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Have pity on us, readers

Posted on June 05, 2013 by

Please don’t make us transcribe this nine-minute trainwreck of an interview with Margaret Curran on the subject of Labour’s welfare and spending plans, from this afternoon’s edition of BBC2’s Daily Politics. We don’t know if we could take it.

margaretcurran1

Click the image to listen, if you have a high pain threshold.

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88 to “Have pity on us, readers”

  1. uilleambeag
    Ignored
    says:

    Just the look on her face there is bad enough!

  2. MajorBloodnok
    Ignored
    says:

    It’s a blt like listening to a old couple bickering, with neither of them knowing what they are talking about.

  3. Scott Minto (Aka Sneekyboy)
    Ignored
    says:

    Hi Rev,
     
    I’m at work and cant listen… can you transcribe this? 😉
     
    Also, I have Tinnitus (which as you know the most common cause is noise-induced hearing loss) and in my case is caused by listening to total bollox from Labour politicians.
     
    If you fail to transcribe I may end up in hospital and suffer an exagerrated wait in A&E while the nurses figure out the best way to kill me with a hospital infection…
     
    Now I would hate to expect ‘something for nothing’ off our NHS…

  4. MajorBloodnok
    Ignored
    says:

    It’s an NHS scandal so it is (copyright E Bradford & J Bailey).

  5. cadgers
    Ignored
    says:

    I thought I had a high pain threshhold……..I don’t.
     
    She is becoming the sacrificial lamb?

  6. DMyers
    Ignored
    says:

    I wondered where Zelda from Terrahawks had been hiding all these years…

  7. JLT
    Ignored
    says:

    Rev,
    I don’t think you need to tell us anything that Margaret has to say. Just flashing her picture up is enough to vote Yes, and a warning as to never, ever vote Labour!
     
    This woman has nothing to say, that makes me want to stop from whatever, inane drivel and p1sh that I am doing, just so I can listen to her for 5 measly seconds….

  8. HandandShrimp
    Ignored
    says:

    Both Margaret and Johann are useless at unscripted interviews. It is beyond painful to watch and consequently I can’t take more than a few moments at a time. I actually start to feel sorry for them (and I don’t want to go there).
     
    Actually Ed Milliband isn’t a whole lot better. I watched the “these strikes are wrong” fiasco with the horrid fascination that one watches a car crash. You want it to stop but you sit there glued to spot in disbelief.
     
     

  9. Fergie35
    Ignored
    says:

    If I went to clients of my company, and gave the same wishie washie shpeel and unable to come out with the answers to the question, I would get sacked.
    Her and Lammont are identical, do they never do their homework, this is a train wreck and shows the labour party are full of p!sh

  10. Luigi
    Ignored
    says:

    And I thought that, in a modern democracy, people achieved high office through merit and merit alone. Quite a few Labour politicians appear to seriously challenge that belief. I don’t know how on earth Curran, Lamont and Miliband et al et al et al made it so high, but it certainly wasn’t based on intelect, charisma, or vocal ability. Like a number of dumb businessmen (and football managers), they just got lucky, I guess.

  11. Max
    Ignored
    says:

     
    Since there are no policy differences, Labour, the Tories and the LibDems are to form a new party to defend this great island from the twin threats of UKIP in England and the nationalists in the Celtic Fringe.
     
    It is to be called the United Kingdom UNionists Together party, or UKUNT for short. 
    Announcing the new party David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg said that in future when right-wing policy is being collectively made on the hoof, or there is another expenses scandal at Westminster the electorate will automatically think to themselves, “UKUNT”. 

  12. Tom Hogg
    Ignored
    says:

    “When we come in in 2015”. Newsflash – the way it’s going now, Nick Clegg has a better chance than you.

  13. Horacesaysyes
    Ignored
    says:

    Dear me, that was indeed painful to listen to!

    Thank you for making it audio only, though, Rev, as I was eating my dinner while listening, and I’m not sure I’d have been able to keep it down if there was visual accompaniment!

  14. Macart
    Ignored
    says:

    Ahhhh g’wan, g’wan, g’wan, g’wan………… etc

  15. Desimond
    Ignored
    says:

    Andrew Neil pulled the rug from under her there….cue tumbleweed!

  16. Marker Post
    Ignored
    says:

    How can anyone vote for that? Unless it’s by a postal ballot, of course…

  17. Anne (@annewitha_e)
    Ignored
    says:

    I stopped listening to Curran when she repeated the mantra “independence will mean no more devolution” as a bit of a weird Labour logic mind-twister (polite) . Not going to torture my brain with this but I can imagine which is probably worse.

  18. HandandShrimp
    Ignored
    says:

     
    I stopped listening to Curran when she repeated the mantra “independence will mean no more devolution”
     
    Dear Lord, please tell me she didn’t say this.

  19. Doug Daniel
    Ignored
    says:

    This is an excellent birthday present Stu, thanks.
     
    Anyone who didn’t manage to listen to the whole thing – you’ve just got to listen at about 6:40 when her brain shuts down briefly before starting up again.
     
    Never mind a car crash, this is a multiple car pile up!

  20. Jamie Arriere
    Ignored
    says:

    Whenever Magrit starts talking (especially when you can’t see her per the clip), I can’t see anything else but Dorothy Paul standing with a mop and a pail – only problem is that it is not remotely funny.
    After eight minutes of drivel, all I can remember is that £100million is a lot of money, and that she doesn’t know anything her party would do in government. Eight minutes of my life wasted.

  21. Desimond
    Ignored
    says:

    The scariest thing to consider is that Moaning Margaret Curran and Weapons-Junket Jim Murphy will both see themselves as front runners as Leaders for any future Scottish Labour Party (Newco 2014). We must ensure that not only is the Westminster model broken, but also the self serving Labour attitude they embody is also killed off for good.

  22. ScottyC1314
    Ignored
    says:

    Decided against watching this but will guess at content:

    Curran: “screech, sckwok, shreek, squok, screech”

    BBC: “well said”

    Curran: “thanks hen”

  23. JPJ2
    Ignored
    says:

    What amazes me is the prevailing myth (MSM induced, of course) that all the best “Scottish” Labourites go to Westminster rather than Holyrood.
    Curran is living proof that is another unionist lie. She sits in Holyrood for a few years achieving little, eventually at the second attempt is elected to Westminster in 2010, and soon thereafter becomes Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, replacing the nonentity McKechin.
    The truth is that unionist “Scottish” Labour have negligible political talent ANYWHERE.
     
     

  24. Desimond
    Ignored
    says:

    ScottyC1314…..its a pleasure to say that your mistaken…its a rare thing….its a Unionist politican getting a right showing up…self inflicted mostly but well worth a listen.

  25. Rev. Stuart Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    “Thank you for making it audio only, though, Rev, as I was eating my dinner while listening, and I’m not sure I’d have been able to keep it down if there was visual accompaniment!”

    Tonight I might publish the X-rated stills. Be afraid.

  26. Braco
    Ignored
    says:

    Max,
    T shirts ?

  27. turnip_ghost
    Ignored
    says:

    So….What EXACTLY DID she say…? Cuz I didn’t hear anything…Lot’s of talking but not saying anything…

  28. ScottyC1314
    Ignored
    says:

    I relented and listened….most enjoyable. Shame Scottish Labour aren’t put under that level of pressure on a day to day basis by the Scottish media. Only the media stands in the way of the inevitable further erosion of the labour vote.

  29. Tris
    Ignored
    says:

    Happy birthday Doug.
     
    What better present that Maggie Curren.

  30. Jim Mitchell
    Ignored
    says:

    Hi Rev like you i had the (Miss) fortune to see this live, i knew she wasn’t much but even for an Nationalist this was embarrassing to watch, when it went it through my mind that people were told that this was the Shadow Sect of State for Scotland.
    It also became clear that what Johan Lamont has been saying on welfare is the script that they have sent up from Labour’s London HQ’s, which of course also means that they had decided on these things months ago.

  31. Craig M
    Ignored
    says:

    I imagine that Curran is used to talking people into submission. I guess it displays more about her colleagues and peers (small P) than it does about her credentials as an intellectual politician.
    At the end of day, what this demonstrates most is that the Labour Party is only interested in power for power’s sake. Gone are the big ideas, the strongly held beliefs, the cutting edge agendas. They look at the present occupiers of government and, like jealous, surly children, they sulk and talk nonsense in the hope that they will be believed. 
    Is it any wonder that UKIP are riding high in the polls in England, when you have such poverty in terms of electoral alternatives? It’s about time someone broke cover from within the so called Left (if there are any genuine Left thinking politicos left) and started talking solid alternatives. Mr Farage talked in the Mail on Sunday of a “Managed Decline” when talking about the present Government and their attitude to the UK. The ways things are going it’s going to be a freefall plummet to a very hard landing. 
    To quote a song, We’ve gotta get outta this place”…and that’s a possible anthem for the Yes campaign.

  32. John Hannah
    Ignored
    says:

    Oor Mags is one of the best things to happen to the Yes campaign. If these types of interviews were seen more often then she would surely put people off a no vote.
     
    She has no idea …Lang may her lum reek.

  33. Ron Burgundy
    Ignored
    says:

    Thick just does not come close –
    How did she get a University degree? Made only more puzzling by the fact that her running buddy Rosa Kleb got the same. Glasgow University face palm.
    Also nice to see that Brillo is clearly not privy to the light touch Pacific Quay approach to SLAB.
    Humiliating – if it had been a fight the referee would have stopped it.

  34. MajorBloodnok
    Ignored
    says:

    I wish Andrew Neil had asked her if she’d found out who Denis Healey was by now.

  35. creag an tuirc
    Ignored
    says:

    She’s like an eloquent Johan Lamont 🙂

  36. Marian
    Ignored
    says:

    Sadly Margaret Curran is a typical all mouth and no substance product of Labour these days.
    Worse still for their membership is the fact that the Labour party appear to have a never ending stream of politicians like her who are utterly loyal to the party line and talk 13 to the dozen and who are chronically useless.
    If she is the best that Labour can put forward then heaven help them when the real debates start before the referendum.

  37. HighlandMartin
    Ignored
    says:

    I listened and need a lie down now.
     

  38. Red squirrel
    Ignored
    says:

    Painful in the extreme. I though blood sports were banned.
    if Mags thinks we have a failed economy why does she want us to stay in the union – so she & her equally useless pals can be in power again. And they did such a great job last time too.

  39. Tasmanian
    Ignored
    says:

    Transcribing this is better than watching some American reality show about a large pawnbroker’s shop with my housemate.

    LABOUR WILL HAVE PRIORITIES. Be sure. They just can’t tell you what they are because they don’t exist yet. It’s a bit like the job interview candidate who answers every question with “I’d use Google to figure out how to do that.”

  40. Cav
    Ignored
    says:

    Brilliant! Loved it.
     
    One concern though, did she have a wee swally prior to going on?

  41. Tattie-boggle
    Ignored
    says:

    Why oh why did I listen
    This sounds better


  42. mato21
    Ignored
    says:

                  OOR MAGGIE
    Oor Maggie came charging fae oot o’ the east
     A wee wifie wha thinks she’s a big fighting beast
     Wi a voice like a foghorn, and charms sadly lacking
     Wee Milly must rate her, for he’s gien her his backing
     
     Noo she’s got a red case, that’lll aye come in handy
     Tae carry aroon her beano and dandy
     Alang wi the forms tae mak oot her claims
     There’s a big hoose tae be kept,  and a couple o’ weans
     So she canny miss oot on ought that is gawn
     For some day she micht be back at the pawn

     She shadows oor Mike, an arderous task
     When oot robbing, Dick Turpin, at least wore a mask
     But he’d better watch oot wi Mags on his case
    The new bools in her mooth she micht spit in his face
     But she’ll stand up for Scotland, I’m kidding on noo
     There’s mare chance o’ me thinking a bull is a coo

  43. Morag
    Ignored
    says:

    I’d kill to have that transcribed, but since I won’t do it myself, I can hardly expect Stu to do it.

  44. ayemachrihanish
    Ignored
    says:

    Rev, that was one total train wreck of an interview! Brilliant!!
     All Andy did was to ask a direct question – she then imploded!
    Andy say’s what’s cut next?
    She pause and can’t answer because  Cameron hasn’t told her yet.

  45. pmcrek
    Ignored
    says:

    For those unable/unwilling to watch, myself included, I thought I might try my hand at transcribing the interview via maths, the video lasts for 9 minutes, so:
     
    Formula (i) Time
    For a Labour representative the time alloted to speak y, out of the total T, in an interview is:
    y = 0.9 * T
     
    Formula (ii) Content
    The content of any given Labour representatives points is denoted by the following:
    z = 0.6 * y
    x = 0.4 * y
     
    Where z = attacking SNP and x = lying.
     
    Therefore for T = 9 minutes:
    Curran spoke for 8.1 minutes, 4.9 minutes of which were spent attacking the SNP and 3.2 minutes spent lying.
     
    The true power of this method though is, it can be applied to every interview given so we dont have to watch any.
     
     

  46. Semus
    Ignored
    says:

    Z Magret no rerr? I like Max’s UKUNT and I insist we call the neighbours Former United Kingdom FUK, with Welcome to FUK at the border , and on School atlases

  47. Clancheif
    Ignored
    says:

    Talk aboot jibbering monkey
    Heres the pic for the definition in the dictionary

  48. Tasmanian
    Ignored
    says:

    Hold the horses! I HAVE transcribed it. The SNP don’t get a mention; Scotland doesn’t get a mention, it’s purely Westminster policies. She bashes the Coalition for, for example, cutting child tax benefits for higher-income households, while insisting Labour was right to refuse to oppose the cuts (or something like this).

    The point is: Labour can’t possibly be expected to commit to any policy until the runup to the election; all they can do is give out ‘signals’ and criticise the Coalition for failing to choose the opposite of whatever they chose to do.

    This is the pattern:
    1 – The Coalition made a decision, therefore they didn’t do whatever was ruled out by that choice.
    2 – The economy is a mess.
    3 – Therefore the Coalition’s decisions made the economy a mess.
    And Labour will make different decisions to the Coalition (or, they’ll make the same decisions but for different reasons), and therefore this will fix everything. Perfectly clear!

  49. John Lyons
    Ignored
    says:

    Luigi…
     
    I don’t know how on earth Curran, Lamont and Miliband et al et al et al made it so high, but it certainly wasn’t based on intelect, charisma, or vocal ability
     
    Or maybe it was! Speaks volumes about the rest of them!

  50. heraldnomore
    Ignored
    says:

    You’re going to have to transcribe it Stu, damned rural broadband speeds.  Besides we can file it away and read it on dark nights in the future independent Scotland to remind us of the dark days from whence we came; to remind of us that lucky escape – or just to have right good laugh.
    Actually I did manage to listen to it and now I need to get these contact lenses out very quickly.  Whatan aspiration for a party to have, far less a nation.  No wonder young master stairheid opted for a life abroad, a foreigner indeed, apron strings well and truly cut.
     

  51. Davy
    Ignored
    says:

    I was lucky enough to have watched it live, it was almost hypnotic as the interview progressed. You keep thinking surely at sometime she is going to realise what a airse she is making of herself but happily NO she just keeps on going and going.
     
    And if you watch Andrew Neil’s face he know’s fine well whats happening and just keeps on prodding her with a comment every now and again and the silly cow walks right back into it.
     
    Now thats what you get if you vote NO.
     
    Alba Gu snooker loopy!.
     

  52. Shinty
    Ignored
    says:

    Transcribe? you’d have to translate it into English first.

  53. John Lyons
    Ignored
    says:

    Why? What’s wrong with Scots?

  54. Bugger (the Panda)
    Ignored
    says:

    I could understand “what we are saying” as she said it loads of times but beyond that not a word. I suspect she did too.
     
    What an advert for SLAB.
     
    I am only just catching up on “in the loop” and “in the thick of it,” on DVD.
     
    Stair Heid qualifies to be a bit part in “in the thick of it”.
     
    She hasn’t a clue, hasn’t mastered her brief and has not a clue how to answer or even respond to Andrew Neil’s style.
     
    I wonder if she was set up by some spin doctor guru who wants her out of his way?
     
    Adulterated mince she was.

  55. alex taylor
    Ignored
    says:

    This is what having nothing truthful to say sounds like.
    It’s noisey and wordy but contains no substance.
    Imagine you were grilled for nine minutes, knowing you had no answers to the questions being asked.
    I’d like to say I feel sorry for her but the future of our country is at stake.
    For how long can this SLab lot maintain the cognitive dissonance without breakdown?

  56. Clarinda
    Ignored
    says:

    Although there are plenty of men in contention for Bletherskite of the Year – I consider Ms Curran to be well ahead especially after this latest demonstration of …. talk as fast as you can and just perhaps nobody will notice the total absence of critical thinking, logic or even the merest suggestion of political grasp.  Apparently she has a degree in History from the University of Glasgow – but I remain in the dark as to where she acquired the degree to which her verbal velocity gives the Large Hadron Collider a run for its money.
     
     

  57. ianbrotherhood
    Ignored
    says:

     
    Tried.
     
    Lasted 1 min 14 secs.
     
    It’s like having a mosquito in your room at night, constantly droning about, never knowing when it’s going to suddenly dive-bomb your lugs. Torture. I’m waiting for the full video – at least then you can see where the bastard is.

  58. Yesitis
    Ignored
    says:

    Margrit is an insult to future doughnut shop workers everywhere.

  59. Gordon Bain
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Semus
    Careful! I just used the term “fUK” on an anti-independence Facebook page and was promptly told they’d taken a screengrab of it to demonstrate the nastiness of us “Nats”. this despite my pointing out that if the term is good enough for Macedonia then it’s surely good enough for Engerland et al. Still, i guess it is a lot worse than posting death threats against Nationalist politicians.
    Thing is it just might get printed by the MSM. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

  60. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    Brillianly funny – the transcript would be priceless.
    Maybe you could run it thru a free transcription app like http://www.voicebase.com.
    I haven’t tried this but it might do the bulk of the work.

  61. Robin Ross
    Ignored
    says:

    As soon as you hear a Labour politician resort to “What we are saying” you know they have no answer to the question asked.  I seem to hear that non sentence more and more often.

  62. HandandShrimp
    Ignored
    says:

    Gordon
     
    Laugh…definitely laugh. Anyone so pathetic not only deserves to be mocked they are begging to be mocked.  

  63. Aitch-Aitch
    Ignored
    says:

    crikey ….what a diasaster…..great for the Yes campaign

  64. Marcia
    Ignored
    says:

    I shan’t listen – I might end up getting sectioned.

  65. Stevie
    Ignored
    says:

    Oh dear heck… you were right, jeez, it truly is indeed painful.  Bldy heck.
    How can this person be a spokesperson for anything else other than a population of trolls… which is what she is after all.

  66. Stevie
    Ignored
    says:

    Oh dear heck… this is hell…

  67. sneddon
    Ignored
    says:

    In Scots, english or in glaswegian she doesn’t msake anysense at all.

  68. bigbuachaille
    Ignored
    says:

    So we now have narrowed down the amnesia years for M Curran, a curious medical case, where Alzheimer’s strikes when you are young and diminishes with advancing years.
    She remembers “very well” the details of 1996, when Gordon Brown promised to follow Tory spending plans as part of the Labour bribe to middle England in order to secure power for Blair. But she knows nothing of Healey or of Labour deceit and lies to Scotland in the 1970s.
    Only other case of recovery from Alzheimer’s was another person who found it hard to face up to the truth: Ernest Saunders.

  69. orkers
    Ignored
    says:

    Magrit is the Westminster version of Johan.
    Manna from heaven in our march across the Unionist desert towards our Independent promised land.
    Nether of them should be out on their own, never mind anywhere near a half way intelligent political commentator.
    It was a cruel dismemberment, but nice to listen to.

  70. Kirriereoch
    Ignored
    says:

    @Gordon
    O/T you´re in esteemed company with fUK. One gentleman had his letter published in the Guardian suggesting this very name a while back:

    ” The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) provides us with the clue. England, Wales and Northern Ireland would be known as the FUK.

    Christopher GordonWinchester, Hampshire”

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/dec/23/scotland-vote-for-independence

    Evil bastion of cybernats that the Guardian and that gentleman from Hampshire are. Erm…

  71. Jiggsbro
    Ignored
    says:

    a curious medical case, where Alzheimer’s strikes when you are young and diminishes with advancing years.
     
    The medical term is Saunders Syndrome, I believe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness_share-trading_fraud#Appeals

  72. scotchwoman
    Ignored
    says:

    It’s interesting that so many of the SLAB people use the phrase ‘What we are saying is….’ so regularly. Why aren’t they able to say ‘we believe….’ instead?
    It just looks like they are regurgitating words that have been agreed as a safe party line, albeit with no real substance or meaning.

  73. euan mcglynn
    Ignored
    says:

    WHY DOES ANYONE VOTE FOR THIS WOMAN

  74. Luigi
    Ignored
    says:

    WHY DOES ANYONE VOTE FOR THIS WOMAN
    Just what I was thinking:
    What is more ridiculous, the useless politician or the voters who continue to support her?
    Dumb and dumber?
     

  75. ianbrotherhood
    Ignored
    says:

     
    During the recent focus on Nigel Farage, even his fiercest critics conceded that the man does have some attributes. 
     
    What are Margaret Curran’s?
     
    Can we establish even one?

  76. annie
    Ignored
    says:

    This woman is one of the reasons some people think Scotland cannot run her own affairs – they should look to Nicola Sturgeon and Eillidh Whitford and others within the SNP rather than the Labour party as examples of Scottish politicians and they just might change their mind.

  77. John Jamieson
    Ignored
    says:

    The things I do for Scotland…….transcription here:
    AN: let me come to Margaret Curran first. Ah….by restricting the winter fuel allowance … ah… to only the non-rich pensioners you save about £100M. What’s that as a percentage of overall government spending?
    MC: Well it’s a very small percentage of overall govern …..
    AN: How small?
    MC: Well…. miniscule in terms of the grand scale of things..
    AN: Right. It’s 0.01 percent…
    MC: But can I tell you £100M is still a lot of money and I think if you’ve got an a…
    AN: What would you do with it?
    MC If you’ve got an attitude to government spending that says every pound matters, every ten pounds, every million pounds matters then I think that…..
    AN: Sure, so what would you do with £100M?
    MC: Well what we do is try and create growth back in the economy again…
    AN: What, with £100M?
    MC: Well you… it would contribute a lot of things in terms of helping and how you could challenge….
    AN: Hold on, Margaret Curran. This economy is a £1.5T economy. £100M makes zero difference to growth whatever you do with it.
    MC: No, no, it can make a difference, you know…
    AN: Tell me what you could do…
    MC: You could spend on housing, for example.. that could, you know, produce house it could do all sorts of things…
    AN: How much would that contribute to growth?…all right, spending £100M on housing, how much would that contribute to growth?
    MC: Well if you were in one of those houses I think it would make a difference to you just in that…
    AN: Excuse me.. that’s a social welfare argument.. that it’s good ….. that you’ve built a house for another person …. That’s fine…. And I don’t argue with that …. How much growth would £100M create?
    MC: I don’t accept the premise that £100M because it’s such a small part of, you know…obviously a very, very large budget is insignificant and also I think is about the indication you … you signal that every single pound matters. Now what Labour is absolutely categorically clear about is we will be very strict guardians of public expenditure. Public expenditure really matters to people…
    AN: This is the new line isn’t it?
    MC: No it’s not a new line… I’ve always believed that all my political life….
    AN: You never said that when you were last on this programme…
    MC: I was never asked….
    AN: Well let me ask you this…
    MC: Believe me I believe that.. I think you have to be realistic …
    AN: Is it… is it your policy then.. is it implicit now in Ed Balls’s speech that if you win the election in 2015 you’ll stick to the existing current, current spending plans?
    MC: No, no, that’s not our indication. No. What we have said is that we’ll be very strict with public expenditure. We have recognised that given where we are with the failing economy, given this government’s abject failure to get the economy going , we’re one of the least successful economies, we’ve got the IMF telling the.. the government to turn course, but given where we are we need to be honest and say….
    AN: OK…
    MC: ….if we get into government in 2015…
    AN: Right..
    MC: …. we’ll be in a very difficult environment…
    AN: I understand that, so will you increase current spending?
    MC: Well we’re not gonnae.. er. publish our budgets… we’re not going to write our budget… why would we write our budget now when we don’t know absolutely what will happen but we’re…
    AN: But Gordon Brown did in 1996. He said he would stick to Tory spending plans…
    MC: Well he did and yes and I remember that well… he did say that in 1996..
    AN: Why can’t you do that now?
    MC: Because it’s not appropriate for these circumstances…
    AN: Why?
    MC: … and what we won’t do…
    AN: What was different between 1997 and now?
    MC: Well cause we’ve got a Tory government that…that… is creating such difficulty and we live in a different environment and…
    AN: But surely that would mean it’s more likely that you would have to stick to current spending plans or even spend less…I mean Mr Brown inherited a rising economy in 1997..
    MC: But….
    AN: So you… let me just get this right….You cannot tell us whether you will stick, increase, stick to or cut current Tory spending plans….
    MC: What we are saying theres things the government could do just now that could actually alter the economic climate… For example we could follow the IMF’s recommendation and put £10BN into investment and the economy could show some signs of recovery…
    AN: So that would add £10BN to spending?
    MC: Well we won’t know until …..
    AN: … So you’re going to be very strict on spending?
    MC: Hang on… hang on….We won’t know until we actually publish our budgets at the time of the next election… to know exactly what.. how money will be spent and what the exact priorities are but we’re making a very important point this week and that is that we.. Labour will take a different approach to public expenditure and we will re-prioritise within public expenditure. That’s the difference….
    AN: Well you can… you say that but actually you’re taking a different approach to what you said only two weeks ago, never… well you’re now going to go along with the cuts you attacked when the government cut child benefit for better off taxpayers.. You’re now going to…You now think that you won’t reverse that…
    MC: …. That’s why……Well Ed Miliband hasn’t made the speech. I respect Nick Robinson… I know that he’s reported that….
    AN: So are you for or against it then?
    MC: Well we’ll wait and see what Ed Miliband has to say tomorrow.
    AN: on your own?
    MC: W….Well your highlight said it’s the challenge between universal benefits…
    AN: So do you think that better-off taxpayers should get child benefit or not?
    MC: W… If I had an absolute choice… If there was lo….if money was not an option….I mean…..
    AN: option?
    MC: We would prefer universal child benefits, child benefit to be universal…
    AN: Money’s always an op.. a problem. It’s never a.. a free…
    MC: Ah but we are in a very particular… a very difficult set of circumstances just now..
    AN: Would you….Would you keep child benefit for better off taxpayers?
    MC: Well what we are saying, and Ed will make his own speech tomorrow and I don’t have foresight of that speech….
    AN: I’m not asking you Ed Miliband’s opinion… I’m asking for your opinion.
    MC: What I’m saying to you is we are now in a very difficult financial situation and it is very ….
    AN: Why won’t you answer my question?
    MC: …very different and what we are saying is what were universal benefits before like the winter fuel allowance that we do need to look again at that and it is what you prioritise and where you are spending will be prioritised…
    AN: When…..
    MC: …..that will govern what Labour says we will keep… what will change.
    AN: Alright let’s… that’s just the rhetoric…
    MC: No it’s not….
    AN: let’s just try and get some hard facts. When the government took away child benefit from better-off taxpayers you, your party said it was ill thought-through, unfair and showed that the Coalition was out of touch with hard-working families. Is that still the case?
    MC: I do think that was unfair and I do think they hadn’t thought it through….
    AN: So you’re against it?
    MC: They’ve got themselves into a complete mess but what we are saying is that when you come into government… when we come in in 2015 we won’t be able to do all that we wanted to do and things that the government have done that… what will be our priorities then and beginning to tackle that……
    AN: So the… I’m… I’m sorry but is taking child benefit away from better off families ill thought through and unfair or not?
    MC: I thought it was unfair….
    AN: But you’re still going to support it?
    MC: I think there’s a difference when you say when a government does things and that was wrong, unfair and ill-thought through… if you’re coming to government…..
    AN: But you’re going to support it!
    MC: … hang on…just a wee second…. If you come into government three or four years later you then decide what your priorities…We’ll have lots to re-instate the government has done. Will child benefit for the wealthiest people be our top priority? I’m not sure about that.
    AN: Why didn’t you say that at the time?
    MC: Because that was then and…..
    AN: It was only 18 months ago!
    MC: Wh…when we come into government we will have to make… erm.. make up for a lot of what this government’s done. We will have to make priorities about that. We won’t be able to come and say everything that’s gone we’ll change overnight what the previous government has done and we’ll have priorities about how we’ll tackle….
    AN: So you’re getting rid of the winter fuel allowance, you’re going along with the Tory plans to take child benefit away from better off families, both two big dents in the universal welfare state….. what’s next to go?
    MC: Well…..What we are saying is we…..
    AN: What’s next to go?
    MC: W….No…no…
    AN: Tell me what’s next to go.
    MC: No…What we need to do is look and see in terms of public expenditure what are Labour’s priorities. We think that there’s better ways that you could use public money…..
    AN: So what’s next to go?
    MC: W… we will…..we will give our plans at the time of the budget. We’ve been very clear…Ed Balls has made it really clear Andrew we are not gonnae do that just now…
    AN: Are your times what? The time of the Labour budget?
    MC: … at the time when we… at the time when we publish our budget plans. What we are saying is that the government has got us into such a situation of economic failure we think there’s things that they could do just now… We think there are but nonetheless when we come back in 2015 we need to be honest with people and say we can’t do everything Labour would want to do because public expenditure will be in a very different situation….
    AN: Alright…..
    MC: …situation but we’re signalling now that there are things that we really have to get tough about and that’s what we’re doing.
    AN: OK.

  78. Buster Bloggs
    Ignored
    says:

    Great Site Rev Dude,  This is my first post and I hope first of many.
    I think it’s wonderful they let her do another interview, mind you it’s not like they can hide her away until it’s over as they have no one else, super.
    I have to say re FUK, it would be nice after a yes vote if all who voted no, that don’t want to stay in an independent Scotland… well, they can always go tay FUK.
    Soz Rev I couldn’t help myself there…. Smiley coupon thingy.

  79. ewen
    Ignored
    says:

    “We think”!  Doesn’t the woman have an opinion of her own? She is just an empty vessel promoted beyond her ability and trying to talk clever, ken.
    I quite enjoyed that but just wish interviewers would grill unionists like that when it came to the independence debate.
    On a side note. The wife has managed to convince an acquaintance of the benefits of independence. Not bad considering she is Lithuanian. What is better, this acquaintance has a vote ( we don’t).

  80. Daisy
    Ignored
    says:

    Got the lads to lash me into a chair before they pressed play.  6 mins in I bit through the 2 x 4″ plank in my mouth when I heard “when we come back into Govt in 2015” – fuck me, that would take some semblance of ability, just some. Labour are gone; they are the baseball that has been hit by the “electorate bat” out of the stadium, there is no way back.
    Curran was so inept there is a picture of her in the Oxford English Dictionary next to the meaning of the word.
    Glasgow, Scotland & the World deserves better.
     
     

  81. CameronB
    Ignored
    says:

    Thanks for the transcript John Jamieson, it was truly painful. In fact, I couldn’t even finish reading it through. I think you deserve a wee lie down now.
     
    MC: No, no, that’s not our indication. No. What we have said is that we’ll be very strict with public expenditure. We have recognised that given where we are with the failing economy, given this government’s abject failure to get the economy going , we’re one of the least successful economies, we’ve got the IMF telling the.. the government to turn course, but given where we are we need to be honest and say…………………………………………we are most certainly not better together. Vote YES,’cause the austerity is only going to get worse.

  82. tartanfever
    Ignored
    says:

    John – Thanks for transcribing the interview.
    Rev, you can come out from behind the sofa now, it’s all clear.

  83. Peter Mirtitsch
    Ignored
    says:

    THIS IS FLIPPING WONDERFUL!!! I get the whole thing where you want to look away, when you know what is coming next. Never before has Magrit Curn given me such a laugh…:D
     

  84. Dee
    Ignored
    says:

    She is morphing into Marty Feldman isn’t she.. 

  85. Appleby
    Ignored
    says:

    For all we feel certain here about winning the vote, I hear a depressing number of people saying they’ll vote no, often in a stubborn knee-jerk way without any reasons given. It’s still an uphill battle. Especially with the very biased media against us.

  86. Shinty
    Ignored
    says:

    If it’s a No vote, I reckon we will be the laughing stock of the world, the comediennes will have a field day for many years to come.
    Don’t mean to offend anyone, but anyone thinking of voting No is just plain ignorant of the facts.
     
    There is NO positive case for the Union – (however, I am willing to listen to anyone who can prove me wrong)

  87. Douglas
    Ignored
    says:

    How many times did she say “What we need to do ….” but then say we will be backing Tory cuts all the way.  Vote for Labour and nothing will change. 
     
    Maybe it’s time for a Clause Four moment – like writing it back into the Labour Party Constitution and fighting for the unemployed, the disabled and the poor.

  88. Fergie35
    Ignored
    says:

    Aye, as mentioned above, a slightly more eloquent version of Johann Lammont.
    Can labour really win anything with the standard of leadership it has?



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