You get the sense that all these parties are worn but comfortable items of furniture, to be shuffled around Holyrood manor in a quinquennial dusting exercise, ultimately to be placed neatly back in their same groove.
Anas Sarwar
“This isn’t just about Labourism, but a much general culture of managerialism which has helped to empty the democratic content from Scottish, British and western politics in general.”
Analysis: The Starmer school of party management comes to Scotland
Nobody was surprised to see Anas Sarwar sweep the vote. He was the predictable, centrist, unionist option.
Source Direct: The Indignity of Labour
It’s difficult to reconcile the jarring contradiction between the Labour we grew up with, still regarded as synonymous with the Scottish nation, and the deflated rump we see today, pleading with Scotland not to hate them.
Source Direct: Dear Scotland, Please Don’t Hate Us
It’s tempting to ignore the Scottish Labour leadership election. Here will be two career politicians with milquetoast opinions fighting for the soul of a party that long ceased to matter in Scotland’s real power stakes.
Source Direct: On the Slab
“The argument that Scottish Labour can or does represent a hope for the Scottish Left hinges, unwittingly or otherwise, on the belief that such hope cannot exist anywhere else.”