Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Sheilbh]

I'm not saying things are bad for him - but I keep seeing Liz Truss brought up about his leadership

[Josquius]

I'm not saying things are bad for him - but I keep seeing Liz Truss brought up about his leadership

Really unfair. Surely more Theresa May?

[Syt]

I'm not saying things are bad for him - but I keep seeing Liz Truss brought up about his leadership

Really unfair. Surely more Theresa May?

Still one of the best Andy Serkis characters.

[Sheilbh]

Not an ideal headline or sentence for a new leader (From the Herald political editor:

Tom Gordon
@HTScotPol
Yousaf: I don't believe SNP is criminal operation

https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/23463304.humza-yousaf-dont-believe-snp-operating-criminally/

[Sheilbh]

On SNP, I hadn't clocked this but with Beattie's arrest that means that two of the three people who sign off the party accounts have now been arrested (CEO, Party Treasurer) - the only signatory (who has not been arrested yet) is Sturgeon as party leader.

[HVC]

Give it time. 3 for 3 isn't a far off bet.

[Tamas]

The no-impact of Brexit continues as Western Europe's only non-EU member solidly establishes the highest inflation in the region:

[Sheilbh]

Report in the Times that senior SNP figures fear Sturgeon's arrest is imminent.

We'll see if it happens but it seems pretty likely from everything I've read and I imagine they're starting briefing now to try and get ahead of things.

[Tamas]

Report in the Times that senior SNP figures fear Sturgeon's arrest is imminent.

We'll see if it happens but it seems pretty likely from everything I've read and I imagine they're starting briefing now to try and get ahead of things.

Latest Guardian reporting I have seen was "arrest of main financial guy of party inconveniences new leader's speech" lol yeah unjustly stealing the spotlight from a speech is the main takeaway from that.

EDIT: just checked and "Arrest of SNP treasurer overshadows Humza Yousaf's policy relaunch" is still the last coverage on this, well hidden as one of 20 small-print headlines on the UK subpage, well clear of front page coverage.

I wonder if a Guardian owner has business relations with one of the SNP people or something.

[mongers]

Report in the Times that senior SNP figures fear Sturgeon's arrest is imminent.

We'll see if it happens but it seems pretty likely from everything I've read and I imagine they're starting briefing now to try and get ahead of things.

Latest Guardian reporting I have seen was "arrest of main financial guy of party inconveniences new leader's speech" lol yeah unjustly stealing the spotlight from a speech is the main takeaway from that.

EDIT: just checked and "Arrest of SNP treasurer overshadows Humza Yousaf's policy relaunch" is still the last coverage on this, well hidden as one of 20 small-print headlines on the UK subpage, well clear of front page coverage.

I wonder if a Guardian owner has business relations with one of the SNP people or something.

Scotland just isn't that important?

[Tamas]

Sure but this seems like a scandal of unprecedented scale.

I wonder how long it will take for the SNP radicals to declare this an effort to jail pro-independence leaders.

[Sheilbh]

EDIT: just checked and "Arrest of SNP treasurer overshadows Humza Yousaf's policy relaunch" is still the last coverage on this, well hidden as one of 20 small-print headlines on the UK subpage, well clear of front page coverage.

I wonder if a Guardian owner has business relations with one of the SNP people or something.

The Guardian is owned by the Scott Trust - a billion pound trust fund that exists to fund the Guardian "in perpetuity: as a quality national newspaper without party affiliation; remaining faithful to its liberal tradition; as a profit-seeking enterprise managed in an efficient and cost-effective manner".

And the Trust board are broadly made up of the great and good of liberal society. I believe the current chair is former chair of a big Scandi media group (and professor at Columbia). Other members include David Olusoga (who I'm a big fan of); Emily Bell who is another Columbia journalism professor; the CEO of NPR who also teaches at Columbia (); Mary Ann Sieghart (formerly of the BBC, the Times and the Independent); Matthew Ryder who is a barrister and deputy Mayor for Social Inclusion (also done report on race with David Lammy and a book on Black British lives with Sir Lenny Henry); Stuart Proffitt who's a non-fiction publisher (he founded the Baillie Gifford Prize for non-fiction); a civil society activist for responsible investment etc.

I don't think there's any conflict with the Guardian's "owner" or their board. I think it' still most likely that I'm not sure they've got enough or the right reporters in Scotland. If there's an editorial angle I wonder if it is, in part, just their readers. I love John Harris but you listen to his podcast and he's broadly pro-independence for Scotland (despite living in Dorset) and I think that's probably not an uncommon position for Guardian readers.

I wonder how long it will take for the SNP radicals to declare this an effort to jail pro-independence leaders.

I'm not sure that'll happen. Not least because I think the radical/fundamentalist wing of the independence movement are generally not fans of Sturgeon anyway. The worst I've seen was a "senior SNP figure" complaining to the media that the timing of Beattie's arrest just before Yousaf's "reset" speech "stinks" - which is true, but misses the point.

I think they need to do something to make a very clear break with Sturgeon and her team.

Speaking of which, minor scandal brewing in Scotland on top of this, that Beattie and Murrell are still SNP members in good standing and have not been suspended. Yousaf's defending this as "innocent until proven guilty" which again I think misses the point that party membership isn't really the same as criminal proceedings. Suggests there won't be a clean break any time soon though.

[garbon]

Yesterday there were several articles on the SNP but they seem to have disappeared today with focus on Rishi.

[Sheilbh]

I've accidentally become very invested in the Greggs v Westminster City Council planning battle Send help (or a vegan sausage roll).

[Legbiter]

(or a vegan sausage roll).

It actually exists.