MSM Monitor

The 'very low turnout' lie is now being circulated on the BBC as a means of undermining the record pro-Indy Holyrood majority. This election had a normal turnout and was higher than 2011. This lie needs to be killed off. Rachel Amery of the Scotsman was not challenged by Laura Maciver this morning.

During the 2014 Indyref the BBC promoted a campaign video by a fake grassroots pro-Union group called 'Vote No Borders'. The video featured one Malcolm Offord.

Paul Hutcheon tells BBC Scotland that Scottish Labour want Andy Burnham to replace Keir Starmer because they want someone who understands devolution. So why have they spent the last two years insisting Starmer was good for Scotland when they knew he wasn't? Grangemouth could have been saved if they'd been honest.

Will Starmer deny saying this just as he denied telling Swinney they had to talk about a second Indyref? bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

BREAKING: Kenneth Gibson has been elected as the new Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament More to follow...

Second round Presiding Officer vote Kenny Gibson 48, Clare Haughey 44, Liam McArthur 36 So the favourite is out and the PO will be from the SNP

BREAKING: SNP, Plaid Cymru and Sinn Fein representatives met in Westminster last night The group discussed 'the historic election results across these islands'

Worth remembering that Hospitals in England are being paid to remove patients from NHS waiting lists. theguardian.com/society/2025/a…

It's on ... we think.

Wes Streeting's dithering over a challenge to Starmer is beginning to feel a bit like Gordon Brown in 2007 when the 'clunking fist' signalled a snap election only to bottle it at the eleventh hour.

We'd like to see Kenny Gibson as Holyrood PO. There's going to be a few bills that might challenge the constitution and we'd rather not have a PO that deems them outwith Scottish Parliament competence as happened under Ken Macintosh.

@JamesKelly gives great analysis of polls. This is worth a couple of quid folks. gofundme.com/f/scot-goes-po…

This is a still from the Sportscene coverage of the handball incident in the Motherwell v Celtic game as the ball approaches the defender. It's entirely legitimate to argue it was or wasn't a penalty, but folk should at least accept the ball did hit the hand and that's what the VAR team and ultimately the referee based the decision on. Why was the arm there? Again, it's entirely legitimate to argue that it's a natural result of jumping and Trusty has forced it there or that it was a foul on Trusty. That's football folks. Scotland has a league decider this weekend. Let's not tarnish it. Whoever emerges as the league champions will have done so deservedly.

We tend to believe Swinney on this. He was shown to have been telling the truth about Trump and whisky tariffs. He's telling the truth now. There was no need to make this up. Will it be reported by the broadcast media? Probably not.

The Fir park penalty hysteria has led to exactly the same media group-think we usually see in Scottish politics. Journalists are not just conforming to the narrative, they are ignoring clear facts in order to reinforce it [Questioning whether the ball hit the hand]. It's a symptom of a tabloid culture. Join the pitchfork rabble, don't challenge it. Safer that way. Instead of the SNP being the villain, it's Refs/Celtic. Instead of an Indyref mandate, it's a league title they haven't earned. Instead of voter turnout, it's VAR people are scunnered with. The bad thing is, whilst the penalty row will soon pass, the SNPBad tabloid agenda will continue.

Douglas Alexander interviewed on Radio Scotland Breakfast again this morning and yet again he is interviewed by Laura Maciver. How is it possible for the same Labour politician to get the same softer interviewer of two almost every time? What stood out again was the complete lack of interruptions when compared with SNP interviews this last few days. Alexander went into lengthy monologues frequently prefixed with his catchphrase "in that sense". He was allowed to ramble on. The boilerplate questions helped him. Time and again we see softer interviews for Labour politicians. Fewer interruptions. No hectoring. Boilerplate questions.

Angela Rayner having to pay £40,000 to HMRC after underpaying stamp duty on a home she bought has apparently cleared the way for her to run to replace Keir Starmer. We suppose she can count herself lucky it wasn't £9000 iPad expenses she had to pay back.

Radio Scotland Breakfast has lost its collective mind this morning over a late penalty that gave Celtic a win over Motherwell. We've never heard anything like it. Phil Goodlad playing *RADIO* commentary as 'proof' that a handball call was dodgy sums up the hysteria.

The Scottish Greens are set to hold talks with BBC Scotland bosses about their representation on the channel's flagship political programme amid anger over the balance of this week's panel

Over one thousand cases to be investigated by the Sussex maternity review. Think about that the next time BBC Scotland tells you Scottish maternity units face the same issues as those south of the border.