It seems safe to say that the SNP’s de facto defeat of the fox-torturing lobby today has riled the right-wing commentariat beyond their endurance. Unable to get their way and inflict a prolonged, agonising death on small animals for “sport”, Tory columnists have instead descended howling and bloodthirsty at pack strength on their readers.
As part of their tireless campaign against abuse and threats on the internet, the Mail’s ever-alert reporters will doubtless be wanting to run a major piece on the deputy leader of UKIP calling today on a widely-read website for Nicola Sturgeon to be killed.
No need to thank us for the tip-off, guys. All part of the service.
So this site is thrilled by the announcement from the SNP that they will, after much speculation in the media, vote against (and therefore likely condemn to defeat) the UK government’s plans to relax England’s fox-hunting ban to a point at which it would be de facto repealed entirely.
And not just because foxes are a lot cuter than Tories.
The Scottish Daily Mail today leads with a screaming banner headline announcing in its trademark style that, according to a poll it commissioned with Survation, Scots are massively opposed to any income tax rises when Holyrood eventually gets power over the rates under the new Scotland Bill.
And the reason that’s weird is that we commissioned a poll on the very same thing just days before, and got a dramatically different answer.
Yesterday we listed some of the nastier items from George Osborne’s horrifying 2015 budget that Labour had said they wouldn’t be opposing, including the public-sector payrise freeze, the reduction in the benefit cap and the slashing of child tax credit for families with more than two children.
Our latest Panelbase poll was conducted from 26 June-3 July, before this weekend’s astonishing events involving Greece, which are currently being documented on Twitter under the hashtag #ThisIsACoup.
We’re going to ask the exact same question again in our next one, so we can see if the EU’s actions have caused any significant change in public opinion. It should be pretty interesting either way.
Of course, it’s entirely natural that the Labour Party and The Economist should be on opposite sides. But somehow everything seems to be the wrong way round.
One of the worst things about running this website is that eventually it causes you to doubt the existence of reason. Things happen that – even putting all partisanship to one side, in so far as is humanly possible – it’s impossible to believe any remotely rational being or organisation would ever think, say or do.
A recent obvious case in point was the election of Jim Murphy as Scottish Labour leader. SNP supporters rubbed their eyes in disbelief as Labour and the media rushed, with apparent sincerity, to proclaim one of Labour’s most right-wing and divisive MPs the party’s saviour.
So unable was the nationalist side to contain its glee and amusement at what was a plainly suicidal move to anyone sane, the Unionist establishment persuaded itself a bluff was afoot and that the laughter masked fear. We all know how that turned out.
But what we want to talk about in this article is how, no matter how often that same tragi-comic farce is played out – in 2007, 2011 and now 2015 – the astonishing fact is that it never seems to make any difference. In defiance of the most famous quote attributed (apocryphally or otherwise) to Albert Einstein, Labour and its cheerleaders keep right on repeating the same actions over and over, expecting different results.
For those of us who cling to reason as the hope of mankind, increasingly despite all the evidence, it can cause outbreaks of incredulous despair. “They just CAN’T be this stupid!”, we exclaim, only for Labour to prove us wrong by offering their long-suffering Scottish members a prospective dream team of Kezia Dugdale and Gordon Matheson.
Geri on The quality of mercy: “I’m amazed that little Engurlund doesn’t have every country in the entire world signing up to one of these fabulous…” Apr 7, 10:14
diabloandco on The quality of mercy: “Is anyone a tad worried by the actions of our great bestie to the west? Or indeed the fact we…” Apr 7, 08:04
Aidan on The quality of mercy: “Absolutely Geri – it’s one of the most important lessons we can learn from great military generals, major construction projects…” Apr 7, 06:45
Mark Beggan on The quality of mercy: “I served in Operation Lionheart. Auf vedersein pet! Was the golden age of British television. Never missed it. Yes Deutsch…” Apr 7, 02:52
Young Lochinvar on The quality of mercy: “Beggars Spend much time on the tools in West Germany or BAOR holding back Ivan?? No? Thought not. I did.…” Apr 7, 00:29
Young Lochinvar on The quality of mercy: “Beggars Quoting Hitler (one on from the derivative Main Kampf here).. You’ve graduated from Moseley it seems.. Not a good…” Apr 7, 00:21
Sven on The quality of mercy: “I’m just betting it wasn’t either of Ms Sturgeon’s “Clyde Built” Ferry boats with painted on windows, Mark. You’d be…” Apr 6, 20:57
George Ferguson on The quality of mercy: “@Fearghas Agreed people don’t understand the Constitutional implications of King Charles not fulfilling the Union treaty to the Church of…” Apr 6, 19:43
Mark Beggan on The quality of mercy: “Why Aye Man. ‘We had no way of staying afloat We had to leave on the ferry boat Economic refugees…” Apr 6, 19:40
Geri on The quality of mercy: “It’s more than ten years & I hate to break it to you but it’s GLOBAL. England has perpetual grudges.…” Apr 6, 19:38
Geri on The quality of mercy: “Agreed! I’m also so over the eejits who constantly think we need to fix this & that before Indy. England…” Apr 6, 19:24
Mark Beggan on The quality of mercy: ““It is thus necessary that the individual should finally realise that his own ego is of no importance in comparison…” Apr 6, 19:24
Alf Baird on The quality of mercy: ““Hate by its very nature is destructive. To hate an entire nation over a period of ten years rips the…” Apr 6, 18:55
Young Lochinvar on Clocks And Calendars: “What in tarnashun boyy! Aint not no none of yer good ol’ boyys talkin’ likee that in tham there Scahtland..…” Apr 6, 18:31
TURABDIN on The quality of mercy: “From WIKI: «The earliest use of the term appears in 1507, when King James IV of Scotland was granted the…” Apr 6, 16:56
Andy Ellis on Clocks And Calendars: “@YL Given that “gotten” is – as I stated – probably more common amongst Scots than English users of the…” Apr 6, 16:47
Young Lochinvar on Clocks And Calendars: “Yee Haw Pardner! You for forget to say FACT after your “construction” (?!?) statement.. Do you also call trousers “pants”,…” Apr 6, 16:27
Young Lochinvar on The quality of mercy: “Beggars Then stop dissing all things Scotland “old boy”! By your own acknowledgement ye’ll feel so much better for it…” Apr 6, 16:20
Andy Ellis on Clocks And Calendars: “The construction “might have gotten” is perfectly acceptable English usage: it’s probably more common in US, Canadian and indeed Scots…” Apr 6, 16:05
James on The quality of mercy: “Purpose here? Distract, divide, dereail. Rinse, Repeat. And he/she/it thinks everyone is his/her/it’s “mate”. When in reality I don’t expect…” Apr 6, 15:57
Mark Beggan on The quality of mercy: “To hate someone takes a lot of energy. Energy that could be better spent and used more constructively. Hate by…” Apr 6, 15:46
crisiscult on Clocks And Calendars: ““might have gotten”? Who writes the blog these days? 8-/” Apr 6, 15:17
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The quality of mercy: “CONSTITUTIONAL STATUS of CHURCH OF ENGLAND and CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. When Elizabeth was Queen the royal website carried the following:…” Apr 6, 14:35
James Barr Gardner on The quality of mercy: “I totally agree word for word, more and more people agree with it but the process needs speeding up for…” Apr 6, 14:06
James on The quality of mercy: “Wilma; “Hello, pot? Kettle here…..”” Apr 6, 12:51
Captain Caveman on The quality of mercy: “Heh. If there’s one thing I couldn’t been accused of, mate, it’s “poor self esteem”… much to the annoyance of…” Apr 6, 12:45
Jay on The quality of mercy: “Thank you for the ‘good luck’ comment, Young Lochinvar. Regrettably, I lack your knowledge of M. Beggan and what I…” Apr 6, 12:19
Confused on The quality of mercy: “an independent Scotland with the worst government imaginable is still preferrable to being in the UK with a government of…” Apr 6, 11:51
Confused on The quality of mercy: “I’m not here to talk / debate / discuss with the hotpot-eaters, but merely to piss on them, from a…” Apr 6, 11:47
