Dance Off
DISTRESSING news from the Tory conference in Birmingham, where Scottish leader Douglas Ross launched into his polished routine to Atomic Kitten’s Whole Again at the disco. Icky enough, you may think. But seized by the music, and possibly some tequila shots, MSP Russell Findlay enthusiastically joined in, leading to a frenzied dad dancing double act, replete with hip thrusts and other dodgy moves. Our mole says it made Michael Gove’s bleary-eyed raving look quite balletic. The room was dumbstruck.
Good Lord
LUCKILY Shirley-Anne Somerville has a word for it. The SNP Education Secretary blurted out “Jesus!” in the Holyrood chamber recently when Mr Findlay suggested teaching materials were subtly steering pupils towards independence. “Was that the word ‘Jesus’ from the front bench?” he asked as Ms Somerville harrumphed. “I did utter in despair,” she admitted to MSPs, accusing Mr Findlay of talking “utterly desperate” rot. If she really is in despair, she’s always got a friend in You Know Who.
Bags of Mags
WITH Covid-tastic MP Margaret Ferrier doing 270 hours community service for endangering the public with the virus, the SNP are looking for a new candidate in her Rutherglen seat. Unspun hears the favourite is South Lanarkshire councillor Katy Loudon. The only snag is her social media accounts are awash with, er, gushing praise for Ms Ferrier. We particularly liked one from pre-shame 2020, when Ms Ferrier wished Ms Loudon good luck in her bid to become an MSP. “Thanks, Margaret! Learned to campaign from the best,” she tweeted back. Oops.
Yezzz Scotland
AN intriguing freedom of information release reveals the popularity of Nicola Sturgeon’s second independence prospectus. The FM kicked off the Building a New Scotland series in June with “Independence in the Modern World”. Just 200 copies were printed and distributed. The next bit, Renewing Democracy through Independence, came along in July. Again 200 copies were printed, but 92 remain on the shelf “and will be distributed when requested”. With such modest demand, it’s almost as if folk don’t think Indyref2 is real.
Home groaners
GRITTED teeth at Holyrood this week as MSPs rammed through a Bill to freeze rents and ban evictions, infuriating many landlords. Unspun wonders how it went down with the SNP’s own rentier class. Annabelle Ewing and Ivan McKee declare rental income of up to £15k a year, Colin Beattie up to £25k, and Michelle Thomson up to £30k. Fergus Ewing and Michael Matheson are also collecting nicely. And not forgetting East Lothian MSP Paul McLennan, who charges his own parents-in-law up to £5k a year to rent out his gaffe in Dunbar. What a saint. Pointing to the Nat benches, Tory Jamie Green joked: “I feel like the odd one out, because I have no interests to declare in relation to rental properties.”
Clap happy
THE Bill involved a marathon Stage 2 sitting on Wednesday, with more than 100 amendments tabled. It fell to Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton to speak to the final one. He said: “Members will be pleased to hear that I have been slashing my remarks, taking out paragraphs left, right and centre.” The Official Report then records “Applause”. ACH sighed: “What you have to do to get a clap in this place - I don’t know.”
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