Donald Trump's mother comes from the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides and so the BBC thought it would be a hoot to go Trump bashing by asking the folks up in the far Northern reaches of the welfare safari to say what they thought of The Donald. Well what a surprise ...they don't like him.
But for Newsnight it was better to show this meaningless piffle than have to report on the Michigan primary which saw another stunning win for Trump and the favoured son of the GOP establishment, and thuis by default the liberal media, Marco Rubio crash and burn as he came fourth.
The Trump message is one of small Government and self reliance. Now you might think that up in the Hebrides the inbred population are all hard working self reliant crofters. Think again. Times have changed and in the land of Adam Smith the invisible hand has been replaced by the dead hand of the State.
Thus around 40% of the working population in Lewis now work for the State. And another 6% are on the dole. Those of working age are just over half of the entire population with 26% of residents being pensioners (nearly all on State pensions) and c20% being young folks.
And thus we find that those who are directly existing by mainlining money provided by the taxpayer are 20% + 26% + (46% of 54%) = 73% of the population. And naturally a good chunk of those who work in the private sector earn so little that they also get big state handouts. In Scotland as a whole just 12% of the population are net contributors to the State and among the inbread folks on the Hebrides the number is even lower.
The 27,000 folks in the Hebrides are the posterboys for the welfare safari. When they are not shagging their cousins these folks simply suck at the nipple of the state. Like Mr Trump I reckon they should each get off their arse and if needs be get a ferry to civilisation (I use the term loosely since I refer to the Greece of the North that is Scotland) not only to diversify the gene pool but also to seek meaningful employment.
Those with drive are, like Momma Trump, already living the dream elsewhere. Those that stay are probably beyod redemption and that they are no great fans of The Donald is hardly a surprise is it?
But at least Newsnight gets to carry on reporting about the GOP primaries without having to mention, through gritted teeth, another two stunning wins for The Donald.