grateful as ever to the National for highlighting the important and impactful work @theseislands.bsky.social is doing to inform the constitutional debate - if you would like to support our ongoing efforts, you can donate to these Islands here > www.these-islands.co.uk/funding/d5/

a masterclass in rhetorical deception

1. that a big new wind farm “could” be built has nothing to do with current electricity bills

2. Scotland is a “renewables superpower” because the “Westminster run” energy market offers price guarantees to wind farm developers (which impact all GB bill payers)

whole lot of tension on social media comes from the fact, imo, that the Very Online are either 1) people who love The World and other people so much that IRL isn't enough and they must socialise on the computer as well 2) people who hate The World and other people IRL and only want the computer

Who would have guessed that someone for whom all business and legal negotiation is based on bluff and bluster would have had nothing other than bluff and bluster in international affairs.

Keir Starmer’s statement is an exercise in saying as little as humanly possible. It’s three uncontentious general statements followed by a restatement of the existing UK position.

Yes, it’s not a condemnation of the USA’s actions, sure. But it’s not the endorsement some are claiming it is, either.

kindly: what the everliving fuck

‘He just told me lies to have sex with a teenage girl’: Natalie Fleet MP on grooming, statutory rape and fighting back At 15, she began seeing an older man and conceived her beloved daughter. It was years before she properly understood it as abuse. Now she is working tirelessly in parliament for other survivors

“At 15, she began seeing an older man and conceived her beloved daughter. It was years before she properly understood it as abuse. Now she is working tirelessly in parliament for other survivors.”

Thanks Anna Moore for telling my story so sensitively.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Indeed. I thought the article was perfectly nice,witty and with quintessential understatement.

I would also suggest that *especially* Americans should avoid the flat roofed variety of pubs.

Tremendous

😬😬

“Can we talk?”

Was it the elderly hedgehogs trying to cross the road that was the first heartbreak?

Did a wee stint with @hannahbardell.bsky.social on GMS this morning talking about the by-election result and what it means for Scottish politics. Felt it important to remind folk aghast at the 7000 Reform votes that a million Scots voted Leave in 2016 and have been completely ignored ever since.

trying to think of an alternate universe where women in musk/trump positions would have a soap opera fight

Thrilled to see one such example talking about how a by-election win for ‘the governing party’ is very good news for them, which is of course true but suffers from the fact that Labour are not the governing party in this context.

If you are a Westminster-based analyst who has paid no heed to Scotland since 2014, please, I beseech you, there is no need to change that pattern today.

Kate Watson is going to get this framed for her office.

And this guy isn’t off the hook yet either.

!!!!! Absolutely *phenomenal*. Every inch of credit goes to the Scottish labour ground operation,which truly is something to behold.

Dept Q is great. Highly recommend. Hope there will be a good few more seasons to come!

AP MSP Ash Regan: "you cannot possibly drive prostitution underground. If you had women in underground cellars with a locked door, how would punters get to them?"

Thank you so much, @heraldscotland.bsky.social, for making this into a graphic

This is quite a Trumpian way to thank Whitmer for appearing at multiple events with him, despite the extensive blowback she got from Democrats for doing so.

Trump will *always* stab you in the back.

Also it’s a dreadful term that sorts the world into (default) white and everyone else, which is takes the problems with “ethnic minority” (which is at least factual as applied nationally) and projects them globally.

It is a bad term on the merits.

Britain’s defeated Tory MPs struggle to adjust to civilian life Support for fallen politicians is patchy and inconsistent, which could deter would-be legislators from entering the political arena.

Former Tory MPs asking for a better safety net for when they lose jobs/go through big life changes they aren’t prepared for.

I mean…

www.politico.eu/article/brit...

Sectarianism in Scottish politics. Can't imagine this.

And, frankly, vice versa.

I try to be neutral on criminal liability for speech acts. I think sentences are too inflated generally.

But there is a lot clapping and cheering when the law bites the “other side” and outrage when it bites your “own side”.

Ah yes

I thought the dog was called Poppy?