For ages now it’s been nagging at us that there wasn’t a quick and easy reference point for all the opinion polls we’ve commissioned, listing all the subjects covered by each poll and linking to both our own analyses of the figures and the raw data tables for people who wanted to go delving in amongst the stats themselves.
So now there is – it’s here. (And in future you can easily locate it under “Polls” in the menu bar running across the top of the front page.) We’re off for a bit of a lie down.
We thought we might leave this here so that Scottish journalists could print it out and stick it on their monitors as a memory aid. It’s something they keep unaccountably forgetting for some reason.
You never know, it might just cheer them up a bit.
Joan McAlpine, SNP MSP for the South of Scotland, extensively documented at the weekend the obstructiveness of Labour councillors in Dumfries and Galloway, who in an attempt to score some SNP BAD points were refusing to inform their constituents about the Scottish Government’s £1500-per-household flood relief grants to help people cope after recent storms.
The councillors eventually backed down and informed hard-pressed householders and businesses of the help available, but today the issue was debated on the floor of the Holyrood chamber, and when Labour once again tried to make the issue party political, the Deputy First Minister ran out of patience.
We had a lot of requests for the footage, so there it is.
Despite what you may have read in the newspapers at the weekend (and then in the Daily Record a day later), Scotland was today rocked by the news that the SNP’s manifesto for this May’s general election in fact DOES contain a commitment to a second independence referendum within the term of the coming Scottish Parliament.
Who says so? Why, it’s Oliver Mundell, son of the only Conservative MP in Scotland and the Scottish Tory candidate for the Holyrood seat of Dumfriesshire, in a leaflet hitting the doorsteps of constituents in the Borders today.
As we noted on Tuesday, Scottish Labour’s opening election salvo for 2016 has been to blame the Scottish Government for unaffordable house prices.
Of the 450 most obvious flaws in that argument, not least the extraordinary efforts a 13-year Labour government went to to keep the housing bubble inflated, the one that caught our eye was that in the past three years we were regularly told of one thing that definitely WOULD bring prices down dramatically, but which Labour pathologically fought every step of the way.
If you’re primarily or solely contesting regional seats, and you’re chiefly (as seems to be the case) targeting people who are going to use their first vote for the SNP, “Vote for us so that we can provide strong opposition to the SNP” is a pretty weird pitch.
You’re basically asking people to use their second vote to cancel out their first. And that’s quite a tough angle to be trying to sell them. Just saying, like.
We suppose we shouldn’t technically be surprised that today’s newspapers carry no analysis whatsoever of Kezia Dugdale’s big speech yesterday detailing Scottish Labour’s first big election pledge – a £6000 handout to first-time home buyers.
After all, current polling suggests Scottish Labour have about as much chance of exerting any influence in the next Scottish Parliament as Lemmy has of posthumously winning the Eurovision Song Contest, so it doesn’t really matter if Kezia Dugdale promises every voter a free unicorn made of diamonds and glitter.
Still, if only for the mental exercise, it’s worth taking a look in detail.
Aidan on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Now that he’s on pre-mod (I expect) he’ll go off and haunt some other forum.” Jul 23, 23:15
robertkknight on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “His King’s Colours didn’t go down too well either, with the Scots deciding upon their own design, which was contrary…” Jul 23, 23:12
Alf Baird on Ain’t it funny how things change?: ““I’m every bit as much a Sovereign Scot as you.” In a colonial society there are plenty of assimilated natives…” Jul 23, 22:41
Angus on Ain’t it funny how things change?: ““Ain’t it funny how things change?” Ain’t it also funny how things never change? Labour has been promising to abolish…” Jul 23, 22:35
Captain Caveman on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Heh, oh really… Well, I’d “knock it on the head” and quit whilst you’re (self evidently) behind, Confused. 🙂” Jul 23, 22:23
Confused on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “EFTA came up, in the context of GDP/capita – the small, rich countries club – but you realise evil never…” Jul 23, 22:23
Xaracen on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “A, B, C, and E don’t mean anything to you, Aidan, and they don’t have to. They did mean something…” Jul 23, 22:10
Confused on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “you’re a bit of a pedant, and prone to miss the point (like some others round here, the reading age…” Jul 23, 22:05
Confused on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “sure www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5FbYBiJiuA caveman, you’re the kind of turnip a bash on the head might knock some sense into” Jul 23, 22:01
Confused on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Main – the mobile gas van is on route number 6 000 000 as any fule kno” Jul 23, 21:59
sam on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Auld enemy. Different language,they didnae ken. Deid Mum. Divine Right was right up their parliamentary noses. On the plus side…” Jul 23, 21:28
Aidan on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “A, B and C don’t mean anything but E is interesting, what proportion of Scots had the vote in 1707…” Jul 23, 21:18
Cynicus on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Alf Baird says: 22 July, 2026 at 4:31 pm There is a long history of elite Scots selling out their…” Jul 23, 21:00
Hatey McHateface on Ain’t it funny how things change?: ““The people paid far less in taxes” Sure Xaracen. And not only did we get free cradle to grave benefits…” Jul 23, 20:55
Alf Baird on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Divide an rule is aye the colonizer’s tool. The colonized are made ‘bystanders’ in their own land; they are ‘out…” Jul 23, 20:53
Hatey McHateface on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Assuming rounded populations of England at 50 million and Scotland at 5 million. The political will to address the issue…” Jul 23, 20:47
100%Yes on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “What John Swinney has just signed Scotland over to Manchester and he’d doesn’t even know what powers the Scottish parliament…” Jul 23, 20:45
Hatey McHateface on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Oddly enough, that greater trust in Scottish governments peaked under Nicola Sturgeon during the Covid Years. Nowadays, the ex party…” Jul 23, 20:35
100%Yes on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Wings predicted on here and by people posting on here as well. But the SNP commitment to the union has…” Jul 23, 20:29
Hatey McHateface on Ain’t it funny how things change?: ““proselytising religions” Naw. A proselytising religion is one where its adherents chap your door, earnestly attempt to tell you the…” Jul 23, 20:24
Hatey McHateface on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Havers, Mark. Check out the front lines (and the combat casualty lists) from the war in the east. You’ll find…” Jul 23, 20:09
Mark Beggan on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Why not. No one else wants the job. What about asking Jack McConnell to step in.” Jul 23, 20:06
sam on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-social-attitudes-survey-2025-core-module/pages/5/ Factchecker. Link above. Of interest to me, the steep decline in trust of the Scottish government since 2015. Signs…” Jul 23, 19:55
Xaracen on Ain’t it funny how things change?: ““What made Scotland “much better” before 1707, Xaracen?” A, it was independent, B, it wasn’t a colony of England, C,…” Jul 23, 19:29
Hatey McHateface on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Sorry, Alf, but I’m every bit as much a Sovereign Scot as you. What have I already told you about…” Jul 23, 19:15
factchecker on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “sam, my comment on the uncontextualised use of survey data relates to the original post. Not the survey itself. Hence…” Jul 23, 18:18
factchecker on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Dan, regarding the much-quoted “Union of Equals” that I know is such a popular trope, I am unaware of any…” Jul 23, 18:12
sam on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “Don’t forget the colonisation of Ireland by the Scots and English. James granted confiscated land from Irish Catholics to Protestant…” Jul 23, 18:06
Young Lochinvar on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “FC Apology accepted. Always laugh when those who know their wordsmithery isn’t cutting it feel the need to conclude with…” Jul 23, 17:49
