Interesting Links for 02-09-2015

[andrewducker]

• Scotland's only Lib-Dem MP is going on trial - on TV!
  • Originally posted as "Scotland's only Lib-Dem is going to trial". Which would be close, but not entirely accurate
  • (tags: politics law Scotland tv )
• I found the person who created the pyramid joke I went viral with! (Or rather, they found me)
  • (tags: viral Twitter )

Comments

[cmcmck]

The Carmichael business is bound to create further tensions up in the northern isles too- there has been a real dislike of the games being played by the SNP locally over this matter which I suspect may backfire on them when the by election comes round.

Nobody has yet told the locals that Mr Gladstone is dead.......

That said, he should have had the sense to stand down when this all blew!

[danieldwilliam]

My dad is up there at the moment. In fact, he's an elector. I shall, enquire of his keen political mind what he thinks his fellow Orcadians are thinking.

[cmcmck]

I know not all my friends up there are fans of Carmichael, but then they're not all fans of the Nats either.

It's not altogether surprising that the thought of home to the motherland (ie Norway) is still around as an idea. The design of the local flag is no accident!

[danieldwilliam]

It's a poor choice for the Northern Islanders between a dubious character and a party whose main platform planks have only limited appeal.

I could see an independent winning or someone with a strong local reputation

[cmcmck]

That tends to be my view too.

Independent local councillors have quite a history up there.

The Nats could do it if they choose the right candidate, which they didn't last time, but it'd still be close and divisive.

[ext_2864067]

It'd be very, very interesting to hear more about what the locals really think about all this. A lot of the coverage & debate hasn't really taken that into account, or has made some pretty unsafe assumptions.

[danieldwilliam]

What I've been told is that Orcadians view Carmichael's actions as pretty serious. The legal action is crowdfunded and I don't get the impression that it's just SNP activists providing the funding.

I have also been told that "serious" people have warned Liam McArthur, the local MSP that the Carmichael affair is damaging his prospects of re-election. (Personally, having worked with Liam McArthur I think it would be a damn shame if it did).

Looks like the locals are pretty cross about it.

There doesn't seem to be huge local enthusiasm for the SNP. The Northern Ilses were pretty sceptical about leaving the UK and pretty sceptical about the SNP's tendency to centralise things in the Central Belt

(I should add for full disclosure that my main source for this is a long-term Labour Party activist and particularly not keen on the SNP - so he is interpreting what he's hearing through that lens.)

[gonzo21]

My Orkney friend is on the same vibe as this.

They may well elect another LD candidate. But it won't be this candidate.