A feat of memory 181
Posted on
December 01, 2015 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
This is the lead Politics story in morning’s Herald:
And, y’know, we’re fairly confident that’s true.
A tale of two situations 107
Posted on
November 30, 2015 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
To mark the day that we both appeared in the Herald’s “Power 100” list of “The leading Scots who shape our lives” – and she had another go at trolling us – we’d like to dedicate this wonderful tune sincerely to the popular children’s author JK Rowling:
We’ll try to understand her problems more sensitively in future.
Interesting Times 115
Posted on
November 30, 2015 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
From tonight’s Evening Times:
We’re not aware of a single elected Scottish Labour official previously expressing unequivocal public support for independence. Is this a small, self-interested one-off, or just the first cracking of the dam? We can only wait and see.
Cringe Of The St Andrew’s Day 163
Posted on
November 30, 2015 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Chris Deerin in this morning’s Daily Mail:
That’s okay, Chris. We’re embarrassed that you’re Scottish too.
The monstrous detriment of women 265
Posted on
November 29, 2015 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
We were considering having a day off today, readers. There’s absolutely nothing of any note happening in Scottish politics, and the papers have been reduced to scraping up all manner of barely-reheated leftover dregs to fill their pages.
But then someone drew our attention to something in Scotland On Sunday about the ongoing Women For Independence fiasco, and we were too annoyed to let it lie.
Poking the bear 328
Posted on
November 28, 2015 by
Chris Cairns
Order “Welcome To Cairnstoon”, Chris’ compilation of Wings cartoons and more, here.
The go-to guy 221
Posted on
November 27, 2015 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
For reasons which defy all known science, John McTernan remains the first number on the BBC’s speed-dial list when they need a commentator to represent Labour views. It’s a remarkable editorial decision, given that McTernan despises the party’s current leadership almost beyond words, and it doesn’t seem too fond of him either.
But on today’s Good Morning Scotland, McTernan really kicked it up a notch.
Another vow delivered 72
Posted on
November 27, 2015 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
On the left, the Conservatives’ 2015 general election manifesto.
On the right, yesterday’s Press & Journal. We wish we could even fake surprise.
The conjurer’s assistants 155
Posted on
November 26, 2015 by
Lindsay Bruce
Yesterday George Osborne treated us to an Autumn Statement in which he performed one of the most remarkable political U-turns in living memory.
The apparent need to cut £12bn from the welfare budget has long been sign-posted by the Tories as a requirement to getting us “back in the black” and on the road to a “higher wage, lower welfare, lower tax” society as part of their oft-cited “long-term economic plan”. (Or what academic economists prefer to call a “risky experiment with the economy in order to score political points“.)
Alert readers will recall David Cameron saying before the general election that child tax credits wouldn’t be cut in pursuit of that goal. But after the election, Osborne decided that they would. The Institute for Fiscal Studies determined that these cuts would have the worst effects on some of the poorest families in Britain.
Despite widespread opposition to the cuts, Labour infamously abstained on the critical vote in the Commons. Then, when the welfare bill reached the Lords, Labour once again abstained on a Lib Dem motion that would have completely killed the bill, in favour of a Labour one which phased in the cuts over three years, but meant Osborne would have to find another £4.5bn in his budget.
The passing of the Labour motion enraged Cameron so much that he went on an extraordinary rant about a “constitutional crisis” and announced a “rapid review”.
So we were somewhat surprised to hear Osborne say yesterday that the best thing to do was “not to phase these changes in, but to avoid them altogether”.
A grand bonanza 113
Posted on
November 26, 2015 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
At today’s First Minister’s Questions, the Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale oddly chose to spend her entire allotted time not on any current issues affecting Scotland, but on attacking the SNP’s 2013 White Paper on independence, seemingly unaware that the referendum was held 14 months ago and resulted in a win for the No side.
Happily for Scotland, that decision resulted in a huge £200bn oil bonanza.
Hang on, let’s just double-check that to be sure.
Justified Ancients Of Mao 99
Posted on
November 26, 2015 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Here’s our old pal John McTernan, angrily condemning Labour’s shadow Chancellor John McDonnell quoting Chairman Mao to make a point in the Commons yesterday:
And for once he’s right. What sort of vile cretin would go around quoting Mao?
Daily Record Maths For Beginners 364
Posted on
November 25, 2015 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
We tweeted this yesterday:
Increasingly, the line between satire of the Scottish media and reality is non-existent.
