Since the astonishing election of 56 SNP MPs to the UK Parliament last May, the Unionist media – suddenly deprived of a whole contacts book full of friendly Scottish Labour bench-warmers ready to feed it cosy stories over a boozy expenses lunch in Whitehall – has raked through every bin and gutter in the land looking for anything (however pathetic) that it can try to puff up, distort, and rope into service as “dirt” on each of the Nat members, in an attempt to discredit them and the party.
So let’s just have a little look in here and – YIKES!
Sometimes it’s the smallest, most trivial things that give you away. Graham Grant is the Home Affairs Editor of the Scottish Daily Mail, and earlier this morning he tweeted this snarky dig at prominent independence supporter and pundit Pat Kane, also of the primarily-1980s band Hue And Cry:
Ostensibly it’s a throwaway gag aimed at puncturing an opponent’s pomposity and over-inflated self-regard while portraying the journalist as an arch, wise cynic.
(It seems needlessly churlish and picky to also point out that McGarry currently isn’t an “SNP MP”, so we won’t do that.)
Instead, the author, worth hundreds of millions of pounds, intends to try to pressure McGarry into making a donation to her childrens’ charity, Lumos, which we can only presume is happy to receive money generated by what some people might regard as intimidation bordering on blackmail.
So that’s all well and good. If you’re going to bully people, after all, it’s probably best if it’s at least for a worthy cause. Rowling was full of praise for abusive Tweeter “Brian Spanner” when he raised some money for the same charity last year by selling t-shirts mocking the loony “Scottish Resistance” campaign group.
But not all charitable donations attract such gratitude.
Social media amused itself briefly tonight over a spat between former SNP MP (now independent) Natalie McGarry and children’s author and hedge enthusiast JK Rowling.
In a cunning meta-twist which simultaneously proves and disproves its own claim, the headline above is itself a lie. It’s of course not true that every single headline you read in a newspaper is absolutely false.
As politics wakes up from the holidays, any readers still bothering to gaze at the pages of the Scottish media could be forgiven for a crushing sense of deja vu.
Over the last few days, as most of Scotland’s media has focused on hysterical smear stories and outright lies, we’ve been digging around trying to uncover the truth about events around and leading to the closure of the Forth Road Bridge.
We’ve lost count of how many times we’ve drawn people’s attention to the necessity of sticking with newspaper articles right to the end if you don’t want to be horribly misled by eye-catching headlines. But it never hurts to have another example.
If you only read the start of today’s Scottish Mail On Sunday “bombshell” on the Forth Road Bridge (the left side of the picture above), you might come to a very alarming conclusion. But if you get all the way through it, to the paragraphs we’ve highlighted in red and enlarged on the right-hand side of the image, you’ll discover the truth.
We were considering having a day off today, readers. There’s absolutely nothing of any note happening in Scottish politics, and the papers have been reduced to scraping up all manner of barely-reheated leftover dregs to fill their pages.
But then someone drew our attention to something in Scotland On Sunday about the ongoing Women For Independence fiasco, and we were too annoyed to let it lie.
Hatey McHateface on Two Men Unalike: “Odd, isn’t it James? HR election in May. The UN supposedly declaring our Indy in June (see posts just up-thread).…” Mar 4, 16:29
TURABDIN on Two Men Unalike: “THE «MARTYRDOM» that might signal the beginning of the end of US power? https://archive.is/WbZpc An excellent insightful text. I do…” Mar 4, 16:23
James on Two Men Unalike: “The resident Yoons will hate this news. Excellent stuff.” Mar 4, 16:02
James on Two Men Unalike: “Adrian; pipe down there and back to your homework, there’s a good lad.” Mar 4, 15:58
Hatey McHateface on Two Men Unalike: ““History is in the making” Nice one, Geri, the “just have faith” response. Have ye made yer bed, the day?…” Mar 4, 15:53
Geri on Two Men Unalike: “History is in the making, sunshine. A new world order beckons. Old & corrupted institutions will be having a good…” Mar 4, 15:33
Hatey McHateface on Two Men Unalike: ““launch of a targeted fundraising effort” “intention to place members at the heart of the party’s next phase” No skin…” Mar 4, 15:07
Hatey McHateface on Two Men Unalike: ““I’ll not embarrass you further” Why ever not? If you’re slam dunking every point in dispute? If you ever post…” Mar 4, 15:02
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Two Men Unalike: “ALBA CONTINUATION GROUP STATEMENT (4th March 2026) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – ALBA Continuation Group Yields to MacAskill’s Unconditional Indemnity Demand…” Mar 4, 14:50
Hatey McHateface on Two Men Unalike: “Do my eyes deceive me … or is that Britain’s most glamourous tawny-maned former plumber and plasterer centre stage? If…” Mar 4, 14:49
Geri on Two Men Unalike: “‘Hoo did they dae that wi weapons that dinna work and F16s that cannae get aff the groond?’ Cause they…” Mar 4, 14:25
Hatey McHateface on Two Men Unalike: “With absolutely nothing going on in the world to keep it busy, I fear the UN will have voted to…” Mar 4, 14:23
TURABDIN on Two Men Unalike: “SEND IN THE DRONES…..i mean clowns. https://archive.is/WDIfY” Mar 4, 14:22
sam on Two Men Unalike: “Hearing in Junec, I think.” Mar 4, 14:04
Aidan on Two Men Unalike: “Nothing – C-24 has no remit to consider territories not on the list of NSGT’s agreed by the general assembly.…” Mar 4, 13:56
100%Yes on Two Men Unalike: “Its now the 4th of March 2026 what’s happening with the UN-C24 and Scotland case?” Mar 4, 13:23
TURABDIN on Two Men Unalike: “The constitution and US Presidents’ capacities to exercise office. https://archive.is/AhTjT” Mar 4, 13:22
Hatey McHateface on Two Men Unalike: ““The mad don will soon have to start wearing a scarf” Here’s a thought. If he wears a tea towel…” Mar 4, 13:06
Hatey McHateface on Two Men Unalike: ““used to mow down over 1 million Iraqis & seize Syria” Crivens! Hoo did they dae that wi weapons that…” Mar 4, 13:02
Geri on Two Men Unalike: “Aye, Iain.. those skin rashes & lesions look real nasty. The mad don will soon have to start wearing a…” Mar 4, 12:50
Iain More on Two Men Unalike: “I would have thought the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution would be enough to remove the Syphilitic Child Rapist.” Mar 4, 12:09
Geri on Two Men Unalike: “Shiteface, No need to suss anything..it’s straightforward. They are Western puppet tyrant regimes that their populations absolutely despise. Those fake…” Mar 4, 12:05
Geri on Two Men Unalike: “Cause it’s the exact same playbook they used to mow down over 1 million Iraqis & seize Syria. I forgot…” Mar 4, 11:49
Hatey McHateface on Two Men Unalike: “Dunno. Why do you reckon the Gulf States and the other near countries in the region have been quietly working…” Mar 4, 11:13
Hatey McHateface on Two Men Unalike: ““tour the world pretending to ‘negotiators’” Good point, Geri. Do you reckon their speech is as syntactically mangled as yours?…” Mar 4, 11:05
auld highlander on Two Men Unalike: ““nukes” Why am I reminded of Blair and chemical weapons.” Mar 4, 11:03
Geri on Two Men Unalike: “The US do have mechanisms in place to remove a sitting president. I forget the name of the clause tho…” Mar 4, 10:42
Hatey McHateface on Two Men Unalike: ““Geopolitics street” Michty. Ah hope the cabbies have been telt! Was that an initiative from local government to clean things…” Mar 4, 10:37
Hatey McHateface on Two Men Unalike: “It’s very likely that the people who need to know will know who the “régime’s operatives” are. Some crew-cut, slightly…” Mar 4, 10:32
Geri on Two Men Unalike: “The Geopolitics street. Where strategists talk sense instead of bumping their gums with racist shit all day. You should put…” Mar 4, 10:18
