Alan McCombes

Been inactive on this platform (whatever it's called) for some time. But just posting an article I had published in the National today which I guess a lot of my followers might find challenging. share.google/y98dX84f3z0MwT…

@MickPuck Fantastic song - possibly the best of all the Waterboys - and great fiddle.

I just heard that my old friend and gentle Spiddal landlord, the fiddler and composer Charlie Lennon has passed on. He wrote and played the fiddle instrumental on our song When Ye Go Away, and many brilliant Irish tunes, and was a wonderful man.

@SkyNews coverage of Gaza far superior in every way to blatantly biased @BBCNews. And why has the outstanding Jeremy Bowen been removed from reporting for the BBC on the Israeli war against Gaza?

@SkySports Time to get rid of Kris Boyd. There are ex-Rangers players who are capable of making intelligent comment. KB is just an embarrassment.

@HappyclapperGF @GordonCook23 No, but Dundee does. Normally the sunniest city in Scotland but was a monsoon there on Saturday night after a very clear day

@GordonCook23 Does dens park have its own micro climate?

Where was the statement last time when you turned up an hour late then the ref had to take the players off the pitch due to your fans behaviour

Enthralling game there at Wembley and great to see #Liverpool and #Klopp vanquishing Chelsea to lift that League Cup

Fuerza Elis on Palmas shirt is expressing solidarity with fellow Honduran footballer Elis inn hospital with serious head injury. 'Strength Elis'

This appears to be the same USA-based 'not-for-profit' which been given expansive space in @heraldscotland this morning to condemn people on welfare benefits in Scotland. nypost.com/2023/03/11/def…

@AlisonStrange5 Hi Alison, I work for the John Muir Trust and read this with interest. A complex area and something we're having a lot of discussions around. Would be good to speak to you if you're interested? Can send me a DM.

On Crofting, Landlordism, Rewilding and Depopulation bellacaledonia.org.uk/2023/04/08/on-…

@punkpuffin Doesn't look like that to me. Numbers were going to come out anyway when the vote announced so no point in lying.

@AlanMcCombes Bit of bungled spin eh? You mean absolute lies and deliberate deception don’t you?

No intent or motive on my part to indulge in whataboutery but these reflections on the seismic global consequences of the decision to invade Iraq put into perspective the excitable frenzy of much of the Scottish media over a bit of bungled spin around party membership numbers.

As a non-SNP member I don't have a vote but seems clear to me that if the party swerves right, it will lose a barrel load of votes to Labour in 2024 in the Yes heartlands of the west of Scotland. For the sake of persuading a few Tories, independence would be set back years.

@CalumMacleod07 @CommunityLandSc Great work you've done over these five years Calum, and really appreciated working with you on issues of joint concern. Catch up soon hopefully.

Sometime around September 1990, Derek Bateman wrote a substantial story for the SOS reporting that a mass Poll Tax non-payment campaign was underway. He was the first in the media to understand the significance of what was going on. Great journo and nice guy. A sad loss.

BBC pundits rightly raving about fearless attacking first half performance of Croatian right back Juranovic. No mention though of the influence of Ange Postecoglou

@scott_eff I have known Nicola Sturgeon since she was in her teens. I have plenty of differences with her but the shallow claims thot she doesn't want to lead Scotland to independence are just absurd.

This is an absolutely brilliant piece of investigative journalism. Tune in and stick with it through the episodes.

I am affronted

As someone who has worked in land sector for ten years, I'd strongly recommend this article from @lornaslater Agenda: Creating a sustainable solution to Scotland’s deer problem heraldscotland.com/politics/20294…

@KennyFarq Fair enough and neither does mine. But bear in mind 1) won't be Boris Johnson. 2) only two Labour leaders have won UK general elections in the past 75 years.

At the next UK general election I'll be helping my English friends and family kick Boris Johnson out of Downing Street. My political and moral purview doesn't stop at Berwick-upon-Tweed.