The Mess We're In : The government won't tell the truth and voters won't hear the truth either.
open.substack.com/pub/alexmass...
@alexmassie.bsky.social
Columnist for The Times and The Sunday Times, specialising in Scottish affairs. Also, co-host of The Ponsonby & Massie podcast, available on all pod-platforms.
The Mess We're In : The government won't tell the truth and voters won't hear the truth either.
open.substack.com/pub/alexmass...
It hasnβt rained for a month. Which means it is time, once again, for βScotlandβ, by Alastair Reid.
13.05.2025 18:29 β π 52 π 9 π¬ 2 π 0S.T.R.A.M.A.S.H
05.05.2025 09:44 β π 14 π 1 π¬ 4 π 0At least you have a train! Two in fact. My Waverley line train just didnβt appear.
04.05.2025 13:26 β π 3 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0The ruling determines what the law IS and, indeed, what it has always BEEN.
01.05.2025 18:13 β π 58 π 3 π¬ 3 π 0Though, yes, getting out the way he did allows for a small uptick in legacy considerations etc.
29.04.2025 12:26 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Sure, but hard to look back on his time in office as a success?
29.04.2025 12:25 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Possibly! Then again, I think it's also fair to say that in every single other scenario that is even vaguely possible, the liberals would have merited a thorough defenestration...
29.04.2025 12:20 β π 4 π 0 π¬ 2 π 0This "people will kill themselves" blackmail is increasingly popular (now seen in multiple policy areas) and utterly disgraceful.
28.04.2025 12:01 β π 36 π 6 π¬ 5 π 1Pretty sure Edinburgh has above average productivity too.
27.04.2025 19:13 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Not at all. And if it is an extreme example it is nevertheless one I encountered on the Glasgow-Edinburgh train a few weeks ago.
24.04.2025 14:51 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0This is madness. No way we can trust Ohio State with nuclear weapons.
24.04.2025 14:50 β π 9 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0When βSorryβ is the impossible word.
www.thetimes.com/article/6b46...
Well, yes, and there are plenty of others who might do well to do likewise. I mean, John Swinney was saying that of course men can't get pregnant in the same week his government was arguing in court they can and do.
23.04.2025 11:28 β π 7 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0The Vindication of Women. open.substack.com/pub/alexmass...
22.04.2025 18:21 β π 54 π 15 π¬ 7 π 1The Vindication of Women. open.substack.com/pub/alexmass...
22.04.2025 18:21 β π 54 π 15 π¬ 7 π 1Please purchase and report back.
22.04.2025 11:59 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Good lord, hasnβt even California suffered enough?
21.04.2025 19:17 β π 85 π 11 π¬ 4 π 2This is extraordinary given the ideological diversity of the participants.
21.04.2025 12:21 β π 66 π 18 π¬ 5 π 1A respectable sweet spot.
21.04.2025 15:34 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Some, but there are lots who only mouth the words. If you force them to declare whether a TW is just the same as their mother/wife/sister etc then they go rather quiet. Deep down they donβt actually believe it.
21.04.2025 12:35 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Five days after FWS vs Scottish ministers & far too many people still need to be reminded that the govt position was that quotas for women could be filled by men. How can that be anything other than marginalising, downgrading, even erasing, women?
21.04.2025 12:29 β π 40 π 4 π¬ 3 π 0as soon as someone attributes an opinion/ attitude to an entire jurisdiction (the people of this town βcherish their way of lifeβ) you can stop reading
19.04.2025 21:34 β π 242 π 8 π¬ 14 π 0Classic Guardian correction
19.04.2025 14:21 β π 218 π 34 π¬ 13 π 7Longstanding peeve: I do wish people citing Teddy Roosevelt like this understood that βbullyβ in βbully pulpitβ means βvery goodβ.
18.04.2025 16:33 β π 5 π 0 π¬ 5 π 1Interesting, perhaps, but of zero legal or statutory relevance. However expert, the views of a policy official about what a law is βintendedβ to be are as nothing when set beside the ruling of judges who determine what it actually *is*.
18.04.2025 16:13 β π 26 π 2 π¬ 6 π 0I for one am glad that attacking court judgments seems to be socially acceptable again among people who used to give very tedious lectures on the subject.
18.04.2025 15:13 β π 42 π 3 π¬ 1 π 1To some degree, yes. The national question is quiet, Swinney & Sarwar ware each decent people. The govt is trying to avoid starting fires. Dullness is considered a virtue. Bad for newspaper columnists; better for the country.
18.04.2025 14:58 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 3 π 0Straight Outta the Cevennes.
17.04.2025 21:10 β π 7 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Every time Iβm in Paris I have to bring back a couple of cartons of Gitanes (sans filtre, of course) for the old man as they are NO LONGER SOLD in the UK. Heβs 86 and takes the view toasted tobacco is significantly less carcinogenic. And even it it ainβt, so what?
17.04.2025 20:51 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0