Sam Taylor

@staylorish • 11,050 subscribers

Runs @These_Islands. “cannot stand the awesome reality of Scotland’s energy wealth” - Alex Salmond. Tweeting in a personal capacity.

Shorts

277,598 views

436,308 views

57,897 views

28,930 views

24,814 views

30,615 views

24,619 views

16,956 views

15,705 views

52,672 views

100,503 views

39,415 views

45,509 views

42,628 views

19,475 views

16,144 views

26,544 views

19,153 views

Videos

sweetdream.ai

Watch Anya Live

Anya is streaming live right now! Join her private show and enjoy exclusive content.

Private Show

Join now for exclusive access

Free preview available • Premium content

502,877 views • 10 days ago

92,115 views • 4 days ago

62,097 views • 3 days ago

1,197,582 views • 1 month ago

118,186 views • 9 days ago

65,743 views • 6 days ago

25,946 views • 3 days ago

39,452 views • 8 days ago

30,153 views • 6 days ago

23,216 views • 6 days ago

29,934 views • 9 days ago

26,143 views • 9 days ago

34,465 views • 14 days ago

269,481 views • 4 months ago

45,097 views • 22 days ago

80,179 views • 1 month ago

158,152 views • 3 months ago

130,723 views • 2 months ago

384,243 views • 9 months ago

14,772 views • 9 days ago

Live Cam

Sam Taylor

Shorts

“I was exonerated. If there had been a shred of evidence that I had been complicit in this, or had known about what he was doing, then I wouldn’t have been cleared.” Sturgeon must know that a decision not to charge can be made despite plenty of “shreds” of evidence.

“I’m sorry, there are absolutely no fiscal requirements for joining the EU. What you are talking about is the Exchange Rate Mechanism.” Jaw-dropping ignorance from Màiri McAllan.

Ed Miliband has his faults, but the idea that he is scheming away at Westminster to maximise the profits of huge energy companies, by denying consumers cheap energy, is utterly bonkers. A deranged conspiracy theory.

John Swinney says that on day one of a new SNP government, he will request a Section 30 order transferring powers over energy to the Scottish Parliament. If this was a serious idea, you’d expect the civil service to have done some preparatory work. So… have they? Of course not.

Màiri McAllan seems to believe that an independent Scotland would end global conflicts by “proposing peace”. If only someone had thought of this before. Actually, they have. It was Jeremy Corbyn.

Scotland’s energy wealth is being “siphoned off” by Westminster, says John Swinney. Populist bullshit of the highest order. #bbcdn

1/ This line, that because a Chinese company has a minority stake in Hinkley Point C, the UK Labour government must be “anti-Scottish” to have blocked the Ming Yang wind turbine factory, on national security grounds, is very easily debunked.

Zack Polanski believes independence will free Scotland from the dismal spectacle of PMQs. He has presumably never watched FMQs.

John Swinney saying “thank goodness” for Reform. Rather pertinent this morning.

Stationary wind turbines which (when they do spin) produce electricity at a cost of £163/MWh (double the current wholesale price). A perfect encapsulation of the utter vacuity of SNP rhetoric on energy. Imagine if these costs could not be defrayed across all GB bill payers…

“It’s not GB Energy. It’s Scotland’s energy.” It’s not like other nationalisms. It’s civic nationalism.

Philippa Whitford channels Emma Harper. Currency problem solved because we now have Apple Pay.

Kate Forbes says the Scottish Government’s failures don’t matter, because you can count on the SNP “to always stand up for Scotland”. Pathetic. #bbcdn

One of the SNP’s most prolifically dishonest politicians, extolling the virtues of honesty. #bbcdn

Angela Constance tells parliament that she will bravely soldier on in her role, rather than taking the easy way out by resigning. What a heroic public servant she is.

Shona Robison explains her negotiating tactics on public sector pay: if you threaten to strike, she will cave in to demands.

Kate Forbes has some interesting advice on avoiding business rates: start a small but very profitable business in a cupboard.

1/ Shirley-Anne Somerville has just repeated in parliament the claim that the majority of taxpayers in Scotland pay less tax than they would if they lived elsewhere in the UK.

Videos

Watch Anya Live

Three cheers for that audience member. And deft moderation by Stephen Jardine. “So wait a minute… we pay the supermarkets to lower their prices… is that what you’re suggesting?” An unusually entertaining and illuminating 90 seconds from last week’s #bbcdn

Two very important questions here, asked by James Cook and Simon Johnson after FMQs on Thursday, and John Swinney has no answers, only evasions. The chicanery continues. This should be getting much more attention.

1/ John Swinney here, claiming that for 20 years in which he held various senior positions in the SNP, including Deputy First Minister in an SNP government, he paid no attention whatsoever to the party finances. An incredible line. Patently untrue. #BBCSundayShow

Alan Cumming on how women have ruined feminism for him.

Well… this is awkward. John Swinney speaking here on the Sunday Show on 30th May 2021. By this stage the SNP accounts proved that the money had gone missing and Swinney had clearly looked at those accounts. John Swinney was part of the cover up operation.

This answer from Swinney makes no sense. The alleged sophistication &amp; cunning of Murrell might explain why it was difficult to detect his thieving. But it doesn’t explain why the SNP failed to take legitimate questions seriously, and in fact told people to stop asking questions.

Some good news for the SNP. Alyn Smith says the £600k ringfenced independence fund never did go missing. #bbcdn

John Swinney tells parliament that questions about his integrity are illegitimate because people keep voting for the SNP. Which perfectly illustrates his lack of integrity.

John Swinney tells parliament that he can do whatever he likes because people keep voting for the SNP.

1/ Stephen Gethins cites a false energy statistic in his maiden speech. The data on Scotland’s net electricity exports does not measure renewable electricity *alone*. It includes electricity from all sources of generation in Scotland.

When your political philosophy casts Scottish nationalists as good people and everyone else as traitors, this is what happens. John Swinney says he simply cannot get his head around the idea that someone involved with the SNP could be a wrong ’un.

Gillian Mackay backs a price cap on food essentials despite tiny supermarket profit margins which have not risen over the last 20 years. “But they’ve not gone down either.” Actually, they have. Every major UK supermarket has a lower profit margin today than it did 20 years ago.

“How can we model something that doesn’t yet exist?” Ideally, a Cabinet Secretary for Finance would have some familiarity with financial modelling. Jenny Gilruth, however, believes modelling future events is some kind of voodoo, and she will have absolutely no truck with it.

John Swinney struggles once again to explain why his government is so determined to allow men who identify as women to be housed in women’s prisons.

1/ Fascinating clip from committee stage of bill which gave foreign nationals without leave to remain the right to stand for Holyrood. Professor Alistair Clark says bad ideas shouldn’t become law just because they are unlikely to be used. Scottish Greens quickly prove him right.

“Don’t lie to us Angus.” Edinburgh Central constituents react angrily to Angus Robertson’s claim that he took his surgery responsibilities seriously. (During the last parliament, Angus Robertson’s website offered very occasional slots where you could speak to him by Zoom only.)

“It would have been quite improper for me to make a whimsical or ill-informed reference to a document that I hadn’t seen before entering the chamber.” This is just bizarre.

“Our problem, when we’re independent, will be being too wealthy.” From today’s SNP conference, which is being held on another planet.

Nicola Sturgeon looks annoyed when asked about the appropriateness of taking an MSP salary while devoting most of her time to writing a book. In the two and a half years since she stepped down as FM, Sturgeon has made 7 spoken contributions in parliament on matters of substance.

“Anyone who asked questions was vilified as a traitor to the party, marginalised, bullied and intimidated.” Replace “party” with “Scotland” here, and anyone who has criticised (or even just questioned) the SNP will immediately recognise the behaviour Joanna Cherry is describing.

This answer from Swinney makes no sense. The alleged sophistication & cunning of Murrell might explain why it was difficult to detect his thieving. But it doesn’t explain why the SNP failed to take legitimate questions seriously, and in fact told people to stop asking questions.

1/ Stephen Gethins cites a false energy statistic in his maiden speech. The data on Scotland’s net electricity exports does not measure renewable electricity alone. It includes electricity from all sources of generation in Scotland.