Auld_Reekie

Not sure Sturgeon can or will take another referendum off the table. I absolutely believe they are right to return to the Scottish people with another referendum once #brexit negotiations are complete, but they have to improve that message massively in the coming weeks and months. But most damaging for me is them losing control of the domestic agenda - education, hospitals - rightly or wrongly, the perception is that they've taken their eye off the ball and they now must get back on top of it if they want to avoid a disappointing Holyrood election in a few years time. Im also looking forward to more questions being asked of Tory/Labour MPs in Scotland about what exactly they support and what they propose to do in the months and years ahead. 2015 was great but also placed an unfair burden on SNP MPs who really could do little in Westminster. Independence supporting Labour voters really need to start upping their game though if they want to see an independent Scotland. I totally understand why people look beyond the SNP in elections (considered it myself) but it's utterly self-defeating to sit by and watch their chosen parties shit all over the independence movement.

Aye. Fair play to hampden loon who I gave stick to the other day. Knew it was going to be bad but didn't quite believe it would be this bad. Sair wan. Independence some way off based on this and anecdotal evidence over last week or so. Back to the long game. Lots of seats in danger in 2022 if parliament lasts that long. SNP must get on top of domestic issues.

Now looking very grim. While numbers still to be confirmed, something very sad about losing Angus Robertson. Been brilliant since 2015.

Good to know and underlines my point. Wishart is a moron.

Me or Wishart?

Wishart can get to . The one SNP MP I wanted punted and he's going to scrape through.

Yep. And should be wake up time for Nats who think shouting at each other in their Twitter echo chamber makes any difference in the world. People thought he was fair game in this election when it was obvious he would be safe as houses. Massively important the SNP and supporters reconsider their approach to independence. Too much talking or shouting at people.

Look at this another way. Tory gains in Scotland is bad for the Union. Absolutely mental they think that helps the situation. Short term pain, long term gain.

I'm surprised it's as bad as it's predicting but was always danger once it dropped below the fabled theshold. Still expecting it to be nearer 40-45 though.

I'm not overly surprised. Time for some in SNP to wake up and smell coffee. The Yes vote is not to be taken for granted. Doubt it will be as bad as exit poll but hopefully this will make some realise there's massive work to be done yet. The likes of Pete Wishart getting his jotters would be a good start.

SNP 45 Tories 8 LibDems 4 Labour 2 SNP will be doing well to hang on to 45 IMO. Going to be an uncomfortable night but we've known the next General Election was always going to be a sair wan. Take comfort in this though: it's better for the SNP to get a bloody nose now than 3/4 years down the line. It's just a shame we can't pick and choose which SNP MPs lose their seats because there's more than a few I'd like to see the back of. Unfortunately one or two decent ones will lose their seats tonight. All in all, it's likely to be a tough night. Stock up on the beers and tough it out. Fingers crossed for a solid core vote, a strong Labour vote down south and Scottish Labour left looking like the morons they are.

Anything north of 40 seats for the SNP and I'd bite your hand off right now. Anything north of 45 is a fantastic result and if they hit the 50s, I'll be buying every Scottish paper hoping to read an examination of why Ruth Davidson continues to fail to deliver, even when it's laid on a plate for them. SNP havent had a particularly great campaign (some of it their own doing, but most of it a contrived agenda), but the opposition parties in Scotland continue to be utterly, utterly appalling. My political support for the SNP has softened considerably recently but my emotional support is as strong as ever thanks to a media and a political opposition that is straight out the f***ing playground.

Would love it for Corbyn to have a great election. If only to make Scottish Labour and all those Labour backbenchers who've been desperate to oust him, look like the fools they are.

Good stuff. Im going back to halfs now as well. If I can give some advice and you arent already doing it, look at doing specific training if you want to improve pace. Threshold and interval runs are great alternatives to just going out and running a certain distance - especially if short of time during week.

Well done yerself. Respect to anyone getting round a full marathon. Boy I was speaking to at the end had just finished his 41st marathon - f***ing mental. How do people find the time and energy to train for marathons?! If I am ever tempted to run another, it won't be Edinburgh - last 3rd was an awful experience to essentially pound the streets just down the road. Will take a top tier event to persuade me to give it another go.

Salmond more popular than Sturgeon? People despise Sturgeon? lol What the f***?! Absolutely laughable.

Edinburgh Marathon done in 3h 48mins. Was completely broken after 18 miles - the turn at far end was soul destroying. Not in a hurry to repeat - will stick to half marathons I think.

Of course you can. Last night and this morning there was moral outrage that such material could be printed and it was hugely disrespectful on the part of the US media to run with such images. But from what I can see, the UK media/press have reprinted the images losing any kind of moral high-ground. Is it less disrespectful because someone else printed them first? P***.

There's a significant undercurrent across the country that is very difficult to engage with. On the surface, it's racism but really I think it's ignorance. I think people have legitimate concerns but it's also very difficult to talk about immigrants without either sounding racist or being accused of racism. Sure, some are out and out racist, but the majority are reasonably airing concerns in the absence of any clear information to educate them. Unfortunately, our right-wing media/press only fuel this ignorance, deliberately, making it harder to reverse the cultural ignorance. I genuinely have no idea how we fix it. Depressing.

It's absolutely soul-destroying. Maybe plays well in wee cliques but to the rest of us, it's batshit crazy behaviour. How many times does this have to happen before people realise this isnt how you play the game. Papers now lining up days worth of material and folk like David Torrance laughing all the way to the bank with some easy copy. SNP manifesto launch tomorrow now much harder and folk who didn't have a lot of time for SNP/Yes activists even harder to reach and persuade. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever play the man. Stick to playing the f***ing ball. There's loads that could have been said about the debate last night but instead, wisdom of the group is to publicly flog a nurse. Even if it's somehow proven she's a liar and a plant, it's never a great look and the damage will far outweigh the benefits. I don't buy into their being a huge problem in the SNP but it's times like this that I do wonder. There's a mentality that's clearly being tolerated that corrupts otherwise sensible folk like a press officer or Joanna Cherry to join a braying pack and "out" a member of a TV audience. In terms of wanting and expecting to run Scotland however they please, it's like the Scottish Labour years but on steroids - they just kept their morons and idiots behind closed doors and they didnt have Twitter to let them loose on the population. Some folk really need to catch a grip of themselves and see themselves as others see them. And I say this as an SNP voter.

The harrassment of this nurse is absolutely f***ing moronic. The complete lack of self-awareness continues to amaze me. There really needs to be some restraint and consideration for how this will be used again SNP/Yes because the damage always far outweighs the benefit of hounded a member of the public. I appreciate it looks suspect and there's a huge argument to be made that the BBC (and the media generally) are absolutely appalling at offering any kind of nuanced political coverage. But some folk need to switch Twitter and let people with half a brain consider how best to deal with it. Joanna Cherry MP had to offer apology on Twitter ffs as she repeated the nonsense about her being married to a Tory councillor. How can anyone be so stupid to repeat/retweet this sh*t without engaging their brain?! Infuriatingly, it's almost impossible to question the media because of stuff like this, as it's too easy to dismiss criticisms as hysterical cybernats. But there really needs to be inquiry into how a debate is allowed to focus on devolved issues with little or no comment from the governing UK party. We cannot ask questions like this while people continue to act like children or stalk individuals online.

Im not sure you can call them "scum" one minute and then ask them to vote "Yes" the next. Scottish Labour are all but dead and buried because they took the electorate for granted and played the man instead of the ball when it came to SNP supporters. Im seeing far too many SNP and Yes supporters who havent learned from Scottish Labour's mistakes and think talking at people and throwing names or insults about is the way to woo them. It's really not. There's a huge difference between the Tory party and those who might have voted Tory.

Going so-so so far but there should be several alarm bells ringing at SNP headquarters. Clear there is a solid Tory/Unionist support and there's a significant number of seats at risk next month to give SNP a bloody nose. Quite a lot of Yes supporters raging that folk would even consider voting Tory and seem to forget we still need to win a lot of these voters over to support independence. Too many SNP/Yes types are still too quick to play the "Tories are monsters" hyperbole. It's going to need more intelligent discourse than we're currently seeing to eat into to the now Tory support.

Brilliant fight. Joshua let off hook if you ask me. Joshua still young and learning but clearly weaknesses if a 41 year old comes close to decking him. Respect to both guys though. Two likeable boxers... a rare thing. Can't wait til Bellow gets ass handed to him.