Meme - Jonathan Kay @jonkay: "Possibly the greatest photo of our era Or, indeed, any era "
"Holyrood will be better off without selfie-loving Nicola Sturgeon... although I thought she'd already gone! Scottish Conservative Deputy Leader RACHAEL HAMILTON delivers her withering assessment on the former SNP leader (and now frequently AWOL MSP) who has made Scotland a more divided place *Sturgeon taking wefie with bored child*"
Holyrood will be better off without selfie-loving Nicola Sturgeon... although I thought she'd already gone! - "Sturgeon has not shown much enthusiasm for a backbench role at Holyrood, opting instead for a round of chat shows, book festivals, schmoozing with celebrities and lucrative election-night punditry. It’s customary to wish any member who’s leaving well, whatever their party or politics. But in her case, personal good wishes have to be tempered by the knowledge that, as First Minister, she presided over a government that set out to create and deepen divisions. And not only on the SNP’s never-ending obsession with breaking up the UK, though she focused on that relentlessly. She never stopped pursuing it, though most Scots remained opposed, and were even more opposed to a second vote on the matter. She then came up with the absurd idea of a de facto referendum and wasted taxpayers’ money on a doomed Supreme Court challenge. But it wasn’t the only wedge driven into public life during her period in office. The SNP produced hugely damaging splits on a wide range of issues. These confrontations were deliberately manufactured and actively encouraged in an administration notable for its secrecy, evasion and lack of transparency. The result was a thoroughly poisonous atmosphere. But she never accepted any responsibility, hectoring her political opponents, dismissing all criticism and – the old Nat stand-by – blaming Westminster for any and every failure. The reality was that the failures were entirely the responsibility of Nicola Sturgeon and the government she led. And by any objective judgment they were legion – and often on a colossal scale. Economic growth was hampered by ever-increasing taxes and regulation. On her watch, Scotland’s drugs deaths soared to become by far the worst, not just in the UK, but in all of Europe. Her government should have responded with shame and urgent action. Instead, as she admitted in a rare moment of candour, her government took its eye off the ball. The SNP complacency on Scotland’s drugs emergency continues, unforgivably, to this day. Scottish education standards, supposedly her number one priority, slid down international comparison tables on her watch. The poverty-related attainment gap, which she promised to eradicate, widened. The crisis in the NHS worsened constantly, with A&E figures soaring to unprecedented levels, cancer targets that never came anywhere close to being met, and hundreds of thousands of Scots languishing on waiting lists. There were a string of broken promises. On roads upgrades. On teacher numbers. On ending automatic prisoner release. And on dozens of others, from laptops for children to support for house-buyers. In particular, the SNP’s pursuit of soft-touch justice and their failure to support the police and the courts system repeatedly betrayed victims of crime. The former First Minister also – in the most callous and dishonest way – betrayed the families of Covid victims by offering assurances which she knew to be untrue about supplying answers. Her shameful deletion of messages covering that period, in defiance of her promises, was one of the lowest episodes of her time in the job. Then there were the big-budget, high-profile scandals. The ferries that ended up hundreds of millions over budget before they even went into service. The malicious Rangers prosecution that cost the taxpayer millions. She set in motion hugely expensive plans for doomed schemes, such as the National Care Service and the Deposit Return Scheme, that were so badly botched that they had to be scrapped. Perhaps her legacy, fittingly, will be the gender self-ID bill, which managed to be toxic, divisive, unworkable and profoundly damaging all at the same time. It also demonstrated Nicola Sturgeon’s intransigent refusal to heed warnings about flaws in legislation, or to take account of the level of opposition. Mercifully, it was blocked as unlawful by the UK government – something she had been warned was likely. And shortly after, the grotesque case of a double rapist being sent to a women’s prison gave a concrete example of exactly the kind of problems she had airily dismissed as “not valid”. At long last, she has concluded that standing down as an MSP is now her best option. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to argue that Holyrood won’t be better off without her, too. That’s why the lucrative pay day she will enjoy post-Holyrood will stick in the throat of ordinary Scots."
Scotland’s constitutional future under scrutiny as legal case for de-colonisation set to be unveiled - "A three-day constitutional conference beginning Friday is set to challenge long-held assumptions about Scotland’s status within the United Kingdom, as legal and academic voices gather to explore whether the country should be considered for de-colonisation under international law... The conference will also address whether Scotland has ever been part of a voluntary union with England. The SSRG previously held a similar event in 2022, which drew attention in the pro-independence media. Among the presenters is Sara Salyers, co-founder of Liberation Scotland and Salvo, a campaign group with over 18,000 members. Salyers is expected to present arguments supporting the inclusion of Scotland on the UN’s list of non-self-governing territories. “After two years of research and legal consultation, we can now make a confident case,” she said. “Countries do not ask for permission to end colonisation—they demand it.”"
I guess the Scottish Parliament in 1707 were traitors
Has Scotland abandoned its belief in free speech and is Nicola Sturgeon to blame? - "Has Scotland abandoned its belief in free speech? I ask because it seems to be in grave danger when its national library sidelines a book that defends the rights of women to hang onto their safe havens, such as changing rooms or toilets. Or when a prominent politician is involved in a row over a talk she gave at a significant cultural venue simply because of her religious views. The book in question was Women Who Won’t Wheesht, to which the best-selling author JK Rowling was a key contributor, and which was removed from an exhibition of the Scottish National Library after complaints that it would cause “severe harm to staff” as it contained essays about the fight against Nicola Sturgeon’s proposed gender laws. And the politician whose views were deemed unsuitable was Kate Forbes, the Deputy First Minister, whose opinions on social and sexual issues earned her brickbats at a major Edinburgh Fringe venue. In a statement that sums up an attitude now becoming commonplace in many areas of Scottish public life, the venue in question, Summerhall, said in answer to critics “… going forward we will be developing robust, proactive inclusion and wellbeing policies that would prevent this oversight in our bookings process (from) happening again”... given her self-appointed role as chief arbiter in this bitter battle, is the current situation a snapshot of life in the Land That Nicola Sturgeon Created? I’d like to think that it’s a passing phase, given the, at-times, over-heated cultural and artistic atmosphere of the Edinburgh Festival and Fringe. But sadly, it appears to be symptoms of a more deep-seated malaise, brought on by the issue of whether trans women should have the same rights of access to venues formerly available only to biological women... It’s not as if she chose to remain neutral. As Jim Sillars, a veteran nationalist and former deputy leader of the SNP, declared that no one did more than Ms Sturgeon to “stoke the fires” of what has become a toxic debate. This occurred when she accused all those who opposed the idea that people as young as 18 could change their gender by a simple self-declaration as being “transphobic, deeply misogynist, often homophobic and possibly racist as well”. These are not the words of a peacemaker, nor of someone who seeks to present herself as being confused on the gender issue, not least in her autobiography, Frankly, and the newspaper interviews and TV broadcasts that accompany its publication."
It's only deplorable wedge issue politicking when it hurts the left wing agenda
JK Rowling attacks Sturgeon’s memoir and transgender policy stance - "She also mocked Ms Sturgeon’s claim the 2014 independence referendum was not “unpleasant and divisive”, saying: “No s---, Nicola.” “You, surrounded only by adoring nationalists, flying between public meetings in a helicopter bearing a large image of your own face, enjoying police protection and all the excitement of potentially bringing about your life’s ambition, enjoyed the referendum? I’m amazed,” she said. “Oddly, this message didn’t resonate too well with No voters who were being threatened with violence, told to f--- off out of Scotland, quizzed on the amount of Scottish blood that ran in their veins, accused of treachery and treason and informed that they were on the wrong side of, as one ‘cybernat’ memorably put it, ‘a straightforward battle between good and evil.”"
Scotland’s fiscal calamity is a harbinger for all of Britain - "If you think the UK has a problem with the public finances, try just a bit of it for size – Scotland. According to figures published last week by Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS), Scotland’s fiscal deficit widened to 11.6pc of GDP last financial year, more than double that of the UK as a whole, and is higher still at 14.3pc if North Sea revenues are excluded. By some unfathomable logic, Shona Robison, Scotland’s Finance Secretary, argues that this somehow supports the Scottish National Party’s (SNP) case for independence. Free of the English yoke, she argues, Scotland would be able to pursue its own productivity-enhancing economic policies, including increased immigration – come again? – and a much reduced rate of corporation tax. Scotland would boom, and the deficit would disappear. Everyone can dream, but sadly, the reality could hardly be more different. If Scotland were made independent tomorrow, its revenues would fall so far short of its expenditures that it would find it virtually impossible to borrow in international capital markets to fund the difference. This would be the case even if the rest of the UK were magnanimous about the divorce and forgave Scotland its share of the national debt, a very unlikely act of self-sacrifice since, without Scotland to bulk up the numbers, the rest of the UK would be left with an unmanageable debt burden. The grim truth is that an independent Scotland would fiscally be in a completely unsustainable position; SNP policies conspire to make its predicament even worse. Once the divorce went through, Scots would face years of grinding austerity as the government sought to bring expenditure into balance with revenue. The welfare-based economic model that is today’s Scotland would quickly be rendered unaffordable... the Scottish Government spends some £2,700 per head a year more than the rest of the UK while collecting only about the same amount per individual in tax. But Scotland is hardly alone in its various economic shortcomings. Failure to incentivise aspiration, enterprise and wealth creation afflicts both Scotland and the rest of the UK in equal measure. Long gone are the days when the likes of Peter Mandelson, one of the architects of New Labour, could admit to being “intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich”. Today, it’s all about levelling down rather than up... Wealth and aspiration are under attack across the UK as a whole, not just in Scotland. But it’s even worse north of the border, where higher-rate taxpayers pay significantly more than their English counterparts on a greater proportion of their income. The quid pro quo for a more highly taxed economy is meant to be better public services, but you’d be hard-pressed to argue this is the case in Scotland. Total public spending last year at 52pc of GDP is at Scandinavian levels, but without Nordic-style welfare and services. NHS waiting lists are longer than much of the rest of the UK, social services are a disgrace, life expectancy is lower and even educational standards – once the highest in the UK – have slipped badly under Scotland’s high spending regime. State education in Edinburgh is so poor that one in four families makes the financial sacrifices needed to send their children to privately funded independent schools, far higher than the UK average... to be fair, also down to Westminster is the completely insane decision to essentially close down the North Sea oil and gas sector in pursuit of the net-zero pipe-dream. It might have been SNP policy too, but for an opportunistic change in stance just ahead of the general election aimed at saving seats in Aberdeen and beyond... In any case, the ban steepens Scotland’s fiscal challenge. Offshore oil and gas provide some of Scotland’s highest-paying jobs; Ed Miliband’s assault on the sector threatens lasting damage to income tax receipts, with the growth in renewables unlikely to provide a complete substitute... As it is, Scotland is in the same rut of rising taxation, excessive spending and declining public services as the rest of the UK, but magnified several times over. The SNP offers no answers on how it would correct the shortfall in the public finances should it ever succeed in freeing Scotland from the English teet. You might imagine that the cause of Scottish independence would have been finished for a generation or more by the SNP’s inept record in government, topped off as it was by the tragicomedy of Humza Yousaf’s short-lived reign as first minister. But then along came Reform UK, which threatens to split the unionist vote and thereby gives the SNP another leg up in next year’s Holyrood elections. Political paralysis seems to be the name of the game almost everywhere these days, but no more so than in Scotland’s disastrous inability to confront harsh fiscal realities."
Time to blame London for Edinburgh's failures
SNP faces £4.7bn ‘black hole’ after surge in benefits spending - "SNP ministers are facing a “black hole” of almost £5bn in their spending plans after presiding over a huge rise in Scotland’s welfare bill and a surge in the size of the state."
SNP has created one-ideology state, says Scottish Tory leader - "The SNP has created a public sector stacked with “yes men and women” focused on protecting each other’s livelihoods and the “failing” status quo, the Scottish Tory leader has claimed. Russell Findlay said Scotland had become a “one-ideology state” that supported higher taxes, benefits and immigration and was overseen by “a self-serving political elite” in Edinburgh. In a keynote speech, Mr Findlay said civil servants dared not question the “received wisdom of the SNP paymasters” as they had a “firm stake” in protecting their highly-paid jobs. He said “self-preservation is everything”, with SNP ministers treating the public purse like “a piggy bank for them and their pals” and refusing to get rid of incompetent employees. The net result was that Scotland seemed to be “run like a private members’ club” with Left-wing lobbyists acting as gatekeepers “hostile to any form of progress”, he said. Mr Findlay alleged that a “circular system of approval” existed between the SNP Government and “state-funded” charities and academics reliant on the public purse for their income... Mr Findlay said Holyrood focused on “fringe issues” such as Nicola Sturgeon’s plan to allow people to self-identify their gender, while the SNP ran public services “into the ground”... Mr Findlay said “those who deviate from accepted groupthink are shouted down and shut out”, citing the treatment of feminists who opposed gender self-ID over concerns about the safety of women’s spaces... “Considering all of this, you could be forgiven for thinking Scotland has become a one-party state. It’s not quite. But it is a one-ideology state. The Scottish political establishment believes that taxes must only go up, that benefits must also keep rising, that immigration is always good.” He proposed devolving more power from Holyrood to local communities, including the ability to lower business rates, and a “radical overhaul of transparency”. The Civil Service must also “be outlawed from agitating for the break-up of Britain”, he said."
SNP sheds more than £1m and thousands of members, accounts reveal - "The SNP’s finances have plummeted by more than £1m in less than two years, according to the party’s latest accounts. Documents published by the Electoral Commission reveal the party’s bank balance went from a surplus of more than £600,000 in 2023 to a deficit of £455,000 at the end of 2024, raising questions over the SNP’s ability to contest the Holyrood elections in May. They also indicate that a £100,000 luxury motorhome purchased by the party in 2021 as a potential campaign battle bus – and still held by police following an investigation into SNP finances – has lost more than half its value and that an outstanding £60,000 loan from former chief executive Peter Murrell may be “written off”... The SNP remains by far the biggest political party in Scotland in terms of membership, with 56,011 members on June 1, but the accounts show that under John Swinney’s leadership, the number is down more than 8,500 on the 64,525 they had in June last year. In June 2023, it had 73,936 members, and as recently as 2019, claimed to have around 125,000 members."
SNP backbencher ‘ashamed’ over Scotland’s failure to implement biological sex ruling - "A senior SNP backbencher has said she feels “ashamed” over the Scottish Government’s failure to implement the landmark ruling on the definition of a woman. In April, the UK Supreme Court ruled that, in the 2010 Equality Act, the term “woman” referred to biological sex, not acquired gender. The ruling was expected to prompt a slew of policy changes relating to single-sex spaces, but the Scottish Government has yet to issue relevant guidance."
SNP ‘relying on short-term fixes to prevent Scotland from running out of money’ - "Stephen Boyle, the auditor general, said the Government’s accounts for 2024-25 showed that ministers had a record £1bn left unspent. But this was only after the Treasury handed the SNP an extra £2.2bn during that year and Scottish ministers implemented a series of “one-off savings”. Mr Boyle said the SNP had failed to produce any detailed plans to address a looming financial black hole of nearly £5bn, which he said had been created by “policy choices and higher workforce costs”. He also warned that the SNP “cannot clearly demonstrate” that its record public spending in Scotland was “delivering the intended outcomes”."
Damn English!
Sturgeon’s government ‘misled’ firms on green scheme, court told - "the fact the Scottish Government was still working out how the scheme would work when it applied for an IMA exclusion in 2023 was “farcical”. “It was a comedy of errors. Farcical. The whole thing was farcical,” he added."
Agent P on X - "The SNP can fly people in from Gaza for hospital treatment no problem. Meanwhile 19-yr-old Brooke Paterson was left writhing with a DOUBLE LEG BREAK for 5 HOURS before an ambulance turned up. SNP priorities."
SNP hands £1.3m in taxpayer cash to pro-abortion group with ‘extreme agenda’ - "The SNP handed more than £1.3m to campaigners pushing for an “extreme” new abortion law, The Telegraph can reveal. Engender, the feminist advocacy group, is campaigning to scrap the 1967 Abortion Act and have it replaced with a new “rights-based framework” for abortions. Critics have described the plan to codify the right to abortion into Scottish law as “extreme” because it would remove the Act’s 24-week limit for a legal abortion, making it possible for women to have an abortion up to birth. It has now emerged that Engender has received £1,366,833 in funding from the Scottish Government since 2021. Financial records show the public money accounted for 97 per cent of the group’s funding in the year to March 2024, the most recent year for which the data is available... It also said any future legislation should not include any explicit prohibition on sex-selective abortion, a move that critics said would effectively legalise the practice in Scotland. Prof Anna Glasier, chairman of the review, said that the group believed it was “unnecessary” and “potentially harmful” to explicitly prohibit the practice because it would require “intrusive and inappropriate questioning” of those seeking an abortion. She also raised concerns that it would risk “racial profiling” women from particular communities where sex-selective abortion is thought to take place. Stephen Kerr, the Tory MSP, said: “Taxpayers will not be happy to learn that their money is being used to push extreme policies. “This is yet another example of the SNP Government using taxpayer cash to bankroll groups that push an extreme ideological agenda. Common sense says we stop this funding of charities to push extreme policies. Taxpayers’ money should be spent on the priorities of the people of Scotland, not on advancing divisive causes that most Scots would find deeply concerning.”"
The government funding special interest groups is only bad when it hurts the left wing agenda
