Mainstream and social media alike are now well into their second day of an absolutely epic meltdown at the news that Alex Salmond is to broadcast a chat show on RT, the Russian equivalent of the BBC.
It really is almost impossible to overstate the magnitude of the shrieking fit the decision has produced. Addled old Lords with criminal convictions for violently and drunkenly assaulting Her Majesty’s police have with an audacious lack of self-awareness decried the immorality of one of HM’s advisors going on TV to talk about stuff, and one Lib Dem MSP has even gone so far as to raise a Holyrood motion demanding that the state interferes with the lawful employment choices of a private citizen.
We imagine that RT will be beside itself with joy at the avalanche of publicity the UK press and political sphere is giving it. We’d be amazed if the hysterical brouhaha didn’t double or treble the audience figures that Salmond could otherwise have expected.
Investigative site The Ferret this afternoon published a report into the Scottish Futures Trust, the SNP’s replacement for Labour’s cripplingly costly PFI projects.
The report was undertaken by Jim and Margaret Cuthbert, a pair of economists well regarded in nationalist circles, and makes some interesting if vague comments about downsides that MIGHT, in theory, exist in the SFT now or in the future.
The headline claims are all full of highly-qualified language (“may not deliver value for money”; “profits may be unduly high”; “could restrict growth”; “potentially has adverse implications”; “impossible to tell whether“), and it’s a long way down the page until you get to anything approaching a hard fact, or indeed the revelation that the report seems to have been paid for by Scottish Labour.
We stuck this short clip up on YouTube yesterday as a throwaway while watching the Labour conference in slack-jawed astonishment (a visitor from an alien planet would have concluded it was the gathering of a party that had just won a landslide victory, not lost its third general election in a row), but on reflection it deserves a proper post.
If you know anything at all about the story of how female Glasgow City Council employees have fought for equal pay, you’ll probably be as outraged as we are at Baxter’s bulletproof brass neck. But the video actually demonstrates what appears to be Scottish Labour’s master strategy for winning back Scotland.
(Alert readers may have noticed that I had to adopt a wee bit of subterfuge to get on by saying – truthfully – that I was from Bathgate, because BBC Scotland don’t tend to take my calls when I say where I am.)
As you’ll hear, Rennie had no answer to the question (even when put to him again by Adams), trying to deflect the issue onto SNP BAD instead.
His position was that the British people should have the right to another vote in case they’ve changed their mind about Brexit, even though there’s been no material change of circumstances, but that the Scottish people SHOULDN’T have the right to another vote on independence even though there HAS been a huge material change.
We weren’t going to dignify the utterly absurd media stushie over a tweet by Glasgow MSP John Mason yesterday with any coverage because it was too cretinous to even bear thinking about, but this from today’s Daily Record was just too good.
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: ““Scotland would vote to leave the Union if a second referendum were held tomorrow” Selfish basturt cants care nothing for…” Aug 11, 13:10
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: ““terrorist” Gaddafi built huge tunnels No shit, Sherlock! Who knew terrorists could build tunnels, funded either by oil revenues or…” Aug 11, 12:45
agentx on The Party Of The Dead: “SCOTTISH voters will not accept there is an “‘off limits’ when it comes to democracy”, Prime Minister Andy Burnham has…” Aug 11, 12:42
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: ““He pays no tax on his Scottish estate” It’s always intriguing to consider the mindset of those who believe that…” Aug 11, 12:26
Willie on The Party Of The Dead: “Ah Hatey, you raise a point. Number 10 North. The relocation of Nr 10 function to Manchester. Its a strange…” Aug 11, 10:41
Chas on The Party Of The Dead: “‘Case in point in the Carse of Gowrie at the moment. 2000 acres of prime farmland (next to the biggest…” Aug 11, 10:31
Captain Caveman on The Party Of The Dead: ““According to Andy Wightman” Explains a lot.” Aug 11, 10:26
sam on The Party Of The Dead: “Large estates in Scotland historically have not been good for the Scottish people on them. According to Andy Wightman “83%…” Aug 11, 10:20
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: “Now you’re just boasting about the better class of rammie you enjoy in your hoose. We’re traditionalists. “Ach, shite!” delivered…” Aug 11, 10:19
Captain Caveman on The Party Of The Dead: “Sam seems to be telling us “there are some land owners who aren’t 100% perfect” in 30,000 (cut and pasted)…” Aug 11, 10:02
Minceheid on The Party Of The Dead: “Hatey McHateface says: 11 August, 2026 at 8:13 am Short and to the point, MH. But couldn’t you have phrased…” Aug 11, 10:01
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: “Hero to Zero in 3 weeks: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/10/andy-burnham-national-listening-tour Got to hand it to the Guardian. It must have taken a little…” Aug 11, 09:53
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: “From Robin McAlpine’s latest: “independence is our ‘product’ and the current available specifications of our product are rubbish, filled with…” Aug 11, 09:34
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: “If everybody competes in a letter box, then what’s the problem? Demographics tells us that’s what will happen eventually. So…” Aug 11, 08:54
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: “An interesting thread. I await with interest sam linking to a study proving that immigrant ethnic minorities are greatly under-represented…” Aug 11, 08:45
Dan on The Party Of The Dead: ““Highly lucrative sports”? Is that the old huge economic boost created by shooting line being floated per chance. https://www.commonweal.scot/articles/the-goriest-twelfth https://revive.scot/think-tank-claims-government-report-on-driven-grouse-shooting-shows-the-bloodsport-is-economically-unviable/” Aug 11, 08:44
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: “Aw, c’moan noo, diabloandco. Wasn’t the CG ruined fir mony by those boys strutting aboot in kilts an tartan an…” Aug 11, 08:30
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: “If there’s one area of expertise in which Dan is King, it’s the making of soup. Only fair we also…” Aug 11, 08:19
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: “Short and to the point, MH. But couldn’t you have phrased it in Scots? For the True Sovereign Scots reading…” Aug 11, 08:13
Aidan on The Party Of The Dead: ““Local government is also heavily influenced by large landowners in the area, seen as major sources of income and employment”…” Aug 11, 07:53
Oneliner on The Party Of The Dead: “There is no common wealth. It’s in either London or The Cayman Islands. Why promote the myth?” Aug 11, 06:51
sam on The Party Of The Dead: “https://www.thelandmagazine.org.uk/articles/who-owns-land-matters “Who Owns The Land Matters The Scottish Land Commission has found through extensive research that having a system dominated…” Aug 11, 06:46
sam on The Party Of The Dead: “https://www.thelandmagazine.org.uk/articles/who-owns-land-matters “Much environmental work on such land is then paid for by the government, land rights campaigner Peter Peacock points…” Aug 11, 06:38
sam on The Party Of The Dead: “https://www.thelandmagazine.org.uk/articles/who-owns-land-matters “Interviews from back in 2021 with enthusiastic representatives of Savills and Knight Frank show what is going on: We…” Aug 11, 06:31
Young Lochinvar on The Party Of The Dead: “Anniversary today of the 1460 crowning of James III in Kelso Abbey. Not regarded as the best monarch he however…” Aug 10, 23:28
Young Lochinvar on The Party Of The Dead: “Dan I agree we should be doing everything towards reaching zero reliance on importing agricultural production from elsewhere except where…” Aug 10, 22:33
Young Lochinvar on The Party Of The Dead: “AX Don’t watch it myself but the argument could be made for such camera angles to see which female athletes…” Aug 10, 21:59
Young Lochinvar on The Party Of The Dead: “HMcH Fash not so Hatey! A bit of a civil servant sore point over-reaction from you there. 🙂 I don’t…” Aug 10, 21:53
Dan on The Party Of The Dead: “Chas there, showing what a pathetic twat he is in trying to get one over on somebody, and responding to…” Aug 10, 21:46
