grateful as ever to the National for highlighting the important and impactful work @theseislands.bsky.social is doing to inform the constitutional debate - if you would like to support our ongoing efforts, you can donate to these Islands here > www.these-islands.co.uk/funding/d5/

a masterclass in rhetorical deception 1. that a big new wind farm “could” be built has nothing to do with current electricity bills 2. Scotland is a “renewables superpower” because the “Westminster run” energy market offers price guarantees to wind farm developers (which impact all GB bill payers)

whole lot of tension on social media comes from the fact, imo, that the Very Online are either 1) people who love The World and other people so much that IRL isn't enough and they must socialise on the computer as well 2) people who hate The World and other people IRL and only want the computer

Who would have guessed that someone for whom all business and legal negotiation is based on bluff and bluster would have had nothing other than bluff and bluster in international affairs.

Keir Starmer’s statement is an exercise in saying as little as humanly possible. It’s three uncontentious general statements followed by a restatement of the existing UK position. Yes, it’s not a condemnation of the USA’s actions, sure. But it’s not the endorsement some are claiming it is, either.

kindly: what the everliving fuck

“At 15, she began seeing an older man and conceived her beloved daughter. It was years before she properly understood it as abuse. Now she is working tirelessly in parliament for other survivors.” Thanks Anna Moore for telling my story so sensitively. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Tremendous

“Can we talk?”

Did a wee stint with @hannahbardell.bsky.social on GMS this morning talking about the by-election result and what it means for Scottish politics. Felt it important to remind folk aghast at the 7000 Reform votes that a million Scots voted Leave in 2016 and have been completely ignored ever since.

trying to think of an alternate universe where women in musk/trump positions would have a soap opera fight

Thrilled to see one such example talking about how a by-election win for ‘the governing party’ is very good news for them, which is of course true but suffers from the fact that Labour are not the governing party in this context.

If you are a Westminster-based analyst who has paid no heed to Scotland since 2014, please, I beseech you, there is no need to change that pattern today.

Kate Watson is going to get this framed for her office.

And this guy isn’t off the hook yet either.

!!!!! Absolutely *phenomenal*. Every inch of credit goes to the Scottish labour ground operation,which truly is something to behold.

Dept Q is great. Highly recommend. Hope there will be a good few more seasons to come!

Thank you so much, @heraldscotland.bsky.social, for making this into a graphic

This is quite a Trumpian way to thank Whitmer for appearing at multiple events with him, despite the extensive blowback she got from Democrats for doing so. Trump will *always* stab you in the back.

Also it’s a dreadful term that sorts the world into (default) white and everyone else, which is takes the problems with “ethnic minority” (which is at least factual as applied nationally) and projects them globally. It is a bad term on the merits.

Former Tory MPs asking for a better safety net for when they lose jobs/go through big life changes they aren’t prepared for. I mean… www.politico.eu/article/brit...

Sectarianism in Scottish politics. Can't imagine this.

And, frankly, vice versa. I try to be neutral on criminal liability for speech acts. I think sentences are too inflated generally. But there is a lot clapping and cheering when the law bites the “other side” and outrage when it bites your “own side”.

I really don’t miss X/twitter but this place just hasn’t replicated the Scottish political space there. Feeling I need to go back and lurk to properly keep up with all the nitty gritty. 😕

Delighted that @digbybrown.bsky.social has been listed in the Sunday Times Best Places to Work. As a firm we strive to not only be first choice for those seeking compensation for injuries but an employer of choice. 🙌🏼🙌🏼

In murdering Yaron Lischinsky & Sarah Lynn Milgrim, Elias Rodriguez has given the Netanyahu govt a gift, one that they are of course already exploiting. That he isn't Palestinian is a weird & terrible blessing, but the impact of yelling "Free Palestine" as he shot two Jews will not be a good one. 3/

A third of private schools maintained fees, adding VAT to it. A third reduced fees to mitigate/share the financial cost of the tax & maintain participation rates at around 98%. Large increases in fees above inflation in previous decade.

“Nevertheless, every credible, independent analysis of Scotland’s fiscal reality broadly agrees with These Islands’ analysis.” @alexmassie.bsky.social on Angus Robertson’s full fiscal stupidity, in today’s Sunday Times.

And crucially: not everyone will be as inept as Elon was when it comes to using it for influence. Models will get better at it, and owners will get better at it. System prompt audit and disclosure is probably the only way to mitigate this kind of stuff.

1/ The SNP has quietly admitted its “100,000 children lifted out of poverty” line was false. The downgraded claim says “forecast to keep 40,000 out of relative poverty”. Once again, a bogus statistic is shouted from the rooftops, and the truth is swept under the carpet…

THERE IS A MAN CLIPPING HIS NAILS ON THE BUS.

Snap! www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/analys...

It's hard to adequately describe how scary it is to watch mainstream political journalists barely push back against a sitting U.S. president accepting a $400M plane from a foreign government that would literally be designated as an emergency command-and-control center during a nuclear war.

Nobody believes the PM actually thinks this. Which - even if you agreed with the policy - fatally undermines it in the eyes of the voters this is meant to appeal to. What a counter productive & toxic waste of time.

We told you that the Labour government had said this multiple times since they came into power. We now have had them also confirm it AFTER agreeing the deal with the US. Will people believe it now and stop spreading extremist information?

I would like to apologise to everyone in Edinburgh. I’ve spoken out loud about plans, many days in advance, of have friends over for a meal, to be eaten outdoors. If you were hoping for a sunny & warm Saturday,I’ve clearly put an end to that.

WTAF

If I’m being cynical, I’d say that the press love nothing more than a compelling story and the rise of Reform has been a compelling story. Now they have power in many areas of England,what is the compelling story now? How/whether Reform deliver? Or will they ignore that & keep with national rise?

This sums the whole situation up quite nicely.

I don’t have a sigh weary enough for this BS. Labour will not - can not - beat Reform by mimicking reform. It can only beat Reform by tackling disillusionment and discontent. It needs to deliver,deliver better & deliver faster on the change that was promised and give people a vision for the future.

There’s a scene in When Harry Met Sally where Harry tells his BF about his wife cheating. BF replies, “Infidelity is just a symptom that something else is wrong”. “Well,that symptom is fucking my wife.” Something about No.10’s response to Reform and Thursday’s results brought this to mind…

keep coming back to this Hannah Arendt line from Origins of Totalitarianism:

The sadism is the point.

this guy is a world class asshole

What a farce. Kate Forbes has frequently pretended Westminster is standing in the way of Scottish consumers reaping the benefits of zonal pricing. Now she is explicitly campaigning against it. (This was always the true Scot Gov position. Forbes was previously being disingenuous.)

I had *completely* forgotten about this dude.