We can hardly contain our joy, gentle readers, that Scottish Labour have brought this magnificent graphic from January back again, tweeting it several times yesterday with all the mindbogglingly fat-headed flaws from two months ago still present.
But we couldn’t help being struck by this new comment about it, by the branch office’s notoriously truth-averse finance spokesclown:
Let’s walk through that one really quickly. People can’t afford to save for a deposit, because rents are so high. So rather than do anything about rents, Labour will double the zero they HAVE managed to save, boosting it all the way up to, er, zero.
So just to clear that up: four times £12 million is £200 million. The mystery of why people are increasingly reluctant to believe what they read in newspapers continues.
And has no more luck this week with hapless Scottish Labour list MSP Claire Baker than he did with her habitually mendacious colleague Jackie Baillie last week:
(The Big Debate, BBC Radio Scotland, 13 November 2015) .
When it comes to Scottish Labour’s great brainwave about “restoring” Tory tax-credit cuts, the madness just won’t stop. Here’s Magnus Gardham, formerly political editor of Scotland’s staunchest Labour paper the Daily Record, in the Herald today:
The media and Unionist politicians (we really need to come up with a word to describe that single entity), when not concocting hysterical frothing diatribes against Michelle Thomson or complaining about the Scottish Government giving money to T In The Park – a position we must confess we find ourselves in some sympathy with – have recently been loudly protesting about last year’s “underspend” in the Holyrood budget.
There’s an extremely good article here by Dr Craig Dalzell of the Scottish Greens dealing with the broader issue of why such complaints are idiotic, so rather than go over the ground again we thought we’d look at another angle.
Kezia Dugdale talking to Gordon Brewer on BBC Scotland today:
“I’m astonished that you’ve spent 10 minutes in this interview talking about independence and Trident when almost 50% of the poorest kids in the country can’t read […] I’m sure you’d be shocked to know that 50% of the poorest kids leave our schools unable to read.”
We suspect he would too. Because it’s total cobblers.
There’s been a veritable flurry of polls commissioned to mark the impending one-year anniversary of the independence referendum. In the last 48 hours alone we’ve seen ones from Survation, YouGov and Panelbase, making a variety of interesting findings. As ever, though, the trick is in the interpretation.
We’re sure we’re not the only people for whom the hours are dragging and we wish the election would just hurry up and get here, but all the same we’re pretty sure that if there were 11 days left to save the UK on Sunday morning, then by Tuesday morning there should be fewer than 10 still to go.
So, let’s just get this one straight, this morning’s English edition of The Sun – two parties with 316 seats are “stealing” an election from two parties with 309 seats?
Want us to walk you through that whole “counting” thing again?
Because almost nobody in Westminster, whether they’re politicians or the media, ever pays any attention to anything outside SW1A, Alex Salmond’s comment in London yesterday that the SNP would vote against any Tory government in the event of a hung Parliament – which to any Scottish person was news as surprising as a weather forecast for rain – has been greeted with seemingly-genuine shock and horror.
Reporter after reporter has treated the non-revelations (which have been official SNP policy for as long as we can remember, and were stated explicitly by Nicola Sturgeon in November) as a stunning bolt from the blue, and Tory politicians and the right-wing media alike have burst into frothing, spluttering rage, based on the fact that apparently none of them grasps how either the UK electoral system or basic arithmetic work.
Dan on Faces In Sand: ““The same people with a flourishing space program and credible plans to exploit the Moon.” Oh aye, have they fired…” Oct 24, 22:52
robertkknight on Faces In Sand: “Posted without comment… Religion: CofE: 80.6% No, 19.4% Yes” Oct 24, 22:12
Geri on Faces In Sand: “See Shit face, there exists this little thing called international treaties. Those treaties carry international clout. They’re, supposedly, upheld by…” Oct 24, 22:11
Lorncal on Faces In Sand: “Hmmmmm… You may be right, H McH. I did read somewhere that some of the masks for medical staff were…” Oct 24, 21:36
robertkknight on Faces In Sand: “2014 Referendum Study Demographics Birth place: oUK: 57.1% No, 42.9% Yes rUK: 72.1% No, 27.9% Yes SCO: 47.3% No, 52.7%…” Oct 24, 21:35
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: ““the real nations are the tribes and the country boundaries reflect nothing of this” Check out the big brain on…” Oct 24, 20:14
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: “Having made the bulk of the transition to renewables (which I believe Norway has), it’s foolhardy to pull up the…” Oct 24, 19:49
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: ““But guess what???” Hmmm, let’s see. I guess that EU Citizens, in addition to those of the Republic of Ireland,…” Oct 24, 19:32
robertkknight on Faces In Sand: “Our learned misnomer talks about democracy. LOL. If all were fair, equal, democratic and meaningful, then EU Citizens, in addition…” Oct 24, 18:35
Luigi on Faces In Sand: “Sigh. Is it too much to ask for our aspiring politicians to take an IQ test? No need to raise…” Oct 24, 18:34
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: ““you can’t go swimming until you can swim” Let’s see now. That thing you’re doing when you’re out of your…” Oct 24, 18:23
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: ““the same ppl who love a Jenny” I think I get what you’re on about there, Geri. You’re insisting that…” Oct 24, 18:13
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: ““Thankfully – colonialism is over” Ah, c’moan noo, Geri, ye ken that’s a fib. The coloniser in the east, the…” Oct 24, 18:02
sam on Faces In Sand: “You might read this? https://justiceactionmaribyrnong.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Contemporary-Anti-Colonial-Self-Determination-Claims-and-the-Decolonisation-of-International-Law.pdf” Oct 24, 16:37
TURABDIN on Faces In Sand: “Referenda & elections are only as good as the data fed into them, rather like AI training. Corrupted or biased…” Oct 24, 15:45
Dan on Faces In Sand: “Interesting… #Ohm’sLaw content. Noticed that Norway is currently exporting 1.45GW to UK, but UK is currently exporting 1.35GW to Denmark.…” Oct 24, 15:44
robertkknight on Faces In Sand: “Hey, Mr Misnomer… Just for you: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/independence-referendum-figures-revealed-majority-5408163.amp” Oct 24, 14:53
Dan on Faces In Sand: “Yay, for post responding to Hatey’s brake hack released from moderation. To add a bit more info. Brake fluid has…” Oct 24, 14:26
DaveL on Faces In Sand: “‘They need to see that the institutions will function, the economy will stabilise, and the transition will be orderly.’ In…” Oct 24, 14:14
Geri on Faces In Sand: “Do they really? So a slogan on a bus & parroting ‘take back control ‘ didn’t work for Brexshit? Who…” Oct 24, 13:30
factcjecker on Faces In Sand: “Geri, I note the impeccable logic of your position. When it refers to England: “They’re hard wired racists. If “foreigners”…” Oct 24, 12:37
Geri on Faces In Sand: “That rewinding prick should be forced onto the first bus out of here. Why isn’t he? He’ll be receiving government…” Oct 24, 12:34
Northcode on Faces In Sand: “A forward-looking, inclusive case for independence can only persuade if it feels real. That means it must be grounded in…” Oct 24, 12:32
Dan on Faces In Sand: “fc says: “Thanks for the kind and polite words, Dan. That’s the way to formulate an argument.” Nae bother, treat…” Oct 24, 12:10
Northcode on Faces In Sand: “Across the world, when territories recognised by the UN as non-self-governing (NSGTs) have voted on independence, the results follow a…” Oct 24, 12:02
Geri on Faces In Sand: “15 year + is the acceptable measure by our colonising overlords. Personally I’d make it much more because they’ve already…” Oct 24, 12:00
Geri on Faces In Sand: “Dan, It’s pure projection on their part. It always is. They’re hard wired racists. If “foreigners” were allowed a vote…” Oct 24, 11:43
factchecker on Faces In Sand: ““Dan says: 24 October, 2026 at 11:02 am @ “factchecker” You can go fuck yourself with that assertion ya word…” Oct 24, 11:29
Confused on Faces In Sand: “RUPERT LOWE is out-faraging the farage – farage will deport them all, but lowe will now deport the “second generation”…” Oct 24, 11:19
Geri on Faces In Sand: “They weren’t qualified to vote. They were blow-ins, seasonal workers & second home owners & every other waif & stray…” Oct 24, 11:15
