In the Record today: A former minister in Tony Blair’s government is seeking to make a comeback at Westminster, almost a decade after losing his seat. Douglas Alexander was in both Blair’s cabinet and that of his successor Gordon Brown. But as the SNP virtually swept the board in the 2015 general election, winning all but three of the Scottish seats at Westminster, Alexander lost his his Paisley and Renfrewshire South seat to Mhairi Black – then a 20-year-old student. He is now seeking to make a return to elected politics, standing as Labour’s candidate for East Lothian in the next general election. … Continue reading Criminal Labour expenses-fiddler and bully to return

Try searching for Conservatives voting Labour and Google also scoffs at the very notion before offering you numerous reports of tactical voting by Labour and Lib Dem supporters to try to keep Cons out but not one where Cons voted tactically. While Cons might vote Lib Dem to keep Labour out, they would never vote Labour to keep Lib Dems out. Cons define themselves less by what they believe in that by what they despise – the rest of us but especially Labour. In Scotland, deluded Unionist Labour supporters do seem to have voted Con to try to defeat the … Continue reading Corrected: SNP Leader scoffs at idea of Tories voting Labour

The last two full Holyrood polls, post-Humza, do look bad; both under 40% SNP support. We’ve now had 4 results under 40%, since mid February 2023 but it’s been worse before. It seems a distant memory but for a whole year from November 2017 to November 2018, SNP support barely crept above 40% and fell below that six times. By the end of 2019, after the election of BJ, it soared to 50% and above for more than 20 polls, peaking at 58% twice. We were back in the high 40s and 50s at the end of 2021, throughout 2022 … Continue reading SNP support has been far far worse before and we’ve come back stronger than ever

The above image was put together by Nicola Bolognese of P7, Fisherton Primary School in Dunure, Ayrshire, in a workshop based on: Exclusive: Humza Yousaf faces 15 rebel SNP MSPs prepared to challenge government by Kathleen Nutt, in the Herald on Sunday 2 April. Settling down after an outburst of laughter when Nicola presented her idea to the class, Mrs Butcher recorded the best of the class responses to the article. Bobby (11) – The writer says they’re going to rebel but then quotes them saying they won’t vote against Humza. Marie (10) – The writer says that this group … Continue reading Herald praised for providing best ever Media Studies spoof for Primary pupils

The Scottish media love to report a single poll result and to use that to predict dramatic shifts in voter intentions. Those with more between the ears like to look at more substantial evidence over a longer period to consider what trends there may be. In six polls going back a year to April 2022, the pollster Savanta has five with a 2% lead for No, one with a 1% lead for No and none with a lead for Yes despite 12 other polls by different pollsters finding Yes leads. Using identical sampling, this consistency from a pollster thought unsympathetic … Continue reading Pollster confirms support for independence is solid and improved in SIXTEEN polls over two years

We’ve had a month with some very large leads for No in polls, including one at 9% and three at 8%, by five different pollsters. There has been only one with a Yes lead, funded by the very pro-independence Scot Goes Pop. Today, Savanta for the Scotsman have reported a dramatic narrowing to only a 2% lead for No. This is a 15% improvement on the YouGov poll result of only 39% at a point when it was thought Kate Forbes might win. This puts the Yes movement in a strong position prior to campaigning and suggests that the appointment … Continue reading Support for Independence surges again after Humza win

Improper use of public cash, you say? Since Johnson, all of the UK’s PM’s have been also ‘Minister for the Union’ without the title being democratically confirmed at any level. Do they then have staff to support that function? If so, at what cost to the public? In 2021, we could read: Boris Johnson’s four-person union unit, dedicated to averting Scottish independence, had become used to operating quietly behind the scenes. That is until what one MP termed a “Whitehall psychodrama” exploded and propelled the team into the headlines. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/feb/28/the-union-unit-inside-the-no-10-team-tasked-with-keeping-uk-together Four staff? Was this in the manifesto for the public in … Continue reading Is it ‘proper’ then to use public cash for a Minister for the Union?

Alasdair Galloway As with John and Stewart I think no fair-minded person could possibly excuse Margaret Ferrier’s conduct of travelling by train back to Glasgow, having been informed of a positive finding from a COVID test taken a few days before. Stewart’s piece helpfully takes us inside the Select Committee report, and that in particular there was considerable push back on 30 days suspension, and that it should be replaced by 9 days which would not bring the possibility of a by election. This was supported not just by Alan Dorrans (SNP) but by Alberto Costa and one of his … Continue reading Prospect of blood in the water clearly motivates Iain Murray

Only BBC Scotland has headlined a story of police officers under pressure, yet only Scotland has less crime and more officers. BBC England, Wales and Northern Ireland have no such report today. Let’s look at the ‘work’ first. While I feel sure there are other tasks un-connected with crime, the level of crime in a country must be the major factor in pressure on police officers. If it’s not, then perhaps the senior officers need to think about what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. Recorded crime is lower in Scotland and much lower than in England & Wales. … Continue reading Only in the country with the least ‘work’ and the most police officers

By stewartb The latest meeting of the House of Commons Liaison Committee took place on 28 March. This is the event at which the chairs of Westminster’s select committees have the opportunity to question the Prime Minister at length.  The proceedings received little or no coverage by the news media. This is an attempt to compensate, to amplify matters arising at the meeting which may be of interest to TuS readers. The full transcript of the oral evidence can be found here: https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/12944/html/ 1) On UK defence expenditure The PM: ’The MoD’s budget was increased by £5 billion at the … Continue reading Time to listen up Scotland – the Prime Minister has spoken!