In the red
WEIRD news arrives of Scottish Labour’s election finances. We hear the party was so deluded, it actually outspent the SNP in Edinburgh East and Edinburgh North & Leith. Nats Tommy Sheppard and Deidre Brock duly gained votes, Labour went backwards. The next accounts will be a hoot. Meanwhile, the messiest candidate return - printed at the wrong angle, no invoices etc - belonged to Nat Sarah Masson in Edinburgh West. Perhaps her agent should have been more diligent. He was, after all, only city council leader Adam McVey.
Double barrel
SO farewell then, Fergus Mutch. The SNP’s affable spindoctor is leaving Holyrood next week - Fergexit, as he calls it - and is planning a drinks bash. It’s a popular idea. Tory Scottish Secretary Alister Jack is having drinks for the media at exactly the same time, leaving hacks with a dilemma about where to sink a pint. “It’s typical of the political class,” grumbles one. “For years they can’t organise a p***-up in a brewery, then two come along at once.”
Spin cycle
TALKING of spindoctors, LibDem Max Sefton couldn’t resist a pop at a Labour counterpart in the Holyrood bar on Thursday. As everyone talked about Richard Leonard’s legendary PFI misfire at FMQs, Max suggested the Scottish Labour leader may have been getting some poisoned advice. “So did Anas Sarwar or Jackie Baillie write that question?” he asked. Mr Leonard’s heart-broken supporter was genuinely lost for words.
Lunar raver
ALSO in the bar last week was Lanarkshire SNP MSP Richard Lyle, universally known as Salty Dick after once claiming a bag of chips on expenses. As well as a bon viveur, it seems Mr Lyle is also a conspiracy buff. After repeatedly asking BBC political guru Brian Taylor who really killed JFK, Salty moved onto the moon landings, noting not everyone believed in them. At which Brian swiftly shut the mad conversation down. Then again, why visit the moon when you have Lanarkshire?
Naw bags
ALLAN Dorans, new Nat MP for Ayr, tried appealing to the better side of human nature in his maiden speech this week. Classic rookie mistake! He paid tribute to his Tory predecessor in the seat. “Bill Grant and I were councillors together. We agreed we would work together collaboratively for the benefit of our constituents and not along political lines - perhaps a model that could be followed by others.” At which an SNP colleague scoffed and let out a loud “Naw!” We’re looking at you, Chris Stephens.
Island life
MUCH muttering in the Yes ranks ahead of Nicola Sturgeon’s ‘next steps’ speech. One of those plugging a Plan B on Indyref2, Inverclyde councillor Chris McEleny, put out a press release saying he hoped the FM would be “radical”. In doing so, he gave a nod to his fellow Plan B-er, Angus MacNeil, describing him as the MP for the “Western Aisles”. You can always tell if aisles are in the Western Isles because there’s no dancing in them.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel