[Andy McDandy]

But what could be more Scottish than skirts for everyone?

[Yug]

Maybe that Alba twatt* hasn't considered that people might not be intending to vote leave just yet because under the next government (Lab) Scotland will suddenly become a lot better off.


*In England, many surnames relate to what the ancestors were at the time, Carter, Fletcher, Wainwright for e.g., or where they came from : Sir Nigel Gresley (Church Gresley, Derbys), Chris, Liam and Luke Hemsworth (Hemsworth, W Yorks) etc. What McEleny's ancestors may have been or where they were from I leave as an exercise for the reader.

[Youngian]

Carter if you made carts, fletcher if you made arrows, thatcher if you made people sick.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The Man from Alba, with another hot take.

On balance, the likelihood of the Greens going into a conclave with the Unionist parties and agreeing on a Unionist First Minister seem pretty small.

[MisterMuncher]

Maybe that Alba twatt* hasn't considered that people might not be intending to vote leave just yet because under the next government (Lab) Scotland will suddenly become a lot better off.


*In England, many surnames relate to what the ancestors were at the time, Carter, Fletcher, Wainwright for e.g., or where they came from : Sir Nigel Gresley (Church Gresley, Derbys), Chris, Liam and Luke Hemsworth (Hemsworth, W Yorks) etc. What McEleny's ancestors may have been or where they were from I leave as an exercise for the reader.

Being one of them Irish types, it would be Son Of the Servant of the Saint. (Mac Giolla Na Naomh)

[Tubby Isaacs]

Salmond already angling for a convention. Doubtless with himself on the top table like he represents a party with actual voters.

[Abernathy]

I was just wondering whether the Alba Party is in any position to benefit from the SNP skip-fire. Salmond was on TeeVee last night having to deny schadenfreude.

Obviously I hope not, and that Labour may instead be the beneficiary, to the extent that it might signal much needed Labour gains in Scotland at the general election.

With Sarwar's capable hands on the Scottish Labour leadership tiller, the polling appears to suggest that this may be the case.

[Youngian]

If Salmond enjoys a revival it’s because voters have decided everyone’s at it so none of it matters. That’ll be the SNP’s legacy.

[Tubby Isaacs]

This is like something one of those Proudfoot people would try with Labour. I know seats can be lost by small margins, but I reckon Alba will get very few votes when up against the SNP, and that they'd put off a lot of voters if they had a clear run.

[mattomac]

There is every chance they would lose it anyhow.

[Tubby Isaacs]

It would help Labour if Alba took a load of support of the SNP, but not even I'm cynical enough to want that.

This is complete rubbish. There are various adjustments agreed to the Barnett Formula. Funnily enough the SNP didn't sign up to one saying "Want to fund public services with the block grant? That means the grant goes down".

"The question is why they did this", he adds darkly elsewhere. He'll probably follow that with "The question is why the media aren't reporting this".

[Tubby Isaacs]

Alba have a new and not particularly surprising member.

[Tubby Isaacs]

And one of the very worst nationalist MPs weighs in behind Regan.

What on earth is the opposite to "administering cuts" in this context? This used to be a position on the Labour left, where some people seemed to think Mrs Thatcher was going to say "Ah, now you mention it, I'll set a completely different budget". Actually she (via Patrick Jenkin) did do that once, in the context of Liverpool, but it wasn't a general thing. The alternative of raising rates was done by some other councils, but that was of limited popularity, to say the least.

What's Angus proposing here? "Primarily"? So it does administer the cuts after all, but just spends more time talking about independence. No change there then.

[Abernathy]

A serious question, here. What is the actual difference between the SNP and Alba ?

Anybody ?

[Tubby Isaacs]

Alba are basically the SNP except "gender critical" and with no responsibility for anything, so more abe to avoid difficult questions.

[Youngian]

Alba is Salmond’s vanity project.

[Abernathy]

So, no difference at all then, in reality. Both parties’ entire raison d’etre is an independent Scottish state.

I have seen it said that the SNP exists to win seats in the Holyrood elections, while Alba is there to fill up the List MSPs.

[Bones McCoy]

Alba is Salmond’s vanity project.

I was gonna suggest that Alba is the SNP if Jimmy McCorbyn is still leader.

[Tubby Isaacs]

So, no difference at all then, in reality. Both parties’ entire raison d’etre is an independent Scottish state.

I have seen it said that the SNP exists to win seats in the Holyrood elections, while Alba is there to fill up the List MSPs.

The Greens have always fulfilled that role. Maybe the two parties will get further apart. So far it’s been a nice racket to get extra seats for basically the same voters.

[The Weeping Angel]

She was testing chairs