Won’t someone spare a wee thought for Scottish Labour?
After losing not one, but two, council by-elections to the SNP in Dundee last week they were straight out to blame Westminster Labour for their humbling defeats.
It was that lot down in London who took money from your granny just as we approach winter, and just as energy bills shoot up by another 10%.
It was that lot down in London who voted to keep children in poverty by keeping the Tory two-child benefit cap firmly in place.
It was that lot down in London who promised ‘change’ but are now telling you that ‘things are going to get worse’, whilst cutting about in £32,000 of new clothes and specs.
Nothing to do with Scottish Labour. It’s just not fair, and not their fault.
See, the only problem is that the Scottish people aren’t daft. They know that at every turn Scottish Labour have chosen to back the actions and decisions of UK Labour.
Their policies and decisions have fewer bigger champions than Anas Sarwar himself. The man who promised that Westminster Labour would bring down energy bills, protect pensioners and lift kids out of poverty.
Not to mention his now infamous declaration to read his lips, because there would be no austerity under Labour. Aye Anas, tell that to Betty when she can’t afford to turn the heating on this winter.
The crocodile tears of Scottish Labour will fool nobody, and they know it.
All that’s actually happening is simply what always happens. Their Westminster Labour masters tell them to jump, and the Labour lot in Scotland let out an excited squeal of ‘how high’. A bit like a bottle of Jack Daniels, some things never change. Or do they?
Will the new band of Labour MPs from Scotland recognise the road that they are on and take a left-turn? Will they stand up for Scotland’s interests rather than Sir Keir Starmer’s? Will Anas Sarwar find the guts to tell Labour in London they are wrong?
Actually, on second thoughts, some things really will never change. And for those of us in the SNP it’s a timely reminder of why our role is so important. Because unlike the Labour Party we take our orders from just one group, and that’s the Scottish people.
It’s been a few years now, but it was the SNP who broke that cosy consensus between Westminster and Scottish Labour. The establishment and their bag-carriers.
But it’s not enough for the SNP to reflect on the past, and simply hope that the Scottish people turn their noses up at a return to the dire and dreich days of Labour and Lib Dem rule prior to 2007.
No, we need to offer something much more valuable: purpose and hope. A Government that is trusted to get the big decisions right and which treats its politics with the calm seriousness that the public demand.
Nobody can reasonably argue that there is anyone in Holyrood better placed than John Swinney to do just that.
Whilst Sir Starmer has been drowning in his latest Armani suit, Swinney’s SNP have been calmly striking pay deals with the NHS, delivering funding for new homes and just the other day delivered the Adult Disability Payment to its 200,000th recipient.
A benefit delivered free from the crude private sector involvement that Westminster loves.
And as Swinney makes his mark with that calm attention to detail the public deserve, attention will slowly turn to what the SNP will offer the public in the run up to 2026.
If the hope for a better future can be found, the recipe for success will be complete.
NEVER FORGET OCTOBER 7th
Today marks a year since the horrific terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel, and what unfolded on 7 October 2023 will forever be etched in the minds of Jewish people across the world.
Late last year I was invited to view unedited and unpublished footage of what happened that day. Footage from terrorist body cameras, footage from CCTV, footage from digital doorbells.
I did so in the company of families directly involved. It was harrowing and, as I write this, my mind is immediately drawn to a Dad desperately trying to save his two young children.
A great deal has happened since that day. Hell has rained down on civilians in Gaza and now the Middle East stands on the brink of a regional conflict the world can barely comprehend. Peace and stability have rarely seemed so far away.
And today, as with every day, we must not forget the terror that was inflicted upon Jewish civilians. The largest atrocity since the Holocaust itself. And, I am afraid that for many that terror continues to this day with Hamas still holding hostage their loved ones.
Scotland’s most famous son put it best when he wrote that man’s inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn.
TORIES ARE A BAD JOKE
I know I shouldn’t have. Morbid curiosity got the better of me.
So, I did what so few others will have been daft enough to even consider, and watched the potential Tory Leaders at their party conference. T
he discussion seemed to focus on who hated migrants the most, who wanted to remove human rights the quickest, and who could make the worst joke.
The audience looked slightly sleepy and lost. A bit like their new Leader in Scotland at his first FMQs outing. Is this really the best they can do? Either way, it’s exactly what they deserve.