Nicola Sturgeon has pulled out of an event with commentator Kirsty Lockwood to talk about her debut book “We Know What You Did.” How drole…
Lockwood, a columnist and political commentator based out of Glasgow, is publishing the murder mystery novel this year. Dear wee krankie was set to talk about it with her at a cosy evening event in an Edinburgh church on the 5th June…
The event, previously titled “Kirsty Lockwood in conversation with Nicola Sturgeon for We Know What You Did at Pilrig St Paul’s” is now simply: “Kirsty Lockwood for We Know What You Did.” You can still see the old URL though…
Yesterday Sturgeon ran away into a restaurant kitchen in Ireland to avoid Sky News cameras. Coping well, is she?
The results for May:
Robert Jenrick inches up to second place, with Danny Kruger denying Richard Tice a podium finish for the first time. Tice and Yusuf both drop two points, with Zia now in sixth. Devolved leaders Malcolm Offord and Dan Thomas make their debuts above Luke Campbell and Nadhim Zahawi. Who again finishes in last place…
Guido hears that the Cabinet Office will be using artificial intelligence to draft answers to official questions tabled by MPs and Lords from next week. When recess ends on 1st June…
Parliamentary questions are tabled by MPs and answered by ministers twenty days later or so. They are basically an expedited and public FOI service for parliamentarians…
According to leaked plans, policy teams of civil servants are set to receive the original tabled question along with an initial AI draft. Guido understands AI systems will have access to departmental briefing papers, Hansard, and answers to previous PQs. Across-the-board access…
This draft will then be processed by response teams, redrafted by a human if necessary, then approved and sent for ministerial confirmation. A government source said: “The answers will only be as good as the source material.” Speeding up government…
Parliamentary Questions are a vital resource for opposition and MPs of all stripes to seek information and official statements on all aspects of government. The Tories have used them to great effect under this government so far despite reporting having a difficult time filing some questions with the Commons table office. Now parliamentarians will be getting replies from bots…
Entries in the comments…
The BBC has edited a headline that suggested the Confederation of British Industry backed “green jobs.” Typical…
BBC Scotland published an article headlined: “Green jobs contributing £10.2bn to Scotland’s economy, says CBI.” Only, it doesn’t…
Actually the CBI’s separate consultancy CBI Economics was commissioned by a pro-net zero think tank to talk up the contributions of eco jobs. The report actually states in a disclaimer:
“This report was commissioned by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) and prepared by CBI Economics on an independent basis. The analysis, findings and conclusions presented in this report are those of CBI Economics alone and do not necessarily reflect the views or policy positions of the CBI, its members, or ECIU.
CBI Economics operates separately from the CBI’s member-led policy and advocacy teams. Its consultancy work is conducted independently and is not influenced by the CBI’s policy positions or by CBI membership.”
So, not the CBI itself. The BBC has made edits and a spokesman said: “The story makes it clear that this study was carried out by CBI Economics for the climate think tank the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) and we’ve clarified the headline.” Which now carries ‘report’ at the end. Net zero propaganda comes easy these days…
Since the FCDO and DCMS jointly launched the “Soft Power Council” in January 2025 to advise the government on culture and foreign affairs, it has received almost zero interest from ministers. Guido can reveal that out of four meetings, the Culture Secretary sent apologies to two: SPC 2 on 29 April 2025 and SPC 4 on 9 October 2025. The FT also reports that Yvette Cooper is not showing any enthusiasm…
DCMS is contributing five civil servants to support the council whose seniorities range from SCS2 down to HEO, with a G7 and HEO sitting in the “Joint Soft Power Hub.” Meanwhile the ministers don’t bother to show up…
Emails uncovered by Guido’s FOI Unit show a comically fraught process to kick off the council. The FCDO’s Permanent Under-Secretary reviewed the proposed membership over the weekend of 30 November 2024 and pushed back on the gender balance, asking whether officials could “do better than this on diversity, in particular gender” – suggesting “replacing Nick Carter with a female from the security sector — eg Fiona Hill, or Karen von Hippel.” Crucial concerns…
An FCDO official noted on 3 December that Gen Sir Nick Carter had “already been approached [following a go-ahead from Baroness Chapman] and accepted to join.” The official floated two workarounds: one was to “check with Baroness Chapman if she may want to re-consider Patrick Stevens (not yet approached), and instead invite a woman to join,” the other was “simply to have three members on security, inviting a woman in addition to Comfort Ero and Nick Carter.” Keep in mind the council has done basically nothing since it was formed thanks to government ineptitude…
Minister Jenny Chapman also got involved according to email records, pushing for a delayed start (it was meant to launch in December 2024) and more cash: “The SPC needs a budget. As we are asking for so much time from people, we need to feed them (especially if it goes from 11-2pm) or give them drinks, if timings change.” Drinks crucial for a talking shop…
Read the emails below:
Former leader of the SNP in Westminster Ian Blackford told Times Radio why he believes Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that she spent no time in the kitchen and therefore didn’t see any of her husband’s purchases:
“She doesn’t have a passion for cooking.”
