[davidjay]

The SNP haven't weakened. You didn't hear it here first.

Good for them. The Borders is looking very tempting.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Might be Inverness for me, though I don't really like the SNP.

[Youngian]

That’s a fine piece of marketing

[Tubby Isaacs]

It is.

Pleased Jackie Baillie increased her majority in Dumbarton, but she's had a fairly high profile and has a pan-unionist appeal. Other Labour candidates can't really have that.

[mattomac]

I don’t think Labour have done too bad up there, always tough but you to stop the bleeding and they have, it’s kind of what I hoped the council elections would show for Labour.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I like Sarwar. Poor Richard Leonard was a bit Lexitty, but basically toiled away honestly without getting a hearing. He seems to have stepped down with some dignity, not claiming he won the argument or anything like that.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Very good vote share for the SNP. Going to be close to 50%. Noticed only one place where the SNP could reasonably have been defeated with better Unionist tactical voting (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross). Even there the SNP were over 43%. It's not like they're squeezing home on 35%,

Good turnouts too.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Actually East Lothian had an SNP win under 40%. Lots of Tories with Labour close (Ian Gray retired this time). Not much else though.

[Bones McCoy]

There are a few 3 way marginals.
They challenge even the gigantic university brain of Prof John Curteis.

But none of this matters because the Deceiver in Downing Street has said No.

[The Weeping Angel]

So when can welook forward to Indyref 2 Electric Boogaloo?

[Bones McCoy]

So when can welook forward to Indyref 2 Electric Boogaloo?

Repeat after me "Now is not the time".

For ever, like a boot stamping on a human face.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Apologies for the source, not someone I check out but she comes up on other people's timeline. But this is an intriguing point.

What's the suggestion here?

The SNP are afraid population might be falling? The SNP wanted to spend the money on something else before the election?

[Tubby Isaacs]

In other news, ha ha.

Alex Salmond will not return to the Scottish parliament after Alba failed to win a seat on the North East regional list, winning just 8,269 votes.

[Bones McCoy]

Apologies for the source, not someone I check out but she comes up on other people's timeline. But this is an intriguing point.

What's the suggestion here?

The SNP are afraid population might be falling? The SNP wanted to spend the money on something else before the election?

It seems rather typical of the general tabloid line of attack on parties the owners don't like.
"Starmer abstained", "Milliband looks strange when he eats", "Abbott got a sum wrong once", "Sturgeon adjusted the date of the census", "They (tm) banned our bus parade after we won the league" .
Odd things to get excited about when there are 150,000 dead form a mismanaged disease response.


While the complainant might not have had to queue for anything, but thousands of civil servants and temporary staff would be required to congregate to sort and collate the results.

The actual story:

https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/news ... march-2022

Following careful consideration and on recommendation of National Records of Scotland, Ministers have informed the Scottish Parliament of their intention to move Scotland’s Census date to March 2022. This reflects the unprecedented impact which COVID-19 is having across a wide range of sectors.

We recognise Scotland’s Census remains more relevant than ever in the current climate, as it allows important planning decisions to be made informed by the make-up of Scotland’s population.

This decision was not taken lightly. However the quality of the census data must remain robust, and by moving to 2022 National Records of Scotland can continue to deliver a census which ensures the highest possible response rate from people across Scotland, to allow government, local authorities and key services plan for every element of public life, from building homes to NHS support.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Hmmm. Wales and England held their census. What's the difference? People are furloughed at home where they would be anyway, aren't they?

It may well be "Historywoman" is talking bollocks. But I'd be surprised if there weren't something plausible she's thinking of. She's not stupid, however unpleasant her tone can be.

[davidjay]

In 2014 I was glad that Scotland voted No. Now I say good luck to them, and if I lived there I'd probably be in favour. Has anyone else changed their mind?

[Arrowhead]

In 2014 I was glad that Scotland voted No. Now I say good luck to them, and if I lived there I'd probably be in favour. Has anyone else changed their mind?

I was of a similar mindset in 2014. I still can't say I actually *want* it to happen, but yeah, good luck to them if they do somehow negotiate an Indyref2. If I lived up there, the events of the past 2-3 years would probably have swung my opinion.

[davidjay]

In 2014 I was glad that Scotland voted No. Now I say good luck to them, and if I lived there I'd probably be in favour. Has anyone else changed their mind?

I was of a similar mindset in 2014. I still can't say I actually *want* it to happen, but yeah, good luck to them if they do somehow negotiate an Indyref2. If I lived up there, the events of the past 2-3 years would probably have swung my opinion.

I agree with you agreeing with me. There's probably a case for another referendum, although the SNP would be wise to hold fire for a couple of years until the shit starts sticking to the fan economy-wise because the next one really will be the last for a generation. While at the moment I wouldn't necessarily want them to become independent based on the then-prospect of Tory rule forever, if I were living there it would be a different matter entirely. And to repeat what I said on the old board, if I was in charge of planning in the border towns I'd already be looking at ways of improving infrastructure and making land available for housing ready to deal with a wave of immigration.

[Bones McCoy]

In 2014 I was glad that Scotland voted No. Now I say good luck to them, and if I lived there I'd probably be in favour. Has anyone else changed their mind?

I can't recall when I crossed over to being Pro independence.
I was certainly on-board by 2014, what with Jim "Henry Jackson Society" Murphy doing the Tory dirty work.
The pledge fronted by Gordon Brown "Stay in to secure extra devo and your place in the EU" soon became a blot on an otherwise honourable man's record.


Whizzing forward to the present, the Tories and SNP have one unspoken common interest.
Both are burning too much gas talking about Indyref 2.

It's frankly too close to call, and liable to be won by the sort of Social media efforts that delivered Brexit.
The SNP would be better off waiting till Brexit turns sour, but obviously cannot say that.
The Tories would be better off granting one now (unless they think they can say No for ever), then throwing the kitchen sink at "Team Union", but obviously they cannot say that.

So we're stuck in this deadly embrace, with both sides seeing a status quo as a means to stoke resentment among their followers.
Sprinkle a bit of Football / Faux Church sectarianism for flavour, and it's far from ideal.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Why was Brown at fault in 2014? He would be expecting Milliband to win the election and do that. How was he supposed to do it?