It goes without saying that the SNP has to win. But they have to win big! Bear in mind that the SNP is held to a different standard from the British parties. The British parties can be declared victors even having lost seats and vote share and votes. The SNP can increase all three and still be declared losers because they didn't win by some ludicrous margin.
Neat move from Carole Erskine. Rather than take personal responsibility for the ill-informed drivel, she dumps blame on some anonymous dinner guest.One can readily understand why she would want to deny ownership of comments such as the threadbare inanity about a "one-party state". And, as a self-styled 'politics reporter', it is not unreasonable that she … Continue reading Disowning idiocy
It is frequently pointed out that “Scottish Labour” is not a real political party. Although not often enough to prevent them persisting in the pretence. There is no such party registered with the Electoral Commission. There is only the British Labour Party. “Scottish Labour” is, in fact, British Labour in Scotland (BLiS).But they are not … Continue reading The biggest lie
"Questions raised over SNP's £10bn Chinese trade deal", declares the STV website. But are they sensible questions? Is it even a "trade deal"? And, whatever it is, was it actually shrouded in secrecy?Or is this no more than the kind of infantile antics that have come to characterise the British parties in Scotland?There was no … Continue reading Infantile antics
Once again British Labour in Scotland takes the pish out of the people of Scotland with ill-thought, half-baked pronouncements that have more to do with grabbing headlines than offering cogent policies. Pretendy wee party loyalists and British nationalist fanatics will lap this up like Pavlovian dogs. Thinking people, on the other hand, will ask the … Continue reading Dugdale dumps on doctors
Hands up everyone among the 115,000 SNP members who is grateful to Poor Old Cockers for explaining to them why they signed up. Nobody? That's what I thought. After all who would place any value on the conclusions of someone who persists in congratulating himself on having engineered Alex Salmond's 'downfall', despite the fact that … Continue reading Let’s talk about independence
Even as the Holyrood election campaign is only gathering pace, we have already heard all manner of nonsense from representatives and supporters of the OPIPs (other pro-independence parties) as they are sent into a feeding frenzy by the almost totally illusory prospect of electoral prizes. Carolyn Leckie is to be congratulated on managing to avoid … Continue reading Rising to the occasion
The fact that a British Tory Prime Minister can venture out of his London lair to seriously suggest that the Scottish branch of his party might become the opposition at Holyrood is a measure of the abject failure of British Labour in Scotland. To mistake the dismal decline of one of the British parties for … Continue reading Relics and rejects
The SNP's rivals - by which I mean both the British parties and the other pro-independence parties (OPIP) - are obviously massively disappointed that the SNP has not obliged them by providing ammunition to be used against them. In a characteristically clever piece of political manoeuvring, Sturgeon has done just enough to qualify as meaningful … Continue reading The art of politics
Do you get the sense that there is something different about the coming election? You may not be one of those politics anoraks to be found constantly sniffing the air trying to pick up the scent of a trend. Or the kind who spends their days peering into a metaphorical microscope at the denizens of … Continue reading The simple election
Peter A Bell 