Category Archives: scotland

Richard Tice Humiliated As He’s Unable To Answer Most Basic Question About Reform’s New Defectors

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Richard Tice was humiliated today when he was unable to give the full names of the latest two councillors to defect to Reform UK.

Tice called journalists from across Scotland to announce the Tory defections in a press conference outside a Glasgow chip shop.

But, as he was making the declaration, Tice seemed to forget it was Renfrewshire councillor John Gray and South Lanarkshire councillor Ross Lambie who he was welcoming to his party.

According to The National, the MP for Boston and Skegness initially refused to say even their names and ducked inside the chip shop.

When he did eventually come outside to speak to the press, Tice said: “I’ve got John and Ross, and they’re from…”

The Scottish Daily Mail’s deputy political editor, Tom Gordon, cut in and said: “What are their surnames, John and Ross?”

Tice replied: “Are you going to challenge me on everything or are you going to ask a policy question?”

Gordon said: “I’ll challenge you on that.”

Reform UK’s deputy leader deflected and said: “I’m answering policy questions about how we make people better off.”

But Gordon persisted: “My question, my choice of question, to you, is what are their full names, and what council are they from?”

“John and Ross,” the MP replied.

“What councils are they from?” The journalist asked.

Tice turned away from Gordon and asked the crowd: “Next question. Who’s next?”

Gordon asked: “You cannot tell me who your council defectors are, why not?

“Do you know anything about Scottish politics? You can’t even name your own members up here?”

The Reform UK deputy said his party has 10,000 Scottish members, and he does not know them all, adding: “What we have got is policies that will make people better off in Scotland.”

He then posed for photos with the defectors whose names he did not know.

Reform UK has been celebrating the number of politicians leaving the Tories and Labour to join their party, and has even set up a dedicated “defections unit”.

It has also promised to form the next government after a surge in the opinion polls.

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Teary Nicola Sturgeon Admits To Feeling ‘Overwhelmed’ During Covid-19 Pandemic

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LONDON (AP) — The former Scottish leader in office during the Covid-19 pandemic choked up on Wednesday as she admitted to a public inquiry into the outbreak that she sometimes doubted whether she wanted to be first minister at such a consequential time.

Nicola Sturgeon told the United Kingdom’s public inquiry into the pandemic that she sometimes felt “overwhelmed by the scale of what we were dealing with”, particularly at the start of the pandemic in the first half of 2020. Although Scotland is part of the UK, its government has powers over matters relating to public health.

“I was the first minister when the pandemic struck,” she said in Edinburgh. “There’s a large part of me wishes that I hadn’t been, but I was, and I wanted to be the best first minister.”

Nicola Sturgeon departs the UK Covid Inquiry.
Nicola Sturgeon departs the UK Covid Inquiry.

Jeff J Mitchell via Getty Images

Sturgeon, 53, became first minister in 2014 after Scotland voted to remain part of the UK in a referendum and was in office until her surprise resignation in 2023.

Sturgeon won numerous plaudits for her handling of the pandemic. She was widely seen to have been on top of things, and clear in her public pronouncements, especially when compared to former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who led policy in England and who gave evidence to the inquiry late last year.

The UK suffered one of the worst Covid-related death tolls during the pandemic, with around 235,000 deaths. Scotland’s death toll stands at more than 18,000

However, Sturgeon’s reputation has taken a battering over the past few months, especially in the wake of her arrest last June over a police investigation into the finances of the governing, pro-independence Scottish National Party. She hasn’t been charged and insists she has done nothing wrong.

Sturgeon’s standing has been further dented by the recent revelation that her WhatsApp messages had been deleted, which has led to questions about her trustworthiness.

She admitted to the inquiry that she deleted WhatsApp messages but insisted that she didn’t use informal messaging such as WhatsApp to make decisions.

“During the pandemic I did not make extensive use of informal messaging and certainly did not use it to make decisions,” she said.

While Sturgeon conceded that WhatsApp had become “too common” within the Scottish government, Sturgeon said she exchanged WhatsApps with no more than a “handful” of people, and wasn’t a member of any groups.

She said she deleted messages in line with official advice that messages could be comprised if a phone was lost or stolen, and that “salient” points were all recorded on the corporate record.

The former first minister said she had “always assumed there would be a public inquiry” and apologised for any lack of clarity at a public briefing in August 2021 where she said her WhatsApps would be handed over despite knowing they had already been deleted.

Last week, Sturgeon’s successor as first minister, Humza Yousaf, offered an “unreserved” apology for the Scottish government’s “frankly poor” handling of requests for WhatsApp messages. He has announced an external review into the government’s use of mobile messaging.

The inquiry is divided into four so-called modules, with the current phase focusing on political decision-making around major developments, such as the timing of lockdowns. Though the devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland had policy independence, the UK as a whole often moved as one, especially when it came to lockdown decisions.

The inquiry, led by retired Judge Heather Hallett, is expected to take three years to complete, though interim assessments are set to be published.

Johnson agreed in late 2021 to hold a public inquiry after heavy pressure from bereaved families, who have been particularly angry at the evidence emerging about his actions.

The lawyer representing the Scottish Covid Bereaved group, Aamer Anwar, said Sturgeon had delivered a “polished performance” but that his clients were “deeply unsatisfied” with the explanations around the deletion of WhatsApp messages.

He said the group is considering calling for a criminal investigation into the actions of the former first minister and others.

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Ed Sheeran Wrote A Song About My Tiny Scottish Town. Here’s Why It’s Completely Deserved

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Sitting on a corner, by the only set of traffic lights in the town of Aberfeldy, is the Black Watch pub. It’s here that an impromptu singalong was led by none other than Ed Sheeran.

That was back in 2019. And now, four years later, Sheeran has released his latest album, Subtract, with a closing number called ‘The Hills of Aberfeldy’.

It’s a folk song; the kind of tune a mournful-looking man sings standing by a bar, holding a glass of whiskey; the patrons in silent reverence, heads bowed.

In the video for the song, Sheeran (clad in a toasty-looking white cable knit jumper), sinks into the hills. He emerges from the sea more appropriately dressed in an anorak. In reality, Aberfeldy is as far from the sea as you can get in Scotland. But it does have hills. Lots of them.

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From the doors of the Black Watch, a 90 minute walk takes you up a stunning gorge called ‘The Birks’. This was the inspiration for the second most listened to song about this town, famous Scotttish poet Robert Burns’ poem ‘The Birks of Aberfeldy’, written 200 years ago.

Burns fell in love here too, and lyrics from his poem are etched into signs you can spot on the walk – that’s if you can take your eyes off the red squirrels, swooping buzzards, and trickling waterfalls. This is Scotland at its most alluring.

The appeal of Aberfeldy lies in its position: nestled in the rambling Tay Valley, where clouds cling insistently to the green hills all around. It’s a part of the world that oozes romanticism, a place that’s improved by ‘dreich’ weather – the hills look more enticing in the rain, the glens more ethereal. Lichen clings to every branch, moss to every stone.

It’s the kind of stuff that songwriters live for. Sheeran’s clearly enamoured with the weather and the trees:

“Oh, leaves are covered in snow, And the water’s frozen. Oh, I long for you to be the one that I’m holding,” sings Sheeran, in full Van Morrison mode, before continuing, “Oh, leaves are starting to fall, And the sun goes cold. And my heart might break from the way of it all.”

And the leaves are indeed all around; Perthshire is known as Big Tree Country. Neighbouring village Fortingall is home to a 5,000 year old Yew tree, one of the oldest trees in Britain.

Jane Barlow – PA Images via Getty Images

Next door to the Yew, the Fortingall Hotel holds the kind of foot-stomping folk music you might imagine Ed Sheeran enjoying on a Friday night. It’s so remote here, you wouldn’t be surprised if there were Hobbits clanking tankards in a dim corner, too.

But the biggest local nuisance are the beavers, reintroduced in recent years, who leave their tell-tale tooth marks on the trunks of trees along the river. The local Facebook group is up-in-arms about the beavers – best not mention it if you drop into the Black Watch for a pint.

More welcome are the frequent stream of hikers traversing the popular 79-mile long Rob Roy Way. The first pub they come to in town is – yes – the Black Watch.

Back in the 1800s, visitors flocked to Aberfeldy by train. Nowadays the train station is a hotel, and the visitors arrive by 4×4 with stand up paddleboards strapped to their roofs, often heading to Loch Tay, five miles away.

It’s here that Ed Sheeran once hosted a party – renting the entire Hot Box Spa for himself and friends one summer’s afternoon. It’s still open, and visitors can sip champagne in a hot tub with a view of the surrounding mountains before taking the slide into the icy waters.

One of Scotland's best known hills, Schiehallion is one of the easiest Munros to climb on a fine summer's day.

Product of RDPhotography381 via Getty Images

One of Scotland’s best known hills, Schiehallion is one of the easiest Munros to climb on a fine summer’s day.

Looming over the whole area is the iconic peak of Schiehallion – known in Gaelic as Sidh Chailleann, or the ‘Fairy Hill of the Caledonians’. Schiehallion gives its name to a local beer, which is of course served at the Black Watch. Many know Aberfeldy for its eponymous whisky, which is distilled in a beautiful old building, set back from the banks of the Tay on a grassy lawn.

Around the corner is Glen Lyon coffee roastery. The rustic venue hosts a small café where Gaelic singers such as Kim Carnie are known to perform. The roastery recently collaborated with trendy micro-brewery in nearby Blair Atholl on a beer called Volcano Coffee Stout. It’s as dark as the long, Scottish winter nights.

The roastery is named after a local valley dubbed Scotland’s “longest, loneliest and loveliest glen” by legendary Scottish romantic, Sir Walter Scott. Here, a winding, undulating road takes drivers past stone bridges, waterfalls, and moss-clad boulders. In autumn it’s a breath-taking journey among falling golden leaves. One can imagine Sheeran’s cheeky blue eyes grow wider as he ventured down Glen Lyon, scribbling lyrics in his little Ed Sheeran notebook.

Take a walk in any direction and you’ll stumble upon neolithic stone circles, ancient forts or still-inhabited castles.

Back in town, at the market square, are a host of independent shops. The newest of these is ‘The Shop by Ballintaggart’, an outpost of the nearby refined Ballingtaggart Farm and Grandtully Hotel.

There’s an art-deco style cinema too, which shows films, alongside hosting events such as ‘craft and craic’, and a beer club. Add in the rustic homeware store Homer, vintage and vinyl record shop MoJo, bookshop-cum-café in The Watermill, and a zero-waste shop Handam and there’s plenty to keep you busy.

There’s a lot to fall in love with around here, and we haven’t talked about the monthly farmer’s market, quaint putting green, or annual Highland Show. It was clearly enough to turn Sheeran into part folk musician, part romantic poet. With his album surely heading to Number 1, no doubt more are now on their way.

“I have never told you Darling, we fall in love with the hills of Aberfeldy.”

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