Bravehearts and Bunnets

There are varying degrees and levels of delusion going on in Scottish politics. Anas Sarwar is trying to ‘manifest’ himself into office like a TikTok influencer…

10 weeks. Only Scottish Labour can beat the SNP. Only Scottish Labour can deliver a new government for Scotland. Let’s do this. #ScotLab26 pic.twitter.com/6mbhG7Qyxm

— Anas Sarwar (@AnasSarwar) March 1, 2026

The People’s Party are flooding your social media with Presidential messaging, and Paul Hutcheon reveals that they are toying with the following ‘descriptions’ to the Scottish Labour’s Electoral Commission which can appear on the ballot paper:

This intense focus on one individual has high stakes for Sarwar, particularly facing egregious polling suggesting Labour are likely to finish, third, or fourth.

Today polls were released that suggested that Labour would come behind the Green Party at a General Election:

Elsewhere, delusion is rife.

Inside the Alba civil war, Kenny McAskill pens another article for The National [We’ll know Alba’s fate soon but the cause is eternal], this time claiming, incredibly,  that “…had Nicola Sturgeon supported the supermajority… We’d be independent by now.”

It’s a kind of wild counterfactual, a complete delusion. McAskill ends his article, as he ends every one. saying: “As Alex said after defeat in his Gordon constituency in the 2017 General Election: “You’ve not seen the last of my bunnets and me.” And, as everyone is seeing the very opposite happening before their very eyes: “the dream shall never die.”

In a different space, Angus B MacNeil writes: “VoteAlba.org raises £15k in 4 hours – Plea to MacAskill & Co “Engage in Dialogue to Secure Alba’s Future” Alba, the dream of Alex Salmond, could pick up seats at the Holyrood Election, instead of Reform, if it is allowed to continue existing.”

Whatever happens to Alba, the idea that a party that was polling at 1% would miraculously gain massive support after a sustained bout of bitter internal factionalism that makes Your Party look like a Buddhist retreat is extraordinary.

I do not doubt that there are people who will throw money at Alba, but two things remain obvious. First, Alba needs to raise enough money to protect themselves against the supposed £200k debt and indemnity against that, and second, that they need to raise at least £100k just to fight the Holyrood elections. But even if they were to succeed in both these tasks, they would then be pouring money into inevitable lost-deposits.

As Scot Goes Pop outlines in leaked email as the whole thing collapses:

“The following members of the National Executive Committee (“NEC”) of the Alba Party (an unincorporated political party registered with the Electoral Commission, reference PP12700), namely, Angus Brendan MacNeil, Christina Hendry, Suzanne Blackley and Tommy Sheridan (the “interim leadership”) hereby guarantee that they will fulfil all of the functions, duties and responsibilities of the NEC as specified in paragraph 7 of the Constitution of the Alba Party until such time as the National Conference of the Alba Party elect a new NEC; and that the following members of the NEC shall hereby immediately resign and vacate their Alba Party office, namely, [presumably you Kenny and Neale but you will have to insert the names of the other existing NEC members who like you want to fold the party and do not want to stay on and fight]; and that the interim leadership undertakes to indemnify all NEC members against any liabilities that may arise from their decisions and assumption of NEC responsibilities commencing from the date this guarantee and indemnity is signed; but excluding any liabilities that have arisen or been intimated before the date this guarantee and indemnity was signed.

However, all is not lost. Inde-Car Gordon Ross explains that the collapse of Alba is no need to panic, announcing: “Tomorrow the Alliance to Liberate Scotland will finalise its full complement of Holyrood candidates. This is the ONLY political group which stands for Independence & Nothing Less. No devolved powers. No working with London. Independence via self-determination.”

I quizzed him about whether there would be an announcement. He replied: “Almost certainly. But be patient. This is an enormous task for such a small team to undertake. I will certainly make a special Inde-Car broadcast, to announce the full list of candidates.. An exciting time to be a Scot!”

On who might be the outstanding candidates in such an announcement, Ross replied: “It’s still embargoed I’m afraid. Rest assured you will be pleasantly surprised by the range & quality of our women & men! Not a careerist among them. Every single person completely focused on achieving independence as soon as possible. Devolutionists need not apply!”

An exciting time to be a Scot indeed!

We’ve seen before the idea of electing a party based on Twitter followers. It’s politics from within the bubble.

As Scot Goes Pop relates from Corri Wilson, Alba’s “Director of Operations”, in a brutal leaked audio: “…we have been haemorrhaging members, and the majority of our members pay £1 a month, so you can do the maths yourselves.  There’s just no money coming in.  We live in Twitter-land, where thanks to the negative press we are just no longer rated.”  

“The ordinary folk on the street havnae heard of us.  There’s too many people don’t even know Alba exists.  They just don’t.  We exist in a bubble, but they don’t know we exist.  Wednesday’s poll showed us at two per cent.  We need to be realistic.  TWO PER CENT.  We have insurmountable liabilities, and the reality for a Holyrood campaign is we’ve got no activists, limited impact.”  

Nobody questions the impetus and good faith behind Alba with many people disillusioned by the SNP and their multiple failures, but the execution of it as an alternative has been spectacularly botched from the beginning. Many will also say that the idea of ‘mass delusion’ extends to the SNP and their policy failures and inability to produce a coherent strategy for independence. That’s true. You could characterise the entire political class as delusional, unable to really face the challenges we face.

Today, the Daily Record informed readers that: “The cash-strapped Alba party shelled out £50,000 on flights for Alex Salmond and other senior figures in just two years.” But also, leader-in-waiting Angus McNeil stated: “Alba”s situation is far from “insurmountable.” 10 days ago Alba had almost double the money in bank than a year earlier – auditor positively said it was a going concern.” That’s a very confused situation.

10 weeks.