On this day in 1930 the inhabitants of St Kilda were evacuated bringing to an end millennia of continuous human habitation on the remote, beautiful, Gaelic speaking island archipelago. They were brought ashore at Oban with their meagre, precious belongings.

“What is the charge? Smoking a cigarette? A succulent outdoor cigarette?

Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to a state in their historic homeland. The "group" referred to in this headline is vocally pro-two state solution. If you're using "Zionist" as a dirty word, you are targeting the majority of Jews in this country, who are Zionist.

My big worry on tax rises isn't whatever horrors are in the Budget (though they will be pretty horrible). It's that the cycle rolls on and on - high spending and low growth and ageing population leads to higher taxes and lower growth and higher spending and higher taxes...

The war in Sudan has received a fraction of the attention given to Gaza and Ukraine. Yet it threatens to be deadlier than either….

Democrats at most enthusiastic since Obama’s 2008 campaign thetimes.com/world/us-world…

From the Times.

This should have been the line all along. Worth noting though that as Westminster leader Stephen was also a co-sponsor of Humza’s Indy “strategy” which stated winning most seats at a GE would be a mandate for independence when it evidently wouldn’t be.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇹🇼 A great opening day of #SNP24. I was particularly pleased to see First Minister John Swinney meeting my friend, Chi-Hua Ding. the Taiwanese Consul in Scotland. Our shared democratic values are more important today than ever before Taiwan in Scotland (Taiwan ann an Alba) Taiwan in the UK

It's Freedom Day!🇱🇹 On August 31st, 1993 last Soviet troops left Lithuanian soil, ending decades of occupation. Lithuanians never lost the freedom feeling within. We always fought for it& continue standing for it today. We celebrate freedom every day by living in a democracy.

Germany is starting to distance itself from China. But the auto industry, a backbone of the country’s export-oriented economy, is still very wary of rocking the boat with Beijing. 🔗 trib.al/rPyd91Z

☀️ 🍺

Stephen Flynn: ‘self-inflicted wounds’ and fringe policies cost SNP election | Scottish National party (SNP) | The Guardian theguardian.com/politics/artic…

Come to the pub. You can: Have a drink. Stuff your face. Meet interesting people. Talk to a dog. Have a smoke (outside).

The suicide rate in Ireland peaked in the late 1990s and has declined significantly since then. It is now nearly half what it was 30 years ago. Improvements in mental health awareness and treatments, alongside declining alcohol use, have been crucial. ourworldindata.org/how-do-global-…

Robbing Peter to pay Paul. If ScotGov’s approach to policy went beyond banning stuff and making stuff free there could have been a proper attempt to spur growth and increase tax take, making this entirely avoidable. thetimes.com/article/9d1868…

Who will win the 2024 US election? Polls and predictions thetimes.com/world/us-world…

A very nice find