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Betting on air 137

Posted on March 27, 2013 by

We’re not sure we can untangle this.

ruthnns1

Perhaps you can help us out.

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Never the twain shall meet 46

Posted on March 27, 2013 by

A keen-eyed viewer alerts us to the alarming fact that the Herald appears to have been letting Magnus Gardham write its leader column with his crayons again:

eastlothian1

(Online version since fixed, print version preserved for posterity.)

Workfare for Holyrood 113

Posted on March 27, 2013 by

The media is in full-on spin mode today, reporting Ruth Davidson’s miraculous Damascene conversion to the principle of “more powers” for the Scottish Parliament, just 18 short months after her Churchill-esque declaration of devolutionary defiance to the effect that the petty tinkering of the Scotland Act was a “line in the sand”.

Most of the papers, of course, feign critical analysis by highlighting Davidson’s U-turn. But what we haven’t seen in a single one is any sort of actual examination of the content of Ms Davidson’s speech to a micro-audience of literally several people in what appeared to be the corridor of an Edinburgh hotel yesterday.

davidspeech

We suspect that’s because anyone who did would be very hard-pressed indeed to credibly describe the measures she proposes as representing “more powers” for anything. In fact, they’re the opposite.

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What’s all this “we”, paleface? 358

Posted on March 26, 2013 by

Remember how Unionists endlessly cite World War 2 as the definitive example of great British “togetherness”? Turns out they might be over-egging that one a bit. From today’s Scottish Daily Express (print edition only):

paleface

Of course, that was a long time ago. Things are different now.

A gap in the market 92

Posted on March 26, 2013 by

So. Wow. Where to start? Lead with the number, we suppose.

hamishquid

Did we say “Wow” yet?

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Confused Unionist Of The Morning 244

Posted on March 25, 2013 by

tramtwat

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Revenge of the radio star 12

Posted on March 25, 2013 by

Something’s puzzled me for more than 15 years, viewers, and an article I read today brought it back to mind, so I’m going to raise it very briefly in the hopes that someone might even now be able to answer the question for me.

There’s something odd about the chart above, isn’t there?

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What you’re paying for 86

Posted on March 25, 2013 by

fundbanner10

Running total (updated daily): £28,920 of £29,796 (97.1%).
Donations in last 24 hours: £886.

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Air traffic control 78

Posted on March 24, 2013 by

We don’t know about you, viewers, but when we tune into a two-hour TV programme called “Scottish National Party Spring Conference 2013”, we sort of expect the large bulk of that show to be, well, the Scottish National Party Spring Conference 2013.

johncurtice2

With the UK’s state broadcaster, though, that isn’t necessarily the case.

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Don’t look back in anger 43

Posted on March 24, 2013 by

Apologies for the lack of posts today, readers – been working on a small practical project and getting into an argument with a No voter who might just be persuadable, among other things. But amid it all we stumbled across this on the BBC website.

noel1

It’s a 2011 interview with Noel Gallagher about the English riots. Gallagher was one of the cultural figureheads famously invited to Downing Street by Tony Blair during the short-lived “Cool Britannia” phase before the shine wore off the New Labour project.

“Running up to the last election I wasn’t going to vote, until my wife said ‘You’ve got to vote’, and I’ve got to say it’s the first time I’ve picked the most ludicrous thing on the list – some guy who was gonna dress as a pirate.

But the Labour Party have managed to prove themselves to be just as sleazy and horrible as we all know the  Conservatives are. There’s nothing left to vote for any more.

We empathise. But there’s still one part of Britain where that’s not true.

Late to the party 154

Posted on March 23, 2013 by

The BBC’s coverage of the SNP spring conference has finally started. You can watch it on BBC2 Scotland or on this live web stream, and discuss developments below.

The truth will out 28

Posted on March 23, 2013 by

We can only assume that Scottish Labour member and “Better Together” campaign director Blair McDougall somehow got lost in the blizzards sweeping the country and accidentally stumbled into the Scottish Conservatives conference this morning.

toryblair

Warmly applauded, apparently. That’s nice.

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