ON Saturday, First Minister Humza Yousaf unveiled a key plank of the SNP's election strategy for the Westminster General Election - which will take place later this year and more likely sooner rather than later given the rate at which the Conservatives are imploding.
The SNP aims to make Scotland a Tory-free zone, which can only be achieved with a good vote for the SNP rather than Labour. This is because there are relatively few seats in Scotland where Labour is in contention with the Conservatives, thus a vote for Labour in Scotland won't get the Tories out, only a vote for the SNP can do that.
All that a vote for Labour in Scotland will do is to replace a non-Tory MP from a party which consistently opposes Conservative policies across the board - the two child benefit cap, a ceasefire in Gaza, opposition to Brexit, keeping the NHS in public hands etc etc - with a non-Tory MP from Keir Starmer's Labour party, a party which has adopted Conservative policies wholesale.
Only a vote for the SNP in the Westminster General Election can show that Scotland rejects not merely the Tories, but also the capture of other political parties by the kind of politics and policies that the Conservatives espouse.
Making Scotland a Tory-free zone in a Westminster General Election is not merely a rejection of a dreadful Conservative party, it also sends a message to the other British political parties, teaching them that there is no electoral mileage to be gained by the Torification of British politics.
This has seen Starmer wrest the Labour party so far to the right that it now occupies a position on the political spectrum which the Conservatives under John Major would be comfortable with. Starmer's Labour party is now considerably to the right of any position which Major's Tories dared to espouse.
Naturally BBC Scotland took umbrage, with host of Good Morning Unionist Scotland Gary Robertson asking Minister for Independence Jamie Hepburn: "This is not about getting rid of the Tories. This is more than this. You're talking about Scotland being a 'Tory-free' zone. So you’re suggesting that those who vote Tory shouldn't have anyone to vote for."
Someone needs to sit Gary down and over a nice cup of tea gently explain to him in simple words what a logical non sequitur is.
READ MORE: Humza Yousaf: Keir Starmer may be 'unfit for office' over Gaza stance
There is absolutely no way in which his conclusion, that those who vote Tory shouldn't have anyone to vote for, can be derived from the premise of making Scotland a Tory-free zone at the next Westminster General Election.
You might have thought that basic logic skills should be a prerequisite for a BBC interview with a politician, but not apparently when it comes to the tabloid journalism of BBC Scotland and its determination to keep Scotland an independence-free zone.
Even in how he phrased his attack line, Robertson's statement was a contradiction in terms, if those "who vote Tory shouldn't have anyone to vote for" then how exactly can they vote Tory? The statement is illogical nonsense.
READ MORE: BBC Scotland: Jamie Hepburn hits back at question about 'Tory-free' message
If people who vote Tory don't have anyone to vote for then by definition they can't vote Tory. Hepburn rightly gave this nonsensical line of questioning the short shrift it deserved, far more politely than I would have, which is why I'm an opinionated columnist in a newspaper and not an elected politician.
He replied: "What we're saying is this is an opportunity to get rid of all Tory MPs in Scotland. I think most people understand that when we talk about making Scotland Tory-free that is precisely what we're referring to."
Well, duh.
Blissfully unaware of the logic hole he was digging for himself, Robertson ploughed on deeper and deeper into the logic void, asking why people who voted Tory should be "disenfranchised".
Apparently losing an election counts as being disenfranchised now, who knew, so it's not only logical non sequiturs that he's struggling with, it's also the meaning of the word 'disenfranchised'.
You are not disenfranchised when the party you vote for fails to win an election, you are disenfranchised when you are deprived of the ability to vote in the first place, which is precisely what the Tories have been doing with their introduction of voter ID requirements straight out of the American Republican playbook.
READ MORE: BBC: Kaye Adams text compares SNP slogan to Nazi 'final solution'
These measures have a disproportionate impact on those demographic groups least likely to possess the necessary ID, such as the young and the poor, groups which are typically less likely to vote Conservative.
But BBC Scotland is desperate to spin the SNP election strategy into some fundamental assault on democracy, even as the Corporation normalises the likes of far right British nationalists such as the Reform party while turning a blind eye to the creeping authoritarianism in both the Conservative and Labour parties.
It's not just the Torification of British politics that we need to worry about in the coming Westminster general election, it's also the idiotification of BBC Scotland.
Meanwhile Rishi Sunak does not have his problems to seek, the recent budget fell flat and only resulted in a polling boost for Labour, that was soon followed by the scandal over the racist comments of Tory donor Frank Hester.
READ MORE: SNP: Expert weighs in on Tory-free slogan debate amid party division
Over the weekend there were reports that the mood in the parliamentary Conservative party is bleak and some of his MPs are starting to feel that they have nothing to lose by ousting him and replacing him with yet another leader, Penny Mordaunt's name has been touted although she herself denies plotting to get rid of Sunak.
It merely confirms the image of a government buffeted by scandal which is more obsessed with its own internal party politics than it is about governing the country.
In another alarming indication of the extent to which the UK is very firmly in the grip of right wing forces, the broadcasting regulator Ofcom has ruled that the right wing conspiracy theory touting GB News has repeatedly breached broadcasting regulations by allowing five of its 'news' shows to be presented by Conservative MPs.
Controversial MP Lee Anderson who recently defected to the far right Reform party while intoning the thinly veiled racist mantra "I want my country back", has also signed a contract with the channel.
Although Ofcom ruled that the channel had breached the broadcasting code, it failed to impose any sanctions on GB News. You can get away with it if you're a Tory.
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