Panic on the streets of Glasgow

Today Jim Murphy, with Eddie Izzard in tow, staged a 'rally' at the bottom of Buchanan Street.  There were dramatic photos and video of lots of shouting and jostling, followed by a car speeding away from the scene.  Cue almost instant press stories of 'aggressive and violent Scottish nationalists' and 'absolute chaos on the streets of Glasgow'.

Then, on Twitter, this photograph appeared:

Dear lord, there's an absolute mob out there!

It appears that there were actually about 40 Labour activists present and about 4 shouty protesters, none of which appeared to be SNP members.  Indeed in a video on the Guardian one of the journalists said that the hecklers themselves claimed to be anarchists.

All of this gave me a weird sense of deja vu.  Doesn't it remind you of the infamous egg-throwing incident from the referendum? The incident which was trotted out as proof of intimidation by the Yes side, painting the No side as heroes battling the forces of darkness shortly before the referendum.  And here we are again, the forces of darkness conveniently appear just before the election takes place.

I had thought Labour were out of ideas policy-wise, and now it appears they are out of ideas publicity-wise as well, using the same distraction techniques as they used in the referendum.  No wonder they are in dire trouble north of the border.

(And to the friend of mine who, on seeing a photograph of Mr Murphy and Mr Izzard, said 'Mags Curran's looking tired' - shame on you!  Tea all over the keyboard.)