Trogdor

Her answer on same sex marriage was interesting. She said she would have voted against it. However, she likened it to Angela Merkel who brought forward the vote on same sex marriage in Germany and voted with her conscience (against) but implemented the policy as it was the will of the parliament. Clip is here: https://twitter.com/C4Ciaran/status/1627745647356006400?s=20

Live from Forbes Campaign team...

I'm pretty certain you can vote more than once. Rendering this even more useless than a normal online poll.

Mhairi Black its your time. We need you!

I was quoting from ITV but she has also given an interview with the BBC where it seems she went a bit further and said she wouldn't have voted for it, in its current form:

I had mentioned a few days ago that Mandy Rhodes (who edits the Holyrood magazine) had mentioned that the challenge to Section 35 would be quietly binned by the SG. With party figures thinking it was a mistake to fight it in the courts. Forbes position will now test that assertion. I'm not convinced party members will accept that tbh. This is going to test the support of the GRR in the party and could get quite messy. Edit - I just read what she said and it's not explicity opposed to the GRR:

You beat me to it. I'd argue its even lazier to accuse people with concerns of knicker wetting. We have been pretty crap for three months. That's about as far away from fine as it can be I'd suggest. The other week we had someone suggesting we clap the owner and manager for the progess the club had made. Yesterday we had someone claim this was one of our best ever seasons despite only being 2/3rds of the way through it. It could well be a great season but we're not there yet. No-one wants us to fail btw, we all support the club. Blind faith in the manager is all well and good but criticising fans for moaning about abject performances and coming out with drivel about how good we've got it is on a par with McCall's mantra "Remember where we were when I took over!". It can get in the sea. Let's hope the manager and the players can get it right in the next 12 games. This could still be a very special season. Surely we can agree on that?

I'd imagine if more than two stand it will be a preference vote (ie. You rank the candidates 1,2,3,4. If your number one is knocked out your vote is transferred to your second choice and so on). Otherwise the winner would be elected with less than 50% of the vote which could damage their credibility wrt. mandate from the membership.

Objecticely you are right. It has been a good season so far... there is still a third of it to go. However, performances have been crap for about three months now with the couple of good wins over Cove papering over the cracks. It just feels like we are only going one way and our manager is wedded to one dimensional hoofball. Here's hoping it changes on Friday.

For the uninitiated, what's the difference?

Forbes did sign a letter to the Scotsman in 2020 suggesting that the Scottish government not rush the gender recognition reform. I'm not sure that meets the bar though. You could argue that she was right given where we've landed. She also hasn't disclosed her position on gay marriage to date. I'm not sure about her position on abortion. However, these are easy questions to ask at hustings. I remember Tim Farron got similar treatment when he was leader of the Lib Dems. He actually found it too difficult to reconcile his faith with leading the Lib Dems (that's perhaps an over simplification on my part).

If Gus doesn't run, is Humza the continuity candidate?

Nah Musonda is better than Reading there. He even got forward as well when he was in there. Frankie is class, I actually think you could play him anywhere tbh.

Would the limited field prompt someone at Westminster chucking their hat in the ring? Mhairi Black I'm looking at you, after your intervention on tacking to the right (which looked like a rejection of Forbes). I still think an MP could win the vote and then engineer a space or call a Scottish election (by not nominating an FM when Sturgeon resigns). I suspect its unlikely but you did ask about a dark horse.

In reality, one of our best ever seasons? We've still got a third of it to play! Nothing has been achieved yet and on current form we're only heading one way.

I think you could make a good argument for absolutism being the cause of that aberration as well.

When is Murdoch due back?

There really is no outstanding candidate is there?

Aye, this is the way.

Live from Lee Bullen's brain during the match...

Are some suggesting that being religious should disbar you from being FM? I'm not sure that's the Scotland any of us should want. If you are a religious politician there will always be matters of conscience that cause significant self reflection. I'll be interested to see how Forbes addresses the issue of her religion. She is also not the only religious candidate. With being on maternity leave she missed the GRA, you can guarantee every candidate will be asked about it by the media and at hustings. Is Forbes definitley going to stand?

I've had time to reflect and I'm still raging. What a missed opportunity this season could turn out to be. We are effectively a one man team because of the dreadful tactics of our manager. Without Dipo we'd be fucked. Teams have clocked that and have two men on him routinely. Whilst we continually shell the ball in Dipo's general direction. Whilst the players need to take their share of the blame, I can only assume Bullen was happy with the first half performance given he sent the same team back out playing the same fucking way. As others have said, Thistle's midfield three of Docherty, Bannigan & Turner is probably the strongest in the league and we had Dempsey & Smith in there. They weren't even chasing shadows as they never got that close to Thistle's midfielders who seemed to have time and space anywhere on the pitch. An utterly rancid performance. I am sick of watching awful football at Somerset. I'm not asking us to play like Barcelona, I just want some high tempo, a bit of pressing and not shelling it long all the time. Is that too much to ask? The subs improved things and we upped the tempo but why did it take so long? I'm well and truly back on the fence with Bullen. We have decent players who are being hamstrung by some horrendous tactics. Mullin has all but disappeared as the ball is shelled over his head and he can only watch the aimless punts. Be under no illusion these tactics are Hoppyball plain and simple. One dimensional pish. "Change it Bullen".

Did this actually happen? If so, he can go the way of Hopkin and Duffy and get in the fucking sea.