A strange reaction
Posted on
February 15, 2015 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Good news:
All pretty encouraging stuff. And here’s Scottish Labour’s response to finding out that Scots are drinking less, dying from alcohol in lower numbers, committing significantly less booze-fuelled violent crime and beating up their partners less because of Old Firm games (Labour having cunningly waited until the year which could see regular league encounters between Celtic and the new Rangers begin):
It’s a kind of genius, we suppose.
You say Buckie, I say Bouquet.
Labour, the party that only cares about staying in power and ensuring that the revenue stream doesn’t dry up for its chosen few. If a few people have to get hurt or die along they way then that’s an acceptable price for them to ask others to pay. They have remarkably similar moral values to their good friends in the conservative party.
And in today’s Sunday Herald, tee total Two Crates Murphy advocating alcohol to be made freely available at Scottish Football Grounds.
There must be an ulterior motive surely. He can’t be so silly deliberately can he?
I see Saint Jim is going to the Hamilton-Aberdeen game today to collect more signatures, I wonder why he didn’t go to the League Cup semi-finals surely would have been more high profile for Creeping Jesus Murphy
Jesus wept…..
Does he intend trawling through all legislation that the SNP government have brought in?
This is stinking opportunism.
Meanwhile, Nicola Sturgeon campaigns on zero tolerance for tax dodgers.
https://archive.today/yJWOU
Reevel’s a weird name, don’t you think? Kind of a cross between rat and weevil . . .
That should firm up the female vote for Labour.
Scot gov-damned good work & showing the results of those efforts
Labour aka SLab – nothing but a joke where collateral damage to plebs is always acceptable
Milliband: I’m no genius strategist, but even I can see we’re on our way out in Scotland, now that so many have learnt how to see right through us. Can you finish the job so we can put all our efforts on the English Sun readers?
Murphy: And how would I do that?
Miliband: Just be yourself, that ought to do the trick.
@ Marcia
Very dry!
Usual creepy red Tory Murphy/SLab civil liberty fraud. All from very ex red tory Labour gov with Morphy, Brown etc away to spend between £4.7bn and £12+bn on compulsory bio metric ID cards for everyone. Crash and Morphy’s ID card would carry personal data like criminal and health records, religion, sensitive personal data, like how much swallie you say you imbibe, the maniacs.
Capella thats a beautifully elegant solution to sharing subscription only web based newspaper content. But I feel so guilty Im going to have to go out and buy a Sunday Herald now.
Don’t, Frankieboy. Before you know it there’ll be a pink van tootling round Glasgow offering 2 crates of Buckie if you join Labour.
Murphy is getting perilously close to John Major’s traffic cone hotline or whatever it was, in terms of political vision and ambition. Booze at football, matrons for the NHS, this is the work of political visionaires. I suppose it should not be a surprise when you appoint Blair McDougall as head of policy making!:D
Yeah, that’s Labour for you. Predictable to a fault.
Whatever the Scottish government achieves or proposes, regardless of benefits to the public well being, they’ll go in the opposite direction.
And near as I can tell, the sole reasoning behind this tack is, ‘just because its no their idea’.
Or could that be shortened to ‘just because’?
It all puts me in mind of this scene in Father Ted:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xehe2g_father-jack-is-sober-for-the-first_fun
Father Jack is the Scottish electorate, and Father Ted is Scottish Labour.
Out of touch or what? And what does it say about how they see their supporters?
I’m torn about alcohol at football. On the one hand, I van see how for most of the time it won’t cause problems. But on the other hand, as a 28 year old I’ve never experienced alcohol being sold at football so culturally the idea just doesn’t exist for me. Takes long enough to get a pie in the queue, can only see that worsening if booze available.
And having worked in A&E at the Glasgow Royal I’ve seen how alcohol does affect people, even decent people, to the point where my Hipocratic oath gets a real testing.
I suppose I can see how it might not be a huge issue, occasionally…but I guess i just don’t see any pressing need to bring it back. Maybe, at a push, for internationals. But only as a way of livening Hamdump up.
@NiallMac
Happy to help boost sales! I’ve already bought my hard copy so I’m just sharing what I read. The hard copy has better pictures – you won’t regret it.
@ muttley79
What’s wrong with Matron!? Bring back Matron would be an excellent policy choice (and get rid of a layer or two of management).
Labour at their best, out of touch and aiming at the lowest denominator.
Aye, Murphy and his red-tory mafia will try any cheap stunt to win votes.
And this is one of the cheapest, who wants to go back to those unsafe times when you had to watch your back both coming and going to a match as well as actually at the game,just incase some drunken twat/twats decided to have a go at you for some imagined slight.
Murphy and the red-tories are lower than a snakes belly to pull this stunt.
I remember the good old days of going to the football at Parkhead and Hampden before the alcohol ban was introduced – I was at the Horses old firm final in 1980 which led to the introduction of the ban ( I was not on the pitch my some of my Rangers pals were).
However, I did have an interesting ride back on the Mount Florida express on my own with thousand of unhappy Rangers fans with a Celtic scarf around my waist. Fortunately, some decent Ranger fans spotted it going onto the train and told me to make sure it was well hidden. Otherwise, I am quite sure I would never have got off the train alive. The naivety of youth!
Yes I rember it well, Rivers of pish following down the walls and terracing, guys pishing down your legs in the terracing, guys pishing into the empty beer cans and launching them down the stand to hit the poor folk on the back of the head. Guys so drunk they passed out and missed the game.
The fights, the pitched battles, avoiding the city centre after old firm games. Yes these were the days.
Yes Jim – lets go back to the good old days – I can just smell it – pish!
And yet depressingly, there are certainly cretins who would vote for Murphy and Labour based on their backward looking campaign stance and against the contrasting progressive stance of the FM and SNP.
Fitba, swally, fight, beat wife, cause a bloody nuisance in town centre with inane drunken chanting in folks faces.
This comment on twitter I saw sums up what can be caused by the minority;
‘As a nurse I worked in A&E when drinking was allowed at Football , I was slapped, punched , kicked & bitten trying to help ppl by 5pm.
Especially on old firm match days as opposition fans attacked each other while I was cleaning their wounds.’
Where’s the vision for Scotland? The passion? A leader?
Inky pic 1.10pm
Simples – Nicola!
Reintroducing alcohol sales at football games?, aye they better be in plastic cans, and bottles, and while they are at it why not have broadswords and daggers freely available!.
Jim Murphy, your an absolute idiot, even allowing for an election coming up, you must be well aware that there is a section of football society who are intent on conflict, and they are NOT a small section, and not confined to Glasow either.
Down through the years these yobs have shamed Scotland, I only hope those days do not return!.
WTF are the Red Tories on ???
Kamikaze politics at is best; just watch those polls shift back to normal now !!
Posted on the earlier thread – Here is Jim’s latest begging letter.
A slight lack of vision – me thinks?
http://wingsoverscotland.com/soapbox-the-hangmans-lottery/comment-page-1/#comment-1963527
I was in Dortmund on Friday night watching them beat FC Mainz 4 – 2, and it was certainly fun being able to have a beer at the game – although it was novelty factor more than anything else.
But leaving the stadium, the whole perimeter fence was lined with blokes taking a piss. As folk piled onto the trains (they have a dedicated U-Bahn station purely for match days), they were banging the windows like caged animals. The main station was complete carnage, and the train back to Düsseldorf, Cologne etc was again treated like a mobile drum kit. I pity anyone on that train who wasn’t at the football! I had visions of the train tipping over at one point…
And that’s just an eyewitness account. It’d be interesting to know what kind of statistics there are in Germany for alcohol-fuelled crime and the like.
And bear in mind Dortmund doesn’t have two teams locked in a hate-fuelled religious rivalry…
(The game was absolutely brilliant, mind.)
Labour are really struggling to find something distinctive to offer the Scottish electorate!
Any policies can’t cost money, because that will further inflame English sentiments.
Also, in typical Labour fashion they confuse devolved and reserved powers. Should this not be a policy and debate for Holyrood next year, rather than GE WM?
Labour never fail to amaze me with their stupidity. If this ever did get through (so many hurdles it’s unlikely) then when the first alcohol related football murder or riot occurs then its labour who carries the can – they really don’t have any foresight at all.
They brought back Matrons in England-hasn’t made a blind bit of difference because managers still rule the roost.
What exactly do they think is wrong with
meeting your mates for a pint in the pub before the game
watching the game for 90 minutes without alcohol
celebrating/commiserating with your mates over a pint in the pub after the game?
As we all know, the second you leave your seat for a bovril or a pee, you miss the only goal or excitement in the entire game anyway. The bovril and pee are usually interchangeable.
The Sunday Herald report suggests ‘the purchase of alcohol at football should be phased in starting in “a limited way” with pilots and plastic bottles’
Does that mean plastic bottles or cups is the transition phase? Nothing like a cold pint of lager in a proper pint glass…
Some new policy ideas for Jim: increase the alcohol limit for driving to avoid punishing good drivers who can handle 2 or 3 pints and still drive safely.
Why don’t we deregulate lapdancing clubs while we are at at. And bring back hare – coursing – that could be a guid family day out too.
Why not combine these pursuits into the ultimate Sunday afternoon – we could get pissed up while we watch the gimme, enjoy some grinding of groins then round it off with some blood sports. And we get to smoke within a confined space with our kids afterwards.
Honestly, is Jim aware of how this policy goes down with women? Is he trying to discredit Scottish politics in order to undermine it?
I must admit to being a bit torn over booze at the fitba. As others have noticed they manage it alright down south of the border and everywhere at the rugby. Even at the Sevens where people have all day to get well and truly blutered you get happy, fairly responsible drunks. Mind you if you know you have all day, you tend to pace yourself too.
As for managing both a pie and a pint at half time. That’s why you go in a group and you split the responsibilities up.
I’ve also never seen anyone piss in the stands at the rugby. So maybe that explains it, though expectations can be managed etc. As can the number of loos available. Murrayfield is well supplied with large gents with lots of urinals.
On Friday 6pm BBC national news covered drop in alcohol consumption by adolescents and marked it by interviewing a Scottish school class. Reporting Scotland chose to report the Scottish Police stop and search powers during which it was mentioned that this was primarily in response to adolescent’s drinking?
As above – you can drink before a game and drink after so why do you need to drink for the 2 hours you are at the match?
You are there to watch football afterall.
The link between football and violence is undeniable. The link between alcohol and violence is undeniable. Labour want to mix the two. Brilliant idea Jim.
Alcohol remains the single biggest public health problem in Scotland. Minimum unit pricing is proven to reduce consumption and is supported by all the professional groups who have to deal with the fallout from alcohol. Yet Labour oppose it.
Alcohol is the social lubricant for every occasion in Scotland – and drinking to excess is a badge of honour. We need to denormalise that. Reintroducing alcohol to football grounds is going to help how exactly?
Point very well made, however this view is not getting traction in main stream Scottish news.
I believe the single biggest damnation on labour and uk rule over Scotland was nine years ago was the report that average life expectancy of people in Calton was 53, lower than the Congo or Bronx!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calton,_Glasgow
This is labour in reality, -useless, nasty, bullying liars who have a negative impact on anything they are involved in.
D McD
It is disgusting they would seek to reignite something nasty as this, when something good is happening on alcohol. It takes a number of years to get progress on such a tough topic.
Yet, once again, they expose the gaping empty maw of their box of “New ideas/policies”
Talking of boxes, read a really funny post by a guy on FB. He had two Labour canvassers at his door, and said to them he would like to make a donation.
He brought out an empty box, and tried to give it to the two puzzled gents on the doorstep. The two asked him what the box was about, and he said it was for Gemma Doyle, to clear out her desk on the 8th May.
It of course prompted a great thread, with everyone saying they would write their Labour MPs name on an empty box and keep it by the door.
Why are liebour trying to drag us backwards? Silly question really cause the answer is they hae nae ideas’ fur goin furrit.
That horrible man will try any and every trick in the book. Hoss and Doug Daniel paint a very graphic picture of attending a football match then and now. Who wants behaviour like that.
I think Dr Jim has it right about turning women voters away.
How not to win an election. Or maybe he disnae really want tae win.
So is this it, The Great Scottish Labour Manifesto? Vote for us and when you go to the fitba you can get pished out of your nut and belt out your favourite songs filled with obscenities and death threats to those on the other side of an increasingly archaic and irrelevant sectarian divide?
Seems like the target Labour voter is a caricature 1950s working man. Trouble for them is, this is 2015 and Scotland has moved on.
Tories are red, Tories are blue.
If ya don’t like it, ya know what to do.
If that’s the best they can come up with then Labour aren’t just scraping the barrel, they are now digging their own grave. The only thing they can think of to offer is drink at football matches. Could you ever describe that as responsible governance because I don’t.
They may not have intended it as such but that’s a huge compliment from Labour for Scotgov & what has been done so far. Imagine another 10 years of the same & what can be achieved for & in Scotland.
Forgot to mention this, for all the folks who keep saying, they manage it down south
No they don’t, are you joking, go and watch outside the grounds of a Manchester derby or a London Derby, or hell, most of them, peoples houses, walls, gardens, cars, are public toilets on match days, Jeez i had hoped this had gone from our society in Scotland how about us teaching others how to be civilised
Football is a proxy for so many aspects of our society, and I’m afraid it attracts more than its fair share of lowlife, which of course is the only section the mainstream Media is interested in.
Behaviour becomes increasingly uninhibited as alcohol levels rise ( even falling asleep can be rude ) and anger at apparent or real unfairness on the pitch is one type of reaction which needs no inflaming.
Are some of us drinking less because we don’t have to drown the shame of political subjugation any longer?
The exact same happened with the explosion of ecstasy in the early 90’s and I suspect this is just the same again with ‘legal’ highs.
Back then nobody was drinking in the clubs so the drinks companies lobbied the government and ‘E’ was reclassified with stricter penalties for possession/dealing. Almost overnight ecstasy prices rocketed and folk switched back to booze with the expected results in our A+E depts.
Now we find ourselves in the same situation with cheap, easily available ecstasy-like highs and nobody drinking booze. I’d put money on it that early next parliament we see a flurry of legal-high scare stories like we got back then with Leah Betts….remember her? The poor lassie that died from ecstasy and had her deathbed photo plastered all over the media. Only she didn’t die from ecstasy, she died from drinking too much water because that’s what the government told her to do. So right now the very same drinks companies will be lobbying for a crackdown on these highs which will happen(no tax in the black market after all) and it’ll be back to the status quo in a couple years time with the kids getting tanked up and A+E bursting at the seams……..business as usual!
As for buying booze at the football. The problem never was buying it in the grounds, it was everyone sneaking in a wee haulf bottle and a few cans.
Write to our MP’s and MSP’s at https://www.writetothem.com/
Let’s force a rethink.
Here’s my letter which I’ve sent to all MEP’s and Sandra White who is my MSP, I can’t bring myself to write to McKechin…maybe someone else could:
Dear…
I am writing to you to express my deep concerns about the potential for alcohol to be re introduced into football matches in Scotland.
The leader of the Scotland branch of the Labour Party, Mr Jim Murphy MP, has instigated a proposal and consultation of football fans to see if his and his party’s idea can gain traction. Police Scoltand’s Chief has said that ‘he would enter into formal discussions, if an independent consultation finds widespread support for the idea.’
I find this proposal to be a backwards step in Scotland. Recent trends in this area clearly show a decline in alcohol related deaths and alcohol related domestic violence incidents have significantly declined since the ending of the ‘old firm’ matches in Glasgow.
There is no public demand for this proposal, this is a politically and cynically motivated and highly contentious tactic that Mr Murphy is proposing in a transparent and to my mind, pathetic attempt to gain some votes in Scotland, in light of the decline in the Labour Party’s fortunes since the referendum.
If this idea gains ground, may I suggest that a wider community consultation takes place across Scotland in the form of a referendum. It can’t be ‘football fans’ who decide whether the whole of Scotland has to deal with the fall out from the few who would no doubt ‘abuse’ this newly granted ‘freedom’ at the expense of the wider society who have to pick up the pieces; whether in health related costs or dysfunctional family dynamics that are a direct consequence of alcohol abuse.
Please find the BBC article published on 15/2/2015 outlining Mr Murphy’s proposal below:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-31472090
Yours sincerely,
Tee total (fitness obsessed?) Murphy encourages others to die from alcohol poisoning. The majority do not support these loser policies. Murphy doesn’t drink alcohol but encourages others to die from alcohol poisoning and the related problems. Astounding hypocrisy.
@Hoss Mackintosh
Thanks for the belly laugh I got from your ‘Rivers of Pish’ post earlier. I remember those days well with some punters so blootered they faced up the terraces for the whole game.
I doubt as a teetotaller this is something very dear to Murphy’s heart. The “they can drink at rugby matches” sounds more like wedge politics than an actual concern about the subject matter. I probably have gone to more rugby matches (club and international) than footbal matches. I haven’t drank at either although I have gone on to a pub afterwards of an occasion. If it was a hot summer’s day a beer might be nice but let’s face it whether you are in Easter Road or Murrayfield an al fresco beer in January is not a lot of fun.
If they want to phase in alcohol at football by using plastic cups & plastic bottles surly the fact they have to use plastic vessels to hold the alcohol says it all. Why not ordinary glass cups & bottles? Oh yes in-case the drink fulled eejits start throwing them. By advocating plastic vessels you are admitting there is a high degree of probability there could be drink fulled violence.. WHY?
Thinking about it, it’s not that bad of an idea, I’ve been to a few games in the English league over the last couple of years and have not seen fans falling down drunk at these games. Up here there is a “culture” of drinking as many as you can before kick off. Perhaps being able to have a drink at the match, where it also better policed, is not as horrific an idea as is being made out.
Just to mention this is not Labour’s idea, they’ve stolen it from somebody else.
I would probably be in the category of a football fanatic only missing my home teams game if working away. I love having a pint(s) with my friends usually after a match, very occasionally before a match.
None of my crowd have any desire or need for alcohol during the match – we have a bucketful afterwards.There appears little or no demand throughout Scotland for this and it would be a huge step backwards in my opinion. If Murphy thinks this is a vote winner then gaun yersel Jim
I wonder if there are all that many votes in this?
After all, that’s what it’s all about.
Yes, there is a difference with rugby, and football in England – but that doesn’t have the problem with sectarianism and violence connected to Scottish football, and 2 clubs in particular.
It seems to me this will turn off more people than it will attract. Women, families, police and NHS staff etc.
And even those who agree with lifting the ban can surely see it is a cheap patronising stunt.
If Murphy had been a ‘fit and proper person’ you might think that he was lining up a new career. Perhaps he’s becoming the new Al Murray, who is entering politics with more credibility than Murphy could even have.
This is mainly an Old Firm problem. Some of their supporters rioted and gave us the ban.
I would suggest alcohol could be sold at all games where neither Celtic nor Rangers are playing. They are the only supporters where a significant minority hark to 17th century Irish politics as being more important than the sport. (Lots of “experts” and precious little knowledge of the history, in my experience, but let’s move on). Despite the undoubted passion shown by supporters of other clubs, they mostly realise it is a game- meant to be fun!!!
But not so many votes in Glasgow then, eh, Jimbo???
How can Labour increase its share of the vote.
1. Embrace The Orange Order
3. Embrace Tory austerity policies.
3. Embrace and encourage some morons to get tanked up on booze at football matches. Cause trouble and beat the crap out of women.
etc etc.
No one is allowed booze at Concerts or public events; Games etc for obvious reasons. It must even put the insurance costs and ticket prices up.
Stu,
Is that ball pein, claw, sledge, club, mallet, power or soft faced?
🙂
SLAB Never miss an opertunity to miss an opertunity.
Well done slippy Jimba spot on, who’s contributing to your party funds? I wonder.
@Rev SC
“New Rangers”
I think you should educate yourself on the entity that is the mighty Glasgow Rangers.
Do you support s Scottish football team?
The reason I ask is because it’s usually the years of us embarrassing other teams that’s the source of the hatred.
Scotland apparently has a problem with alcoholism and alcohol fueled domestic violence; so Jimbo has a brainfart, “Let’s bring alcohol back to football grounds”.
Well done Jimbo; I didn’t think you could get any lower but I see you’ve reached the bottom of the barrel and kept digging.
What next on the agenda?
Given Scotland’s record of cancer and heart disease; Will you pledge to bring back smoking in pubs and clubs?
Is this your gift to the common man and woman; is this your vote winner? Moron!
What next from Murphy and cronies? Free Heroin?
Dundee v Celtic Dec 2012
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/367325/Celts-sorry-for-trouble-at-Dens
Dens Park in lock down after drunken Celtic fans rioted.
Do you want to be in lock down with drunken fans intent on mayhem?
The “branch leader” looking for “the supposed?? populist vote” again.
Why doesn’t he just not hand out twenty pound notes instead
Of “canvassing footsie fans” ?
No thanks Jim keep your London labour misguided policies and” leaflets”
@Papadox.
I hope you deliberately spelled ‘Opportunity’ wrongly, I really do.
Jeez, I’m losing count of Jim Murphy’s popular policies over the last few weeks, from 1000 nurses to the return of Matrons such as Hattie Jacques, in hospitals.
Murphy seems to get up out of bed every day and say I know, I think I’ll offer this to Scots, if they vote for the London Labour branch in Scotland.
I wonder what Murphy will offer tomorrow.
I Like to think that Scotland is Finally Sobering up to what Labour actually stands for. And Hopefully come May They will have less MPs in Scotland than the Tories Have at Present. And I would Drink to that.
Before anyone else jumps on the Murphy-bashing omnibus for a trip to electoral oblivion, can I ask you to suspend your judgement at least until you read the extract below from the March edition of Scientific Scottish.
Scientists Discover New Particle!
Political boffins at the Large Heedrum-a-Hodrum Collider ringing Paisley have long scratched their egg shaped heads over why there aren’t enough coherent, evidenced-based Labour policies to offset the ever increasing constellations of hot gas in circulation within the party’s northern branch.
But the recent discovery of the theoretically predicted Murphino (the so-called ‘patriotic particle’ which is thought to be composed of two parts Irn Bru to eight parts hee haw) is beginning to provide answers to one of the most profound questions in modern political science: From whence comes the chronosynclastic debris (the particle physicist’s term for shite) relentlessly issuing from Jim Murphy’s mouth?
‘This discovery is great news,’ says professor Klaus Fore, head of the Heedrum-a-Hodrum Collider’s theoretical politics unit. ‘I honestly thought there was more chance of Jackie Baillie winning an Olympic gong for twerking at Rio 2016 than detecting the Murphino,’
Klaus and his colleagues think that Murphinos bind together half-baked contradictory political statements originating from outbursts of shameless self promotion before spraying vague motherhood and apple pie statements hither and yon like agricultural slurry.
‘Now we have proven that Murphinos exist we can look forward to working out how to destroy the verbal effluent they give rise to,’ says Klaus, ‘hopefully before May 7.’
Why doesn’t a reporter ask Jim why he is tee total?
It would be interesting watching the conflict in rationale of the two stances he adopts.
He obviously considers it a positive to stress that he is tee-total. He must have come to that lifesyle choice by some arguement.
He wants to promote alcohol at football grounds despite the evidence of the improving benefit of reducing drink in general and the specific gains of the football ground ban.
Votes at all costs? Unfortunately the cost will be carried by the people of Scotland to keep Jim Murphy in his current lifestyle.
Scotland is starting to change and it is no conincidence that it followed a decline in Labour power.
O/T What is the huge “AS ONE” sign on the pitch at Murrayfield about? I hope it’s not what I think it is. If so i’ll be emailing the Scottish RFU about it.
So the advert of the patronising BT woman was apparently targeted at and worked on a very specific group. A lazy ignorant but also quite smug group of women who treat with contempt anything they don’t understand. While being fools refusing to take an interest in anything they couldn’t understand woud insult anybody who did make an effort. The YES campaign missed these people letting them get herded in by the NO bunch.
Are they now herding in the same types on the male side? There are plenty of ignorant and selfish people. Bigoted and lazy who think that they can be exempted any control on the behaviour by location(football match/part of a crowd) or condition (aye bit as wis boatert sae it wisnae ma fault kenn!). So aren’t Labour just serving up what these people want to hear in the reasonable expectation of their vote.
People might condemn these policies in public then cast their vote that way in the election. Now we are getting dirty corrupt US politics the only use of the moral high ground is better vantage point to watch opponents win.
Cannot believe that people could not go for 90 minutes without a drink.They are usually fuelled up before and after the game anyway.
What gets me is that Mr Murphy seems to be confused over which election he is campaigning for. Alcohol at football is a Scottish Government/Police Scotland matter as we know.
So far, his campaigning has been all over the place, and pretty much everything he’s campaigning ‘for’ (lots of nurses, superfast A&E etc.) has nothing to do with the election in May. The only way Labour could have any influence would be if they won both GE 2015 AND Holyrood 2016 (I’m saying’ nothin’).
We all know the reasons:
Firstly, the only tactic he has is bad-mouthing the SNP at every opportunity. But he can’t criticise the SNP at Westminster because they’re not in power there and there’s nothing he can criticise about their Westminster policies. The SNP voting record compared to Labour-MPs-who-happen-to-be-based-in-Scotland speaks volumes (abstaining and voting with the Tories isn’t a good look).
And secondly, he can’t campaign for Labour’s Westminster policies (which he should be doing) because the ones which affect Scotland aren’t exactly popular e.g Trident, austerity… do they have any other policies?.
So here he goes again desperately trying to find something to distract the common man/woman and show them that Labour are their friends, he’s a man of the people, that the pesky SNP government is trying to stifle their right to get drunk and sing songs, that the SNP are all posh rugby fans (okay, maybe he didn’t say that)….look, a squirrel drinking a can of Irn Bru!
@Cuddis
What you said! 🙂
I would have thought that those who want drink in plastic cups and bottles at football matches are those who are unlikely to be bothered about voting.
An unhealthy relationship between Glasgow police, politicians and press. Turn a blind eye to criminality.
Don says, this is not Labours idea, they’ve stolen it from someone else. Oh shurely not, they would never dae that, wid they?
Oh dear the Rev is getting very upset, please put the paragraph breaks in folks to avoid the Rev coming at you with hammers.Gulp.
Bill McLean
It’s probably Alex Salmond One (or won).
Waiting to see if it re-appears at half-time. Bugger just lost a try!
I truly believe that Scottish Labour would prefer us all to be exactly the tribal, alcoholic, self destructive and politically passive population that they know how to lie to. This was another forehead slapping moment on my road to Damascus.
Not only have they done feck all for Scotland, ultimately, while being handed the most solid and reliable voting commitment ever, but they they actually contributed to and maintained that deep cultural cringe and lack of self confidence that we threw off on the road to the referendum.
Once again with feeling. Fck em.
Blue torygraph boost for drinking at football, shock. Great photo of Jim Murphy handing out “tell us what you want” Slab leaflets at Pittodrie too. Good to see red and blue tories working bettertogether again.
https://archive.today/flzzY
Can I object to the idea that only old firm supporters have been known to beat up their partners? House’s OBA guff was based on his experience as head of Strathclyde police, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only teams associated with spousal abuse.
Hoss @ 1.07 ….Agreed
I think football goers will , in line with everyone , look back remembering the ” good old days ” be it going to clubs , bands etc .
Seldom do we recall the down sides.
I recall being @ Ibrox in the late 60’s , remember those pre segregation days ,when the wee blue invalid cars trooped in at 2.50 etc
Just like Hoss says not days we want to re-visit .
I remember having to stand frozen (scared sh**less) when Aberdeen scored .
I remember seeing the stretchers with fans on them , all bandaged up ,blood oozin’ etc the worst was seeing a DART sticking out of someones head .
I re-call older guys drinking from cans , later they would fill one , yes they did , and chuck it forward . Yuk !
My “I remember ” list could fill the page , with not very pretty items .
I was under the impression Scotland is starting to get to grips with our alcohol consumption .
Plus we have the new D/Drive limit getting a new message across .
Aye Jim you really have stolen a march on us all with that one .
Glad to read above , I’m not alone in seeing it as a NON starter .
The Game is so much more Family friendly these days and needs to grow this market.
Cheers .
Jim Murphy is deliberately picking issues which will create division.
There were folk on twitter both supporting SNP who have been arguing about it all day until one blocked the other.
I was tempted to put my oar in but resisted.
There are much more important things to think about.
Cuddis
Excellent post 🙂
The Sunday Herald states on page 12 that Jim Murphy promises 1000 nurses…not putting in the context that it is 1000 above anything SNP propose. So yet again the pro Indy press help him peddle his lies. I expect that from the rest of the papers…How independent is the Scottish pro independence press
You seriously have to ask what the **** is running through the minds of the Scottish Labour hierarchy.
Is it their absolute mission to make sure that the people of Scotland suffer continually? Are they determined to inflict self-doubt, as well as perpetually keeping our self-confidence down. What possesses a Scottish Labour MP in believing that running his own people down is good for the nation?
I really, really hope that the people see through these charlatans and vote every single one of them out of existence this coming election.
O/T Sunday Herald on page 12 reiterates the bullshit from Murphy…”Murphy has already promised to use the proceeds from labours proposed mansion tax to employ 1000 new nurses in Scotland”…
I don’t need the pro-indy papers to spout out his lies. There are enough anti-indy ones about. How can we ever combat the crap when the mainstream media is so useless? Having a bad day – this makes it worse!
If people in Scotland did not drink to get drunk it would be fine,if there was the same element of family fun at Football matches as there is in the States where they have family barbecues before the matches, yes why not. Then this is Scotland where people, and I remember those times well, went tanked up and I have even been offered drink on the train from some football fans. I have no idea how much they took on before they got there, but I wonder if they could stand up.
Testing.
@KennyG 2.33pm
Deeply predictable, as ever.
Was going to make a comment but we’re tryin’ awfy hard just now to get a try!
This response appeals only to one category of voter. They are all CreepyJim has left.
@author_al
He said that did he?
Amazing how quickly it changed from 1000 more than the SNP to 1000 new nurses.
From crass arithmetical and mechanical stupidity to crass societal division and policy stupidity. One small leap for Mr Murphy, one giant leap for Labour.
Simply unfit to serve.
Jim Murphy’s ludicrous suggestion of reintroducing alcohol to football games beggars belief as many have commented above. With alcohol related damage to our society continuing to wane, who but the Eggman would dare risk such a retrograde step in the hope of securing a handful of votes.
My’t if son’s girlfriend goes with him to matches. She loves the banter, but, I am sure she wouldn’t want to if she had to witness they type of behaviour caused by alcohol which Hoss McIntosh describes.
I have never attended a professional football match. I grew up seeing tv pictures of and newspaper reports of fans behaving like animals and I would never have dreamt that going to football would make a good day out.
Try!! bit late though.
@KennyG
Nothing to do with George Square 19th September 2014?
Justin Curry not known for his pro independence feelings wrote these words in a song called “Hatful of rain” These seem apt at describing Murphys vision of Scotland returning to the dark ages.
“And sherry bottles in a bus-stop litter bin Remind me of you somehow”
Clootie says:
“Why doesn’t a reporter ask Jim why he is tee total?
It would be interesting watching the conflict in rationale of the two stances he adopts.”
_______
Excellent point very well made, Clootie, but that’s never going to happen.
Serious questions have to be asked of any individual who seeks to increase the likelihood of alcohol fueled violence, especially when the promoter is tea-total.
It has been said many times before and i will repeat it again – alcohol is freely available before and after any football match.
You attend a football match to watch a game of football.
You do not need a drink of toxin in your hand to do so.
If you can’t go a couple of hours without a drink of alcohol then you have a very serious problem and you should be nowhere near any sporting event.
btw, All alcohol inspired violence related to football matches in Scotland (and i would suggest elsewhere also) comes from individuals getting tanked-up before and/or after the actual event and not during the actual game itself.
You don’t see this ever being mentioned because to do so would be an admission of guilt by the police and security companies that they freely allowed intoxicated whallopers into the stadium in the first place.
Skeletor is driving this issue for 2 main reasons:
(a)-Celtic F.C. (mainly Peter Liewell) wants to see it happen.
(b)-Skeletor believes he can tap into a lot of votes with this prehistoric move.
It’s time Celtic fans stood up and told Skeletor, the Snake Oil salesman, to GTF and stop associating their club with his warmongering name.
@TMITJ –
Justin Curry not known for his pro independence feelings
Eh, Justin voted Yes MITJ…
http://www.facebook.com/justin.currie.526/posts/548495315283285:0
Well my eyes might deceive me but pretty much every club seeks alcohol. They simply can’t sell it during the match and drinks can’t be taken from the bar area.
Another load of red Tory nonsense.
After all the effort the health professionals, scottish gov and the local community’s have put in to show the health values from drinking responsibly, the red tory twat’s are trying to reverse the mindset.
I wonder what the red tory right wing thinktank was saying during the meeting, somthing along the lines of these bloody scot’s are getting more hope and self respect every day
we need them to have less of that so they start voting for us again.
Conan_the_Librarian, 4.54pm
Over on the Soapbox thread, KennyG recently said:
if a woman is out, gets very drunk and she meets a man she’s never met, then goes back to his hotel room with him, then gets into bed with him, then wakes up in the morning unclothed, and the guy says they had sex, and she says I don’t remember giving consent, this is not rape.
I submit that this tells you all you need to know about KennyG.
I sincerely hope he does not work with either children or vulnerable people, and if he does have any teenage daughters (which I really hope he doesn’t) then I wonder what he would say to them if a man did to them what he described. Presumably he would tell them it was their own fault. And presumably he would at best turn a blind eye to another man doing what he described, or at worst do it himself.
Do we really want people like this on our side? I can do without them.
Celtic v Rangers……drink induced divide and rule!
What’s next:
Jim Murphy supports the lifting of smoking ban in pubs?
He probably would if he thought there were a few votes in it!
Luigi don’t give him any ideas. I can see it now!
“Murphy calls for smoking actions at old firm games”
“Murphy calls for bigotry sections in pubs” A bit like karaoke for people with no language skills,singing ability or basic understanding of their own ancestry!
Heres a dity that sums up modern politics.
http://tinyurl.com/k65x49a
@Croompenstine
Re Justin Curry. Thats a surprise I am positive at one point in the referendum he came out very strongly for NO. I distinctly remember chucking a Del Amitri CD in the bin! Oh well I suppose it is good news. Who knew?
O/T
It appears that Jonathan Portes, Director of NIESR, is somewhat at odds with the media’s view of Nicola Sturgeon’s UCL speech.
http://newsnet.scot/2015/02/sturgeon-spending-plan-backed-leading-london-think-tank-director/
That’ll leave a mark. 🙂
Poor old Cochers, he never learns. 😀
@Luigi
“Jim Murphy supports the lifting of smoking ban in pubs?
He probably would if he thought there were a few votes in it!”
Next it will be compulsory smoking in A&E. Better watch in case we give him ideas. 🙁
They want us drunk and oblivious just like the good ole USA keeps it’s native Americans.
This is it Jimbo; Scotland is wakening up from a drunken haze wondering why you are standing there with your hand in it’s trouser pockets and, “I was just checking yur pockets for change before I wash them”, will not cut it anymore!
This is simples.
Want to drink? Stay at home or go to pub.
Want to watch football? Go to football match.
Want to drink and go to football match? Mix one and two
Want to drink at football match? No. 90 minutes plus half time won’t kill you.
Grow up Murphy.
Who needs pints when you’ve got the pies we have at Glebe Park?
T’was a Blue Tory idea, wee Ruthie was the originator of this proposal as I recall.
So yes, another idea stolen…
The problem with alcohol at the footie is that none of the teenagers who work in the refreshment stands are old enough to serve you.
In my football going days (and I used to go every week) the pubs had you out the door by 2.30 when they closed and didn’t open again till 5. That meant you finished you pint or whatever around 2.15 if you were close to the stadium and you weren’t getting back to the pub till about 5.30 or later. Most of the customers that I had (and both Rangers and Celtic supporters) came in sobered up. In my memory it was the fans coming in off touring buses with huge carry outs to drink during the game that were the biggest problem rather than the fans from the immediate vicinity of the stadiums.
However as somebody said to me today “Is this actually the best they can do? How pathetic>”
Doug Daniel says:
15 February, 2015 at 1:22 pm
And bear in mind Dortmund doesn’t have two teams locked in a hate-fuelled religious rivalry…
(The game was absolutely brilliant, mind.)
You’ve obviously never been there when they play their arch enemies Schalke 04. I’ve seen people who have been stabbed in the queue to get into the stadium.
If they didn’t sell booze in the stadiums here, they would just hit the pubs, take carryouts etc. All the fan buses you see at the Autobahn Rastplatz empty and the fans jump out to relieve themselves againts the nearest tree, bus, passerby.
The difference over here is that most tickets are sold to fan clubs and they self regulate. Also in a lot of stadiums, if you are not a season ticket holder, you have very little change of getting in, especially for the local derbies.
i am so fed up with Mr. Murphy’s pronouncements. His total ignorance of the positive developments in Scottish society is insulting to everyone . He offers nothing of any worth .What about children living in poverty in Scotland Mr. Murphy?
@author_al says: 15 February, 2015 at 4:18 pm
O/T Sunday Herald on page 12 reiterates the bullshit from Murphy…”Murphy has already promised to use the proceeds from labours proposed mansion tax to employ 1000 new nurses in Scotland”…
True, they should know better, however the are all we have got – I have written to them pointing out that they have made a silk purse out of a sows ear, and that the ‘1000 more nurses that the SNP’ is actually what labour said and how embarrassing that was for them. That it is essential that they have journalists who are capable of picking up key bits of information like this.
Suggest you celebrate the front cover – and write in pointing out their mistakes
Cadogan, I do tend to write in and point things out…also to praise. There have been some great covers and stories in the Sunday Herald and National. I suppose, I get fed up seeing Murphy’s face and lies pasted in, with no critical analysis alongside. I hope that journalists who have come over from working on unionist rags are able to write genuinely for the pro Indy reader, untainted. Trust is all.
Is it just me or have the Principality of Wales rugby team ever since they got an All Black manager been a bunch of professional cheats.
Just sayin.
Just catching-up and apologies for continuing on about rugby yesterday, Sunday. Can some of you good and shrewd people tell me what was the purpose of the banner behind the teams at the line-up before kick-off that proclaimed, “AS ONE”?
Auld Rock
It was an attempt to buy Jim a personal number plate :D. I an eerie parallel to Jim and his alcoholic football in Wales the Tories who are about as unpopular as Labour here are campaigning to bring about standing in football games again as it seems being reactionary is the way to bring back the good old days.
Auld Rock:
Anent the “AS ONE” banner – it is an SRU marketing ploy, the suggestion being the Scottish nation – players, officials, sponsors and stakeholder of the SRU, the press and the public are, as one, behind the Scotland team. Nothing more sinister than that.
People keep saying “he’s doing it so he’ll get the votes” but lest we forget Ibrox crowds are not that big anymore.
Drop in alcohol consumption
Drop in alcohol related deaths
Drop in alcohol related violence
Drop in alcohol related crime
Drop in support for labour party, light goes on in Smurphy’s empty head “I know how to get the labour vote back”…….simples
@Conanthelibrarian 4.54pm
So the hatred for Rangers stems from sept 19th?
I think you may be mistaken in thinking all Rangers fans are unionists, and all the unionists in George sq were Rangers fans.
Remember this, Glasgow voted yes, and people were coming from far and wide to be in George sq.
If you think that it was only Rangers fans there that night then your mind is clouded by your hatred.
Learn to let it go and you’ll be free.
Can somebody tell me why the French team playing Scotland had a wee saltire in the front of their shirts. They didn’t have a wee Irish flag when they played that country.
@Natasha 5.34pm
If my daughter found herself in this position, firstly, I’d be raging that she put herself in that position, secondly, I’d ask her, before you get a man put in prison, how, if you were so drunk that you don’t remember giving consent, can you be sure if you did or didn’t?
So what you’re saying is, if a woman cries rape, it’s rape, no ifs, no buts, she said it, guilty?
BTW, if the only people you want on ‘your side’ are people who agree with you on what does and does not constitute rape, I’d hate to live in your version of a free and fair society!
See for someone who takes pride in looking outside of the main stream media for political news, you think you’d not be dragged in to their portrayal of football fans as hooligans.
It’s simply not a true portrayal and while there have been some shameful incidents in the past, that is the same in pretty much every sport or incident you can imagine. We going to ban alcohol in nightclubs everytime there’s a brawl in Sauchiehall Street? Cos you’ll have far more hassle there most Saturday nights than you will in any game, yes even those pesky Celtic “Rangers” matches.
As someone who goes to football regularly and has never been involved in any hassle, this Government’s view of football fans is one of its major failings, and comfortably the biggest sticking point for me when I chose to join the Greens over the SNP. So many people who look outside the rags for political news soak their hyperbole up when it paints football fans in a bad light.
And also, bringing alcohol into football games isn’t going to lead to folk going crazy habing 6/7 pint sduring the game. A huge number drink in pubs vefore it anyway and this will just mean going to the ground 15/20 minutes earlier to get a pint then maybe another at half time or whatever. There’s really not going to be much change in sobriety.
Look at how successful it is in England who had a massive problem with football casuals, far worse than Scotland had. Where are these riots in England due to alcohol in grounds?
I like a drink, and I like to go to football matches when I can.
I could live without mixing the two, if what I’ve been told about the bad old days is true.
When the stats about alcohol abuse and health issues, are showing improvement, this has to be one of the most stupid pieces of legislation anyone could propose. Shame on Murphy and his craven crew.
John
You obviously were never at any of the alcohol fuelled riots at football in Scotland or had anybody piss down your leg (or your wife’s as happened to mine at Firhill the last time she went to a football match). Good riddance to Pale Ale bottles full of urine being flung onto the track around the pitch. What they do in England has nothing to do with what we decide to do up here but I can remember full scale alcohol fuelled riots in the streets of Manchester and Newcastle following football matches concerning Scottish football supporters.
It is indeed alarming that Jim Murphy obviously believes that his front page espousal of reversing a law which the vast majority of decent Scottish people think is sensible will bring votes to Labour
It is having exactly the opposite effect.
On you go, Jim – and lots of other information about the completely cynical and false person he is is beginning to surface. Let’s hope they don’t get rid of him – but surely they have to.
Our big problem is the Record/Herald/BBC assassination job on the NHS in Scotland. NHS staff is beginning to get seriously put out by what looks more and more like an attack on them and Bradford’s lies can readily be turned on the liars if this continues. A big lie exposed by a serious health service figure knocks the rest of it all out if it is done a the right time.
@John, well said, 110% in agreement. The SNP have completely played in Murphy’s hands with their point blank refusal to consider lifting the ban.
Football fans have been discriminated against for far too long and it’s time it was addressed.
Having watched football down south for many years, they seem to be able to manage to serve alcohol with very few issues, why in Scotland can we not manage this? Time to end the ban.