SNP MP Kirsty Blackman has revealed that she has been receiving abusive messages on social media demanding that she and other SNP MPs stop insulting and abusing the English language in the English Parliament with their “disgusting mispronunciations of almost every word with a vowel in it”.

To this linguistically illiterate slice of Anglocentric arrogance, a Scots speaker can only reply: "Gaun dook fur chips ya muppet."

It is indeed fascinating how easily British nationalists are triggered by Scots and Gaelic, the first of which they rush to insist is not really a language at all, the second of which they insist is a “dead language” which has never had any relevance to most of Scotland.

The truly remarkable thing is how quickly and confidently they are willing to display their sheer ignorance and lack of understanding of modern Scottish linguistic issues and Scotland's rich and complex linguistic heritage.

Indeed, they arrogantly wear their ignorance as a badge of pride. It betokens a deep fear that any acknowledgement of the linguistic realities of Scotland would mean that Scotland really is a country in its own right with languages and a culture of its own, and that is something they can never admit to.

SNP MPs do not tend to speak Scots in the Westminster Parliament, they habitually use Scottish Standard English, a well recognised and described variety of standard English in its own right – one which is fully mutually intelligible with other varieties of standard English.

However, speech and comprehension is a two-way street, it relies not only on the articulation and pronunciation of the speaker, it also relies upon the attention and listening skills of the listener. All too often, it seems, the Anglocentric British nationalists in the Commons simply check out mentally as soon as they perceive a Scottish voice. You could not ask for a clearer illustration of Westminster's refusal to pay attention to Scotland's opinions and views – an illustration which can more pithily be expressed in another Scots saying: "It's no ma accent, it's your ears."

Daily Mail Time

This week's edition of BBC Question Time has yet again come under fire for its perceived pro-Brexit and right-wing bias, with host Fiona Bruce being accused of constantly interrupting the Labour and SNP panellists while giving free rein to a Brexit-supporting Conservative MP and allowing Tom Harwood of the extreme-right Gbeebies “news” channel an uninterrupted platform from which to spout his Brextremist right-wing culture wars garbage.

Bruce seems unwilling or unable to facilitate a balanced debate on a programme which has already come under scrutiny over allegations of right-wing and anti-independence bias in its audience selection such as an edition from the strongly working class and Yes-supporting city of Dundee where the audience appeared to be predominantly composed of douce, middle-class, Brexit-supporting, anti-independence Tories.

At this point, the BBC should just be honest and change the name of the programme to BBC Daily Mail Time.

Partygate update

In a development as unsurprising as right-wing bias on BBC Question Time, senior MPs on the Commons committee investigating “partygate” have said that new evidence presented to the committee shows that Boris Johnson may have repeatedly misled the Commons, and that it was “obvious” to Johnson that the parties held in Number 10 during lockdown were unlawful and a flagrant breach of the Covid regulations then being imposed on everyone else. Johnson may have misled Parliament on four separate occasions.

The new evidence presented to the committee is not only a damning indictment of Johnson, it also shows the complicity of Rishi Sunak, who like Johnson was fined by the police for attending one of the gatherings. Shameless as ever, Johnson has claimed that he has been “vindicated by the committee”, saying that it is clear that he has not committed any contempt of Parliament.

Johnson and his supporters are trying to claim that the new evidence is based upon the Sue Gray report, and because Gray has this week accepted a job as Keir Starmer's chief of staff, her findings have been discredited.

However, a spokesperson for the committee has said that the committee's report is not based on Sue Gray's findings but rather on WhatsApp messages, emails and photographs from the official Downing Street photographer and evidence from witnesses who were present at the gatherings or at the time of preparation for Boris Johnson’s statements to parliament. Sue Gray was present at neither and is not one of the witnesses on whose testimony the committee's report is based.

Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, said in a statement: "The evidence in this report is absolutely damning on the conduct of Boris Johnson, not just in the crime but the cover up. All the while, Rishi Sunak sat on his hands, living and working next door but doing nothing to end the rule breaking.

“If Rishi Sunak is to meet his promise of integrity and accountability, he must stop propping up his disgraced prime minister and his legal defence fund, fully endorse the committee’s recommendations and make clear that if Boris Johnson is found to have repeatedly misled Parliament, his career is over."