- Hello. Can we have an independence referendum? - Hi! No.

this is really sickening and I haven’t seen a great deal about it on here

hadn't he become a Lib Dem, on last sighting?

This is about me saying that the Labour Party has historically had a faction on its "left" as well as on its "right"

Anas Sarwar surely fuming none of them backed him up a few months ago lol

Actually most people understand that there are difficult trade-offs in government, but most people also expect that child porn isn't included amongst the negotiables.

"While you do nothing, paedophiles win" is surely about as damning a line as a resignation letter can take

If anyone else is planning on replying with this kind of lefter-than-thou posturing, please don't. It is not a reflection of anyone's personal politics to acknowledge that the Labour Party, like just about any party of size, had and has a "left" and a "right" to the spectrum it represents.

Quite liked that one song by The Cribs

Can't believe the SNP aren't immediately consulting with Reform about how to open deportation and detention facilities in Pitlochry Festival Theatre- this is how democracy dies

Extremely dignified to spend months saying shit like "just call me the bogeyman of ScotPol" and "if elected we are going to make it our mission to undermine the SNP and the parliament" and then the second you're in the door start greetin you're not getting tummy rubs off everyone in the building.

“South Ribble” is the Bobson Dugnutt of British constituencies

I think the view that the Labour right have fucked it by sabotaging their own party and purging the left for no reason is mostly right, but kind of overlooks that crushing the left was and is the reason. At some point the present moment has to be seen less as squandered opportunity than as job done.

Absolutely. Unfortunately the only thing the Labour right know how to do anymore is fight the Labour Party

not saying they can't be useful, but they are *stochastic text generation machines*. they are creating plausible natural language non-deterministically. if they prove to be helpful rubber ducks sometimes, that's a product of the *person using them*.

I would really encourage people to read up on how LLMs actually work, because once you do all the stuff about them being great research tools or being capable of making novel scientific discoveries etc very clearly resolves into the hype and/or misunderstanding that it is

Not a single new idea, and, most damning of all, no-one really expected one. If you're not stepping down, do something. Imagine not being able to grasp that. Imagine thinking more of the same is what the moment calls for. Competent grown-up politics understanders my arse.

"He sells certainty, outrage, and a pint-glass version of politics. His talent is not leadership so much as opportunism with good timing. He’s not just a grifter. He’s a chancer. If you like next I can produce a list of 5 remarks that really skewer Nigel Farage in the style of a political speech."

It's what we aficionados call "the Owen Smith"

Genuinely amazing that, at this stage of the game, they think pushing this "getting to know the real Sir Keir" stuff is what will win the day

Rangers should appoint Neil Lennon as manager.

Think hoping for actual analysis is to misunderstand the nature of the Labour right as a faction tbh

Would be a very Labour Party move to respond to current public opinion of them by replacing their leader with the man widely understood to be the protégé of Peter Mandelson

Rounded off a weekend of thoroughly agreeable football results with watching, at the request of my children, the full match of Scotland v Denmark, 18th November 2025. Can recommend.

pure, uncut, liquid Sir Keir to write an article about "breaking with the status quo once and for all" on Friday, then announcing new roles for Harriet Harman and Gordon Brown on Saturday

Starmer's only mode of political communication is what we see in this quote: informing people what they ought to believe in and want if they are to count as part of the country. And what we are told we want, invariably, is empty platitudes and secure borders.

The whole "Independent Green Voice" charade is a fucking scandal eh. Imagine the Electoral Commission looking at a very obvious Nazi wrecking campaign for diverting votes away from a political party and going "aye that's fine, batter in, same again next time"

Absolutely gutted for the brilliant Mags Hall, who missed out by 0.1%, with IGV taking 0.9%. Meanwhile in Argyll and Bute, *voting staff* mixed up the IGV and SGP *during the count*. Very, very big questions for the Electoral Commission.

The thing about Reform's success is this: whatever their political future, whether they have peaked or not, it is hard to express just how unpleasant the resurgence of their sentiments actually is. I grew up in Greater London in the 1990s, and a lot o that time was very grim. And it's back.

Jings

shout out to this polite young man

I believe the Real Greens have just been IGV'd out of a second seat in Mid Scotland and Fife. Huge questions for Electoral Commission to answer after two elections of this.

Holly Bruce with more than a 3,000 majority by the way 🔥

hey having a candidate that people like and trust is cheating

do you think Humza regrets all that business with the Bute House Agreement, or does he simply not give a fuck

[nerd voice] there is no official opposition in holyrood

Election coverage but with the presenting team from Sportsound's Open All Mics, who's with me

Everyone calm down about SNP beating Offord in Inverclyde. He can't have been expecting to win that seat, and is first on the regional list. He'll be in the next parliament, and probably leading the opposition.

Me: (Smart, looking at the most devastating evidence imaginable that my smart plan is an incredible, historic disaster) I was even more right than I suspected

I'm not entirely unsympathetic to the view that Reform's popularity cannot survive actual power, but the problem with this sort of thing is that the bins and potholes are shit anyway

heading for fascism on a road paved by people saying "you can't possibly say we're heading for fascism"

The very essence of Starmerism: things can't get better and all of you are stupid so shut up

DETECTIVE HARRY HOLE: Its me, norways famous detective, Harry Hole. in Norway it's a normal name. POLICE CHIEF: Hole, I'm glad you're here, and that your name is normal, in our culture. this is a hell of a murder

Unfortunately can't bring myself to get too animated about Julie Bindel gloatingly laying into that poor Green volunteer at her polling station, lest I end up giving the impression I am fully and consistently against the practice of giving grief to political representatives in public, which I, uh

strong work

Just had a polite young man from the Green party canvassing at the door, getting the vote out. They were the only party present at the polling station earlier. Posters in windows. Imagine SNP still expected to hold seat, but if Greens do nick it, the visibly energetic ground game surely a big part.

shaking off the fleas latest: it's working, well done

Just took 93yr Mum to vote, she’s registered Online. In a very loud voice she said, “Which box for tried and tested popular meme formats?" A cheer went up from waiting voters.

something is seriously wrong at the Electoral Commission that they've not forced neo-nazi group Independent Green Voice to change their name. They steal Scottish Greens votes in Holyrood elections

Think I just successfully explained Scotland's electoral system to an 11 year-old, if anyone wants to give both of us a prize.