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The Unquestionables 24

Posted on March 17, 2025 by

In April last year we wrote to LGBT Youth Scotland asking them to explain why they were conducting activities in primary schools (and even with pre-school children) about sexual matters despite only having a remit to work with young people aged 13-25.

We received no reply, so we contacted the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, who sent a rather sniffy acknowledgement saying:

“If your concern leads us to making inquiries with the charity, we are unable to update you on the status of those inquiries. For more information about what to expect after you submit a concern, read our guidance on how OSCR deals with concerns and inquiries.”

That link, you’ll be amazed to hear, leads to a dead page.

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The plainest sight 24

Posted on March 16, 2025 by

You know what, Surrey Live, we think you’re probably right.

We DO think people will remember him.

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Meet The FILTH 83

Posted on March 15, 2025 by

It stands for “Failed In London, Try Holyrood”, of course.

So enjoy The March Of The Rejects next year, as the SNP explains to you why you were wrong not to elect these candidates last year and gives you a chance to atone for your shameful error. You lucky people.

Signal and noise 104

Posted on March 12, 2025 by

The Presiding Officer has finally reluctantly deigned to allow the Scottish Parliament to discuss the issues arising from Sandie Peggie vs NHS Fife, in the shape of a debate taking place in the chamber this afternoon brought forward by the Scottish Tories.

We suspect that watching it will be profound waste of time and a grave danger to our monitor screens, but we’ll certainly at least tune in for the votes at the end, because which motion/amendment the Parliament puts its name to will be a revealing moment.

Let’s quickly run those through a translator.

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The evolution of fairness 63

Posted on March 11, 2025 by

Some of our more alert readers may recall the events of four years ago this month, when a mob of SNP representatives all suddenly raged against the idea of (perfectly legally) “gaming” the Holyrood electoral system to produce a pro-indy supermajority.

Voters try to organise themselves to maximise their desired outcomes all the time (see various tactical-voting campaigns), and so do political parties – witness John Swinney’s current plans for a grand anti-Reform coalition. And of course, the SNP never objected to indy voters voting for a different party on the list if it was the Greens. The entire thing was just a poorly-disguised attack on Alba.

But even so, guess what? The rules just changed again.

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Tartan Messiah 2 80

Posted on March 08, 2025 by

We don’t need a cartoonist today. How could he be funnier than this?

Please let us one day discover who the wailing colleague was.

The message on an ill wind 62

Posted on March 07, 2025 by

It’s one of the most profoundly disappointing things about the last decade of Scottish politics that for about five minutes in 2015 we all thought that this awful dunderheaded foghorn was a bright new hope for the future.

But you live and learn. At least, some of us do.

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Green Eggs And Bams 78

Posted on March 06, 2025 by

In April 2021, the SNP were still the undisputed masters of all they surveyed. A poll conducted by Ipsos MORI that month showed them on 53% of the vote for the Scottish Parliament, a jawdropping 33 points ahead of their nearest rivals.

When the Holyrood election a month later was held, they won 64 seats, one more than they had done in 2016. Yet despite having led a minority government without any significant difficulties for the preceding five years, Nicola Sturgeon chose to invite the Greens to form a coalition with her party, and the effect that had on the public’s view of the government was… well, let’s see.

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The tint of rose 91

Posted on March 05, 2025 by

What with this poll apparently being such terrific news for John Swinney’s runaway popularity with the people of Scotland, readers might be wondering why SNP MSP Graeme Dey has apparently forgotten to include the actual figures or link to the source so that people can find out for themselves.

Or, y’know, you might not.

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Why I’m Never Leaving Twitter 236

Posted on February 27, 2025 by

You just don’t get this sort of quality content on Bluesky. (They’d faint, poor lambs.)

And all the furry nappy porn is a poor substitute.

Groundhog Decade 65

Posted on February 25, 2025 by

Welcome back to what will hopefully be normal service after we’ve been spending the last few days battling off a determined and temporarily successful attempt at hacking the site. Apologies to those who had clicks intercepted and redirected to a malware site which tried to get people to download dodgy .EXE files, but our readers are far too alert to ever fall for such things so no harm should have been done.

So back to business, which for us often means pointing out things that have been said in newspapers that aren’t true, which brings us to last Friday’s issue of The National.

Because the above simply isn’t what happened.

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Challengers Deep 88

Posted on February 22, 2025 by

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    • Geri on The End Of The Affair: “Well there ya go. Twelve hours later & not even Shitface can think of one. That’s cause there is none.Sep 23, 00:32
    • Geri on The End Of The Affair: “Correct Marie & who is better at rigging elections. Scotland wants independence & the SNP under Nicolas stewardship were the…Sep 23, 00:22
    • Young Lochinvar on The End Of The Affair: “Well then hateful one.. A straight question so a straight answer please. So who exactly did YOU vote for (assuming…Sep 23, 00:16
    • Geri on The End Of The Affair: “Excellent post, Northcode.Sep 22, 23:38
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The End Of The Affair: “Re Northcode @ 22 Sept, 10.57 pm, 2025 ——————— I won’t dignify your tirade of anti-Gaelic distortion and pseudo-Pictish mythology…Sep 22, 23:38
    • Geri on The End Of The Affair: “Northcode The English idea of a laugh is to always take the piss out of someone else thinking they’re funny.…Sep 22, 23:30
    • Young Lochinvar on The End Of The Affair: “What’s the phrase Geri? Aye, he’s projecting again. Rattle and teddy bear well and truly launched out the pram.. You…Sep 22, 23:27
    • Marie on The End Of The Affair: “Holyrood is merely part of the Westminster set up. Holyrood elections? Basically who is the best at managing the pocket…Sep 22, 23:10
    • MaryB on The End Of The Affair: “It’s not surprising that drug deaths are so high in north-east England. The Thatcher years hit their traditional industries very…Sep 22, 23:06
    • Northcode on The End Of The Affair: ““The DSL have it wrong. The language they call Scots is really modern Pictish…” That was a bit of (I…Sep 22, 22:57
    • Hatey McHateface on The End Of The Affair: ““stupify the masses” It’s the stupefied individuals that people notice. Take the word “stupefy” for example. Some people don’t know…Sep 22, 22:41
    • Geri on The End Of The Affair: ““Unmentioned is the fact that the UK government has long treated drug use as criminal matter and barred the way…Sep 22, 22:29
    • Hatey McHateface on The End Of The Affair: ““What kind of peasants do they think we are to insult our intelligence?” In your case, Barbie, I’d have to…Sep 22, 22:27
    • Northcode on The End Of The Affair: ““Ghost of Basil Brush here… I’m sure that ‘joke’ was in an episode of ‘It Ain’t half Shit, Mum’.Sep 22, 22:09
    • Hatey McHateface on The End Of The Affair: “Less of the Boom! Boom! SBS. NC has had a near death experience and it has left him feeling very…Sep 22, 21:44
    • Hatey McHateface on The End Of The Affair: ““I’d have thought you’d have more in common with those ham assholes than you care to admit” Hey! You need…Sep 22, 21:37
    • Geri on The End Of The Affair: “David Davis shouldn’t be comparing anything. He seems to forget his cronies hold the purse strings. When England spends less…Sep 22, 21:29
    • Geri on The End Of The Affair: “I’d have thought you’d have more in common with those ham assholes than you care to admit, shiteface. little old…Sep 22, 21:13
    • Southernbystander on The End Of The Affair: “Quote: ‘I’ve never really taken to the English sense of ‘humour’. Hi Northcode, me ol’ mucker, Ghost of Basil Brush…Sep 22, 21:00
    • sam on The End Of The Affair: “There is little in David Davis’ criticisms of Scotland and England’s public service comparisons that should be taken at face…Sep 22, 20:59
    • sam on The End Of The Affair: “Scotland’s 2022 PISA score was representative of PISA standards. Scotland put forward 3257 students (England 6300). Scotland achieved a school…Sep 22, 20:37
    • sam on The End Of The Affair: “There are good educational reasons for regarding the PISA test results across different countries as unreliable or useless. Even so,…Sep 22, 20:32
    • sam on The End Of The Affair: “Link here to the BBC piece on England’s unrecorded drug deaths. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg7dzmyjrjzoSep 22, 20:20
    • Hatey McHateface on The End Of The Affair: “Cut Northcode some slack, Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh. He’s just had a near death experience.Sep 22, 20:10
    • Hatey McHateface on The End Of The Affair: ““There are 23% of Scottish children in poverty and 31% of English children in poverty” Awww. I’m welling up here,…Sep 22, 20:00
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The End Of The Affair: “Northcode @ 22 Sept, 11.13 am, writes “Am I Right, Fearghas?” ————— (Sigh) No, you are NOT right. Nowhere near…Sep 22, 19:46
    • Hatey McHateface on The End Of The Affair: ““it’s a fantasy nonetheless” Sorry, NC, you lost me. To what are you referring? The speech, or the internal monologue…Sep 22, 19:45
    • Hatey McHateface on The End Of The Affair: ““a written constitution placing Scots sovereignty INVIOLATE , its territory permanent and indivisible” You wish! That remains very much to…Sep 22, 19:28
    • Northcode on The End Of The Affair: “” ALL I ever see is NEGATIVITY and abuse…” Aye, TH. I suspect if anyone were to offer their genuine…Sep 22, 19:17
    • Hatey McHateface on The End Of The Affair: ““sometimes various geopolitical sites will hint at far worse to come out” Well now, that changes everything. If only you…Sep 22, 19:15
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