As far as we know, this is the final major set-piece interview that Jim Murphy will have to give before the general election.
As Sally Magnusson of Reporting Scotland makes an admirably dogged but ultimately unsuccessful effort to get a straight answer on just about anything out of Labour’s regional branch manager, we’d swear it was possible to actually measure the delirium of relief on his face as the end draws near and the desperate evasion is over forever.
We gather that for the next week Scottish Labour are just bringing in boardgames.
On the left, Jim Murphy campaigning for the Scottish Labour leadership a few months ago (the backdrop is distinctive, placing the pic sometime last November).
It’s come awfully late, but we’ve finally got an answer to a question people have been asking Jim Murphy since last December.
In an interview with the BBC’s Gary Robertson this morning, the Scottish Labour regional manager told listeners that should he win the East Renfrewshire seat in next month’s election, he’d stay in the job for the full five-year term, but would also stand for election as a Holyrood MSP in 2016.
Greg Moodie’s Election Dissection, a compilation of splendid cartoon strips from The National, Bella Caledonia and elsewhere, is available to order now.
Scottish Labour branch office manager Jim Murphy will be appearing on BBC Radio Scotland’s “Call Kaye” programme from 9am today, taking questions from voters as well as presenter Kaye Adams. The phone number to ring in is 0500 92 95 00.
Below are a few posers readers might like to put to Mr Murphy, because he seems to have been adept at avoiding them throughout the campaign. Feel free to reword them.
It’s from an exhibition at the Leiper Fine Art Gallery in West George Street in Glasgow (a firm friend of the Yes movement), featuring political artwork by Wings cartoonists Chris Cairns – creator of the pic above – and Greg Moodie, along with many others, of which you can buy originals to enhance your home.
It runs until 11 May, so you should probably pop along if you’re in the vicinity. We’re not saying we’ll definitely stab you if you don’t, but why take unnecessary risks?
There’s a tactical voting tool on the Telegraph website, which despite a somewhat loaded headline purports to even-handedly advise confused voters on the best course of action to take in their own constituency depending on whether they want to keep Ed Miliband or David Cameron OUT of 10 Downing Street.
We were a bit suspicious when we typed our Bath postcode in and asked to keep Cameron out, because it advised us to vote Labour even though it’s one of the safest Lib Dem seats in the country (with the Tories in 2nd) and Labour got just 3,251 votes in 2010, which is to say they’ve got absolutely no hope here.
And then we tried some Scottish seats, and things got a bit creepy.
Waking up bleary-eyed this morning at 6.45am, we reached over to switch on Good Morning Scotland, just in time for the news headlines round-up. This is what we heard:
Captain Caveman on The Party Of The Dead: “Sure! Keep the cash rolling in. £20 on the meter so far. 🙂 Never done a good grift before, sounds…” Aug 11, 17:53
Minceheid on The Party Of The Dead: “Captain Caveman says: 11 August, 2026 at 4:39 pm No, no Aidan, I’m actually quite touched that Fatso would give…” Aug 11, 17:34
Captain Caveman on The Party Of The Dead: “*margarita even 😀 Jeez, what a typo… don’t want Fatso to think I’m holding a French white daisy for him…” Aug 11, 17:21
Oneliner on The Party Of The Dead: “Gordon Brown had a black-windowed cavalcade of Range Rovers when he went to his ‘How To Save The Union’ meeting…” Aug 11, 17:17
Captain Caveman on The Party Of The Dead: “I’ll be sure to do so too, just for him – marguerite in hand. 😀” Aug 11, 17:16
Aidan on The Party Of The Dead: “He probably hasn’t twigged that you’ll still be able to post on the internet, exactly as today, from another location…” Aug 11, 16:58
Stevie on Anatomy Of A Grift: “Mentally ill, delusional, perpetually-victimhood-angry, self-righteous = dangerous” Aug 11, 16:43
Captain Caveman on The Party Of The Dead: “No, no Aidan, I’m actually quite touched that Fatso would give me his life savings to help move out. :)…” Aug 11, 16:39
James on The Party Of The Dead: “£20 towards your moving expenses, no problem. Just say the word. Good riddance.” Aug 11, 15:18
Aidan on The Party Of The Dead: “Some of this “analysis” borders on being absurd and is clearly written from the standpoint of another agenda. – Nobody…” Aug 11, 15:04
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: “Somebody would have had to count the pies and sandwiches, etc, before and after. If it’s the same employee that…” Aug 11, 14:29
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: “I guess the imperial nationalist Scots aren’t “True Scots”, what with being brainwashed and all. If they might be concerned…” Aug 11, 14:20
Captain Caveman on The Party Of The Dead: “I daresay even an airport catering truck is preferable to, say, a luxury campervan paid for with embezzled funds. 🙂” Aug 11, 14:14
Young Lochinvar on The Party Of The Dead: “Batman had the Batmobile, the Pope has the Pope Mobile, JFK an open top saloon, the King a carriage and…” Aug 11, 13:50
Alf Baird on The Party Of The Dead: ““definition of “Scot”” An interesting point, Hatey. We may say there are different forms of nationalist ideology at play, and…” Aug 11, 13:49
Young Lochinvar on The Party Of The Dead: “HMcH Those artisans hung At Lauder Bridge.” Aug 11, 13:40
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: ““Scotland would vote to leave the Union if a second referendum were held tomorrow” Selfish basturt cants care nothing for…” Aug 11, 13:10
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: ““terrorist” Gaddafi built huge tunnels No shit, Sherlock! Who knew terrorists could build tunnels, funded either by oil revenues or…” Aug 11, 12:45
agentx on The Party Of The Dead: “SCOTTISH voters will not accept there is an “‘off limits’ when it comes to democracy”, Prime Minister Andy Burnham has…” Aug 11, 12:42
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: ““He pays no tax on his Scottish estate” It’s always intriguing to consider the mindset of those who believe that…” Aug 11, 12:26
Willie on The Party Of The Dead: “Ah Hatey, you raise a point. Number 10 North. The relocation of Nr 10 function to Manchester. Its a strange…” Aug 11, 10:41
Chas on The Party Of The Dead: “‘Case in point in the Carse of Gowrie at the moment. 2000 acres of prime farmland (next to the biggest…” Aug 11, 10:31
Captain Caveman on The Party Of The Dead: ““According to Andy Wightman” Explains a lot.” Aug 11, 10:26
sam on The Party Of The Dead: “Large estates in Scotland historically have not been good for the Scottish people on them. According to Andy Wightman “83%…” Aug 11, 10:20
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: “Now you’re just boasting about the better class of rammie you enjoy in your hoose. We’re traditionalists. “Ach, shite!” delivered…” Aug 11, 10:19
Captain Caveman on The Party Of The Dead: “Sam seems to be telling us “there are some land owners who aren’t 100% perfect” in 30,000 (cut and pasted)…” Aug 11, 10:02
Minceheid on The Party Of The Dead: “Hatey McHateface says: 11 August, 2026 at 8:13 am Short and to the point, MH. But couldn’t you have phrased…” Aug 11, 10:01
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: “Hero to Zero in 3 weeks: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/10/andy-burnham-national-listening-tour Got to hand it to the Guardian. It must have taken a little…” Aug 11, 09:53
