Respect to John MacKay of STV, who on last night’s Scotland Tonight asked Labour MSP James Kelly the question this site has called for about whether Labour would stand aside and let the Tories rule if the latter were the largest party after May’s election, but Labour had enough seats to win a confidence vote and form the government with backing from the SNP and/or other parties.
Kelly, unsurprisingly, flapped and blustered and totally evaded it. But then we doubt he has the authority to make the tea in Scottish Labour, let alone speak for the party on key policy issues. If the question isn’t put repeatedly by all of the media to more senior Labour figures until an answer is produced, we’ll be wanting to know why.
Here’s Ed Miliband, giving a speech this morning to literally at least 20 Labour MPs, Labour MSPs, journalists and possibly a stray member of the public who accidentally walked through the wrong door in Clydebank, a place where Labour leaders used to address gatherings of thousands.
Unusually, Miliband took a few questions from the hacks, all of whom promptly wasted the opportunity by lobbing completely pointless softballs about coalitions and deals, all of which (a) have been asked a hundred times already, (b) were rendered moot by Alex Salmond on the Marr show yesterday, and (c) were only ever going to be batted away non-committally.
So here’s an actually worthwhile one they can ask instead next time.
We have to give Jim Murphy credit – on this week’s Sunday Politics he started off with the subtle, misleading but technically-accurate version of Labour’s line about the “biggest party forming the government”, which involves making the true but irrelevant observation that in the past it’s usually been the case. (Mainly because UK elections almost always give the biggest party a comfortable majority.)
But it only took a couple of minutes of questioning for the Scottish branch manager to lose his cool and resort to the comprehensively debunked flat-out lie again.
We thought you’d enjoy this clip from this morning’s Andrew Marr Show, readers. It came after a very sensible interview, in which Salmond had calmly and reasonably laid out the SNP’s view on events should there be a hung parliament this May with the former First Minister’s party holding the balance of power.
Tory minister Anna Soubry seems to be experiencing a degree of regret about having begged Scots to stay in the UK. The body language says as much as the words.
The Daily Record, still smarting from the humiliation of being forced to very quietly admit it told its readers a £20 billion lie about the Smith Commission late last year, has been in a demented overdrive trying to provoke Yes/SNP supporters this week.
It started on Tuesday with an echo of the paper’s infamous “Vow” cover, clearly aimed at winding up its detractors but which passed without much comment as social media users merely raised a brief weary eyebrow and got on with their day. But then the Record started turning up the volume.
Young Lochinvar on Clocks And Calendars: “Beggars Oh dear.. Is that the sort of parties you go to? Never can tell with Tories eh.. You aren’t…” Apr 2, 03:00
Captain Caveman on Clocks And Calendars: “Oh do piss off mate. You claimed “400” innocent people were killed by the regime (like, as if this is…” Apr 1, 23:04
Mark Beggan on Clocks And Calendars: “Just put your car keys on the tray.” Apr 1, 22:36
Geri on Clocks And Calendars: ““Worst of all, we have fluffers and apologists for the worst, most murderous regimes on Earth, killing tens of thousands…” Apr 1, 22:20
James on Clocks And Calendars: ““…Just as well we aren’t part of it and we’ve got our own oil….” Oh, ma sides. Stop it!” Apr 1, 22:07
Geri on Clocks And Calendars: “It’s bankers that are the parasite. Forever looking to back & bankroll the Next Empire in it forever wars to…” Apr 1, 22:05
Captain Caveman on Clocks And Calendars: ““Caveman (demoted to private): I read WoS with a degree of detachment but you never fail to impress me with…” Apr 1, 21:53
MaryB on Clocks And Calendars: “Tommy Sheridan’s been reported to the police for calling out USA and I*real. Is this because he’s standing as a…” Apr 1, 21:51
Geri on Clocks And Calendars: “Cave dweller, Okay, I’ll gie yeh just wan the noo.. Willie McRae. Not only did this man shoot himself in…” Apr 1, 21:31
Jay on Clocks And Calendars: “Caveman (demoted to private): I read WoS with a degree of detachment but you never fail to impress me with…” Apr 1, 21:20
Geri on Clocks And Calendars: “I dunno, the EU is detangling itself from the tech mafia & it’s vision of 24 hour surveillance & it’s…” Apr 1, 21:14
Mark Beggan on Clocks And Calendars: “Baby Trump says I was right about everything.” Apr 1, 21:13
Mark Beggan on Clocks And Calendars: “So Europa is to go and fight for their oil. I reckon the EU has 5 years left to exist.…” Apr 1, 21:11
Captain Caveman on Clocks And Calendars: ““Lolz, I’m finding it quite funny being a cave dweller.” It is! I’m mainly here for the shits and giggles.…” Apr 1, 21:04
Mark Beggan on Clocks And Calendars: “1916 Ireland to 2026 Scotland. For starters the uprising in Dublin was a disaster. Half the Irish never turned up…” Apr 1, 21:02
Geri on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Nae Need, I think the next generation won’t be as daft – especially given world events over food & energy…” Apr 1, 20:42
Nae Need! on Clocks And Calendars: “Geri, You do make me laugh. Lolz, I’m finding it quite funny being a cave dweller. Now, just for shits…” Apr 1, 20:37
Captain Caveman on Clocks And Calendars: ““I see yer drooling in anticipation..” Um, hardly. It’s not like you have credible information to back up your outrageous,…” Apr 1, 20:31
Nae Need! on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “I couldn’t agree more, Sarah. Of course its a false construct. It’s an absolutely, almost fantastical, ridiculous situation. But having…” Apr 1, 20:08
Nae Need! on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Holyrood is helping no one, Alan. I think I’ve reached my tolerance limits. my patience limits . . . get…” Apr 1, 20:00
Young Lochinvar on Clocks And Calendars: “4 subs; of which 2 are write offs, 1 is undergoing major surgery while 1 (the very very rusty one)…” Apr 1, 19:55
robertkknight on Clocks And Calendars: “As “basket cases” go I recon the UK has the EU beat, and well beat. As for the the Scottish…” Apr 1, 19:48
Northcode on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: ““People must remember that Holyrood is a Colonial Administration… Scotland must gather 57 pro independence candidates, either party or standing…” Apr 1, 19:43
Nae Need! on Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off: “Geri, I understand all that, but it’s no gonna happen 😉 Not in our life times.” Apr 1, 19:35
Geri on Clocks And Calendars: “Cave dweller, I see yer drooling in anticipation.. It’s delicious to watch.” Apr 1, 19:25
