I once again must ask Labour people why I am supposed to care more that the SNP want independence than the fact that Reform want to repatriate my wife

Okay. I live in Scotland and I think you are a monster who falsely equates a social democratic, pluralistic party with a party that wants to deport me. If I were feeling especially unkind I would say this is an inherently racist worldview.

It's deliberate. The picture of Waverly is a smear & job done. People who don't read the article or don't have critical analytical skills will associate Scotland with being the worst for train cancelations when it's not. Imaginary is a very powerful tool to plant discontent in people.

Larry the Cat talks a lot of sense.

Having pondered it all morning, I'm still incredulous that all that Today programme coverage of migrant hotels at no point (unless I missed it) mentioned why people were here, what they might be fleeing from etc.

What on Earth is this? An "in depth" BBC article about free speech in the UK that only cites examples of right-wing/ 'anti-woke' speech being suppressed. How can you mention Lucy Connolly but completely ignore Palestine Action / Just Stop Oil? Gob-smacking. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Once again, when Farage makes a fascist anti-immigrant statement, It goes straight on to the BBC Scotland phone with Kaye Adams. The BBC never miss an opportunity to normalise the far-right in Scotland, paid for with the licence fee it gets to demand with menaces from Scots.

The Conservative Party chair is saying the 60,000 people in hotels would have been deported to Rwanda. The capacity of the scheme was 300 in year one

I see the CPS is desperately trying to repair the damage. The claim that their clear errors were down to "changes in definitions" is a lie. Journalists should treat any new estimates with appropriate scepticism. archive.ph/JSo7O#select...

'Tylenol' is known in the civilised world as Paracetamol 2.4 million children born in Sweden between 1995 and 2019. Studied 186,000 children whose mothers were treated with paracetamol during pregnancy. news.ki.se/no-link-betw...

Why are the American president's claims about autism the first item on British news bulletins? He's not our president, the advice doesn't apply here and he's not presented any evidence to support his assertions. So why spread these claims? What make this the biggest story in the UK?

I mean it, Scotland. We’ve got to ditch England and save ourselves. The union is done. England is done. Scotland can still be saved if we go it alone, but we’ve gotta go fast and go soon. We’re in a burning building. Only a fool stays to die.

Self-serving lies from CPS/Telegraph. But kernel of truth here- unsurprisingly, those on work visas (& their dependents) more likely to make +ve fiscal contribution than refugees etc. Which is why proposals to restrict ILR (from govt/Tories/Reform) likely to *cost* money (1/2) archive.ph/JSo7O

Wow.

As well as the @libdems.org.uk having a busy conference with lots say across all relevant topics the @snp.org Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has also been busy today. No broadcast coverage across UK www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

It’s inevitable that Reform will eventually come for naturalised citizens soon. They’re in full brutality mode now, fed and watered by Starmer’s govt & the BBC, Sky and the London press Scotland: we need to vote our way out of this rotten Union before the next UK election or we’ll live to regret it

If Labour and other parties can't find a way to scrutinise, criticise and condemn a policy like this, they give Reform a free ride and make the future less safe & certain for those who come here, work hard and contribute.

This should be an opportunity for the other parties - Reform's proposal is extreme, violates basic fairness norms, and would threaten millions of people who have made their lives here and played by the rules. This approach should be condemned as nasty, unworkable and contrary to British fair play.

I'll have more to say on Reform's proposals to scrap ILR at some point but for now I'll just note this - anyone telling you this is a popular idea doesn't know the polling. Overwhelming majority of public back giving people who work and pay taxes most or all rights after 5 years or less

There should be a high bar for politicians attacking the media, but maybe Ed Davey has half a point here? For example, the first three paragraphs of this BBC story repeat Reform's £243bn figure without saying that the thinktank behind the estimate now disowns it. (This is mentioned in paragraph 35)

Retrospectively removing indefinite leave to remain would be immoral and economically damaging. It would tear families apart. Attacking it as ‘potentially illegal’ is completely beside the point. Argue with the (awful) idea. Don’t try ’well, actually you can’t do that’.

A celebration of journalists' outsourcing critical thinking to whatever presentation politicians serve up. It's NOT inevitable, Sam. You COULD apply some judgment, instead of pretending you are an infant looking at different things dangling from a mobile above your crib. Or is that too much work?

A quirk of UK history/policy is that while non-citizens usually lack voice or power, the UK enfranchises Commonwealth nationals (who are likely to make up many of those directly impacted)

Times says Reform policy to make all of those with settled status apply instead for a new temporary status In case of EU settled status, that is a massive breach of the spirit and letter of Farage's past pledges pre & after 2016. A rapid u-turn is necessary www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Reform are now coming after people with permanent residency. It'll be citizens next. No one is safe from authoritarian governments.

This xenophobic nonsense illustrates why the government's proposals to restrict settlement rights is not only wrong but politically self-defeating. Has just encouraged Reform to become even more extreme.

We know who made this number up - it was the Centre for Policy Studies. However, after I pointed out two major errors, they have admitted it is completely wrong and have withdrawn it - see note on their webpage here. cps.org.uk/research/her...

I hope @rcolvile.bsky.social & @cps.org.uk are proud that their nonsense statistics - now withdrawn - are still being cited by two-bit racists like Lee Anderson.

People, especially the BBC, should stop producing credulous pieces that ignore links of the flag movement to the far right. It gives cover to racists and contributes to the breaking down of anti-racism norms.

Labour promises being delivered in Scotland by the SNP reported by #PrivateEye.

Interesting.

"Sooner or later, we’re going to have to say if we really want sustained economic growth, we have to be part of a body of the single market with our nearest neighbours" - Neil Kinnock

"It’s not too late to puncture the Reform leader’s populist myth. His ‘make Britain great again’ act is out of step with the British people" 🎯 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/19/donald-trump-us-abyss-nigel-farage-britain

The data is in -- tourism to US dropped after Trump came in, while tourism recovered in rest of world...foreign arrivals at American airports down 3.8% compared with 2024, or 1.3m fewer people. With more Americans going the other way. See charts via @economist.com www.economist.com/graphic-deta...

It's easy to dismiss this sort of thing as performative, but this performance is so much better than the alternatives.

In a month of lows, tonight's Newsnight was a new one. I felt very sorry for @davidfrum.bsky.social trying to explain the first amendment to a panel, incredibly, trying to both-sides a Trump administration nakedly, explicitly, and on-record blackmailing media companies into silence. WTAF

Well if the UK Government do actually finally bloody do this, that's £155 million the Scottish Government don't need to spend on their mitigation payment... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This stuff really is enraging. Do you think original Italian and German Nazis were all six foot four blond lads, spouting from Mein Kampf? Do we think they had horns. Or were they just easily led, quite sad ordinary people with reactionary views, choking to hear They were to blame for their woes.

This is deeply irresponsible reporting. There really is no sense in which there is much of a divide over what it means to be British.

NEW Has the government overreached in using terrorism law against Palestine Action? A disclosed MI5 document indicates that the basis for proscription may be weak By me, at @prospectmagazine.co.uk www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...

Because nobody does track government results, ministers tend to think their announcements are actually meaningful, and are surprised to discover that they haven't shifted any economic dials whatsoever. A systemic problem that should have been addressed in July 2024.

Far too much of Labour's messaging on policy since taking office has been framed in negative terms. This just sends a signal that the party doesn't like/stand for particular groups - and alienates them. To retain/win support it needs to tell people what and who it stands *for*...

Pretty clear illustration of "you may as well stand up for what you believe in, they're coming for you anyway."

This is really something to read. Most of this has been clear from the start, it's just that the guardrails have collapsed.

here’s something to bring up with the @bbcnewsnight.bsky.social @itvnewspolitics.bsky.social @skynewsrss.bsky.social when writing letters. If as they seem to suggest coverage should be all about polls now, shouldn’t @libdems.org.uk be getting more coverage now as predicted official opposition?

Not very surprising given all the other UK Govt (in) actions on Gordon Brown’s report.

This is both correct and likely to be ignored in the bunker since it was already obvious last year and before

They’re betting everything on “this time even tougher than ever we promise” on immigration to save Starmer. I’d say brace for a proper BNP-style conference speech.

The University of St Andrews is the number one university in Scotland and second overall in the UK, according to The Sunday Times' annual academic rankings