We had to be out most of yesterday, so we didn’t have time to cover a story which broke in the morning in several UK papers. 24 hours later, though, we can still find no mention of it in the Scottish media, which remains fully occupied in filling its pages with recycled wittering drivel about the pound.
This is a worrying state of affairs, because yesterday’s story is of direct concern to an awful lot more Scots than a hypothetical scaremongering fantasy about currency.
Weirdly, the front-page lead story of today’s Herald newspaper is (at the time of writing) completely absent from the online edition. We did a little digging and found that it had been somehow fused into a piece about three women and a baby being involved in a car crash, with no text.
Hopefully the Herald will fix the glitch soon, but in the meantime we’ve managed to get a hold of this low-resolution but (just barely) legible image.
Our survey of Scottish political website readership closed last night, and the results are in. And we must admit, we really didn’t see this one coming.
Remarkably, the winner of the poll – excellent news resource BBC Scotlandshire – was on 0 votes the day before voting closed, largely because we’d forgotten to include it. But to our surprise, in the small hours of the morning a whopping 1,011 votes arrived out of nowhere – or more specifically, according to our IP tracking, from a single building close to the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood.
When we checked, we found that it was the headquarters of a smaller and more amateurish news-reporting organisation, so we assume that lots of employees working the late shift had all decided to vote to express their admiration for a respected rival at once. (Curiously all from the same computer, and now we come to think about it, several hours after the poll had in fact closed.)
An alert reader pointed something interesting out to us this morning. STV News, the Telegraph and the Paisley Daily Express all carry an almost word-for-word-identical story (the only one with a byline is the Telegraph’s version, which credits it to the grumpy-looking Josie Ensor), all three of them headlined with slight variations on the phrase “Over 60 per cent unconvinced on Scottish independence”.
It refers to a poll conducted for the “Better Together” campaign, and reports its findings accurately. Or to be more precise, reports some of its findings.
We stumbled across this quite by accident yesterday. We think you’ll enjoy it.
The clip is from last year, and was aired on Canadian national news channel Sun News. Douglas Murray is a British writer who claims to be half-Scottish on account of unspecified links to Unionist breeding ground the Isle of Lewis, popular haunt of No-camp luminaries like Alistair Darling, virulent Labour anti-devolutionist Brian Wilson and controversial “Better Together” donor Ian Taylor.
Murray studied at Eton and Oxford and writes for august UK journals like the Spectator and Guardian, as well as appearing on numerous BBC political shows. For some reason, the Canadians consider him an expert on Scottish politics, qualified to inform and enlighten their viewers. See what you think.
The Scottish Co-operative Party’s 2011 manifesto is one full of co-operative and mutual solutions to the challenges faced in Scotland, issues of independence, devolution or the constitutional settlement did not feature. The annual Co-operative Party conference has passed motions which promote a view of Scotland playing a vital role in a United Kingdom.
We have noted the personal comments made by Mary Lockhart, a long serving Co-operative Party and Labour Party member. Mary has been a great advocate for co-operative and mutual solutions. Whilst we recognise that members of political parties hold differing, sometimes opposite, positions the views Mary has expressed are not shared by the Party. Mary has offered her resignation from the role of Chair of the Scottish Co-operative Party and the Scottish Executive committee has accepted this.“
The BBC’s flagship satirical programme “Have I Got News For You” is, of course, comedy. The tone of the opening minutes of last night’s episode was a little uglier and nastier than the usual friendly inter-regional jibes (normally delivered by the likes of Jeremy Clarkson and accompanied by rebukes from the rest of the panel), but it really wasn’t anything to get overly worked up about. Comedy isn’t always cuddly.
It must have been a little uncomfortable for the No camp, though.
Hang on. The heart of the latest No campaign/media scare story is that the enormous pension deficit currently looming over the UK like a great big multi-billion-pound fiscal sword of Damocles (but which everyone is feverishly avoiding looking at) will become much more urgent in the event of Scottish independence, because according to EU rules “cross-border” pensions can’t just boot the problem into the long grass for years, and have to ensure any shortfall is funded immediately.
EU rules? But haven’t the Unionists spent most of the last six months telling us that an independent Scotland wouldn’t be an EU member, and would have to wait years at the back of the queue to join as a new country? Phew! Problem solved!
We already know that the No camp has, shall we say, a bit of difficulty when it comes to basic arithmetic. But rarely do they demonstrate it so eagerly as they did last night.
We very much appreciate their helping to make our job easier.
Lorncal on Step One: “Yes, Turabdin, and now Yes Scotland is under scrutiny, just in case we were to rally behind it and Liberation…” Jul 12, 21:08
Steve A on It just takes a beat: “Hopefully the new Hillsborough Law will (in future) force the polish to take a more honest role in this affair.…” Jul 12, 21:05
Hatey McHateface on It just takes a beat: ““my beef is with the English state, not ordinary English folk” How odd. So the England team doesn’t represent the…” Jul 12, 20:06
Alastair on Step One: “Still no sign of their 2025 Accounts that were due to be submitted to the Electoral Commission by 7th July” Jul 12, 19:59
sam on Step One: “Polis still investigating the missing cash.” Jul 12, 19:26
sam on It just takes a beat: “Mike Danson https://pureportal.strath.ac.uk/en/publications/towards-and-industrial-policy-for-scotland-a-discussion-of-princi/ Gerry McCartney https://vhscotland.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Gerry-McCartney-University-of-Glasgow.pdf Mariana Mazzucato, economist Andrea Bradley, education” Jul 12, 19:22
TURABDIN on Step One: “it was sustained civil disobedience and non cooperation that hastened the end of british rule in india not the hot…” Jul 12, 19:19
100%Yes on Step One: “I was reading these articles interesting how Flynn been given the task of lower food cost. People say Swinney is…” Jul 12, 19:13
Hatey McHateface on It just takes a beat: ““This isn’t a back handed compliant” Are you sure?” Jul 12, 19:12
Hatey McHateface on It just takes a beat: “I guess it would be a start. But don’t you also pine for Juden Frei? And from the tenor of…” Jul 12, 19:09
Hatey McHateface on It just takes a beat: ““at which time they will reject all things Inglis” Lead from the front, Northy! Make smooth the path for the…” Jul 12, 18:59
agentx on Step One: ““After Salmond’s death, MacAskill won the 2025 Alba Party leadership election. In the lead-up to the 2026 Scottish Parliament election,…” Jul 12, 17:41
James Jones on It just takes a beat: “Interesting. Alf Baird simply takes the view that being ruled by corrupt and incompetent people with whom you have a…” Jul 12, 17:23
100%Yes on Step One: “What’s happening with the Alba party fraud?” Jul 12, 16:58
Aidan on It just takes a beat: “In that vein have you seen what “friend” of the site “Heather” Herbert has got herself into hot water for?” Jul 12, 16:56
100%Yes on Step One: “I was listening to Robin McAlpine video below, He was saying a lot. We’ve had 12yrs of the SNP dismantling…” Jul 12, 16:20
Steve A on Step One: “The “Hillsborough Law” might just be one of the straws that breaks the camels back… Just hope it can be…” Jul 12, 15:57
Rev. Stuart Campbell on It just takes a beat: “Did you contact me and alert me to it? No? Then shush, and thank the person who got off their…” Jul 12, 15:55
sarah on Step One: ““And on we’ll limp, year after year, in ever shrinking circles, going nowhere.” BUT, Rev, political parties are not essential…” Jul 12, 15:38
mg on Step One: “Good wee article, I particularly appreciated the link to Paul Sinclair’s article. It was balanced and accurate.” Jul 12, 15:29
sam on It just takes a beat: “Silly question. With a fierce dose of the Cultural Cringe thrown in. There are lots of prominent Scots at home…” Jul 12, 15:25
Eric on Step One: “The article is excellent. Is there hope our supine press are finally waking up ? Also, the last point that…” Jul 12, 15:24
Northcode on It just takes a beat: ““Where are they now?” They wait, silently, patiently, hidden in the shadows for the time of the great awakening when…” Jul 12, 14:12
Northcode on It just takes a beat: “I can’t bring myself to watch any football at all… a side-effect from being asked as a wean which team…” Jul 12, 13:54
Alf Baird on It just takes a beat: “Having rid themselves of “the colonialist delusion…what the colonized do with their freedom is a matter for them only” (Memmi).” Jul 12, 13:36
Southernbystander on It just takes a beat: “Yes, good post, it is something I have always thought – luck is part of it and always will be…” Jul 12, 13:23
100%Yes on It just takes a beat: “I couldn’t bring myself to watch England but if no other choice I’d rather run of a cliff head first…” Jul 12, 12:59
Northcode on It just takes a beat: “I’m not a big fan of football, nor any sport, but it seems to me that skill can only take…” Jul 12, 12:30
