Aberdeen City Council has confirmed it is prepared to step in and carry out urgent repairs to the B-listed building at 28–32 Marischal Street if needed, with costs recovered from the owner. A welcome step — now the priority is swift action to prevent further damage. 📸 Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson

Poll Analysis: Ipsos 26th - 31st of March 2026 (playing catchup!) Holyrood seats projection: SNP ~ 63 Green ~ 17 Reform ~ 15 Labour ~ 14 Conservative ~ 12 Lib Dem ~ 8 Independence: No ~ 50% Yes ~ 50%

Recreate your own Artemis splashdown with three Tunnocks teacakes and a Nespresso pod

One of the joys of social media is that @dannybate.bsky.social can recommend this (wonderful) Runes book, I can see the post, buy the book, read it and then post a thank you for alerting me to said wonderful book. #spreadalittlehappiness

Projecting the most recent polls into seats with 4 weeks left to go (vs 2021 on new boundaries); AMS Ideal seats: SNP ~ 64 (+1); 45 Lab ~ 18 (-3); 22 RUK ~ 15 (+15); 21 Grn ~ 13 (+3); 17 Con ~ 10 (-21); 14 LD ~ 9 (+5); 10 (Projection caveats: ballotbox.scot/projections)

New Scottish Parliament poll, Ipsos 26-31 Mar (vs 19-25 Feb): List: SNP ~ 29% (+3) Grn ~ 16% (nc) RUK ~ 16% (+2) Lab ~ 15% (-4) Con ~ 13% (+2) LD ~ 9% (-1) Constituency: SNP ~ 39% (+3) Lab ~ 15% (-5) RUK ~ 15% (-1) Con ~ 11% (+2) LD ~ 10% (nc) Grn ~ 7% (nc) news.stv.tv/politics/snp...

Highest SNP constituency vote in my tracker since January 2024; note the number of non-SNP projected constituencies in the 0-5% band on the second map. Modelling caveats well in mind, statistically a tossup on whether this poll gives an SNP majority or not.

SP26 Party Profile: Liberal Democrats After a long period of stagnation, a Lib Dem revival may be on the cards. Expected to gain seats, a doubling to 8 MSPs or more would be a good result, whilst relatively speaking if they barely gained to walk away with a half dozen that'd be rather poor.

Social media and rolling news demands action now at the expense of understanding what is happening, and leaves us breathlessly confused. That isn't the way to good government. I have more concern that delay won't make for better decisions, but that's a different matter.

Gatos inteligentes. 😸😸😸😺😺😺 Smart cats.

If you want to know why "you can get a good sense of where this election will end upby paying attention to a range of polls, and a range of projections, being produced by people who have a good idea of what they're doing, rather than listening to individual narratives" then read this thread!

Oh #Edinburgh - you've excelled again. Only 45 mins later and we're right back to summer again 😎 #AlwaysPackYourAnorak

Made some wee tweaks to the Holyrood Hub page: the Current Poll Projection and Polling Trends sections should be clearer now. You can also find links to all my analysis pieces, plus the Regional Previews and the Ballot Box Battlegrounds series. Coming next week: the Party Profile series for big six!

Going by the snow that's currently pelting down outside my window, we have entered "third winter".

IT IS MEANT TO BE 17 DEGREES ON TUESDAY, in the space of 48 hours Glasgow is going to go from Winter Wonderland to Perfectly Nice Summer Day vibes, look I know changeable weather is the whole thing with the North Atlantic Archipelago we reside on but come ON this is outrageous

Sir, a second bird is at the feeder

New Scottish Parliament poll, Norstat 30 Mar - 1 Apr (vs 10-13 Feb): List: SNP ~ 30% (nc) Lab ~ 17% (nc) RUK ~ 15% (-4) Grn ~ 12% (+1) Con ~ 10% (-1) LD ~ 10% (+3) Constituency: SNP ~ 34% (-1) Lab ~ 19% (+2) RUK ~ 15% (-4) Con ~ 11% (+1) LD ~ 10% (+2) Grn ~ 8% (nc)

#CarPorn - Austin Seven Ruby (1936)

Y así es cómo se hacen los trucos de magia 🪄, caja vacía y tatachan......... Aparece un gato. 😺🐱😹😹😹 And that's how magic tricks are done 🪄, empty box and ta-da! A cat appears.

My Easter books cartoon for @theguardian.com

Before I visited I had only seen the walls in poorly scaled pictures so I assumed they were like five feet tall. Getting there and realising the actual height and length of them blew me away. So much wall!

Took the scenic route into work this morning. #Edinburgh

“No.” Kills me.

SP26: Edinburgh and Lothian East Region Preview Preview UPDATED with complete candidate information. Total of 95 unique candidates in this region, with 18 parties and 4 Independents standing on the regional ballot.

Germany is celebrating the late Queen! A special stamp marks what would have been Queen Elizabeth II’s 100th birthday on 21 April. It honours her legacy and work towards reconciliation between the UK and Germany.

Gatos y Cajas.😹😹😹😹 Cats and Boxes.

SP26: Bring Out Your Candidates Candidates! Get your Holyrood candidates here! There are 690 people having a go at Holyrood's 129 seats, from 29 parties and 35 Independents. But who is standing where and how does it compare to 2021?

One month left to apply for grants in Scottish History from the Strathmartine Trust #history #scotland

Colin the House Dalek requests that people question everything they read with the same care as they do on April Fools Day when deciding who to vote for in next month's local elections.

Kharg island sounds like it is run by Klingon empire.

I've already got a postcode. I don't really need to win another one.

Well the banner is up. Nothing more nerve-wrecking than to send your manuscript to people you respect & wait for their opinion. V.grateful to @jonathanfreedland.bsky.social @ciaranm.bsky.social @gavinesler.bsky.social and especially the generous @jameshawes.bsky.social for supporting my book.

Every day Scottish Labour wakes up to a new headline. It's never the one they want.

Jamie has April Fool's pranked Tee by hiding a series of ridiculous photographs all around the shop. Tee has removed most of them but... two seem to be missing. £10 store credit or a free tote to anyone who finds and hands over one of these ridiculous pictures at the till today!

They could have cancelled the King’s visit on the grounds of needing to save fuel

Poll Analysis: Survation 16th - 23rd of March 2026 Holyrood seats projection: SNP ~ 62 Reform UK ~ 19 Labour ~ 18 Conservative ~ 12 Green ~ 11 Lib Dem ~ 7

Los mejores amigos.😻😻 The best friends.😻😻

It's worth remembering that I invaded Ukraine to prevent them from getting weapons that could destroy things over 1000km inside Russia. I remain a master strategist.

New Scottish Parliament poll, Survation 16-23 Mar (vs 20-25 Feb): List: SNP ~ 32% (-1) RUK ~ 18% (+1) Lab ~ 17% (nc) Con ~ 13% (nc) Grn ~ 11% (+2) LD ~ 8% (-1) Constituency: SNP ~ 35% (-2) Lab ~ 19% (+1) RUK ~ 19% (+2) Con ~ 11% (-1) LD ~ 8% (-1) Grn ~ 8% (+2)

The new fire byelaw for the Cairngorms National Park is about to begin, banning fires and barbecues between 1 April and 30 September each year 🔥 Read our FAQs for everything you need to know ➡️ bit.ly/4m2ew95

Took me way too long to realise that’s a shower and not a Dalek…

Anas Sarwar being in favour of a Labour-Reform deal really feels like the death knell of Labour's campaign because it just signals so clearly to voters thinking tactically that Labour isn't the avenue to stop Reform up here

Sleep Sweet, BlueSky💙

Nomination for the Scottish Parliament election close on Wednesday. We already knew Alba were winding up and not going to contest the election, and the party was indeed ultimately deregistered on the 26th of March; it lasted effectively one full electoral cycle.

Was never a given that UK trade policy would fail - plenty of similar size countries do fine. But the self-delusion of talking tough then folding at the first opportunity was obvious to everyone except those in the UK bubble

St Stephens church stars as London in ongoing filming #Edinburgh

A regular reminder: books about the Ancient Celtic languages are availabe through the Maynooth University Bookshop (e.g., my book on Ogham at shop.universitybooks.ie/Books/Ogam-L...) or (soon again) in the shop of @nmireland.bsky.social.

***Special Theme Tour*** 😇Our first curator-led tour of the season is on Wed 1 April, and the theme is The Saints of the Cathedral.😇 Join curator Fran Hollinrake for stories of Magnus, Rognvald, Triduana, Duthac, Cormac, and more! It starts at 2pm, lasts 1 hour and costs £15pp. No need to book.