Polls Predict 2015 SNP Landslide In Scotland

AN SIONNACH FIONN

Scotland’s former First Minister and SNP leader Alex Salmond addresses an independence rally, Edinburgh, Scotland, 2012 (Photo: Wings Over Scotland)

I must admit that I remain quite sceptical about the anti-SNP hysteria convulsing significant chunks of the UK press as they continue to promulgate claims that Nicola Sturgeon’s party will soon crush all before it as Britain’s general election looms, banishing the mainstream British Unionist parties from Scotland for ever and a day – or at least from representing the Scottish constituencies in Westminster for the next five years or so. Most of the more dire predictions are stemming from the crazier fringes of the Britnat cause, though even David Cameron and Ed Miliband are finding it necessary to assuage the supremacist passions of Greater England in the pursuit of votes south of the border. However with consistent polling pointing to an SNP surge on the historic levels of the Sinn Féin tide that swept through a majority of constituencies on the island of Ireland in the…

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The Third Lanark of politics

The Third Lanark of politics.

The Third Lanark of politics

Wee Ginger Dug

Labour’s plummeting poll statistics prove that it is actually possible for something to plunge more quickly than gravitational force and laws of physics would allow. But then Newton never thought to include public disgust and oppobrium in his calculations. The 45 are going to give Labour MPs their P45s, and there may be no Labour MPs left in Scotland by the end of next week. The word pandafication has entered the political lexicon.

According to a report in the Torygraph, senior Labour figures in Scotland are demanding that Jim Murphy BA Politics (failed) resigns as leader of Labour’s branch office in Scotland after the election. Despite the portents of impending doom, it is rumoured that the Murph E. Coyote intends to cling on to the cliff edge of leadership even if he’s kicked off his seat by his constituents and the shell shocked band of Labour MSPs, cooncillors and…

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The British Extreme Targets The Centre

AN SIONNACH FIONN

Finally, someone in the UK press has recognised the shameful political scheming by the Tories (and Labour) which could give maverick ultra-nationalists from the fringes of the former empire access to the corridors of power in Britain. Owen Jones in the Guardian newspaper:

“In a desperate, scorched-earth attempt to remain in power, the unionist Tories are willing to ensure the break-up of the UK, shamelessly fanning anti-Scottish resentment in England while fuelling the SNP juggernaut. But we have had all too much scrutiny of the SNP, some of it bordering on hysteria. Where, then, is the debate about the Tories’ likely partners were David Cameron to attempt to remain in power, Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party? The idea of these bigoted throwbacks to several centuries ago holding the balance of power should surely frighten even moderate Tories, let alone the rest of us.

Let’s take Jim Wells, the DUP…

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Greater England Is At Ease With The European Tea Party

AN SIONNACH FIONN

I ain’t descended from no monkeys…!

The Scottish National Party is a popular, mainstream, democratic, left-of-centre European political group which has managed the devolved government of Scotland since 2007. It’s current leader, Nicola Sturgeon, is a well-regarded politician with broadly centralist and progressive policies, certainly nothing that would overly-scare the conservative horses of the all important “business community” or offend the liberal sensibilities of the urban intelligentsia. She is everything that most left-leaning news media in most countries would adulate. However the rise of the SNP in the polls ahead of the UK’s forthcoming general election has led to some extraordinary attacks both on her party and on her in particular from across the political and journalistic spectrum in Britain. She has become the bête noire of the “Greater England” parties of the centre-right Conservatives and centre-left Labour (not to mention right-wing UKIP or the right-left Lib Dems). A majority of the metropolitan press in London, regardless of…

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Dear Martin

Dear Martin.

Dear Martin

Wee Ginger Dug

Dear Martin,

Thank you very much for your lovely letter which was sent out in a mail shot from the Labour party. Oh look, I said to myself, a letter from that guy who plays the hobbit in the movies and it’s addressed to me personally. But sadly the only wizardry on display was the magic of mail merge, and that wasn’t quite enough to convince me that you had actually sat down and directed yourself personally to my concerns. George Osborne might do a convincing impression of Sauron, but this isn’t Middle Earth and Ed Miliband sure as hell isn’t Gandalf. Middle Earth is a fantasy invented by a middle class guy from Oxford University, just like the claim of the modern Labour party to be a party of the left, come to think of it.

Thank you for assuming that I’m too thick to cope with the complexities…

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Schrodinger’s Labour

Schrodinger’s Labour.

Schrodinger’s Labour

Wee Ginger Dug

We’re in that period before Christmas when the prezzies have already been wrapped up in an Ashcroft poll and put under the tree. Have we got that Murph E Coyote doll we asked for? The one that runs off the canyon edge keeping aloft on its own frantic spinning, only to fall and land with a resounding splat in a dustcloud of McTernans. The special edition Scottish Labour model, the one that comes with additional features, like extra hubris and a smug look that can be wiped off its face. It’s one of those toys that are only fun when you smash them.

There’s a Murph E Coyote shaped package under the tree, and when you shake it it’s got that reassuring death rattle. It’s certainly looking good, for those who want substantial more power for Scotland if not for James Francis Murphy BA Politics (failed). But is it really…

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The BBC Challengers Election Debate 2015

AN SIONNACH FIONN

Did Nicola Sturgeon, the formidable SNP leader and current First Minster of Scotland, emerge as the winner from last night’s televised debate of the “challengers” in the UK general election? She certainly seems to have put Ed Miliband on the defensive more than once, though much of the centre-left media in Britain is spinning the Labour Party leader as holding his own against his rivals.

David Cameron, the Tory leader and incumbent British prime minster, was of course not present since he is seeking to avoid future head-to-heads with his opponents, judging that he has everything to loose and very little to gain by such contests. Some observers believe that he may regret the decision to try and appear statesmanlike and above the torrid fray of party politics. His absence was notable during the debate. This of course also meant that Nick Clegg, head of the Lib Dem minnows in the coalition, was automatically excluded – which is a disaster for him as he needs every opportunity he can get to sell…

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