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Yousaf resigning is all about: a) getting Greens back on board b) keeping the Sturgeon camp of SNP on control of party Quite frankly I am astonished that Yousaf has not made proper effort to do a deal with Alba. Their demands (commitment to independence and reversal on more controversial policy like gender reform) were fall less onerous that what Greens expect. Of course, given the timing (Murrells recent arrest) cynics may suggest this has become all about keeping certain people out of jail for their corrupt role in Salmond trial? Certainly Yousaf falling on his own sword is all about ensuring his camp maintain full control of the SNP party. By resigning he has pandered to Green Party demands to have a say in who Scotlands FM should be. Though ironically Labour and Conservatives have helped Greens (by tabling VONC in FM but not government itself).

As a prelude to Angus Robertson

It's going to be John Swinney.

They‘re due to be distributed end of May. Need to have the UEFA Tickets app on your phone.

Approx. 6 of us be out the night before the game too not going to any ticketed event. imagine most places near marianplatz be full of Scots

This is true ( gaining support in one demographic and losing in another) , probably similar to the Brexit situation where independence support rose in pro EU people but reduced in anti EU . In Scotland though we still have an older generation and I think the more ‘woke’ policies are harder to implement , particularly when we have a media happy to distort information. I cannot claim to truly understand all the science , arguments and nuances around transgender for example but its been an easy win for the ‘ anti woke’ as neither does most of the population . Too much focus has been placed on it I think at this particular stage. Easy for me to say though when I am not affected in any significant way by it. Tbh I am glad something is happening , I feel we have just been sleep walking for years, this is a massive juncture, the SNP really need to consider the bigger picture .

Not sure flying to the other side of the world to watch two players who haven't been near a squad in years would be a good use of his time.

If covered elsewhere I apologise but I haven't seen any posts. Anyway, was wondering if anyone knows when we will receive our already paid for tickets . I'm assuming they will arrive via email and have similar coding to that used at last Euros.

I would hope his time is spent on players he isn't already familiar with.

I think if it was a 23 man squad and we had no injuries, no one would be mentioning Forrest. But the way it is going, I'd say he is more likely than not to make the squad now. Fraser as well.

She's fine and just cause i think something doesn't mean it is right. She might do really well. However views are entrenched on independence , only time will move the landscape really. Which is done by young people getting older. Which is why young peoples concerns about things were getting aired. The older folk 3 generations above them don't understand that it's always the case that 3 generation gaps never think about the world the same. So you end up in a culture war "woke" blah di blah. The problem is does Forbes appeal to generations that are not yet entrenched in their views or not. I think for every "older person" she brings in it will be matched by a "younger person" going out. Hard to say anything concrete though. Always liable to just spout pish where politics are concerned everything is so opaque around it.

I agree with all of this. However I think Kate Forbes has the ability to steady things and oversee policies that would appeal to a wider range of people, and in turn increase support. Increasing support is the ONLY long term way of independence succeeding. My concern however is that she is not ‘ likeable’ enough , there is something about her that I cant put my finger on. My patience with the SNP is being tested. If it transpires that they have rejected Alba’s support for no good reason I will seriously consider my membership. At very best I will refuse to campaign for them. I only joined SNP for independence, if they reject the only other party who has this as a priority then they are not for me.

Funny how things change. when SNP won by one seat in 2007 it wasn't questioned they had right to government. When SNP have nearly more than all parties combined, something that we're unlikely to see any other party succeed in doing, there are folk calling for an election. Scottish parliament is going to be a difficult place to create stable government in that case.

Yes there is no chance of a formal arrangement between Labour and Tories and as you say a Labour coalition with Libs and Greens, who have already said they will hook up with anyone who will put them in power, is the most likely scenario until the next elections are due in 2026. If that gives a majority then there will still be a push on identity politics from the Greens to which many in Labour will be sympathetic but I would imagine the Libs will not support. If it's a minority coalition (most likely outcome I would imagine) then very little legislation will pass over the next two years due to various entrenched positions in the SNP/Tories although there will have to be compromise to get the budget through. Overall I would imagine the next two years will be pretty shambolic and as long as the SNP are sensible(?) and choose Forbes I think that would give them a great chance of regaining the FM position in 2026 (by which time as well as nothing being achieved in Scotland we will likely have had 18 months of Starmer under delivering in WM).

Plenty London commentators being rolled out to tell everyone about Scottish Politics

Press conference at 12 apparently.

Shows you how thick people can be. Many regarded him as a weak leader incapable of getting Scotland anywhere near independence. Are they wanting a strong competent SNP leader? The yoons are a strange lot.

DRoss claiming the Tories saw off Sturgeon 😀😀😀

Plenty other Scottish players starting at the weekend who he was watching.

Perhaps a bit of a conflation of other threads out there but fancied pulling together one place to consider the squad for the last set of friendlies before the Euros as its difficult to keep track of form and more specifically now a lot of injuries. With plenty of first choice players either confirmed out for the Euros and/or in a race to get fit for the tournament, it seems like Clarke for once might be forced to go outside the box for some of the upcoming squad selection, which begs the further question what he will be trying to achieve and whether there will be any selections that could move the dial for anyone to be included in the Euros? Centre forward: we basically have got to piss with what we've got. Looks like Adams in good form, Dykes I imagine would be a shoe in on Scotland form but heard from a few account that he's been rotten this season for QPR. Shankland will probably win the golden boot in the SPFL and possibly even player of the year. Not that I'd expect him to start but has to be an automatic pick at this point. Hearing of Nisbet and Stewart being trying to get fit. Wingers/Attacking mid: We've really had some poor luck in the past weeks with Armstrong, Ferguson and tragically now McTominay. Ryan Fraser in form but is there too much water under the bridge between him and Clarke? Does Christie step up to that position or does he continue to play centre mid? Are any of the other speculative uncapped shouts who are actually likely to get called up (obviously folk constantly throwing around names like Doak and Guald for example). Full back: This one is looking pretty bad as well. Hopefully Hickey is back to full fitness by the tournament but is he gonna be ready for that? Patterson out. So do we default to Ralston? Looks like Tierney is in another race to be fit in time. That would be a real killer without him too. Surely 4 Goalkeepers again would be even more unnecessary? At this point I still trust whatever Clarke will judge is best, he's earned that, at least until the tournament.

Agreed. I'd have no issues with it. Player in form and plenty experience.

Goodbye, good riddance and get to fuck. He should never darken Holyrood's dooe ever again.

Lot of Tory glee on X at the moment. Seem to be positioning themselves as the Common Sense party. That'll be the same common sense that led to the election of Johnson, Truss and Sunak, wasted a fortune on HS2, and decided to wreck the UK economy by leaving our largest trading block.

Fair point actually.

They wanted to dictate what SNP priority policies should be. Now you might agree with what the priority policies should be, and if you do then ALBA is a great place for your vote. I can see why other folk disagreed though. I hope, if able, Forbes takes over folk see it won't make much difference on the big issue of independence. The gradualist approach was the correct approach. Everything was too entenched you need time for the actual population to shift , Brexit might have been a catalysing event to change people's minds pretty ropey though. If impatience had ruled the day and we somehow got another referendum, again there is no mechanism for this outside being given permission but let's just pretend, it would have been lost as well. Obviously the current FM wasn't up to the job but neither is Forbes, some anachronistic product of Oxbridge and Edinburgh. She's smart will she even want the job at the current state of affairs?