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.
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?
Obviously, actually including the exact phrases “within 45 minutes” and “weapons of mass destruction” might have been a little bit too near the knuckle, but the message comes across just the same: “Here we go again.”
The Daily Record has this on its front page today.
And that’s fine. The tale of a five-figure sum of money which might (or might not) have gone missing from the accounts of Women For Independence, who’ve promptly called the police to investigate an apparent discrepancy between their donated income and their expenditure, is entirely legitimate news.
We don’t often bring you footage of an Armed Forces Committee session in the US Senate, readers, but this spellbinding six minutes of questioning from a Republican senator on the subject of military action against ISIS doesn’t miss and hit the wall.
(We should note that Sen. Graham is a hawk who wants ISIS bombed back to the Stone Age. But even he can see the insane, irrational nature of the action currently being proposed, which would leave Syria a shattered mess but firmly in the hands of a murderous Russian-backed dictator conducting a ruinous, destabilising civil war.)
For over two years now, this site has been warning that the UK government will take the earliest opportunity it thinks it can possibly get away with to abolish the Barnett Formula, the funding mechanism which the No campaign sold as the biggest benefit of Scotland remaining in the Union.
The Formula is hated almost everywhere else in the UK, by both politicians and the English (especially) public, who see it as an over-generous subsidy to the scrounging Jocks, and with the threat of independence theoretically removed after the referendum there’s very little protecting it.
Neither Labour nor the Tories – with just one Scottish MP each – would have much to lose politically from reducing Scottish funding by billions of pounds they could use to bribe swing voters in England instead. Barnett’s partial survival was the only solid commitment made in The Vow, but it’s set to be slashed by the Scotland Bill, and the smaller it gets the less resistance there will be to its total removal.
This week the House Of Lords made lots of headlines by highlighting the shambolic, half-baked state of the Bill, which hasn’t yet come up with a “fiscal framework” to replace the bulk of Barnett. But make no mistake – the Lords want it gone just as much as everyone else does.
We’ve been pondering this week whether or not to hold a quick fundraiser to pay the £750 fine levied on us recently by the Electoral Commission for being a bit late with some indyref paperwork, readers.
(Our feeling is that there’s still plenty money left in the Wings War Chest from this year’s big crowdfunder, but lots of people have specifically asked for one for the fine, mainly to make a point to both the Commission and the little army of Unionist trolls who almost exploded with glee when the news came out late last month.)
Lorncal on The Land Of No Laws: “Used to follow football, but not for years. However, I agree with the headline. We are, indeed, living in as…” May 17, 19:22
Socrates MacSporran on The Land Of No Laws: “If I can be pedantic Rev, in quoting SFA regulations you are aiming at the wrong target. The match was…” May 17, 19:13
Skip_NC on The Land Of No Laws: “Yes,I’ve read it. In fact it’s on the side table next to me right now. I disagree with your characterization…” May 17, 18:40
Rev. Stuart Campbell on The Land Of No Laws: “Unlawfully. He has no power to cut the game short.” May 17, 18:31
Rev. Stuart Campbell on The Land Of No Laws: “” I see you managed to forget Rangers 1972 “triumph” in the UCWC.” Well, yes, because I was fucking five…” May 17, 18:30
twathater on The Land Of No Laws: “100% with you on that Northy, ffs they are all poseurs who jist want tae hang on to each others…” May 17, 18:18
sam on The Land Of No Laws: “I asked “Search assist” this question: “In what ways can a country be a victim?” Here is the answer. “Ways…” May 17, 17:53
100%Yes on The Land Of No Laws: “What They Never Tell You About the Picts. It was very interesting just in case you fancy watching. youtube.com/watch?v=bzXRIEQumGE” May 17, 17:40
Iain Ross on The Land Of No Laws: “The fact that the last game ended as it did was a disgrace and Celtic should be penalised. However, for…” May 17, 17:09
Mark Beggan on The Land Of No Laws: “What’s worse reading the comments or writing about the comments? What with breast implants being so expensive these days. I…” May 17, 17:06
Northcode on The Land Of No Laws: “Watching folk playing Tiddlywinks or Dominoes is more interesting than watching the fitba. Painting the dots onto dominoes tiles and…” May 17, 16:49
sarah on The Land Of No Laws: “An added “oddity” to ponder. 99.9999999 times out of 100, the top team play the last game of the season…” May 17, 16:18
Northcode on The Land Of No Laws: ““Have you actually read that book?” Yes, have you? Because if you have you don’t appear to have grasped Herman’s…” May 17, 16:17
Skip_NC on The Land Of No Laws: “You should be right and back in the days when we were operating under the laws written by Stanley Rous…” May 17, 16:10
Northcode on The Land Of No Laws: ““I think having your whole worldview based on the fundamental belief Scotland is a ‘victim’ is profoundly counterproductive… ” Not…” May 17, 15:50
Skip_NC on The Land Of No Laws: “Have you actually read that book? The author gives all the credit and glory to the union with England.” May 17, 15:48
Doug on The Land Of No Laws: “You can also read Ken Mcgoogan, How the Scots invented Canad” May 17, 15:40
Southernbystander on The Land Of No Laws: “Breastplate – we live much of our lives with various purse strings controlled by someone / something else. That does…” May 17, 15:32
Northcode on The Land Of No Laws: ““Er, I was just commenting on what you quoted:” Yes… and here is the comment you made: “… all those…” May 17, 15:24
Northcode on The Land Of No Laws: “Apologies for the question marks showing in the hyphenated text in my comments where a hyphen should show. I switched…” May 17, 15:14
Breastplate on The Land Of No Laws: “Southernbystander, as long as Scotland has its purse strings managed by another nation, it will remain a victim. How can…” May 17, 15:10
Southernbystander on The Land Of No Laws: “Er, I was just commenting on what you quoted: ‘Historian and author Professor Arthur Herman (born 1956 – American historian…” May 17, 15:03
Mark Beggan on The Land Of No Laws: “Try taking responsibility for your own life and stop blaming dead people.” May 17, 15:01
Northcode on The Land Of No Laws: “Here’s another: The Reduction of Complex Causality Fallacy Scotland’s intellectual explosion came from: Centuries of universal parish education, a Presbyterian…” May 17, 14:44
Northcode on The Land Of No Laws: “Four ancient universities, universal literacy, a legal system older than England’s, and a philosophical tradition stretching back to Buchanan… and…” May 17, 14:32
George Ferguson on The Land Of No Laws: “Comprehensive article Stu. I don’t expect anything to change but an interesting take on Off the Ball about Dunfermline fans.…” May 17, 14:28
Little Surbiton-on-Forth on The Land Of No Laws: “Hurting much, Rev? Fact is these uppity fenian immigrant bassas managed to win aginst all odds. Sickening, intit? I see…” May 17, 14:25
Young Lochinvar on The Land Of No Laws: “Once the ba’s oan the slates they should have nulled it and concluded the matter with a toss of a…” May 17, 14:16
Owen Mullions on The Land Of No Laws: “No excuses for the neds on the pitch but the referee Don Robertson has told the SPFL delegates that he…” May 17, 14:09
Southernbystander on The Land Of No Laws: “Tangentially – where do they get all this injury time from these days, and at the end of both halves?…” May 17, 14:08
