The Whisky’s In.

Written By: - Date published: 11:27 am, May 7th, 2015 - 32 comments
Categories: drinking liberally, International, Politics, uk politics - Tags: ,

The whisky’s in, in preparation for a small gathering of Scots and sympathetic fellow travelers gathering for the UK election results up here in Dunedin. What? You’d never have guessed!? Anyway, we’ll be following the BBC coverage, given their pro-British (read- ‘English’) bias in the hope that the fear resulting from the Scottish results will be more or less palpable half a world away. There will, of course, be glasses raised to SNP gains and to the demise of the Red Tories north of the border. But there’s a bit of a problem. See, there are only 42 nips in a standard 750ml bottle of whisky…

Anyway. To all those holding similar celebratory gatherings – and I know of a few – slàinte 😉

32 comments on “The Whisky’s In. ”

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  1. dukeofurl 1
    7 May 2015 at 11:38 am

    My bet is there will be a few nips left in the bottle.

    Polls have been wrong in Scotland before, even fairly recently!

    And even in the rest of UK, polling down to the last few % isnt that good. Add to that its not even a proportional election but FPP.

    • Bill 1.1
      7 May 2015 at 11:49 am

      Oh, in the absolute worst scenario, the bottles will be emptied by way of commiseration 😉

  2. mickysavage 2
    7 May 2015 at 11:52 am

    The end is nigh, the end is nigh …

    I suspect Bill you may need that second bottle!

  3. ScottGN 3
    7 May 2015 at 12:15 pm

    Go The Sturgeonator!

    • dukeofurl 3.1
      7 May 2015 at 12:26 pm

      There will be a bit of bother after the election as Sturgeon has come out of Salmons shadow and is now seen as a leader in her own right.

      But down in Westminister Salmon will be running the show.

      Having two leaders, especially if one is Salmon, means its going to get very complicated.

      Then there is the Scottish election next year. If there is trouble at the top of SNP they maybe the Holyrood elections could see labour back in power

      • Bill 3.1.1
        7 May 2015 at 12:31 pm

        Angus Robertson is the SNP’s leader in Westminster, not Alex Salmond…he has to win the Gordon constituency before he even becomes a Westminster mp. Also, I pretty sure he stated he would not be seeking the position if he gets elected.

      • ScottGN 3.1.2
        7 May 2015 at 12:33 pm

        I think you’ll find it’s Salmond with a ‘D’.

      • mikesh 3.1.3
        7 May 2015 at 1:20 pm

        Salmon and Sturgeon. Is there something a bit “fishy” going on here?

  4. CJess 4
    7 May 2015 at 12:17 pm

    Bill, we too have a nice bottle in, for either outcome 🙂

    dukeofurl: I agree about the polling, having spent an exceedingly disappointed wee hours on the Friday after the 1992 general election! You really can’t extrapolate for constituency level behaviour from national polling, and some that are predicting the likes of Jim Murphy and Danny Alexander to go might be dismissing the local factor in their possible vote; and I am very sceptical of there being quite as many SNP MP’s on Friday as some are proclaiming on that basis.

    However, there have been some constituency level polls (Ashcroft in particular) which correct a bit for that. Glasgow North West, which was my constituency, has gone from a 54% share for Labour at the 2010 GE to 38% and the SNP rising 15% in 2010 to 44% (http://lordashcroftpolls.com/2015/02/glasgow-north-west/). That’s a fair swing in a seat that’s been Labour for decades. It’s not unexpected, though as one of the Holyrood seats which is part of that constituency, Glasgow Anniesland went SNP in 2011 after six recounts, on a majority of 7. That was Donald Dewar’s Westminster then his Holyrood seat until his death, and thought to be staunch Labour forever.

    It’s not just Labour voters, however, who will swing to the SNP. I do know at least one lifelong Tory voter who has switched to the SNP within the last year. I think no matter what the seat outcome tomorrow, something has changed in Scottish politics.

    • dukeofurl 4.1
      7 May 2015 at 12:32 pm

      If it was a more democratic MMP type election SNP would be getting about 24-26 seats.

      The conservatives have beaten labour before even though they were the smaller party. In 1951 Labour was 295 and Tory was 258, but because they had additional parties supporting them they had 321.

      • CJess 4.1.1
        7 May 2015 at 12:43 pm

        re MMP type election – well of course. But Labour and Conservatives have never had reform of the electoral system as part of their manifestos – the SNP does support a type of MMP for Westminster and I believe (from SNP supporters) that this is in their Westminster manifesto. (Holyrood, however is a type of MMP and currently has an SNP majority government – go figure).

        The Conservatives who beat Labour in Scotland were a different party who merged with the Conservatives & Unionists in the 1960s (’66 I think). They do reasonably well as a third party at Holyrood, and have controlled local councils in my lifetime but never have they had more than 1 MP in Scotland since 1983. They do better at Holyrood and local level because the Scottish Conservatives who fight those elections are less Thatcherite, and more old-fashioned one nation Tory; they don’t do well at Westminster elections because of that difference.

  5. mac1 5
    7 May 2015 at 12:28 pm

    So, what’s the best whisky for celebration purposes?

    My money is on a Spey side malt since the Scots Gaelic Spé is also Latin for ‘hope’.

    Or for me, being a MacDonald on my mother’s side, a Ben Nevis Distillery “MacDonald’s Glencoe”, 58% abv and a taste of the ancestral.

    Do dheagh shlàinte!

    • Bill 5.1
      7 May 2015 at 12:33 pm

      I prefer the peaty malts of the west coast, but each to their own as they say 🙂

    • Herodotus 5.2
      7 May 2015 at 6:36 pm

      Anything from Isla – Port Charlotte PC 11 is great, and you can reduce the nip size so the bottle last longer, especially as it is 59.5% or Lagavulin 16 yr
      I was fortunate to be in Scotland when they decided to stay as part of GB. Those wanting independence did a very poor job in gaining support. To summarise their position “We will sort out any and all problems when they arise”, not a great form of assurance. I was surprised with those 16-20 year olds extended family with almost unanimous “No” and the thoughtful reasons as to why they voted that way. From memory on Glasglow and Dunbartshire wanted indepenadance
      http://rt.com/uk/188952-why-scotland-vote-no/
      Still the support for SNP was strong
      ps Iprent isn’t your preferred drink from Ireland !!!!!

    • Herodotus 5.3
      7 May 2015 at 6:38 pm

      Anything from Isla – Port Charlotte PC 11 is great, and you can reduce the nip size so the bottle last longer, especially as it is 59.5% or Lagavulin 16 yr
      I was fortunate to be in Scotland when they decided to stay as part of GB. Those wanting independence did a very poor job in gaining support. To summarise their position “We will sort out any and all problems when they arise”, not a great form of assurance. I was surprised with those 16-20 year olds extended family with almost unanimous “No” and the thoughtful reasons as to why they voted that way. From memory on Glasglow and Dunbartshire wanted independance
      http://rt.com/uk/188952-why-scotland-vote-no/
      Still the support for SNP was strong
      ps Iprent isn’t your preferred drink from Ireland !!!!!

    • tc 5.4
      8 May 2015 at 12:21 am

      Speyside then go for a Balvenie or ya canna go past the Glenlivet

    • miravox 5.5
      8 May 2015 at 2:11 am

      Glen Dronach 1996. Not rated at all. However it comes from where my great-greats come from. Seems appropriate if the SNP do what the polls predict. This batch is the last that was distilled before the plant was mothballed and reopened in 2002 by a multinational corp.

      Btw – we went to the Lost Valley of the MacDonalds. The story stays with me.

      Slàinte mhath

  6. les 6
    7 May 2015 at 5:25 pm

    Chivas Regal is blended and the best imo.

    • tc 6.1
      8 May 2015 at 12:25 am

      Blends my friend and it’s a wide open road. Dimple, johnny walker black and other many fine examples of the blenders art.

  7. keyman 7
    7 May 2015 at 11:15 pm

    the Scottish parliament should be disbanded snp named criminal organisation and its members charged with treason

  8. miravox 8
    8 May 2015 at 9:07 am

    SNP will be very hopeful

    BBC exit poll Con +9 to 316 to Lab 239. SNP on 58 seats (all but one)

    Cons. majority of 2.
    Another referendum in Scotland methinks.

    Apparently last election this forecast was very accurate.