REMAINER Ruth Davidson has made no secret of opposing a hard Brexit. But what does she really think of Leave voters? Addressing the New Town’s red trouser brigade at the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Scottish Tory leader admitted: “I don’t know who coined the phrase, ‘The people have made their choice, the bastards’, but I have to say the morning after Brexit that was a phrase that might have been on my mind.” There goes her chance of leading the UK Tories, then.
NOT that he reads his press coverage obsessively, but former Labour spindoctor Alan Roden has pointed out an error in last week’s coverage of his new alanroden.com website. For reasons unknown, this was misspelled, and thus readers were deprived of the breathless blurb about his skills in “communications, media and public affairs”. We are happy to set the record straight. So please visit analrodent.com for all your PR needs.
TALKING of PR gurus, this week is the last for Scottish LibDem campaign director Adam Stachura, who is off to work for a charity. Some would say another charity. Though only 33, Stachura has been in the party so long he and his mentor Ming Campbell used to banter by fax. The affection he inspires is remarkable. “The mind of a geek but the mouth of a Glasgow fishwife,” says one ex-staffer fondly. When he signed up for a sponsored abseil, the Liberal Democrat Voice website ran the headline: “Fancy seeing Adam Stachura dangling on a rope?” That’s affectionate, right?
TALES of the Stachura management style are legion. Besides designating Friday 4pm whisky o’clock, he would also strafe party organisers with Nerf guns at LibDem HQ in Edinburgh. There was also his misguided pact with a colleague that each time they crossed the Forth Road Bridge they would go for a burger. Then along came a pair of back-to-back Holyrood by-elections in Fife and they turned into a couple of porkers.
THERE’S also the time he removed a drunken hack’s shoelaces after a conference night out; split his pants lifting a printer at conference and soldiered on all day despite the risk of an ugly escape; and masterminded a fleeting leadership campaign for former MP Alan Reid with the slogan “I feel the need, the need for Reid”, which somehow made it as far as promotional mugs. We’re sure Adam’s crazy times will continue at Age Scotland.
THIS week’s resignations at Creative Scotland over funding cuts remind us of art’s indelible impact on the soul. Like Edinburgh SNP MSP Ben Macpherson reading his epic poem “To the Undecided: Should Scotland Become an Independent Country?” for instance. Top stanzas include: “Now, Devo Max may be attractive / But it won’t be enough / It won’t keep us out of wars we disagree with / Or such other awful stuff.” By the end of the full eight minute version at http://tiny.cc/pleasestop we’re sure you’ll agree it’s unforgettable too.
GLASGOW Tory MSP Annie Wells lost her voice in a debate on Tuesday, forcing colleague Alison Harris to deliver her speech for her. Ms Harris batted away requests for interventions: “Sorry, I’m just reading this on behalf of Annie Wells.” Afterwards, Nat deputy PO Christine Grahame observed slyly: “Getting somebody else to read your speech is actually a good way to avoid being challenged - I’ll remember that one.”
THE fiery Ms Grahame also gave Transport Minister Humza Yousaf repeated grief over road and rail services in her Midlothian seat. After biffing him one day about rail, the next she bashed him about a dangerous roundabout. It is “known to cyclists as the meat grinder”, she said menacingly, as if Mr Yousaf might end up in one unless there were swift improvements.
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