In a race to the bottom, what happens when you already occupy this place? At a press event in Shettleston this morning, in the east end of Glasgow, Reform UK had obviously decided to cut out the performative nonsense and take us down to the base level of Scottish politics.

Perhaps their leader in Scotland, Malcolm Offord, had opted to stir the dregs, because, well … where else do you go when you’ve started the election campaign the way he has.

Inferring that Catholic schools were responsible for sectarianism could be dismissed as the ravings of an incomer who’s keen to show his new chums he’s really one of them, like the posh boy at a party swearing his wee head off after a few glasses of the jungle juice.

The revelation that he’d told the most homophobic and creepy joke you’ve ever heard though, seemed to suggest a basic lack of decency and common humanity.

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Sitting beside Mr Offord at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre, was Thomas Kerr, the former Tory group leader on Glasgow City Council. Mr Kerr grew up near these streets and has lived experience of the multi-deprivation which has stalked this neighbourhood for generations. His parents had both been victims of drug and alcohol addiction.

Mr Kerr’s testimony and resilience in opting for the political road less........

© Herald Scotland