Beneath the wit and linguistic trickery of Paul Kavanagh in the company of his trusted Wee Ginger Dug, you’ll find an encyclopaedic knowledge of Scottish politics. Here is political satire in the best tradition. No punches are pulled, and strangely the humour is both brutal and subtle. 

This collection of articles from The National covers the increasingly demented Brexit years. Kavanagh keeps catching the plethora of material the Brexiteers keep on giving to our overworked satirists, and he adds his own unique take on it all. He starts with a salute to the departing prime minister: “Goodbye Davie, you were the worst ever” but he, like the rest of us, will soon see how the “worst ever” can still get worse. He tracks the posturing of our politicians from “Our tea exports will take over the world, never have so many owed so much to a brew” to “The Empire is dead and ... the harsh realities of Brexit will expose that. The emperors of Brexit have no clothes.” 

Read on and be enlightened – and lighten up with a few much-needed laughs. 

Excerpt

“It is being widely reported in the British media that there are now only three possible scenarios for the UK. Theresa May’s deal, no deal, or no Brexit. That might be the case for the UK, but it’s not the case for Scotland. Scotland has an additional possibility, independence. If we are in for an early general election, the SNP needs to make sure that the electorate of Scotland understand that for Scotland, independence is the only realistic and meaningful path out of the disaster of Brexit inflicted upon the UK by a reactionary British nationalism blinded by nostalgia and longing for an empire that’s long gone.” (p. 318)