Yesterday CalMac was down to 91.2% on time. Islanders are furious and have called for the First Minister to go. Ankeir Starmwar has promised them all a new lithium battery powered replacement after an offer from the Danish Labour Party of 25 new ferries that Danes now refuse to travel on after one burst into flames and took four days to put out. OK, I made up some of the last bit but this, from media reports in the last 24 hours, is true. Condor Ferries has delayed the first planned sailing of its new boat to Guernsey and Jersey. … Continue reading Ferries in crisis in the Channel Isles, in Cornwall, on Shetland, in Canada and across the Mersey – are they just difficult to operate?

By stewartb On 13 July 2021, the BBC News website had the headline: ‘Police launch investigation over SNP donations’. The article also had this: ‘Police Scotland had previously been assessing complaints made by a member of the public. The force says that a full inquiry has now been launched.’ So an investigation had, at some level, been going on EVEN before 13 July 2021. In October 2023, c.26 months later, the PM of the UK October is able to state: “Nicola Sturgeon wanted to go down in the history books as the woman who broke up our country. Now it … Continue reading SNP ‘fraud’ embers still smoking 26 months later?

By Not-My-Real-Name I remember once I was in a supermarket during the time when the former FM, prior to NS , as in AS who is now the Alba party leader, was all over the media during his trial. I was standing looking at the papers next to an old guy who said ” There’s no smoke without fire”…..when he was looking at a picture of AS and a front page headline about him in the Daily Express. I asked him “What has he actually been accused of “? (knowing full well what the charges were but wanted to hear … Continue reading “It’s all over the news so he must be guilty of something”

Nicola Sturgeon was arrested and then released on 11 June 2023. Two months later, despite forensic analysis of her hairbrushes, there have been no further developments, but that’s a different story. In the 5 opinion polls before the arrest, for Holyrood voting intentions, in April and May/June, the SNP had an average lead over Labour of just over 8%. In the next 5 polls, in June and July as the media frenzy peaked, that dropped to just over 5%. In the most recent 5, polls the lead over Labour averages nearly 10%. Patience. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_Scottish_Parliament_election Continue reading SNP recovering from Sturgeon arrest impact

Getting little media attention in the aftermath of the by-election in Rutherglen and Hamilton West and as Labour dream of a Westminster majority and of leading a Holyrood government in 2026, the Opinium poll for the Tony Blair Institute, based on data for mid-September 2023, casts serious doubt on the latter dream. For the 4th poll in a row, as the SNP fraud drama fades in the midst of Police and courts inaction, Humza Yousaf has clearly settled the ship and recovery, regardless of freaky by-election results, is well underway and the SNP lead for the critical constituency vote is … Continue reading Poll – SNP pulling away to 16% lead for Holyrood election

With delicious timing, in the wake of Scottish Labour minions drooling excitedly about 40 MPs in 2024, the Tony Blair Institute, today, douses them with a dose of reality on just how representative last night was, of Scotland as a whole. Labour has increased its vote share in Scotland to 28 per cent, up 9 points on the last election. Meanwhile the SNP is on 37 per cent (minus 8) and the Conservatives are on 18 per cent (minus 7). This would lead to a majority of seats for the SNP (34 out of 57), down from 48 out of … Continue reading Already, Tony Blair Institute poll puts last night into perspective with clear SNP and Yes leads to rain on Labour’s party

Having a coffee-break and watching Storm Huntley on Channel 5 for a few minutes, I was stunned to hear caller Julia from Sheffield, a Keir Starmer admirer, say: The reason why, I think, in Scotland, the SNP has lost its way is because it’s faced the weight of the establishment, the severe impact of the establishment, on them because the last thing they (the establishment) want is Scotland to separate from the rest of the UK. Think about that. The establishment? The Tory and Labour ‘mandarins’, the top civil servants, the judiciary, the military chiefs, MI5? Is that what she … Continue reading Is it common knowledge in England that the SNP police investigations were ‘establishment’-engineered and that England cannot let Scotland go?

In an Xtwitter poll of 10 000 TuS followers, 99.2% agreed that Labour’s mysterious ‘New Start’ is just waffle and only 0.08% believed it is a real thing. None of the 0.08% were prepared, however, to define it for us. Continue reading 99% think Labour’s ‘New Start’ is ‘just waffle’

Firs thing this morning and all morning, Reporting Scotland has an unconfirmed projection of a prison population increase with no source, on a by-election day – ‘Scottish’ Labour? UK Labour? Remind us who is responsible for the prison population? The judiciary? No? The SNP? Seems so in our media. Missing, of course, this confirmed projection from House of Commons Library researchers, for context: The prison population in England and Wales is projected to grow to between 93,100 and 106,300 by 2027. All things being equal, the prison population of England & Wales should be around 11 times higher than that … Continue reading Rutherglen and Hamilton reminder – Tory/Labour areas in UK expected to have 28% more in prisons than Scotland has