confused” – an accurate and concise description description of the formation of Great Britain is “irrelevant pedantry”, whereas your…” Oct 5, 13:23
Ian on The Love Of Big Brother: “People in glass houses……. https://archive.ph/3OAhZ” Oct 5, 13:12
Willie on There May Be Justice: “This one’s for Moira. Yes, that struck a cord. Justice has to be served for what was done to Alex…” Oct 5, 13:09
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Love Of Big Brother: “SARA SALYERS: NO KINGDOM NO UNION (3 Oct 2026) www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l6XDoIg4uI” Oct 5, 12:30
Northcode on The Love Of Big Brother: “For clarity: Q: Is Scotland a country? A: YES Q: Is England a country? A: YES Q: Is Scotland a…” Oct 5, 11:58
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Love Of Big Brother: “Professor ROBERT BLACK KC GENEVA SPEECH (18 Sept 2025) www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGvHUWYNyGM” Oct 5, 11:42
Captain Caveman on The Love Of Big Brother: “”Orwell’s ‘authoritarianism’ is essentially colonialism” You don’t say. Probably a lot easier at this juncture if you can bloody tell…” Oct 5, 11:26
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Love Of Big Brother: “SALVO STONEHAVEN ROADSHOW (26 Sept 2026) Q&A with SARA SALYERS www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIcsq3LkcrU” Oct 5, 11:24
Confused on The Love Of Big Brother: “Desperate, put a sock in it NC. – there is a peculiar kind of mid-wit who takes pleasure in irrelevant…” Oct 5, 11:22
Alf Baird on The Love Of Big Brother: ““Just about at the door of Orwells1984” Orwell’s ‘authoritarianism’ is essentially colonialism, which is likewise ‘based on psychology’, and the…” Oct 5, 11:08
100%Yes on The Love Of Big Brother: “Its wrong but it happens all the time the cost are used as a weapon even when you’ve got a…” Oct 5, 10:25
Northcode on The Love Of Big Brother: “That was then and this is now… I’m bored with all the chuntering surrounding the “Treaty of Union” that goes…” Oct 5, 10:16
sarah on The Love Of Big Brother: “Rev, fingers well and truly crossed for the Protected Costs Order. I don’t suppose that there is any idea of…” Oct 5, 09:05
Hatey McHateface on The Love Of Big Brother: ““There seems to be utter confusion” Agreed.” Oct 5, 06:43
James Che on The Love Of Big Brother: “Lornical It is not a case of Scotlands people agreeing to the treaty of union at all, there were enough…” Oct 5, 01:06
gm on The Love Of Big Brother: “The labour party cancelled ‘buy one get one free’ a while back, for items they felt weren’t good for the…” Oct 5, 00:23
James Che on The Love Of Big Brother: “Can we presume that the not Scottish parliament politicians in Scotland would like cheaper drugs and easier access for themselves…” Oct 5, 00:02
