mark robinson

The BBC had a special SNP leadership Debate Night with a hostile audience in 2023. Impartiality obliges it do the same for the Scottish leadership contest with an equally hostile audience. Retweet if you agree.

Why are so many Scottish political journalists apparently shocked that Anas Sarwar has gone back on his word not to accept a peerage? He's been an unprincipled charlatan and habitual liar for years. Literally nothing he says can be believed.

Anas Sarwar "The House of Lords, in its current form, as an institution has no place in 21st-century politics. It is unacceptable, and has been for far too long, to have unelected representatives wielding such power."

What we've witnessed these last few days is an exhibition of what loathing does to people. The witch hunt against Nicola Sturgeon goes beyond mere political difference. Those who've taken part in it and indulged it couldn't handle the fact she was cleared. We recall their abject disappointment when it was formally announced. Joanna Cherry's angry insistence that the former FM wasn't cleared, she was only not prosecuted, was embarrassing. It was indicative of a seething bitterness that encompasses almost the entire media. Swinney's remarkable victory in the Holyrood election added to their frustration. Murrell's admission of guilt denied them their last hope which was a lengthy trial with dirty laundry aired. They craved Sturgeon in the witness box. That's why they exploded in an orgy of smear, innuendo and yes, misogyny. They could never beat her. She won every election she led the party into. She left on her own terms. They hate that about her and they know they can't do anything about it.

Good. The biggest pro-Indy majority Holyrood has ever seen. Turnout bigger than 2011. The SNP winning more seats than all of the Unionist parties combined. Yes, Starmer will refuse, but it exposes the BritNat colonial arrogance which will eventually be broken by the democratic will of the Scottish people.

The noteworthy thing about Wes Streeting's dismissal of Scottish democracy isn't that he said it, it's been said before by BritNats, but the Scottish media's indifferent response. These neo-colonial put downs should be debated. They should be analysed. They should be the subject of documentaries and the focus of news headlines. They should be condemned. Instead they're just parroted as though a legitimate position for a Westminster Govt in a so-called voluntary Union. Interviewers taunt the SNP with "What ya going to do about it eh?" Scots are being told their political views are limited to what English MPs limit them to. It's arguably the biggest democratic outrage in the UK since women were denied the vote.

When Anas Sarwar's FM hopes go up in smoke next month, as they surely will, folk will wonder how someone with the whole media behind him for four years could fail so utterly. Here's why ... The SNP was dead and buried after Nicola Sturgeon resigned. Branchform and naïve political decisions had made sure of it. This is where Sarwar started to go wrong. Instead of crafting an image of himself as statesmanlike, accepting humility and willing to compromise, he became over-confident and began to gloat. He mistook the fawning behaviour of the anti-SNP media for public approval ... which he had yet to earn. Hubris took hold and with it a preponderance for smearing and arrogance. Bad decisions and scandals were glossed over by a friendly media. Gaffs and blunders suppressed. The impunity meant he never learned. Believing he could do no wrong and was destined to become FM, he grew rude and boorish when pressed on awkward issues. He aligned himself to Starmer for no good reason and became a hostage to fortune. The SNP was always going to recover. Sarwar however wasn't prepared. He has squandered years as he played FM in waiting to a friendly BritNat media who craved such a scenario. Look at Sarwar now. No principles. No policies. No dignity. An approval rating of minus twenty nine and falling. A legacy of gloating, smearing and lying. He was never FM material. Unfortunately for him, the public know it now.

Two major apologies from Sarwar in the run up to the Holyrood election. Both stories were given minimal coverage by BBC Scotland then swiftly dropped. If John Swinney had made two embarrassing blunders within a matter of weeks he'd be crucified by BBC Scotland.

Some folk don't realise just how compromised BBC Scotland has become these days. The station *will definitely* go after the SNP. It'll use every resource at its disposal. It'll circulate smears, protect Sarwar, create its own news, rig debates, platform social media groups, pass off known Unionists as impartial, promote political front pages, headline 'think tank' claims, exploit emotional subjects, resurrect the gender war and adopt different approaches when interviewing politicians.