That clip (from just past midnight on the BBC News channel) isn’t a bad starting-point summary of last night’s extraordinary story, except by our count the Telegraph’s piece was fourth-hand rather than third-hand.
(First-hand would have been Nicola Sturgeon. Second-hand would have been the ambassador. Third-hand would have been the consul-general. The civil servant – who doubted the story him/herself – is fourth-hand.)
This is also a pretty good primer. Now let’s get to the fun stuff.
Sheesh. We pop out for a couple of hours to feed the Wings Emergency Kitten and we get back to find that it’s the UK press that’s barfed up hairballs all over its front pages.
And the contradictory cross-vortex coverlines aren’t even the mad bit.
In over 20 years of living in Bath, spanning five general elections, we’ve never seen a political billboard in town before. There’s been no point. In vote-share terms the city is the 4th-safest Lib Dem seat in the UK (and the 2nd-safest in England), and it has been since the party won it from the Conservatives in 1992.
But we’ve got a billboard now, featuring two men whose parties haven’t got an earthly hope of winning here (one of them because it’s not standing). What’s that all about?
This is an extract from this morning’s Today programme on Radio 4 (starts about 2h 5m in), in which James Naughtie expresses an unusually frank and forthright opinion on Jim Murphy’s claim about the biggest party forming the government.
Because we’ve been thinking about it carefully, and as the biggest party always forms the government of the UK – like it or not, that’s a simple fact – there’s only one way to protect Scotland’s interests for the next five years. Independence can wait.
Like some sort of out-of-control, unstoppable lying machine, Scottish Labour keep telling the electorate that the party with the most seats in a hung parliament is the one that forms the government, and that the only way to prevent the Conservatives from returning to power is for Labour to be the biggest party.
(Because if the answer is yes then Labour’s entire Scottish election strategy – “Vote SNP get Tories!” – crumbles to dust, and if it’s no then Labour is saying that it’d be prepared to abandon not just Scotland but the whole UK to another five years of Conservative government purely out of spite against the SNP.)
Three of the party’s elected representatives have now been asked the question on air – James Kelly MSP by John Mackay of Scotland Tonight a week ago, branch office leader Jim Murphy by BBC Scotland’s Gary Robertson yesterday, and the shadow Scottish Secretary Margaret Curran last night (below), again by STV’s John Mackay.
As you can see, Scotland’s voters still await an answer. But on this page we’ll keep track of all the swerves, evasions and dodges until we get one, if we ever do.
Because we took a short break over the weekend, we sadly missed Labour’s solemn commemorations of the 1979 confidence vote, and as a result we don’t know whether anyone actually did don a black armband or lay a wreath to remember the miners that Labour didn’t support when they went on strike a few years later.
We’re going to compile all of these onto a single page soon, because as you can see, Scottish Labour just can’t seem to stop telling this lie.
Today’s expert saying “Does it, aye?” (and the latest in a long and distinguished line) is Peter Riddell from the Institute For Government, speaking on Radio 4’s “World At One” this afternoon (from 35m).
Jamie on Sicknote Slippers: “Read the roll of honour, Scotland’s bravest men…” Mar 30, 07:47
Cynicus on Sicknote Slippers: “Rev, your link to “a pretty openly anti-Semitic protest “ shows nothing of the kind. It is to a Twitter…” Mar 30, 02:21
Young Lochinvar on Sicknote Slippers: “Meant to conclude: Signed: Your angry and defrauded long term true independence voter base..” Mar 30, 01:12
Young Lochinvar on Protest But Don’t Survive: “Yup.. You know what grips me; these testimonial interviews? What about his rank failures in post on transport (ultimately passed…” Mar 30, 01:06
Young Lochinvar on Sicknote Slippers: “Absolutely Geri, but also Dhondt (Westminsters git) as well! The non-achieving political and Quango class parasites are everywhere, and, I…” Mar 30, 00:51
Geri on Sicknote Slippers: “Aye, “Trust in Nicola” I’m still waiting on this grand plan she was supposedly working on in the background. Whit…” Mar 29, 23:26
100%Yes on Sicknote Slippers: “Well done to Fiona for her tweet it must have taken this coward hours to reply with a correct response.…” Mar 29, 23:07
Mark Beggan on Sicknote Slippers: “Fat Pete has joined the elite. and the far right he will defeat. All his career he’s been on the…” Mar 29, 23:05
100%Yes on Sicknote Slippers: “To be honest Farage can be PM for all I care and certainly couldn’t give a flying F*cking if he…” Mar 29, 23:01
100%Yes on Sicknote Slippers: “His only regret is he was never elected to be speaker of the house of commons. Your not a rich…” Mar 29, 22:49
Dan on Protest But Don’t Survive: “It’s been fairly obvious to most informed folk that the NuSNP are the problem with regard to progressing Scotland’s return…” Mar 29, 22:41
Davie on Sicknote Slippers: “Farage will not be the nest Prime Minister. He is a charlatan, a rehashed Tory and establishment containment. Like them…” Mar 29, 21:15
TURABDIN on Sicknote Slippers: “Hey, mr Wishy Washy, the «far right» within the rotting BritState is a peculiarly English problem, let them deal with…” Mar 29, 20:01
Geri on Protest But Don’t Survive: “Why don’t you tell the group what socialism is? I’m sure we’d all love to read yer take on how…” Mar 29, 20:00
robertkknight on Sicknote Slippers: ““The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but…” Mar 29, 19:53
H Scott on Sicknote Slippers: “The far right were on the Royal Mile haranguing the indy march. Peter Wishart could have killed two birds with…” Mar 29, 19:50
James on Sicknote Slippers: “Wait…Pishfart is one of the SNP UK agents who are ‘Lords-in-waiting’, but “…a pretty openly anti-Semitic protest..” Really? Seen any…” Mar 29, 19:41
Young Lochinvar on Sicknote Slippers: “Wet P1shfart is a bad parody of himself..” Mar 29, 19:19
Sven on Sicknote Slippers: ““When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to call “Present” or “Not Guilty”.…” Mar 29, 19:15
sarah on Protest But Don’t Survive: “Well, all the sensible ones! And despite the obvious exceptions, most are sensible, nice people. 🙂” Mar 29, 19:03
James on Protest But Don’t Survive: “Nah…. “The Untold History of the United States” by Oliver Stone.” Mar 29, 19:01
Terry on Sicknote Slippers: “Well done for highlighting this.” Mar 29, 19:00
James on Protest But Don’t Survive: ““Agent” – aye; you’ve given yersel the proper pen name, right enough.” Mar 29, 18:42
Rev. Stuart Campbell on Protest But Don’t Survive: ““All the other thinkers and activists would gladly work with you.” LOLZ” Mar 29, 18:27
James on Protest But Don’t Survive: “Well said, Northcode….and somehow appropriate maybe, to paraphrase; “We find ourselves opposed by forces that operate in the shadows, without…” Mar 29, 18:27
Rev. Stuart Campbell on Protest But Don’t Survive: “What we have to do about it is destroy the SNP. Until people realise that, there’s no moving forward.” Mar 29, 18:26
twathater on Protest But Don’t Survive: “C’mon now James the cave dweller has every right to come on to a supposed indy supporting blog and give…” Mar 29, 18:18
