Headlining in the Herald last night: Three cases of a Covid-19 ‘variant of concern’ first identified in Brazil, have been identified in Scotland, officials have confirmed. Following their return to north east Scotland from Brazil, via Paris and London, three Scottish residents entered self-isolation and then subsequently tested positive for coronvirus, it has been confirmed.   These individuals then self-isolated for the required period of 10 days. These three have already self-isolated for ten days and no other cases have emerged from those they shared the flights with? So, there are currently really no cases ‘hitting’ Scotland? So, Scotland’s test, trace and isolate system works. … Continue reading NHS England fails to track Brazil Variant but NHS SCotland does

A shorter month but slightly up on visitors from 34 883 in January. Still big in Romania and with new entries in Iceland and Gibraltar. Gary Robertson and Tom Gordon carrying the greatest appeal? Continue reading February

In 2014, an online wag asked how I should be compared to Prof Curtis above. The answer was that he was like a Premier League star and I was like a Third-Team reserve at Elgin City FC. Frankly, I’d love be to be good enough. Anyhow, I’ve waited for my revenge and claim today to have taken him out on the field of windy psephology (polls). In What Scotland Thinks, the ScotCen blog, he writes: Has The Constitutional Wind Changed Direction? POSTED ON 26TH FEBRUARY 2021 BY JOHN CURTICE The wind has seemingly been veering in that direction for a … Continue reading Elgin City third-team reserve takes Premier league star out

The Daily Record/Sunday Mail pays for a poll then goes on to completely fail to understand what it doesn’t tell them. The highlights other than the headline are these: The SNP would fail to win a Yes vote in the wake of the Alex Salmond inquiry, a new poll has revealed. A bombshell survey found that the majority of people in Scotland no longer want to break away from the rest of the United Kingdom. It is clear evidence that the feud between First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and her former mentor now threatens to destroy their political dream. The Survation survey for the Sunday … Continue reading Sunday Mail: Clear evidence of Staggering imbecility?

By Andrew Rosie: Anas Sarwar only registered as a living wage employee, as an MSP not as director of his family firm, when he announced he was standing for Labour leader in 2017. On STV on 18 October Sarwar lied when he said he did not campaign with Better Together in 2014. as photographic evidence proves otherwise and obvious prefers Tory rule to Home Rule when he says he would never under any circumstances back self government for Scotland. If Labour followed Anas Sarwar’s “SNP coalitions are as bad as Tory coalitions” logic, they’d have to chuck out 60 Labour … Continue reading Anas Sarwar is an awful choice of leader for Scottish Labour and will relegate them to distant 3rd

By Alasdair Galloway, the thinking man’s Galloway on Iain Macwhirter, the thinking man’s…..em, er….Glenn Campbell: How easy it is to earn a nice wedge for doing not very much. This https://www.heraldscotland.com/…/19119385.scottish…/ will take you to Iain McWhirter tells us what will happen in the event Johnson says No. he works through the usual stuff – not “a generation”, not the right time etc, though he does have the decency to accept that this argument is thin. Perhaps more importantly, he makes the observation that Johnson doesn’t want to go down in history as the 21st century version of Lord North … Continue reading Short changing journalists

Well, wrong and wrong again? First the pollster, Survation always go low. When Ipsos MORI, Savanta and Panelbase were getting over 50% against 40 to 43% for No, they always had Yes 44% to 47% and the lead was 2% to 7% at best. Their sampling will be different, skewing their results toward NO. Second that sinking feeling, remember this? Support for independence had been climbing steadily since mid-2017 before climbing more steeply since the beginning of 2020. The reasons are uncertain and no doubt complex beyond the wit of the Express but initially demographic change with young Yes supporters … Continue reading That floating feeling as Survation go low again

Professor John Robertson, forced out of his job, after the Referendum, by sleep apnoea which he blames on the stress resulting from BBC Scotland’s attempts to have him punished by his employer the University of the West of Scotland (his wife blames his becoming a fat bastard) has been shocked by the latest findings from Ipsos MORI and has revised his opinion of the importance of BBC bias against independence to ‘diddly squat.’ 1 031 Scots were asked: Looking ahead to the Scottish Parliamentary election, which, if any, issues do you think will be very important to you in helping … Continue reading BBC bias is now ineffective says shocked Prof

Brains Taylor, on a free transfer to the Herald, writes as he spoke, with affected ostentatious flatulence. He opens with: SOME conversations stand out. It may be a significant disclosure – or a remark which subsequently acquires importance. It may be a single, startling phrase, recollected in tranquillity. To be frank, most chats are not of that nature. Rather, they are ephemeral, transient. All week, however, one past conversation has come, unbidden, to my mind. This dialogue took place after Alex Salmond was charged with a range of sexual offences, but before he was cleared in court. Before, indeed, his trial … Continue reading Vicious, visceral? Yes, but is it visible?

The headline is accurate. I did it more than 5 000 times for my lovely paralysed retriever, who lived 5 years in wheels. Now when I see the word ‘express’ I think of that. When I see the above, I think buckets of it. Here’s what Salmond actually said: Some people say that the failure of these institutions, the blurring of the boundaries between party, government and prosecution service mean that Scotland is in danger of becoming a failed state. I disagree. The Scottish civil servant hasn’t failed. It’s leadership has failed. The Crown Office hasn’t failed. It’s leadership has failed. … Continue reading When you take the piss out of a paralysed dog it’s called expressing the bladder