The National:

AS we all know, there is nothing Unionists won’t blame on Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP.

Accidentally lock yourself out your flat? Thanks Nicola! Drop your phone on the floor and crack the screen? It must be those nasty nats!

Today an “anti-woke” comedian and failed parliamentary candidate treated us to a new problem to blame the SNP for.

Right-wing Leo Kearse, who stood for Laurence Fox’s Reclaim party in May’s Holyrood election, told The Times he is rarely booked for sets in Scotland because the SNP “own the main comedy clubs”.

The Stand, which has venues in both Edinburgh and Glasgow, was co-founded by Tommy Sheppard (below) in 1995, a good 20 years before he became an SNP MP.

The company says he plays no role in the club but continues to be a shareholder. Kearse complained about “state-owned comedy clubs” in Scotland despite this.

The National:

“Scotland is like North Korea,” he told the newspaper.

But The Stand took a, well, stand against the claims. “Leo has done gigs here before,” a spokesman pointed out.

“Every act gets reviewed by our staff, and the feedback was that he wasn’t landing with our audience. We book based on that.” Oops.