Last week we listened to a Radio Scotland phone-in debate on Trident, hosted very deftly by John Beattie, who managed to steer callers away from political points and keep the discussion on the merits or otherwise of the weapons system itself.
Sadly that didn’t dissuade the usual coterie of nutters/local councillors phoning in insisting that (a) North Korea would invade/blast Scotland off the face of the Earth the moment we let our guard down, and (b) Helensburgh would immediately revert to the Stone Age at the loss of jobs were the few hundred Trident sailors who spend about a week every year in the town to be reassigned to other posts in the navy.
We didn’t have time to ring in ourselves, but we did manage to think of a much better idea that solved both of those problems without lumbering Scotland with a gigantic nuclear white elephant, and one that would also free up an awful lot of valuable police time and resources that are currently spent arresting a bunch of hippies.
We try to avoid openly editorialising on this site, readers. While unashamedly partisan in our leanings, as a rule we prefer to present the facts and let people come to their own conclusions from the evidence.
But we’re not sure we’ve ever seen anything more craven and pathetic than this.
We’ve been quiet today because we’ve been wading through the 80-odd painfully-dry pages of the Labour 2015 election manifesto, folks. It’s a deeply tedious read – screeds and screeds of waffly text about how nice things are nice and good things are good but bad things are bad. A couple of things did jump out, though. Here’s one.
Alert readers will of course recall that the party’s solemn pledge in Scotland is to provide 1000 more nurses (hastily revised from the comical “1000 more than whatever the SNP say”) from the proceeds of the Mansion Tax, even though NHS Scotland is devolved and no Westminster government can in fact hire a single Scottish nurse.
But hang on. Something’s not right about those numbers.
A super-alert reader pointed out something about today’s Sunday Politics that we hadn’t noticed. Before the galaxy-class trainwreck that was the Scottish leaders’ debate, the networked section of the show had a piece on Scottish polling, and our eagle-eyed viewer spotted that the chart of projected seats wasn’t in proportion.
So we measured, and this is what it should have looked like.
With there only having been three hours of the Scottish political party leaders (and Jim Murphy) debating on TV so far this week, and four days to wait for another one, BBC Scotland thought they might need another 40 minutes on this afternoon’s Sunday Politics Scotland to discuss the issues around the forthcoming general election.
It went well, but for busy readers in a hurry we’ve edited the show down to a compact nine-minute cut, which still gets across everything the full version did.
A great example of adult discourse, expertly set. Well done, everyone.
There’s very little actual political news today, so the papers have largely been forced to either basically not have any at all (the Sunday Post and Scottish Sun On Sunday) or make up totally mad stuff for laughs to fill the space.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Scottish Liberal Democrat manifesto 2015:
I voted for this pathetic shower of useless snivellers for 23 years, folks. I’ve learned my lesson. Once again, I can only hang my head and beg forgiveness.
With the “biggest party forms the government” lie now sunk and rusting slowly on the seabed (weighed down even further by polls suggesting that Labour actually will be the largest party even if they lose all of Scotland to the SNP), and four weeks of campaigning left to fill, Scottish Labour have had to grab a hammer, smash the glass on the “EMERGENCY – IN CASE OF DESPERATION” box and clutch desperately at whatever they found inside.
The abject answer is “Project Fear 2 – This Time It’s Full Fiscal Autonomy”.
After this week’s STV and BBC debates, in which the Scottish Labour branch-office manager’s combative performances were favourably received by the Scottish media, Wings exclusively interviews armed-forces enthusiast Jim Murphy for a response to the latest numbers from YouGov, pausing first for the delivery of some refreshments.
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “North Code, Scotland does need to wake up, and pretty quick, If England claims only Scotland is bound by the…” Dec 22, 14:29
sam on A matter of class: “https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1467-923X.13214 “Exploring Sovereignty in Scotland” David McCrone Michael Keating “The largest proportion in the sample, 30 per cent are ‘Scottish…” Dec 22, 14:21
Captain Caveman on A matter of class: “I couldn’t care less whether the likes of you believes me or not – as I’ve already told you. Feel…” Dec 22, 14:09
Aidan on A matter of class: “The bigger picture Dan is that the only thing you seem to be in favour of is highest taxes on…” Dec 22, 14:09
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “@Alf Baird 8.24pm Like any peoples language the Scots language plays ‘a vital role in shaping and defining ethnic identity’,…” Dec 22, 14:07
James on A matter of class: “We’ve only got your word for that though, haven’t we sweetie? You’re a Reform shill so probably a born liar.” Dec 22, 13:53
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “Alf Baird. Even with the trickery, bribery and deceit it must be remembered that the Scottish participation was only set…” Dec 22, 13:48
Captain Caveman on A matter of class: ““A braw chortle at young unionist Aidan whining about the demise of industries in Scotland.” Aw, look at old Dan,…” Dec 22, 13:17
diabloandco on A matter of class: “Just caught up with Led by Donkeys projection on Windsor castle – nice work!! And Nicola Jennings cartoon in the…” Dec 22, 12:33
Northcode on A matter of class: ““Scotland does need to wake up…” She surely does, James. Her bedside alarm is now ringing, at least, and I…” Dec 22, 12:32
Northcode on A matter of class: “I’ve always thought of the word ‘inchoately’ as being a particularly unhelpful word; a word with no clear and singularly…” Dec 22, 12:17
Alf Baird on A matter of class: “Indeed so, James, and in addition, there is plenty of evidence of bribery and coercion involved at the time which…” Dec 22, 12:15
Alf Baird on A matter of class: ““Unreasoning nativists can scream inchoately” You mean like American Professor Michael Hechter in his detailed scientific analysis of the ‘UK…” Dec 22, 11:49
Northcode on A matter of class: “Yet another excellent and informative post, Alf. Personally, I’m sick of swallowing Westminster’s green and mouldy moon cheese. An observation:…” Dec 22, 11:45
Northcode on A matter of class: “Foul language restrained in writing is a sad and pathetic sight to behold. Foul language by its nature is wild…” Dec 22, 11:25
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “The Union remembers and fears the day coming in and shining a light over the treaty, It fears that Scotland…” Dec 22, 11:09
Alf Baird on A matter of class: “Yes, and the stink of “colonialism …drives the most peaceable populations to despair” (Cesaire) Aside from the obligatory racism and…” Dec 22, 11:09
The Flying Iron of Doom on A matter of class: “Hatey McHateface says: 20 December, 2025 at 3:30 pm Thanks for your reply, Stuart. As it happens, I lack a…” Dec 22, 11:06
Northcode on A matter of class: ““What fascinating dialogues we could have” Here’s some dialogue for you (really more a command): “DANCE!” Dance tae whitiver tune…” Dec 22, 11:01
Captain Caveman on A matter of class: “@Hatey “… As to their younger years, a casual look at their typical posts suggests they could never have done…” Dec 22, 11:00
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “England did not need a referendum to leave the treaty of union in 1800. But Scotland does need a referendum…” Dec 22, 10:58
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “I understand the unionist mind to try keep us voting for a construct that is not there, to keep us…” Dec 22, 10:37
Dan on A matter of class: “A braw chortle at young unionist Aidan whining about the demise of industries in Scotland. Sad to see such a…” Dec 22, 10:36
Northcode on A matter of class: “Guid mornyng aw… A howp ye aw hae a guid Monday day the day.” Dec 22, 10:13
Hatey McHateface on A matter of class: “A fascinating article, Dan. As you say, much to mull over in it. If only Wings BTL provided a forum…” Dec 22, 09:53
Hatey McHateface on A matter of class: “Mair car park mayhem in mos cow. Some cant must have cut up some other cant at a junction and…” Dec 22, 09:41
Hatey McHateface on A matter of class: “@Aidan It’s overwhelmingly likely that none of the usual suspects pay any taxes, being well past the age when they…” Dec 22, 09:30
Hatey McHateface on A matter of class: “Rather disappointing to hear that about Viz. I would have expected that more than half of every Viz issue could…” Dec 22, 08:59
Hatey McHateface on A matter of class: “Check out the ablest prejudice from Beggan. To him, the differently abled really do not exist.” Dec 22, 08:47
Hatey McHateface on A matter of class: “Calm doon, James, and hauld oot fer jist a couple mair days. Ye’re certain tae get new socks fer Xmas,…” Dec 22, 08:42
