This week Scottish Labour quietly abandoned their “biggest party forms the government” election campaign after it was comprehensively debunked by this site and, belatedly, the mainstream media. An alert reader reminded us this evening of how the party wasn’t always so attached to the rules.
Because back in 2007, when Labour was neither the biggest party nor the incumbent administration, it had a damn good try at forming the government anyway.
By now we imagine most readers have already seen the alleged leak of the Ashcroft polling results which aren’t due to be officially released until 11am today [EDIT 00.47am: out now], and which suggest some jaw-dropping SNP gains.
We’re not going to go off half-cocked until those have been confirmed, so instead here’s something sent in by an alert reader. It’s an extract from the autobiography of former Radio 1 DJ Liz Kershaw, and describes events around the funeral of Princess Diana. We think you’ll find it enlightening.
Since we’ve been talking about mad letters from Scottish Labour MPs today, we’re sharing this one with you too. We’ve been trying to make sense of it all evening.
We haven’t made any progress. It’s not just a simple accidental transposition of words, because if you switch “increased” and “decreased” around it’s still gibberish – why would the threat have decreased because of proliferation? If anyone can explain it, do drop us a line.
Alert readers may recall this baffling story from last month, in which we discovered that Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie hadn’t been able to think of any more pressing issues to occupy himself with than finding out how many times Scottish Government civil servants had accessed Wings Over Scotland in the six months leading up to the referendum.
So we were intrigued when we got an email from a viewer who just for fun had sent a Freedom of Information request to Holyrood and asked them the same question for the official Scottish and UK Liberal Democrats websites. The results are below.
Alert readers will know that we very often like to bring to your attention both Scottish Labour’s fondness for radically rewriting history and its frequent struggles with basic counting. Today, though, the North British branch office has spectacularly outdone itself and managed to pull off both at once. This is going to be hard to beat.
Above is an extract from the official record of today’s proceedings in the Scottish Parliament. And we can only applaud Rhoda Grant’s ambition.
James Che on Haven’t had a dream in a long time: “They say that it is the 1707 treaty of union, its terms, conditions and articles that binds Scotland and England…” Sep 1, 10:51
Luigi on Haven’t had a dream in a long time: “How we miss Alex Salmond at this time. He would be running rings round the unionists, fearty nationalists and devolutionists…” Sep 1, 10:47
sam on Haven’t had a dream in a long time: “Very good, Northcode. Michael Collins believed that British strategic ambiguity was a tactic used to maintain control over Ireland, often…” Sep 1, 10:38
Alf Baird on Haven’t had a dream in a long time: ““it is the parliament for England … that continues a refusal for Scotland to leave the voluntary treaty of union”…” Sep 1, 10:32
Frank Gillougley on Haven’t had a dream in a long time: “NC has it. Lo and behold! There’s the straw man for all, right there! A commission. (The sound of nails…” Sep 1, 10:32
James Che on Haven’t had a dream in a long time: “Scotland and Englands voluntary 1707 treaty of union created the parliament of Great Britain so they say, However the Parliament…” Sep 1, 10:16
Alf Baird on Haven’t had a dream in a long time: ““So you want to get rid of the party of government that’s actually doing what you want.” The SNP ‘Scottish…” Sep 1, 09:58
James Che on Haven’t had a dream in a long time: “I was researching which article in the 1707 treaty of Union states that Scotland cannot hold a referendum in Scotland.…” Sep 1, 09:55
James Che on Haven’t had a dream in a long time: “Stu, Well at least Scotland would not incur any national debt, As Scotland does not have a Mint of its…” Sep 1, 09:43
Southernbystander on The Shortest Day: “YL Hot pot is indeed probably a pretty universal concept. Pie and mash is my manor as it were, growing…” Sep 1, 09:41
Mark Beggan on Haven’t had a dream in a long time: “My ancestors were a non discriminatory cattle reappropriation clan. They put in years of service to Hadrian and his filthy…” Sep 1, 09:37
J Robertson on Haven’t had a dream in a long time: “Same reason I suspect for a lot of No Voting Grant -ie coming to the conclusion that the current crop…” Sep 1, 09:33
James Che on The Shortest Day: “If the treaty of union is not a hoax, and holds a reality. Then the articles of that 1707 treaty…” Sep 1, 09:32
Hatey McHateface on The Shortest Day: ““no longer a bank of Scotland” Feck! The hole-in-the-wall just spewed out £50 of fakes and now I see my…” Sep 1, 09:29
Hatey McHateface on Haven’t had a dream in a long time: ““I don’t want an indyref anytime soon” “get rid of the SNP” The SNP don’t want an indyref anytime soon…” Sep 1, 09:20
James Che on The Shortest Day: “The Bank of England would be responsible for all National Debt, as there is no longer a bank of Scotland…” Sep 1, 09:17
Hatey McHateface on Haven’t had a dream in a long time: “That’s odd, Mark. My reparations award confirmation came in a blue envelope, marked “THIS IS NOT A CIRCULAR”, and stamped…” Sep 1, 09:13
James Che on The Shortest Day: “The Westminster parliament are stating that the Crown of Scotland along with the parliament of Scotland were a separate entity…” Sep 1, 09:08
Hatey McHateface on Haven’t had a dream in a long time: “Fair enough. It’s a trap. Still, though, I’m confused. All those years of demanding a second referendum. Was all that…” Sep 1, 09:01
Grant on Haven’t had a dream in a long time: “Personally I don’t want an indyref anytime soon for the simple reason that the SNP would have a major part…” Sep 1, 09:00
James Che on The Shortest Day: “The Two separate Constitutions and differences of Law of England and Scotland in sixteen and Seventeen hundreds after the Act…” Sep 1, 08:57
Mark Beggan on Haven’t had a dream in a long time: “In the fantasy world of kolonized Kretins (great name for a punk band) why have the Romans not been brought…” Sep 1, 08:39
Chas on Haven’t had a dream in a long time: “Why is the membership info on this Mickey Mouse party a secret to those of us who are not existing…” Sep 1, 08:28
Hatey McHateface on Haven’t had a dream in a long time: “And if the UN tells you to have a referendum, Alf, to demonstrate there’s some substance behind your claims that…” Sep 1, 08:27
Hatey McHateface on The Shortest Day: “In a world of perfect karma, somebody would film you earnestly telling the 6 foot 2, 16 stone offspring of…” Sep 1, 08:12
Alf Baird on Haven’t had a dream in a long time: ““A normal government would go to the UN” Yes, that is what our ‘nationalist’ government should have been doing since…” Sep 1, 08:02
Hatey McHateface on Haven’t had a dream in a long time: ““they’d tie a Yes vote to the EU, open borders” You haven’t been paying attention. That ship sailed years ago.” Sep 1, 07:49
Hatey McHateface on Haven’t had a dream in a long time: “Aye, who would want an Indy referendum if its genesis is not of the utmost ideological purity? And so, via…” Sep 1, 07:45
