Just this one and then we’re done
Our collection of toe-curling Johann Lamont interviews from Labour’s party-conference weekend wouldn’t be complete without the longest one, in which the BBC’s Brian Taylor proves that while he might be a toothless pussycat as an analyst, he takes no prisoners as an interviewer.
It’s been impossible to avoid a negative tone in the last few days, readers, because the Scottish Labour conference is like a dark storm-cloud of hatred, raining grimy, toxic lies and hypocrisy into the political landscape, and the print media wallowed around in the evil, sucking glaur it produced until everything was thick with concealing mud that plugged the yawning holes in the party’s promises.
The “Devo Nano” and “Red Paper” reports marked a nadir of vacuous dishonesty even by Labour’s usual standards, ineptly attempting to swamp Scots in incoherent, incomprehensible wonk-babble so that they couldn’t see how very little they were being offered in return for a No vote.
Left-wing and right-wing newspapers colluded in an unholy alliance, where one would proclaim the party’s non-existent new direction as a glorious return to socialism, while the other side decried it for being a craven return to socialism. But in close to 400 pages of waffle, the word “socialist” appears just once in a modern context (there are a couple of decades-old quotes in the full Devo Nano document), and the word “socialism” not at all.
(In contrast, the same paper mentions the SNP or Alex Salmond by name 107 times.)
Let’s be clear. Labour actually did or said nothing this weekend, beyond that they really, really hate the SNP and everyone in it. The party’s devolution proposals were – by the assessment of even its own activists – an unworkable mess full of “powers” that were feeble even on the surface but which could never be used in practice anyway, nothing more than an absurdly elaborate and long-winded way of saying “Vote Labour in the 2015 UK election and everything will be fine (as long as England does too)”.
The “Red Paper”, meanwhile, was an uncosted wishlist that even its mastermind, Anas Sarwar (and no, we don’t expect to see those three words together in a sentence ever again either), dismissed as an “ambitions document” committing the party to absolutely nothing other than the woolliest of mis-spelled aspirations about providing more fluffy kittens and lollipops for everyone, which would somehow be paid for by taxing 0.5% of the Scottish population fractionally more.
In the interview above, Johann Lamont repeatedly says she won’t be putting any meat onto these brittle bones until 2016, by which time it’ll be far too late for anything she says or does to make any difference to anything.
By then Scotland could already have voted No and be toiling under another Conservative government that wouldn’t devolve even Labour’s pathetic handful of “powers”, would slash Scotland’s block grant as part of an austerity “squeeze” that’ll make the last four years look like a picnic, and be well on the way to leading the UK out of the European Union at the hands of English UKIP voters.
So we apologise if Wings has been a little bleaker than usual for the last week or so. We’ve tried to throw in a few chuckles when the opportunity arose and lighten the mood with some cute pictures of squirrels, but with the Brian Taylor webcast out of the way hopefully we can quickly get back to something a little more upbeat.
Today marks two years until Scotland’s prospective Independence Day. Labour’s hollow, desperate distractions already belong to the past
Maybe she expects just that, that the Tories will win next time and save her having to even think about implementing something.
Then they can just nark away and blame the SNP, the Tories and the Scottish voters for the pigs’ breakfast that will be Scotland’s reward.
Labour will solve it all after they regain Westminster so do that we need to kill the SNP.
400 pages containing nothing but “snake oil”. Is this a record?
It has felt like the bleakest of cold winters recently. Thank goodness we have Wings to tease out those funnies to keep us all sane!
Labour are reprehensible with their flat-out lies and media pals easing their passage. Can’t wait to see them gone.
The majority of people in Scotland didn’t vote for the SNP. Well then I guess the majority of the UK didn’t vote for Lament’s party in 2001 and 2005.
‘What is there to smile about?’
You said it hen.
I got to the stupid remarks regarding the EU / NATO but not Westminster. She is so thick it is a waste of time trying to make sense of those arguements.
All those EU countries who happen to be members of NATO are not really independent. It’s through Westminster or nothing.
Would you be seen standing alongside Johann Lamont?
She’s right you know, she’s right.
Having sat through every excruciating minute of that, hauling finger off moss as it desperately tried to switch her off…
‘what is there to smile about’
So what I say to you is this:
I’m convinced now, mark me down as a No, it’s JoLa for me. Ohh FFS
I do not like personalising things however ,this woman is a complete moron.
Surely somewhere in the Labour Party there is someone with a little more intelligence and nous than this hate filled women?
Following the Wings over Scotland Devo Nano Watch, 24 March article, and letters to selected Scottish Labour Party members, the party has decided to change strategy.
Here is the Press Release:
The Devo Nano Watch- Exclusively available from the Scottish Labour Party.
Launch date 24 March 2014.
This classic time piece was designed and manufactured in London. It has no guarantee and is sold as seen. The watch has a shiny blue, red and white plastic casing, which won’t stand any bumps or knocks, and has limited capabilities.
This carefully crafted piece of workmanship will become less effective each day from the launch date. Due to local technical issues, the watch has been remotely programmed: the date function has an inbuilt alarm which will go off on Independence day, 24 March 2016, when the watch will stop working.
This watch has unique Cronygragh technology, which means the hour, minute and second hands are all capable of working randomly, at various speeds, and therefore a commitment to accuracy of time delivery cannot be guaranteed.
It comes with a 400 page instruction booklet, which will help the reader understand its complex decision inner working.
Buy direct from us. Our service to the people of Scotland is second to none. All money raised will be spent on something, but we are not sure yet- we’ll decide in 2016.
Johann looks rather fetching in that frozen image – as good a reason as any to avoid hitting the ‘play’ button.
Could somebody in the media, just for once, NAIL Lamont and Labour on their wishy washy obfuscation on university tuition fees. Every single time they are asked, they say they are opposed to UPFRONT tuition fees. I have news for Lamont, there are NO upfront tuition fees ANYWHERE in the entire United Kingdom, as outside of Scotland, the fees are all paid AFTER leaving university.
An answer which says ‘we are opposed to upfront tuition fees’, is sooo freaking disingenuous, as in reality it does mean, that Labour have NO problem with introducing tuition fees exactly the same as those in England.
Please, will at least one Scottish ‘journalist’ put their thinking head on, and realise what these crooks are REALLY meaning when they speak.
Dearie me….How much does Lamont hate the SNP? You can feel the hatred poring from her whenever she mentions them. It must be getting to the really unhealthy stage for her now. Lamont appears to say that because independence is a constitutional change it would not bring about social change? And what the hell is Lamont talking about when she says there is redistribution in the UK from the rich to the poor, it is the other way around, and has been for over 30 years? Seriously WTF is she talking about?
Project Fear backfires spectacularly , leaving Labour politicians terrified at the prospect of “separation” from Westminster gravy train.
Please can we start a petition at the Petitions Committee at Holyrood to reduce the salary of the Hon Member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow Pollock and alleged Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland for failure to perform the duties of a Leader of the Opposition and breach of the Trades Description Act.
Sept 19th 2014
“I dont agree its a YES vote. I believe it is a protest vote against the Tories. It isnt a vote for Salmond either. Was his name or the SNP separatists named on the ballot paper? No, they werent. The people I talk to say they cant wait for a Labour Government and I must go now to help prepare to win one by resigning” – J Lamont
The biggest wig of them all, who’d have known?
From the Lego(tm) range?
If she never becomes First Minister, she could make a perfectly good living kneading pizza dough into pie bases.
(Sorry I cannot listen to any more of her right now)
Can you lovely Wings people confirm something that I have been thinking, but that seems so politically suicidal, that I’m struggling to believe Labour have done this:
Am I right in saying that in a lot of interviews over the past year or so, Johann and other Labour MP’s / MSP’s have answered difficult questions with the stock answer:
‘Well I won’t answer that right now, but it will be answered in full, when the devolution commission report back in March’ (or words to that effect)
Now questions about the devolution commission are being asked, and Johann Lamont’s and Labour MP’s / MSP’s stock reply now seems to be:
‘Well, I won’t answer that right now, but the question will be answered when Labour reports back just before the General Election in 2016’
Are they this stupid? has this really happened?
2mins 19, “Astonishing”!
Lamont and co just seem to reel off the same soundbites every time they are interviewed.
I see Lamont says she will stand for an independent Scottish Parliament on a SLAB ticket…. 😀 😀
No self awareness there at all, Lamont personifies unfortunately the self entitlement that many in the Labour Party in Scotland have had for generations. Lamont has no political talent whatsoever, she does not know or understand most of what she comes out with. Lamont appears to think that as long as you are in SLAB, that gives you the automatic right to get elected, no matter how talented or not you are. My respect for Alan Grogan and the others in Labour for independence keeps on increasing, as you realise just what they are campaigning against.
@Patrick Roden
You know how the Tories came out with that Oak Tree symbol a while back, well Labour has announced a new ‘Long Grass’ variation
A master class in Not Answering The Question. There is a question..I understand the question..there is a concern..we will address that concern..we need to have a conversation..what we are saying is…what we have said is.
Zen politics.
From this moment on, I will forever call and think of the unionist parties as the colonialist parties. Because after all that’s exactly what they are…
“Colonialism is the establishment, exploitation, maintenance, acquisition, and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a set of unequal relationships between the colonial power and the colony and often between the colonists and the indigenous population.”
Or “A policy by which a nation maintains or extends its control over foreign dependencies”
That is all!
@ian Brotherhood 2:57pm
Ok, Ian, come back to your bed, son. Where did you leave your medication? What do you mean you’ve been throwing them at the telly?
“Fetching” … SERIOUSLY?
I think we need to get you registered for one of those “responsible adult” thingies.
Here on Wings and around the Net in general we seem to have had quite an upbeat weekend, despite Stu’s apparent depression. (Stu, we pay you to be depressed for us, take it like a man.)
Got into work today and talked to another Yes person, and he was quite depressed by the newspaper headlines with the most recent scare stories. He doesn’t get out much on the internet. It just goes to show that we shouldn’t think it’s all about our little bubble.
Still, he also said it’s his daughter’s 19th birthday today. Which means that she’s looking forward to celebrating her 21st on Independence Day.
Its going to get like Rangers FC Ltd, Rangers Holdings Ltd, Rangers international FC Ltd etc when JoLa and pals decide what to do after a YES vote.
According to Wikipedia…Scottish labour does NOT exist, although Wiki also says its Left wing and Socialist too so might not be the best gauge!
Founded : 25 August 1888
Dissolved : 1895
(Merged into Independent Labour Party )
Ideology : Socialism
Political position : Left-wing
Lamont: It is something like 40 per cent of taxation raised in Scotland.
Brian Taylor: It is not 40 per cent of taxation, it is 40 per cent of revenue. That is a big difference.
Lamont: Sure, sure (knows she is talking shit by the expression on her face).
Brian Taylor has improved vastly since the SNP achieved majority government. He seems to have adapted to the potential reality of independence better than most people in the media.
On his Big Debate show on Radio Scotland, he has been excellent recently and pounces on Labour/BT weaknesses better than most of the SNP politicians on his panel.
Personally, I think he’s turning to Yes.
And by the way, does anyone have any figures/estimates for Yes/No preferences in and around Dundee? I’ve seen it posed many times that it is probably the most pro-independence area in the country. Are we talking 51%, +60% or as high as 75%?
If I read one more article in the press, by Lamont or Sarwar, saying SLAB are “BACK” to the party they were when they gave a damn about people I think I’ll throw up. Sarwar has been bumping his gums in the Daily Record and Glasgow Evening Times.
In both unionist propaganda papers, Sarwar has used Keir Hardie’s name on multiple occasions, and how, todays SLAB are aiming for “Social Justice” in Scotland.
In the link below you’ll see that the London owned Daily Record, has blocked or deleted just about every comment, with one poor soul managing to comment, “Major Suppression” its an absolute disgrace, by a national newspaper.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/scottish-labour-unveil-radical-vision-3266545
@Desimond 3:18pm
With Wikipedia I would like to be able to ban Labour and any members/affiliates from being able to edit it. That way we might get some description of them that’s part way towards being truthful.
Lamont: We think Devo Max is virtually independence so that is no good. It gives Scotland too much power so that is why we rejected it.
Keith Harris and Orville split on Independence.
Entertainer from a thankfully bygone era Keith Harris revealed today that he and his hand puppet Orville are warring over their views on independence
“I believe Scotland can survive on its own.” remarked Keith
“They can’t” replied Orville
“They can!”
“They can’t”
Stu: I’ve no idea how you manage to listen to JoLa without going nuts…
Well done. 🙂
Galatians 6:7 “or whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
I am afraid that SLAB shall harvest a bitter harvest. There shall be no “truth and reconciliation” for these haters of our Country.
Good luck to Mr Grogan and the LfI people. Interesting times coming soon.
@bookie from hell
Brilliant!
If that’s no cheered the Rev up, nothing will. Although 6 cans of Elderberry & Lichen Cider will hopefully help ease his pain.
@Desimond 3.10, Aye an dont ah know aboot that( Oak Tree )
Tories stealing ma Clan Crest
John Barrowman stealing ma Tartan
whit next,stealing ma Clan motto
(Stand Sure)
Weil am very sure am voteing YES
Sure Sure Josie, aye rite Franky
an naw Franky N Josie were’na lovers, Jist good pals.
How can anybody of sound mind and normal intelligence accept her and her cohorts as credible politicians capable of anything positive, decent and worthwhile. They have great difficulty in understanding right from wrong truth from lies reality from fiction. Their whole positive case revolves around hatred of anything which does not involve Westminster. She would rather we were ruled by a Tory right wing ENGLISH government than by a socialist left wing Scottish government, now how twisted, bitter and sick is that. Despicable people.
Bring on labour for yes, but any current “Scottish labour MP or MSP should not be allowed near the parliament.
@Papadox
‘Despicable People’…I’m now picturing wee yellow JoLa as a minion from the cartoon movies. There could be quite a funny gag in there for the house artist ( Im now picturing a hapless Minion with Capt Darlings eyebrows!)
@Ronnie
Stand Sure..wasnt that the historical way of avoiding pregnancy?
“You dirty dancing”
“You dirty asking?”…
“Staun up then”
Rev, ur you gonna stop deyin that every time ah take a
break fae foldin Yes papers an come on Wings, am stairin
at a picture of JoLo,is there any way you can blank her oot
an jist put a Wooden Plank there,choice of wood is up to you
Pine ( on the trail of) well we should hiv mair comedians
n Stan & Ollie fit the bill.
@Desimond, cracked ribs ur na laughin matter, jist gonna no dey that jist gonna no.
BetterTogether and all UK media are a ghastly pit of misery really. From attacking Salmond for not being a dad to the Press and Journal in Aberdeen today accusing him of causing the North Sea helicopter crashes. How low can these characters go or is it even possible to get any worse? Ye, they can and will.
an we,re tryin tae keep the site clean, did you check oot
that wall first you canna stawn against tree,s they Bark
fekin put you aff.
@Jim T –
Okay, point taken.
She looks relatively ‘fetching’.
@Heedtracker, do you have a link to that story from P&J.
PLEASE GOD MAKE IT STOP.
PLEASE LET THIS BE THE LAST LAMONT ARTICLE I READ ON HERE.
@Ianbrotherhood, You cant be Serious,take mair tablets
regain yer sanity man.
“What is there to smile about?”. Indeed.
Did she actually say “You have to look at both sides of the moon”? The moon? She’s from a different planet.
I know there are people viewing this site who are not necessarily decided Yes voters and/or may be supporters of Labour so this is to them.
Does Johann Lamont, in the interview above, represent you? Do you think her “vision” is ambitious? Surely not.
Why is it so difficult for you all to understand that voting Yes to becoming an independent nation need not guarantee an SNP government in perpetuity? After we vote Yes there will be a period of negotiation between the government of Scotland and the government of the UK. Who do you think is going to get the best deal for Scotland? Alex Salmond or Johann Lamont?
You have no idea just how much it hurts those of us who have argued for the simple right to govern ourselves when you constantly belittle, insult & deride us. Do you really think people on the Yes side of the debate actually want to make Scotland worse? Come on! You do yourselves a dis-service to think that because you ARE us. That’s the point. As citizens of Scotland we all will have to work for each other and with each other. You are allowing your spokespeople to poison the air with this constant negativity. There is nothing positive coming from Labour. We have to believe in ourselves.
I think there’s a lot of Labour voters out there who genuinely are socialists. Did you hear any socialist principle in this interview? I didn’t. I’m 49 years of age and have been a socialist all my life. For a good chunk of my life I’ve lived under the rule of a Labour government, a ‘socialist’ government. In that time the gap between the rich and the poor has grown ever wider to the point where, today, the UK is the fourth most unequal society in the developed world. Is that socialism? Of course not. I expect some might read these words and be thinking “ach, that’s the fault of they Tories”. But that’s not entirely true is it?
I grew up in Grangemouth and left school just two years into Thatchers’ reign. I left with no qualifications and went straight on to the dole. Like a great many Scots I was treated to the indignity of scheme after scheme after scheme of work placement ‘jobs’. I was doing exactly the same work as my fellow employees but being paid £23 per week for the privilege. You all remember those days I’m sure. That’s when I learned what socialism really was. And it seemed unchangeable. Even when Thatcher was long gone from the political scene, her principles and policies continued on under John Major. Nothing seemed to change. Endless.
And then, by some miracle, Labour won. Now I’ll be honest right now and state that I’ve never voted Labour. I’ve never fundamentally trusted them. But here we were, a new dawn. What was the first thing the incoming Labour government promised to do? Continue Tory budget restraints and policies. Of course they said that was only going to be for the first term but they lied, didn’t they? They must have or surely we would be living in a fairer, more equal society now, wouldn’t we? But we’re not. Things just constantly got worse. Does a socialist government really invade two foreign countries? Does a socialist government really protect the mega-rich, providing tax havens for their money whilst increasing the tax burden on those who are lucky enough to have a job, even if it is only minimum wage? That’s not what socialism is about. Does a socialist government not work for the less fortunate in society? Is that not the very definition of the word?
And so it goes on. Labour are gone – and they are gone, England will not vote Labour in 2016 irrespective of what you vote here in Scotland. We can’t wait for change. We have to make change happen. If you’re a Labour voter and your confused then remember this. When you go into that polling booth in September you’re not going to see Labour or SNP or Tory on the paper. You’re going to see two boxes – one will say Yes and one will say No. That’s your choice. If you genuinely believe that only a Labour government can address the ills in our society then there is only one way that’s going to happen – by voting Yes this September. You might not like him but deep down I believe we all know Alex Salmond is the only man who will get Scotland a fair deal in the subsequent negotiations.
In 2016 we’ll have our first very own General election. There’s a very strong possibility that Scotland will vote Labour in that election. If you genuinely want Scotland to be a fair and just society where we actually do start caring about each other and stop spending money on ridiculous follies such as Nuclear Missiles and HS2 then it has to be Yes. Westminster does not care one jot about you. It cares about the City of London. Nothing else. We’re all just here to work for them as far as they’re concerned. We, all of us, simply cannot let that happen. We know what we need to do. History has shown me that nothing will change other than to get steadily worse.
Scotland CAN succeed, Scotland MUST succeed & Scotland WILL succeed.
Let’s give the weans something to be proud of, a country they can truly call their own and a country they can be proud of. Let’s give the weans a future.
Vote Yes!
Dear God!
Was there ever a politician who babbles so much a says f..,all?
My heid’s nippin’. Im away for a lie down.
If she is the best the opposition can offer, then maybe we dont deserve independence
Ian is that relative to a squirrel, or some other rodent?
Delighted to be able to put Aye Right notices in with the weekend paper deliveries.
Any normal person would have felt unable to face the public with such a weak and sketchy manifesto.
It’s incredible how her mind allows her to excuse all the uncertainties and all the difficult issues and all the disputed figures in Labour’s plans, but howls blue murder that cast-iron assurance cannot be given about everything related to Scottish independence.
And she completely ignores the undistinguished record of Labour in government – increased inequality, an increased gap between the rich and poor – and attacks the SNP for not having reversed that, while assuring us that Labour is coming to rescue us, as though it were all somebody else’s fault. And no shame about the poor financial regulation which caused the crash and brought the UK economy to its knees. In her mind, on any issue, Labour is always right, and everyone else wrong. It’s a peculiar state of mind, not just denial but automatic inversion of all evidence: guilt becomes innocence, proposal becomes achievement, supposition becomes fact, and black becomes white.
@ronnie anderson says:
am stairin at a picture of JoLo,is there any way you can blank her oot an jist put a Wooden Plank there
Or maybe, having overdosed on squirrels, we could give the marsupials some exposure …
Alfresco Dent, that was an excellent and eloquent post. Now you know what the burning question for me is after reading that? It is this. How is it possible for someone so eloquent and able to write in such a manner to have left school with no qualifications?
I mean, I really am struggling here. How? Bad teaching, poor motivation, what? It’s baffling.
Iain
…guilt becomes innocence, proposal becomes achievement, supposition becomes fact, and black becomes white.
Its malice in blunderland.
I really believe Ms Lamont thought that interview went quite well.
Oops, sorry, fat finger syndrome has put me into “moderation”. Is there any way to go back to the comment form automatically remembering logins? And I note that posts aren’t immediately refreshing either, although it’s a lot better than it was.
Come to that, how is our friend DDoS getting on anyway? Still with us?
The positive message that I take from this interview is and I don’t know if its as a result of too much grape juice or listening to Pink Floyd but…
We all must look at both sides of the moon.
Deary me!
@calgacus Mc A,well somebody did mention Platapus the ither
day,fashions change, could be the new Squirrel.
@Morag , watch oot Ddos aboot,ah thought that this morning
or its just a server blip.
@Heedtracker, do you have a link to that story from P&J. I do do but its watered down for the web. Not paying for these slandering UKOK fanatics but my grandad does and he laughs at it but they cover the Dons pretty well with lots of vote YES and the queen will cry stuff. They are so far right wing, they could well be comical Cockers at the the Telegraph’s day job.
http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/3621101
The Chairman of ITV has come out and dismissed Scottish independence, as nothing more that a few windmills, and some hydro power. Archie Norman a former Conservative MP added, Scotland hasn’t even got an economic strategy for independence.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/03/23/scottish-independence-itv-chairman-archie-norman_n_5016507.html?ir=UK+Politics
O/T out of interest I just checked out David Cameron’s twitter account, out of the 300-400 people he follows only 3 with obvious Scottish connections. David Mundell, Ruth Davidson and Andy Murray. Tells us all we need to know.
never had such disrespect for someone in my life, she gies me the boak.
Jack Moore of the IB Times is adamant that Shetlander’s want independence from Scotland, when yesterdays poll showed the islanders want to remain part of Scotland
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/shetland-island-vikings-want-independence-scotland-1441632
I remember my shock when she won the “leadership” contest quite clearly. The two other candidates were Tom Harris and Ken Macintosh, either of whom would have been far better, but they both had one key failing (from the party faithful’s point of view): they were both quite forthright in advocating fairly radical change to try and drag the party into something vaguely like the 21st century. Lamont was the representative of old-school Central-belt machine Labour, and her selection was a decisive rejection of the notion that the party needed to change in order to remain relevant, or that they needed to offer any kind of positive vision.
@Alfresco Dent –
Great comment.
@ronnie anderson –
Come on now, beauty’s in the eye of the beholder, right? I’m sure we’re all agreed that Johann Lamont is an absolute beauty in more ways than one.
Just has Pizza delivered and totally freaked out, had to do the double-take. I swear to gawd the delivery boy was JoLas twin. Put me right aff my tea 🙁
looks like Lamentable and co have resumed their day jobs, as the Daily Record comments moderators, after their family flaunting indoctrination weekend camp in Perth.
Tories cut Labour’s lead to just 1 point, its unlikely Labour will win the 2015 election, ergo SLAB’s proposed Red Book manifesto, isn’t worth the paper its printed on, another reason to vote yes, as if we needed one.
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/03/tories-cut-labours-poll-lead-one-point
JoLa is just full of bile and sound-bites. Nothing more, nothing less.
Original thought is completely beyond this stair-heid rammyist.
“(In contrast, the same paper mentions the SNP or Alex Salmond by name 107 times.)”
That’s an absolutely staggering statistic. What on earth does a paper – purportedly defining the maximum level of devolution Scotland should have – have to do with either the SNP or Alex Salmond? I would understand mentions of the Scottish Government – to give examples of things it has been unable to do because it didn’t have the powers, or examples of good decisions it has made because it DID have the powers – but there’s simply no excuse for so much attention to a specific party or politician.
It’s just more evidence that Labour’s only interest in devolving more powers is in beating the SNP, rather than to make Scotland more powerful.
Vronsky says:
24 March, 2014 at 3:11 pm
A master class in Not Answering The Question.
She is helped by ” not knowing what the hell, she is talking about!” Hence waffle, hatred, waffle, hatred waffle……….
Rev, your brain must be minced!
“Brian Powell says:
24 March, 2014 at 4:24 pm
I really believe Ms Lamont thought that interview went quite well.”
Seem to remember a Mr Craig Levein telling all us fitba fans that 0 0 against a wee diddy team was still a brilliant result.
They twa probably go to the same hypnotist.
who is the male equivelant to lamont? that mealy mouthed renfrew councillor must be close.
There is only one counter to the MSM that I know other than knocking doors. That is to tell as many people as possible of the existence of the social media and sites such as this.
If anybody has a better idea than Aye Right leaflets could they do me a favour and tell me about it.
Meanwhile 500,000 leaflets are in circulation plus the ones printed from the pdf. I know students in Dundee have printed their own for instance.
They are still available at £66 per 10,000 from :-
gavinlessells AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk
I can also provide pdf tho the Rev has on file
It only took her a couple of seconds before the attacks on Alex Salmond started. That’s when I stopped listening to her. It is evident that there are only very few Nu Labour politicians left in Scotland who haven’t been driven insane by their strange and worrying obsession with Salmond. It is harrowing to witness them getting all hot and bothered whenever his name is mentioned.
Lamont is quite incapable of giving coherent answers to questions,indeed she doesn”t even seem able to have an intelligent conversation with anyone.Her Labour bosses must be extremely concerned with her performances but lets hope they do not replace her soon as she is an asset to the YES campaign.
I believe Yes Borders have ordered a bundle and I expect we’ll be folding them into the next issue of the Yes newspaper.
That was for Gavin, about the Aye Right leaflets. I managed to find one of the business card version in my pocket when talking to an undecided the other day. They’re really handy for that purpose.
Having listened to the whole interview, I agree he asked some challenging questions, but there was no real attempt to land a serious blow and it seemed to me that she was given càrte blanche to blather on at length.
Disappointed. Gordon Brewer made a much better job of it.
Alfresco Dent, a very good post, congratulations on that.
I know I know, I should not buy The Sun but my wife is addicted to crosswords, anyway did anyone here read Andrew Nicoll’s column ?, I watched some of J Lamont’s speech (not all of it, I wanted the TV for a wee while longer!) but there is NO way he watched the same speech as I, how on earth he can twist ————what I’m I saying , of course he can , as Brian Tylor once said “trust me I’m a reporter”!!!.
The North Sea transport system is under the governance of UK Transport Minister Robert Goodwill and UK Civil servant Tricia Hayes? The Minister refuses to have a full Inquiry into the helicopters falling from the sky, as both consider everything is perfectly ‘normal’. Refusing to have an Inquiry which would show up the neglect.
Alex Salmond/Scottish gov does not have the powers to order an Inquiry.
More lies from ill researched ‘journalists’.
The UK gov Committee’s findings blamed the workers and recommended the workers weight and window positions were relevant.
Constitutional change never changed anything lol . Who in their right mind would say that.
@gavin lessells 5:09pm
I’ve sent you an e-mail with an attachment or two.
Feel free to plagiarise 🙂
Heaven help us!
Around the 16min mark B.T. Goes into ‘Only Fools and Horses’ mode, ” No income tax, no VAT,”
Only question is which one is Rodney?
I thought we could have expected some quality discussion now that they have finally released their SLAB Report “Conversation on possible Ambitions for a Future Scottish Region”.
Woeful!
Listened to that farce and it was a very easy ride for Lamont eg. “You say its 40% of Scots parliament spend proposal but its actually 20%.” Lamont-“haven’t got technical figures in front of me, certainly believe its a huge change and it is about accountability, its huge, we took advice from experts…” and the BBC dude skips along.
If I actually paid the tv tax, I’d want a refund for whatever that BBC chancer thinks he’s playing at.
“I managed to find one of the business card version in my pocket when talking to an undecided the other day.”
Morag, I agree, the business cards are the best but where do I get them?
MP’s didn’t kick up a storm ? Really ? That seems at odds with the headlines.
Pooling and sharing of resources…ad nauseum… Its a default tick.
One of the problems with the bedroom tax is that Labour brought it in….
Devolving of welfare…not sure it can be done but if we apply ourselves we can make it happen….If only they took such a pragmatic view on independence.
40% is in reality 20%…it makes a huge change…These are not the numbers you are looking for…..”advice from experts”…so its 20% and you just want it to be 20%
DevoMax ? hahahaha 20% of tax revenue…that feels about right…aye maybe in Labourworld
… absolutely bloody brutal !!!
“pooling & Sharing” ?
more like Pulling & Shearing…
We did a bit of canvassing round our wee bit of Troon yesterday and a common theme among the “definite NO” brigade was a visceral hatred of Alex Salmond. We tried to unravel why that was the case in each instance and were met with a variety of answers.
“Can’t stand the sight of the man”
“He never tells the truth”
“I don’t like the wee smile when he answers questions”
seemed to be the three most common. We tried explaining that he was effectively a “term” politician and wouldn’t be there for ever and then we had much the same bile directed towards Nicola. There is a general conflation of Current Scottish Government = AS/NS rather than SNP and also the tired old argument that a Yes vote is for SNP.
It takes a lot of Doorstep Stamina(tm) to even begin to knock a chink in the armour of the defiant NO person. Still trying to develop that.
Some of the hatred is either genetically programmed in or the Labour vitriol is working.
@Ianbrotherhood4.52,(Beauty in the eyes of the beholder )
I,v got a home visit for a Optician,your welcome to come
here & get your eyes checked,Betty & Stuart Gamble were in
here picking up Yes papers Stuarts partially sighted even he
would dispute that.you no on that Talcum Powder o mine.
Rev, I salute your indefatigability! I gave up after 5 mins.
There was no interview, both blethered over each other.
We need real interviews, with precise answers,no more patter……….
@ken500
Thanks for the P&J article re their scandalous insinuation that AS had refused an enquiry into the helicopter crashes.
I hope that Aberdeen readers will flood the paper with protests about their foul lies.
From Guido Fawkes –
“The government’s High Speed 2 Growth Taskforce is the body set up by the government to examine how to maximise economic growth and the job opportunities from HS2. Scottish readers in particular will be amused by the unfortunate acronym used on their Twitter logo…”
HS2 GTF
http://order-order.com/2014/03/24/high-speed-2-get-tae-fk/
@ronnie anderson –
James Joyce used to enjoy pointing out that Helen of Troy would’ve been properly gumsy and wrinkly by the time the seige was over.
JoLa is oor air wee Helen – ‘the face that munched a thousand chips.’
@Ianbrotherhood,Mr McCain will be glad fur the custom
http://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/she-said/2014/mar/24/bring-on-the-ugly-women Whatever you think of UKOK journalism, you have to hand it to them on irony impairment and all round WTF?!
“I think of it as the Brian Taylor benchmark. The BBC Scotland political editor is an accomplished journalist, and very engaging when reporting to camera, but he’d probably be the first to admit he’s not exactly god’s gift. Now try to imagine him as a woman. Or rather try to imagine an overweight grey-haired woman in her late 50s – and with an impressive double chin – as a BBC reporter or newsreader. Impossible isn’t it?”
Or a living embodiment of a bloated and corrupt outfit called the BBC in Scotland, costing Scotland over £300 million a year and much of going on monstering Scotland;s First Minister Alex Salmond for the last 10 years at least.
She’s always on about how you need to ‘Win the Argument’ in politics… well Yes is going to win the argument this time, Johanne, and you’re just making yourself look more petty and backwards every time you open your mouth.
My local squirrels (lovely shades of red and ginger) would like to know why they have become figures of fun rather than the true socialists they see themselves as – you’re not confusing them with the foreign grey variety are you?
I noticed over the past few months this ” a hate Alex Salmond ” when I explain your not voting for Alex Salmond you are voting for a political system, I usually get “a well a don’t know” as they slither away.
IMO most of these people are trying to bury their head in the sand they want to ignore the referendum, their feart. My opinion.
Do they prefer Osbourne, Darling, Jola, Davidson.
If you want to see what SLAB is offering and what they want to keep at Westminster take a look at
http://aye2014.wordpress.com/2014/03/18/vote-no-and-get-what-exactly/
Nuff said.
@Kenny Campbell
Constitutional change never changed anything lol . Who in their right mind would say that.
Send Lamont to America to tell the Yanks that 1776 et al was only a minor change, and nothing really important happened. Launch Lamont into Ireland, and get her to tell them the events of 1916-21 there were really only cosmetic change. Dump Lamont in Russia, and get her to tell the Russians that 1917 was just a stroll in the park, and nothing of any interest, or magnitude happened there.
@Bell
How is Lamont going to win the argument when she is always calling for a debate or a discussion? 😀 😀
Every Act of Parliament is surely a constitutional change for the UK.
Isn’t Johann Lamont therefore saying Minimum Wage legislation was worthless. Changes to tax rates are brought in by Acts of Parliament.
She doesn’t seem to see any bigger picture.
The BBC’s behaviour during this referendum campaign, has done their reputation, a huge amount of damage.
Media Lens, has began to report on the BBC Bias, and now Newsnet Scotland are running another two-part series on BBC bias, with six incidents of clear bias documented for all to see.
Things are getting decidedly uncomfortable for some of the ("Tractor" - Ed)s in our nation.
Anyone from the BBC or Labour, who think they will enjoy the same privileged life in an Independent Scotland, will find that our attitudes to the people who were prepared to watch Scots suffer so that they could keep their already privileged snouts in Westminster’s trough, will harden as the people of our wonderful nation finally get to see the truth of just how much of Scotlands’ wealth was stolen to feed the fat hungry bastards slurping their subsidised meals in places like the House of Commons or Lords.
You just have to look at what happened to the Tory party
in Scotland to see how quickly we forget and forgive politicians who betray us.
We must not and will not forget every one of these treacherous ("Quizmaster" - Ed)s and what they have been attempting to do to our country.
Jim T,
It just shows you how successful the NO side are, as from the outset they,that is the press, in all it’s forms ( papers & tv ) set out to demonise A Salmond, and one has to admit with some success, I think that the only way to counter that would be to point out what the ” press” was doing, and to invite folk to do their own research .
What really scares me about La Krankie is her continuism, as she is already making plans for her and her party to be part of Holyrood after Independence.
In other words, she is going to demand to be part of the Scottish Team negotiating with the Westminster one.
That she and her pals can in anyway influence the results of those negotiations, by agreeing with the other side position and support it with their votes, is something that freezes my innards.
Is there a mechanism to leave them aside or must they be included in an all parties negotiating team?
Can anyone imagine her saying it’s right for the EWNI to pool and share the oil in a population basis?
@Paula Rose
The squirrels are not the object of amusement, not at all! Their inclusion here in recent days might, though, have something to do with this…
First Minister’s Questions 7th March 2013
@ Grant_M
I know dear, but they can be very touchy when they’ve just come out of hibernation.
Desimond says:
24 March, 2014 at 3:18 pm
Its going to get like Rangers FC Ltd, Rangers Holdings Ltd, Rangers international FC Ltd etc when JoLa and pals decide what to do after a YES vote.
A cheap petty dig that has no place on WINGS this is a site for real politic not your gutter football type.
CTF wings this site is our Bible, don’t allow football politics to creep in and cause division, are we not all fighting the same battle under one flag.
You’d think people would be falling over themselves for an opportunity to listen to the pearls of wisdom from the Herald newspaper’s debater of the year.
Stuart I hate you , that’s another half hour of my life or my sanity i will never regain.
Please stop (Lamont not you) this unmitigated drivel is driving me nuts
Well, there’s half an hour of my life I won’t get back, Heh Ho.
I will say that I do love the fact that Labour’s school of trying to insist you are ernest in an argument instead of talking absolute keich includes lots of hand movements, pathetic really.
I actually thought that was a good interview from Brian Taylor. Let her talk and get her point across but pressed her when needed. What a refreshing change.
However:
Pity most of what she said was complete and utter mince..
In brief- the devolution commission has spent an awfy long time coming to the conclusion that it has decided almost nothing about some things but will have wee think around 2016 and get back to us with some answers then. That’s really useful to help people make their mind up about independence in Sept 2014.
Just brilliant..thanks.
Stuart- I need JoLa out of my life and affa my phone. I lasted 15 mins and began to contemplate shoving my head in the oven. Enough.
Was thinking about your questions and I just keep running it through in my head: so even if devonano was a great, sensible and coherant policy (which it’s not) and we vote no (which we won’t), to implement it labour would need to win the next general election (they won’t), get it passed by the labour MPs (which seems unlikely) AND then win the Scottish Election (which they won’t).
Wonder what odds ladbrokes give on it coming to pass- it ain’t exactly what you would call a dead cert
At 23mmin.56 seconds she tells us the care system is in crisis. In the next breath she asserts that her proposals to address the problem will be revealed in 2016.
This is what passes for decisive and dynamic political policy when it brushes up against reality when over-promoted bench-warmers like Lamont are allowed to rise to the top.
I spent a few years of my teaching career working with troubled kids in the belief that it might make a difference – I was appalled and shocked at the buck-passing, procrastination and sheer bullshittery of the whole process – cases dragged on for months while various “professionals” cancelled or missed meetings for holidays or other trivial reasons. The likes of Lamont were always the ones who could describe the problem in impeccable management-speak but would never be so bold as to actually suggest a course of action.
This lady spouts inane platitudes because it has taken her this far – why would she stop now?
that looked like a thumbs up fandabeedozee moment approx 2 minutes in…
Could someone please glue Johann Lamont’s hands to her arse. Her hand gestures are clearly coached and only serve to make her look more ridiculous and disingenuous.
Has anyone noticed a 47 second section in this clip. Its a gold mine. Please watch from 16 mins to 16.47 mins. Looney Lamont says it would be great to have all our taxes all rolled up into one for the benefit of Scotland, YES LAMONT ITS CALLED INDEPENDENCE – anyone good with video editing able to cut that glorious 47 section and repost.
@ Morag
I’d like to be able to write like that all the time but I get angry. My dad’s been an SNP voter all his life, no wonder I am. Or maybe I think like this not because I’ve been brainwashed, but because independence is a natural state. Unionists would have their followers believe there’s something abnormal about being independent. What a bizarre notion is that? I don’t know about anyone else but I was encouraged to be independent from the very day my mum gave birth. How else does a person survive?
There was a debate on the telly the other night, BBC probably. Near the end a young lassie thrust her hand in the air and had her say. She was a stern wee thing. She needed certainty. She needed to know there was going to be a future for her in an independent Scotland. She wanted a cast iron guarantee she’d have a career! Did you hear me ragin’ at the telly? I’d be surprised if you didn’t. Certainty? Guarantees?
What the hell has happened to our Scottish youth? I’ve often joked it’s because they put something in the water but, sometimes, I really do suspect foul play. In all my years on this earth I have never, ever witnessed a revolution, either real or dramatised for telly, that did not have that country’s youth as it’s spearhead!
Not here though. Here the weans want certainty and guarantees and I genuinely weep for their future because I’m of the firm belief that if we, all of us here, don’t secure their future then they won’t have one. They’ll be forever on the treadmill. They’ll either be dismal failures who fell through the cracks in the system or they’ll be glowing success stories. Great job, crap money, zero principles and they won’t even be happy. Not contented. They’ll think they are. They’ll have cable, they’ll have 100TB broadband, they’ll have weans, lots of them, and be fretting about child care costs, fuel costs, food costs. They’ll be driving a Merc or a Beemer that they really can neither afford nor justify. They will be so bloody busy that their lives will pass them by. In a heartbeat.
When I was in school in Grangemouth it was just at the time of The Great Middle School Experiment. This was a concept imported from the good ol’ US of A. Of course, where else? We went to Primary School like everyone else in the country but then, at the age of ten, we were whisked away to Middle School. We stayed in Middle School until we were fourteen then off to High School. It was weird. With hindsight I can see the problems but at that age why would anyone think there were problems? We knew no different. It was the way it was. But there were problems. We made bonds with each other as weans. All my pals lived all around me when I was at Primary School. It was great.
Then we all got moved to different schools. There were two Middle Schools in Grangemouth. One school took pupils who’s surnames started from A to M and the other pupils with surnames from N to Z. I kid you not. It was irrelevant what area of the town you actually lived in, you’re friendships were broken simply because you were an Adams and your best pal was a Robertson. Of course what this then created was a rivalry between the schools. Which is fine, all well and good if you know that when the bell tolls Four you’re going back to your ‘bit’ to play with your pals. But of course your bit really isn’t your bit any more. Because the ones who were your pals are now your enemies. It was a crazy system that simply didn’t cater for the Central Belt Scheme Mentality (TM).
And that wasn’t the only problem, maybe not even the biggest one. The Middle Schools had a bizarre method of ‘grading’ pupils. I was clever as hell in Primary School. I had zero problems. I was the same in Middle School too. Of course by this time I was developing problems of my own, which I won’t be going into here. Let’s just say I had issues.
Anyway, Middle Schools graded pupils by their performance in certain disciplines. I’m still not entirely sure how we were measured but our performance in Middle School determined our choices in High School. I loved woodwork. We didn’t get a lot of woodwork in my Middle School, there were teacher problems I wasn’t aware of so woodwork classes were always subject to cancellation. Anyway, I did seem to do well in most things I did. Except Maths. Anything with numbers to be honest. Hated it with a passion. So in between the fighting between our Middle School and the ‘other’ Middle School, and fighting between each other because he ‘came fae’ Charle D’ and you came fae ra Bowhoose, we muddled through. It was chaotic, to say the least. Funnily enough I’ve since discovered that females fared far better in the Middle School experiment than us males.
I was all ready to go to high School and I got the forms and had to pick the subjects I would follow. My grading was high, my ‘success’ at Middle school entitled me to the distinction of being of “Certificate” grade. The other grade was “General”. I bet you can see what’s coming. I was never one of those weans you see these days who could see their whole futures mapped out in front of them. I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do when I grew up. Well, that’s not exactly true. I knew I wanted to get outta’ Houston baby. Couldn’t wait to turn 16 and bugger off out of it.
I digress. My high grading entitled me to go to High School – remember, to meet up with all the boys we’d just spent the previous four years punching lumps out of – and study… Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Technical Drawing and, in the words of a certain Miss Brodie (she would have went to my school by the way, with that surname), the crème de la crème, Accountancy. You can imagine my delight, I’m sure. Do you see Woodwork anywhere there? Or Metalwork? Or P.E.? Nope. Nowhere. Doomed.
High School wasn’t so bad, violence-wise. By now I’d developed an ability to avoid trouble. My problems were the teachers, who just couldn’t understand why I was so dis-interested. I think, but I can’t prove, that this was also the beginning of a trend in education that continues to this day. A deliberate policy to teach the youngster how to pass the test. Not how to learn the subject, note. There’s a difference. I breezed through my Pre-lim’s with nine A-grade passes. Nine! Unbelievable, my family were so proud of me.
I knew different. By this time it was I who had the agenda. As Lou Reed not so famously sang, I was sick of it. My dad was active in the SNP all his life. I was arrested at the age of eight. Up a ladder in the dead of night, pulling Labour posters down and replacing them with SNP ones. The police let us off of course. The cop told us he was teaching the lad a lesson. Haha, lesson learned my friend. Lesson learned.
My last year in the system was a total non-event. I bumbled along, didn’t get in anyone’s face. Didn’t care. I finally sat seven ‘O’-Grades. In every subject I turned up, went into the examination room, signed my name at the head of the exam paper, dated it on the last page, stood up & left the building. Sat seven: failed seven. Spectacularly.
My family went mental, of course. My friends, who were all pretty intelligent people who went straight into the BP or BXL or ICI, disowned me. I did have some admirers. Not the right ones, hindsight tells me. I was in my thirties before the light started to dawn. Amazing really. But don’t think there weren’t some successes from our school because I’m sure there were. I only know one though, you folks might have heard her. She was in my Middle School, because of her surname of course. I’ve often heard her totally and bizarrely un-Grangemouth accent, extol over the airwaves just how great it was to grow up in Grangemouth. Like a scene from the Twilight Zone or some alternate reality. I didn’t know her at school. I expect we came from entirely different backgrounds. I know we did. I’m not blaming my lack of success on Grangemouth though. Like I said, I had issues. Today, I drive a van. I should be a carpenter but I’m happy driving a van. I read, a lot. My focus is the future. A bit late maybe, but better late than never.
We must not let our weans fall through the cracks. We must teach them to stand on their own two feet. We must instil in them the confidence to try and the confidence to fail. We must enable them. To think for themselves. To take risks and to constantly move forward. We must tear them away from ‘safe’ Great Britain. Life is not safe. Life SHOULD NOT BE safe! How boring would that be?
Alastair Gray said it best – “you must work as if you live in the early days of a better nation”, because for our weans, now, it’s actually true.
I have come to the conclusion that JL’s hand movements – the narrow forward from the ears, repeated – is to keep her focused on the same old regurgitation of the same script, regardless of the question.
JoLa says – “Everything is broken under SNP government and don’t believe that Independence will be the land of milk and honey”
Wee Brian asks once again “What are your solutions, now that you have identified these problems”
JoLA – “That comes in 2016 when we launch our manifesto”.Oh, and it’s all Alicsammin’s fault!”
So, has “What is there to smile about?” now replaced “I’m astonished!” as the JoLa tagline???
Alfresco Dent
Thanks for sharing some of your life- there’s a book in there I’m certain.
It’s funny you should mention Alastair Gray and his inspirational quotation. I recall him being described as a “very minor scribbler” in the poisonous scotsman forum after he reaffirmed his pro-independence position. Words fail me sometimes. Lanark a minor book I suppose!
Dinnae gie up on the sixteen year olds though. I have high hopes that Generation Yes will grow into a fresh branch of the movement and engage 16, 17, 18 year olds in the campaign. There is something so exciting and inspirational in the Yes campaign that BT cannot possibly replicate. BT will I am sure come across as very establishment, very old fashioned, very staid and (cringing as I write) very uncool.
And I expect all the 16 year olds told by their parents to vote no will do exactly as I did when I was told to no get drunk and no smoke.
Alfresco Dent, that was an amazing post. I knew there was a story there, though I hadn’t guessed what an extraordinary one. Someone with your obvious level of intelligence should never have slipped through the cracks like that. Heads should have rolled.
Funny thing. I went to school before the whole comprehensive thing, but I developed problems at primary school. In hindsight I think it was boredom, although I didn’t realise that at the time. It manifested as an inability to concentrate and complete a task, which drove the teachers insane. I didn’t realise that the mental blocks were because the tasks were too simple. The teachers should have realised, but I’m not convinced they did. I got a bit of a complex about it.
My P7 teacher was obviously worried I was going to fail the qualy, which would have been ridiculous as I was getting silly scores on the IQ tests (which were interesting) but failing the sums (which were boring). She suggested to my parents they enter me for the Hutchie entrance exam. I sailed up innocently and loved every minute, though a bit disconcerted when I realised some of the other girls had been coached for it and were getting tearful when they realised they couldn’t do it. They offered me a place.
The place had to be accepted before the qualy results were out, so my parents said OK. I went and sat the qualy and something very weird happened. I just did all the sums. The whole 50 of them, without a pause or batting an eyelid. Maybe the block was lifted because this was the day it mattered? Anyway I got a letter sending me to Hamilton Academy.
I suppose my parents could have told Hutchie they didn’t want the place after all. But I’d seen that school and it seemed so exciting, and I’d never been inside the doors of Hamilton Academy. And my teacher’s niece was at Hutchie going into sixth, and she lived very near me and would look out for me when I started. So I said I wanted to go to Hutchie anyway, and these days it really didn’t cost much (and I got a bursary after third year so it didn’t cost anything after that), so off I went. (Now, though, I remember way back then, and my mother remarking rather wistfully as she shelled out for yet another season ticket for the train and gave me money for the bus fares that if I’d gone to Hamilton the council would have paid my fares and maybe even sent a school bus for me, and I feel awfully guilty.)
I think I’d have done just as well at Hamilton and in fact when I got to uni there were two boys in my class who would have been in my class at Hamilton if I’d gone there. We’d probably all three have come up together. But there it was, I had six years at Hutchie and something about the teaching then made me an SNP supporter too.
Now it’s all different and the fees are astronomical because the school doesn’t get a grant any more, and I can tell from the school magazine that the social mix is different. And people here sneer at the school because Anas Sarwar went there and sends his kids there. I feel like a cat in a dog suit.
But it was the answer to my “learning difficulties” as a ten-year-old. I think there is a place for highly selective schools and I just bet you’d have come out of one of these with five highers or more. I don’t know how this fits in the overall scheme of things, but if they have special support for the left-hand end of the bell curve maybe they should think about special support for the right-hand end. They really let you down very badly.
You know something Morag? I had a very ‘dark’ period in my twenties and early thirties. Loads of the people I knew then are no longer with us. I’m still here and that’s good enough for me. Btw, “…cat in a dog suit”. I’m having that! Brilliant. I’m on Facebook, same name. The language is just a tad rougher there mind.
I was out with the dogs today and it entered my had that what would happen if we lose? We won’t, I’m convinced of that now. But if we did, it wouldn’t be like last time. Because we are a real community we can’t go our different ways. This is turning into a movement. Did you see the letter from the Scandinavian writers? That’s fantastic! Sigur Ros are behind us. I read that today and I felt so warm, knowing that we’re not alone. I sense our free Scotland is going to make it’s mark on this world. We can inspire. Imagine the novelty of that. That guy earlier in one of Stu’s articles. The English guy in Lockerbie. He’s bang on. Brand Scotland. It’s like someone’s slowly twisting open the Venetian blinds and light is streaming in. Once they’re open I don’t see us closing them any time soon. Can you really see BP moving AWAY from the country where it’s main business is? Their arguments are becoming ever more ridiculous.
Like I say, FB.
Good night.
I want that half an hour of my life back. He asked just a few good questions that left her sounding like an imbecile. For the vast majority of the interview though, he allowed her to prattle on and constantly talk over him. Shes a disgrace, but he is awful for letter her do that.
Shes an English teacher. A bad English teacher. She is used to showing aggression when challenged on anything. It’s how she would have asserted her dominance in the class(and how awful that must have been to witness). To keel over whenever she gets overly aggressive, as Brian Taylor did, is just plain pathetic. Stand up to her man!
*letting
My God, I have just watched that interview with Johann Lamont and I am astonished that here is the woman who consistently demands Alex Salmoned to “answer the question” (which he does in a destructive way) and she never in the whole questions posed, answered one. She must be the most potent weapon for the YES campaign to make sure the vote is YES. What a useless advocate for the NO side. If she hadn’t hands and fingers she would be speechless. Full credit to Brian Taylor for remaining courteous to such a frustrating guest who ranted onto anything other than addressing his questions from viewers Can any self respecting citizen of Scotland truly believe this woman has the credentials to run a country or a political party never mind be credible on a TV interview. She may have been an English teacher but her arithmetic and logic certainly passed her by. If that’s the best advocate for Scotland I’m emigrating.
Just watching this now. It’s incredible that she can go from arguing one minute that Scotland isn’t inherently predisposed to following a certain political path, to arguing the next that there is something inherent about Scots that makes us want to have a 50p tax rate. Absolute contradiction.
Also amazing that someone who would argue that independence is just too complicated and that we need to have everything set out in specific detail is quite happy to just go “oh it’ll be complicated, but we’ll work it out” in regards to trying to split housing benefit from the universal benefit system.
Johann’s motto seems to be “well that’s their view”, which is the equivalent of “yeah well, that’s, like, your opinion, man.”
Maybe my favourite bit… Brian points out she won’t spell out what she would actually DO about free personal care. Her response: “I can understand your frustration”.
TOO RIGHT WE’RE FRUSTRATED, YE DAFT GYPE!
Morag & Alfreco
Enjoyed your life story’s I’m sure your earlier years resonate with others.
Waded through 22 mins of that tripe then lost the will to live. Lamont is, well, at best, no very good. I’m no SNP fanfare blower but they have talent, initiative and ability far beyond this London lackey. All her eyes show are sheer desperation.
Conservatives talk down to Scotlnd.
Labour talk at Scotland.
SNP talk to Scotland.
I am so sorry Stu. After all your hard work here, I could only get about twenty seconds or so into this…inane drivel. She can’t even get through the first couple of sentences without adopting the old Thatcher tactic of denying that the question is relevant and spending the rest of her reply slagging off the SNP instead of actually answering the question.
I have no respect for this woman at all. (Well, she did set the bar fairly low) I agree with another poster on here; if that is the quality of opposition we can muster, and we vote “no”, maybe we do deserve whatever we get. That said, I don’t think it will be that way in September.
2.54 secs, that’s all I could take!
I wonder if she really believes what she is trying to say?
“What is there to smile about?”
From her point of view? Absolutely f**k all! 7 years out of their perceived god given right to be in charge with not a snowball in hells chance of getting back into power for the foreseeable and on top of that the ever increasing realisation the the games a bogey and a YES vote will be returned in the Autumn i very nearly (but not quite) feel sorry for her and her band of troughers.
There is however plenty for the Scottish people to smile about as we are about to embark on a wonderful and positive journey of rediscovery and betterment that could only have been dreamed of a few short years ago. Its a great time to be alive dont y’all think?