Alan Ferrier

@alanferrier.bsky.social

2259 Followers 205 Following

I live in Glasgow and my hobbies include arranging my CDs in alphabetical order, discovering new and exotic whiskies, sheep-spotting and flying my kite.

Andy Burnham says 'I have a plan' as he is confirmed new Labour leader
John F. Kennedy with Count Binface: "Ich bin ein bin liner"
BBC: "Can Scotland learn from history-making Norway?"
@alexmassie Scotland is the most privileged part of the United Kingdom. This is disagreeable because it removes all grounds for reasonable grievance and whining. Nevertheless, the truth is that the Union is organised to serve Scotland first. And best.
Data obtained under Freedom of Information by The Scotsman from industry body the National Energy System Operator (Neso) shows that forecast generation charges in 2030/31 for projects in the north of Scotland will hit £669 million while developments in central and southern Scotland will also be hit by a £291m bill. Meanwhile, projects in England and Wales are forecast to receive a net payment of £436m that same year.
@flying_rodent: "I voted No in the independence referendum because I thought it was a dumb distraction from the urgent need to drastically reform and improve Westminster, in everyone’s best interest. I then got an incredibly brutal 12-year demonstration of how stupid I was to have believed that."
"Scottish Parliament elections 2026 live: Follow every result across the country as first SNP FILTH is elected into Holyrood"
Trump in tux
On low trust in BBC Scotland, Happer says: “It’s very difficult not to see that as a historic legacy of the coverage of the independence referendum and the real disappointment in the way London was calling the shots on coverage. Some of those accusations are founded.” Academic research revealed disparities in the positive and negative arguments for independence which were aired. Happer, who speaks extensively to BBC Scotland staff, said: “BBC Scotland journalists felt they couldn’t cover the referendum in the way they would have liked because of commands coming from London.” Happer said referendum coverage “was inadequate. It was representative of an organisation that hadn’t adapted to the realities of devolution. I personally think there was bias in the coverage. Bias is inevitable when we are engaging with questions of such importance constitutionally, because at the end of the day the BBC is the ‘British’ public service broadcaster. That’s very important”. On issues such as the break-up of Britain, or war, for those who run the BBC “questions of security and statehood come into play. The referendum was one of those situations when there was a real threat to the British state and the BBC did everything in its power to protect the state. That’s absolutely what happened”.
Scottish Daily Mail, 2016: "Oil revenue plunges by 97% - SNP dream of leaving UK dead in water." Scottish Daily Mail, 2026: "We're sitting on a goldmine! North Sea oil hits record high"
Lad sitting in t-shirt in the sun with his wife next to him wrapped up warm in the snow.
‘Show the people that our Old Nobility is not noble, that its lands are stolen lands - stolen either by force or fraud; show people that the title-deeds are rapine, murder, massacre, cheating, or court harlotry; dissolve the halo of divinity that surrounds the hereditary title; let the people clearly understand that our present House of Lords is composed largely of descendants of successful pirates and rogues; do these things and you shatter the Romance that keeps the nation numb and spellbound while privilege picks its pocket.’
PROFESSOR Danny Dorling has a game he plays with Labour audiences in England. He asks them to name the one country in Europe that has reversed child poverty over the last 16 years – not through revolution, not through vast increases in spending, but through relatively modest and targeted changes in welfare provision. The room always goes quiet. Nobody ever gets it. He has to tell them. It’s Scotland. And the reason they don’t know is itself part of the story. The British press has never really told them.
@alanferrier Maybe we shouldn’t have sold off British Gas, British Petroleum, British Steel, British Telecom, British Rail - all the national and nationalised industries and utilities which belonged to the British people as a common treasury for the future - to a bunch of wide-boys and spivs. 2:59 PM · Jul 13, 2022
“A sustained project of privatisation and deregulation has turned Britain from a place which made things people need into a place which makes money for people who own things. “We live in rip-off Britain: an economy built to reward the few off the work of the many. A country where people work so hard and try to do the right thing but still struggle to afford the basics, and find themselves constantly cutting back. “The very basics, the things we rely on to build the foundations of a good life, have been taken out of our hands, sold for profit – and then sold or rented back to us at crushing rates. The water that keeps us alive. The energy that warms us. The home that keeps us safe. “We’ve stopped working to save for a deposit, a summer holiday or even to put a bit away for the future – so many of us are working just to cover the increasing cost of getting by every day.”
Urinal as Trump's mouth
@realDonaldTrump Remember that | predicted a long time ago that President Obama will attack Iran because of his inability to negotiate properly-not skilled! 2:55 AM - Nov 11, 2013
@Nigel_Farage This election was a victory for sectarian voting and cheating.
Having a monarchy next door is a little like having a neighbour who’s really into clowns and has daubed their house with clown murals, displays clown dolls in each window and has an insatiable desire to hear about and discuss clown-related news stories. More specifically, for the Irish, it’s like having a neighbour who’s really into clowns and, also, your grandfather was murdered by a clown. Beyond this, it’s the stuff of children’s stories. Having a queen as head of state is like having a pirate or a mermaid or Ewok as head of state. What’s the logic? Bees have queens, but the queen bee lays all of the eggs in the hive. The queen of the Britons has laid just four British eggs, and one of those is the sweatless creep Prince Andrew, so it’s hardly deserving of applause. The contemporary royals have no real power. They serve entirely to enshrine classism in the British nonconstitution. They live in high luxury and low autonomy, cosplaying as their ancestors, and are the subject of constant psychosocial projection from people mourning the loss of empire. They’re basically a Rorschach test that the tabloids hold up in order to gauge what level of hysterical batshittery their readers are capable of at any moment in time.
15 stations
Sarwar holding the Labour manifesto with "Change" printed over Starmer's head.
Tory defections to Reform explained using chocolate: Marathon -> Snickers.
We can use our ties with Trump to make Scotland greater again Anas Sarwar | Saturday April 05 2025, 6.00pm, The Sunday Times
Greenland's people must decide its future, says Nandy
Ministry of Defence: The UK has provided enabling support to the United States at their request to interdict the vessel Bella 1 today. UK armed forces provided pre-planned operational support, including basing, to U.S. military assets interdicting the Bella 1 between the UK and Iceland following a U.S. request for assistance. RFA Tideforce is providing support for U.S. forces pursuing and interdicting the Bella 1, while the RAF provided surveillance support from the air. The UK and U.S. defence and security relationship is the deepest in the world and the UK provided enabling support to the operation in full compliance with international law.
White House demands British supermarkets stock chlorinated chicken White House pushing Sir Keir Starmer to make concessions on food standards
Conservative Party’s Official Christmas Card, 1938 featuring Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler
HT @ColdwarSteve, obvs
@alanferrier Prediction: Nigel Farage will lead whatever remains of the Conservative Party into the 2029 #GeneralElection. 5:45 PM - May 22,2024
Cameron's plea to Putin: help me stop Salmond