Who’d want to be a Scottish nationalist, eh? The SNP’s poll ratings are tanking faster than their Ferguson Marine ferries fleet, with Humza Yousaf proving to be as adept at First Minister as he was at transport, justice and health. After 17 years in power, the party’s record on crime, spending and drug deaths is finally getting the attention it deserves. But with the Holyrood press now turning on them, at least the SNP can count on one uncritical media outlet for support.
Step forward, the National – the self-identifying newspaper in breach of the Trade Descriptions Act. In their ceaseless zest to turn attention away from Michael Matheson and his five-figure phone bill, the craven hacks there have stumbled on an ingenious wheeze. Why not run a story suggesting that all MSPs are at it? That’s exactly what the National did yesterday, running a furious piece asking about the phone bills about various MSPs. It featured claims that Tory MSP Alexander Stewart had ‘used an enormous 395,927mb of data on his parliamentary phone in less than a year’ along with a comment from Ian Blackford, the Rob Roy of the rent-a-quote mob, who indignantly asserted that ‘Questions need to be asked.’
And Mr S is certainly happy to ask them. For instance, why did the National describe Stewart’s data use as being worth ‘395,927mb’ when they could have described it as less than 40GB a month? Why too did the National insinuate that there was a scandal when Stewart’s data use was within his contract’s allowance? That meant, of course, it cost an additional £0 – unlike Matheson’s data use which cost an additional £11,000, with his subsequent lies about that sum forcing his eventual resignation.
Steerpike suspects his readers know the answers to those questions – and why the National’s circulation figures are even worse than the SNP’s cratering support…
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