WHEN we launched the REAL Scottish Politics newsletter, 7pm seemed like a great time to send it out. We wanted to use this space to offer its subscribers exclusive analysis of the day’s big story or stories – and as long-time readers will know, although it is The Jouker filling in today, normally the Wee Ginger Dug does exactly that.

A spanner has been thrown in the works. As this is written, all ready for 7pm, it’s done in the knowledge – maybe even the assumption – that 6.59pm will have brought revelations of yet another Downing Street Christmas party held in the midst of the heart of the lockdown.

Best of luck to all the sub-editors and editors, too, having to rip up pages and redesign fronts to make sure readers are being kept informed of the very latest Tory corruption. Though not all corruption is covered equally.

The National:

It was Sky’s turn to stray into the bizarre in an interview last night. SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford was being interviewed by Anna Botting, on the subject of the Downing Street lockdown parties.

She asked: “If their defence had been … we were on a war footing, working 21 hours out of every 24 with unimaginable pressure and strain. You know, a little bit like – and perhaps this is the wrong example – the Second World War, and you’ve taken a village and you’ve been fighting the Germans for days and the soldiers have a beer and a cigarette in order to relieve tension. Would you have bought that? Would that have been excusable?”

All those headlines about Boris Johnson being in the trenches seem to have been taken a bit too literally, don’t they?

The media has more self-reflection to do in light of all this. Why did so much of this stay under the radar for so long? How did Boris Johnson even get near the office of prime minister in the first place? Answers to letters@thenational.scot via email, please.

Meanwhile, many emotional, harrowing contributions have been made on social media and in parliament, telling of the anguish and loneliness being faced by families while these Downing Street parties were held. If Boris Johnson was even remotely capable of putting himself in the shoes of anyone else, he’d have resigned yesterday. Of course, he isn’t. He is devoid of empathy.

Instead, let’s all put ourselves in the shoes of Douglas Ross. Because amid all this, perhaps it’ll be some small comfort to know that a man who so insists on tying Scotland to this broken UK Government and the heinous consequences that it brings each day, is being shown once again how irrelevant he is.

No amount of TV appearances from the Scottish Tory leader (or the Baroness of Lundin [sic] Links) will put Boris Johnson any closer to leaving his post as prime minister. The Scottish Tories fully intend to go back to doing his bidding if this somehow blows over, and that party will once again demonstrate so clearly that the Westminster system is beyond all hope of repair.

One final note: don't miss The National's coverage of PMQs tomorrow.

This piece is an extract from today’s REAL Scottish Politics newsletter, which is emailed out at 7pm every weekday with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from the Wee Ginger Dug.

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