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Quoted for truth #15

Posted on May 13, 2013 by

127 to “Quoted for truth #15”

  1. Albert Herring says:

    So Labour ditches the Tories.
     
    Ah, now I see.

    Reply
  2. Doug Daniel says:

    Of course, the only thing that would have sounded more ludicrous would have been to say “They’ll work with the ‘BetterTogether’ campaign run by the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Lab… err, boss, are you sure the autocue’s right here?”
     
    Poor Alistair Darling. And Blair McDougall. And Gordon Aikman. And Jackie Baillie. And Richard Baker. And every Labour unionist with a BetterTogether logo on their Twitter avatar.

    Reply
  3. Bill C says:

    So that’s it official then, the NO Scotland campaign is now Better Together and United With Labour.  If that is not a split in the unionist camp, I don’t know what is?

    Reply
  4. Dcanmore says:

    So is Better Together now officially tainted and toxic? Notice how lickspittle Sarwar goes running to anyone that might do him a favour … enough to make you boak! These people change their spots quicker than a chameleon under duress.

    Reply
  5. Adrian B says:

    What a farce.

    Reply
  6. Erchie says:

    if we were to aak the usual Labour suspects if the dodgy donation should be returned. i wonder if their answer would be different now

    Reply
  7. Ghengis says:

    So they have stolen the word ‘Fairer ‘ .. while previously they had only stolen the word ‘better’ .. if stolen is the right word that is.

    Reply
  8. Ray says:

    Typical fearmongering from the Wings crew. You should be ashamed, etc etc.

    Reply
  9. It will be very interesting to see what Darling and the rest of BT do now. Does he stick it out as the frontman, despite Labour looking to distance themselves, or will he quietly fade into the background?

    Reply
  10. muttley79 says:

    Does this mean that Darling, McDougall, Bailie etc are going to stay in BT, or are they going to join their colleagues in this Labour group?  Most confusing…

    Reply
  11. EdinScot says:

    Let me get this right,  Labour are fleeing from the very Tories that they are determined to foist upon us, just so that we can stay better together in their decrepit so called Union, only we arent apparantly better together as Labour dont want to even share a platform with them now!  I think the Unionists are in choppy waters. What chance have they got of convincing us of staying with them when they cant even work together. Strange that as policy wise you cant get a fag paper between them.  Satire is alive and well in Scotland its just that the truth would hurt too much for the Unionist msm.  Farcial!

    Reply
  12. Luigi says:

    Oh Dear. The no campaign is starting to tear itself apart. The ferrets are slowly beginning to realize that they arewell and truly trapped, and are biting one another. How many days to go until outright war breaks out? Talk about a divided campaign. “Better Together Indeed. With UKIP now poised to throw their weight into the No campaign, this could get very interesting – I cannae wait!

    Reply
  13. John Hannah says:

    Great stuff.
    The No Scotland campaign(s) are falling apart at the seams.
    Quick hide the needle and thread.
    lmfao.
     
    Let’s hope there’s more of this to come. It can only help our cause.

    Reply
  14. Luigi says:

    I wonder what Nigel Farage makes of Labour suddenly trying to jump ship, keep the Tories/UKIP out and steer BT at the same time.

    Reply
  15. scottish_skier says:

    giggles

    Reply
  16. Jiggsbro says:

    Are they going to have different scare stories or are they both going to spend money to tell us the same nonsense? And if its the latter, why should we trust either of them to run our country efficiently?

    Reply
  17. Richard Lucas says:

    What happens to Taylor’s blood money in the Brave New world?  Will we have a wealthy Tory campaign with no foot soldiers, but a glossy HQ, whilst Labourite Unionists trudge barefoot through the street with placards made from old cardboard boxes? Will the LibDems be sitting outside the Parliament with a begging bowl? How will the oil industry now seek to purchase influence in the referendum?

    Reply
  18. muttley79 says:

    @Edinscot
     
     
    What chance have they got of convincing us of staying with them when they cant even work together. Strange that as policy wise you cant get a fag paper between them.  Satire is alive and well in Scotland its just that the truth would hurt too much for the Unionist msm.  Farcial!
     
    In a nutshell.  Pravada and the rest of the MSM must be lying in a darkened room at this very moment, attempting to think how they can spin this move by the collective No campaign.  Even for Pravda it is a very tough one.  I think they will attempt to keep coverage of it to the bare minimum.  When Cameron made his announcement on the EU a few months ago, BBC Scotland and Newsnight never even covered it in terms of the implications for a indy referendum.  Boothman and co will no doubt try the same methods this time.  They will likely also try to come up with some way to criticise Sturgeon’s speech today as a diversion.  

    Reply
  19. Clarinda says:

    UKOK-KO?

    Reply
  20. Doug Daniel says:

    Jiggsbro – since we’re constantly told that one of the benefits of the union is “we get to pool our resources”, I can only assume they’ll practice what they preach and “work together” to provide us with “stronger” scare stories.

    Reply
  21. ukip free zone says:

    Labour could be inspired by the title of one of Crowded House’s albums and call their referendum campaign Together Alone.

    Reply
    • Rev. Stuart Campbell says:

      “Labour could be inspired by the title of one of Crowded House’s albums and call their referendum campaign Together Alone.”

      Surely that’d be more appropriate for those left behind:
      link to twitpic.com

      Reply
  22. David says:

    So not about working together for good of union but in trying to stick it to your so called allies and grab as much power as possible.
    Could be interesting on the high street, YesScotland, ‘separatists’ a broad grouping all working together for benefit of people in Scotland.
    Multiple stands of Better together, condems, United labour and UKIP all saying we are stronger together, as long as you vote for us to keep the other lot out.  

    Reply
  23. Morag says:

    This is getting more surreal by the day.  You couldn’t make it up.  I don’t honestly understand it.  They are genuinely ahead in the polls and many commentators expect them to win at a canter.  Why are they behaving like this?

    Reply
  24. Erchie says:

    It was fun seeing usual suspect Dunky H decrying the news of this  saying it didn’t happen and saying so was spreading “Fear Uncertainty and Doubt”.
    I would have though that the right-hand man of Tom Harris MP would have had the info first.
    I suppose if they never told Alistair Darling then the CyberLabs are low on the list of “need to know”

    Reply
    • Rev. Stuart Campbell says:

      “It was fun seeing usual suspect Dunky H decrying the news of this saying it didn’t happen and saying so was spreading “Fear Uncertainty and Doubt”.”

      That was odd, wasn’t it? Even if the BBC hadn’t actually said what they said (which they had), it still wouldn’t have been “fear, uncertainty and doubt”. I think Dunc’s feeling the stress.

      Reply
  25. Gordon Bain says:

    Right now “the glaikit wan” is on the radio with his statistics. Funny how they’re only talking about the Yes campaign and not focussing at all on the bitter & twisted split (cocktail anyone?).
    Hail Alba!

    Reply
  26. Yesitis says:

    It seems BBC Labour are in on the joke already.
     

    Reply
  27. scottish_skier says:

    Why are they behaving like this?

    Because there be a GE a comin’ and Labour’s not looking like winning it. That and Farage/EU-out fever is spreading like wildfire across the green and pleasant land.

    For a while, Labour reckoned the Tories were so crap they’d be a shoe in without having to do much. The local elections just confirmed their worst fears as suggested by polls; they’ve little hope for 2015. Farage and the anti-EU Tories are running the show now. The bandwagon is rolling and everybody’s jumping on.

    Reply
  28. HandandShrimp says:

    Fairer means absolutely nothing from Gordon Brown. Britian did not become a fairer place after his clunking fist was on the tiller for 13 years. It became an unfairer place…and more Draconian too.

    Reply
  29. Jeannie says:

    I think if I were Willie Rennie, I’d be spitting blood right now.  What Labour has ostensibly done is put him into a coalition situation with the Tories in Better Together, same as the one at Westminster.  That way, they might pick up disgruntled Lib Dem votes up here too.  They’ve also left Willie to answer the questions about the dodgy donations.
    If I were Willie, I’d be absolutely raging!

    Reply
  30. muttley79 says:

    The problem for Labour’s campaign is that they have basically sold out their principles over the last few decades to govern at Westminster as a Tory lite party.  It is not as if they can now present themselves as supporting more powers for the Scottish Parliament, or that they are a progressive force in Scottish politics.  We have had PFI, the war in Iraq, and the growing inequality in the UK during their time in office.  Do they think we have forgotten this?  They are Tories in all but name.  They may think they had to leave the Tories, but as they are to all intents and purposes Tories themselves now, it seems a pointless decision to set up their own party campaign.  All we need now to complete the farce is for Neil Findlay SLAB MSP, and the Red Paper Collective, to say that they believe that Britain is about to embrace Socialism!  This would complete Labour’s journey into the twilight zone…  

    Reply
  31. Jeannie says:

    @HandandShrimp

    Fairer means absolutely nothing from Gordon Brown. Britian did not become a fairer place after his clunking fist was on the tiller for 13 years. It became an unfairer place…and more Draconian too.
     
    I think this is a point we need to keep pushing home.  We can’t let them get away with saying they want to make either Scotland or Britain a fairer place when the record shows that the disparity between rich and poor actually grew larger under the last Labour government.  We’ve got to nail them with this.  And it’s no good Milliband blaming it on the last Labour group in power as he was a key supporter of Brown’s.

     
     
     

    Reply
  32. john Lyons says:

    Morag,
     
    Scottish Skier was on here a while ago saying positive campaigns usually end up 10% higher than the polls show on the actual vote day in a referendum. If it was 10% off no and into yes that would make it 43% to 41%. That’s still a no win, but too close for comfort.
     
    The reasons for this are anyones guess, but I think people who are undecided go into the poll booths with optimism and hope.
    Does anyone know a No voter who is not dyed in the woll tory or Labour? Are BT actually attracting anyone new?

    Reply
  33. So is United with Labour or Better Together going to be the designated No campaign in PPERA terms?

    Reply
    • Rev. Stuart Campbell says:

      “So is United with Labour or Better Together going to be the designated No campaign in PPERA terms?”

      That’s an excellent question. Let’s see if anyone on Twitter knows.

      Reply
  34. Dcanmore says:

    I wouldn’t be surprised if United with Labour will be a funding front for Better Together. An acceptable face for coin collection that gets passed onto BT after the Tory Taylor donation has made them toxic to the Labour support. Yup, UwL is supposed to unite the fractured Labour vote and to squeeze cash out of them for the benefit of BT, hence the ‘roadshows’ which will be nothing more than fundraisers with a Hardy/Attlee history lesson for those teary Red Clydeside eyes.

    Reply
  35. EdinScot says:

    @ mutley79.
     
    Correct and as this re branding of the same re heated cack theyre trying to force feed us demonstrates, it seems that desperate times call for desperate measures.  It could only come from people who really arent at all comfortable and at ease with the goods there trying to sell us.  Its not jam anymore its the same old mush.  Satire Miss Calman, its all here for you.

    Reply
  36. muttley79 says:

    One thing I noticed the MSM in Scotland did not cover was how badly Labour did in the council elections in England.  I think we all know the reasons they did not do this.  The poster that used the phrase BBC Labour is spot on.  BBC Scotland and the Scottish Labour Party are effectively singing from the same hymn sheet one when it comes to politics here.  It is why, when they interview members of the public, they are told by voters that they want information on the referendum.  If voters in Scotland were impressed by BBC Scotland’s coverage of politics and the referendum, they simply would not be requesting this information. 

    Reply
  37. Albert Herring says:

    So is United with Labour or Better Together going to be the designated No campaign in PPERA terms?
    +
    If I were Willie, I’d be absolutely raging!
     
    Could be very interesting!

    Reply
  38. Luigi says:

    Are BT actually attracting anyone new?
    No, but it’s far worse than that now, John. All the negativity spun and downright lies regurgitated by Labour/MSM has ensured that noone who favours independence will ever go back to them. They are burning the bridge, just to stop more people drifting over to the YES side. But it’s not working, people have started swimming across!

    Reply
  39. Luigi says:

    If I were Willie, I’d be absolutely raging!
    What about Alistair Darling? Even his eyebrows will be white before long.

    Reply
  40. Doug Daniel says:

    Jeannie – exactly, BetterTogether is now effectively the Westminster Coalition. It was only ever going to work if it was a Labour-fronted campaign backed by Tory millionaires, but now it’s just a campaign for two parties that are massively unpopular in Scotland.

    Reply
  41. ukip free zone says:

    @Rev. Stuart Campbell
    Brilliant. LOL.

    Reply
  42. JLT says:

    Morag says:
    13 May, 2013 at 4:14 pm

    This is getting more surreal by the day.  You couldn’t make it up.  I don’t honestly understand it.  They are genuinely ahead in the polls and many commentators expect them to win at a canter.  Why are they behaving like this?
    ——————————-
    I don’t believe for a second that they are so far ahead in the polls that they will win it at a canter.
    This is looking more and more like the Scottish Elections in 2011; ‘Oh aye, Labour should win the elections’ …………BZZZZ ….SNP horse it and break the impossible Bank with an all out majority’.
    I’m guessing both Yes and No are sitting around at 40 % each with 20% unsure. I still expect the Yes vote to go up; especially as they’ve let the Big Beast from Fife out. It’s only a matter of time before he makes a meal of it, or frighten folk into the Yes camp. Trust him with Financial statements like the one he made today ….aye right!!!

    Reply
  43. Graham Anderson says:

    At one of the Yes Scotland briefings we were told that the SNP could not share it’s membership database with Yes due to data protection laws.
    A couple of people on twitter have pointed out that, Scottish Labour, their new United Apart campaign and the existing Better Together campaign are all hosted on the same web platform run by Blue State Digital in the United States. This makes me deeply suspicious that they are implicitly sharing data between the organisations in contravention of UK and EU data protection laws.

    Reply
  44. muttley79 says:

    Nicola Sturgeon seems to have given a good speech today.  I wonder what coverage it will get from the MSM?

    Reply
  45. HandandShrimp says:

    I thought Labour would peel away but I must confess I thought they would do so this time next year. I think the whole Westminster farago has become suddenly hugely complex. We live in interesting times.

    Reply
  46. Bugger (the Panda) says:

    Could it be that Labour have twigged that the Tories are shafting them and AS has done some sort of deal with Cameroon?
     
    Helps explain many weird Tory intrusion in Scotland of the Peter Wimsey type?

    Reply
  47. TYRAN says:

    “United With Labour”. How does that unity work exactly when there’s already “Labour for Independence?

    Reply
  48. jr ewen says:

    has anyone had an email from truth team?
    all i can see of their activity is 2 posts, one graphic and one article about pensions too dull to even read.
    United with labour seam to be using the same online format ie just another part of the labour site. no seperate blog, no fb page.
    will they be using better together’s contacts?
    the truth team seams to be a flop already, they never answer anything.
    will United without Labour be the same?

    Reply
  49. Popular Peoples’ Front of Scotland of Scottish Popular Peoples’ Front?
    Is “United with Labour” independent of or is it separate from “Better Together”?
    So many questions, so much togetherness.

    Reply
  50. Rod Mac says:

    Surely this time the MSM and Broadcasters will rip them apart?
     

    Reply
  51. cirsium says:

    The only thing new in Mr Brown’s speech is his discovery of his ethnicity.  Where before he was North British, he now yields to no-one in his pride of being Scottish.  The rest of the speech is a rehash of what he has said before  – one thought-terminating cliché after another (see CameronB’s input on the V thread).
     

    Reply
  52. David McCann says:

    I just posted this on the Herald story ‘I want a Union of social justice’. Whats the betting it does not see the light of day?
    “YES Scotland branded ‘shambles’ after Green snub”
    “YES Scotland ‘chaos’ as Denis takes over”
    “Scottish Greens quit YES campaign”
    “ Yes campaign in chaos as fears spread of SNP takeover’
    All above were headlines in the Scottish media, despite the fact that all were untrue.
    How come when a split appears in the ‘NO campaign it gets reported as “Brown joins launch of Labour campaign to preserve Union”?
    Or; Gordon  Brown. ‘I want a Union for social justice’ 
    Could it be that our media are biased?
    Surely not.
     

    Reply
  53. muttley79 says:

    @TYRAN
     
    Yes, it looks very bad for SLAB.  They leave Better Together (the very name now looks very ironic :D), which makes the No campaign appear divided.  Then SLAB set up their own party campaign, while there is a group in the Yes campaign, who are SLAB members and supporters, which supports independence.  So not only have SLAB distanced themselves from the official No campaign, it is also obvious that there is support for independence among some grass roots Labour members in Scotland.  So basically there is internal and external divisions in the No campaign.
     
    This development by Labour= PR disaster. (even more so that the shambles over the income tax proposals a few weeks ago, which is saying something).

    Reply
  54. Boorach says:

    PPERA?

    Reply
  55. muttley79 says:

    I can’t believe Unionists think Gordon Brown is the man to win them the referendum.  After all this is the guy who was always going on about how he had solved boom and bust in the economy when he was Chancellor.  What happened?  We get the biggest financial crash since the 1930s.  Also, many people know about his behaviour as Chancellor and as PM.  His bullying antics and physical aggression are common knowledge now.  He was a disaster as PM, and arguably as Chancellor as well.  Brown very rarely attends the Commons to represent his constituents.  Far from the staunch left -winger that the MSM in Scotland built him up to be, Brown is a self serving, selfish, free market lover.       

    Reply
  56. scottish_skier says:

    Heard Broon on the radio. Whole family is Scottish…Says he’s got tartan bedclothes and y-fronts, a Scottish flag towel in the bathroom, only shortbread in the biscuit tin. Eats haggis neeps and tatties at least twice a week. Apparently even his neighbour’s cat that he feeds sometimes is Scottish, which makes him probably the most Scottish person going.

    That aside, jist of it seemed to be the union is shit, really shit, getting shitter all the time. Tories and libs are nasty bastards, UKIP even worse. Vote for independence. Unless that is you have some vain hope we [Labour] win the next general election and will do stuff we never did when in power recently for 13 years.
    Aye, that about sums it up.

    Reply
  57. NM says:

    “Mr Brown said: “In the last few years I have had time on my hands, time to reflect, courtesy of the British people, and I want to put the positive, principled, forward-looking case for a strong Scottish Parliament inside a strong United Kingdom.””
    Do all sitting MPs have so much time on their hands?

    Reply
  58. Linda's Back says:

    Having watched BBC “National” TV news at 6 pm, just sending off my complaint as BBC gave at least twice as much coverage to Gordon Brown than it gave to Nicola Sturgeon.   Also allowed Labour claims to go unchallenged.

    Reply
  59. theycan'tbeserious says:

    Rats and sinking ship springs to mind!

    Reply
  60. Inbhir Anainn says:

    I’m more interested on how AS the First Minister is going to spin on this fracture of the Better Together or No Campaign whilst answering questions at FMQ’s.

    Reply
  61. Boorach says:

    Inbhir Anainn

     
    I reckon he could do worse than quote SS @ 6.20 🙂

    Reply
  62. muttley79 says:

    @Linda’s Back
     
    just sending off my complaint as BBC gave at least twice as much coverage to Gordon Brown than it gave to Nicola Sturgeon.   Also allowed Labour claims to go unchallenged.  
     
    No change there then.  They really could not make it that much more obvious that they love the Labour Party, particularly BBC Scotland.

    Reply
  63. Tris says:

    Whos is funding this, and is any small amount of funding that Darling was raising for BT now going to be channelled into the Breakaway group of the Together campaign?
     
     

    Reply
  64. Robert Louis says:

    So, today we saw the bitter together anti independence campaign split. Still 500 days to go, and all is definitely not well with bitter together. Only a matter of time before their is open warfare amongst the unionist camp.

    Methinks the unionistas are feart.

    Meanwhile, the deputy First Minister gave an excellent speech today, and it is covered here;

    link to yesscotland.net

    AND:

    link to yesscotland.net

    Reply
  65. tartanfever says:

    Tris – thats the most important thing for me – where is the funding coming from ?
    Is this an attempt by Labour to try and sideline the Electoral Commission ?
    Think about it, The EC has said that both sides must put forward details of both outcomes (Yes or No) and we know that the No camp is going to struggle to do that as they will not be promising ‘jam tomorrow’ and have no positive case.
    Can this new Labour group headed by Brown claim to be fighting for the UK General Election in 2015 and therefore ‘bypass’ any of the Electoral Commission guidelines for the Independence referendum as technically they will claim that they are not campaigning for it ?

    Reply
  66. scottish_skier says:

    The unionist parties hate each other. They may share largely all the same policies, but they are in a bitter fight for power.

    This was only a matter of time. Even within their own ranks they are all in wee cliques, back stabbing each other in the hope of making their way up the ranks and into favour with the party big guns.

    Alastair [failure] Darling is obviously not the man of favour right now and has been shafted.
    Maybe Anas is hoping he can be the one to save the union, gaining favour with Ed. Need to stab Darling for that?

    Reply
  67. AmadeusMinkowski says:

    @Clarinda
    “Unit Ed Under Labour” deliver UKOK-KO! Brilliant.

    Reply
  68. Robert Louis says:

    Judging by the comments around the Scottish media, Gordon Brown has today, gone down like a lead balloon.
     
    Let’s never forget, that in reality, Darling and Brown were never bestest friends when they lived next door to each other in Downing Street.  In fact most London political commentators would likely recall it in much stronger terms.  
     
    I can only imagine that after today, Darling will have even greater contempt for the failed former prime minister.
     

    Reply
  69. HandandShrimp says:

    So what is the new catch phrase? Better Together as long as you are not UKIP, Tory, Liberal or the evil SNP.

    Reply
  70. Braco says:

    tartanfever,
    Is Gordon going to be the head of Unit Ed SLabour ? Does any one know?

    Reply
  71. tartanfever says:

    Braco – 
    Not sure if that has actually been decided, certainly Brown’s been used for the launch. To be honest, i think Labor might keep the position of ‘head’ open as most labour politicians are ridiculed quite easily.
    Gordon Brown has a huge amount of baggage and he’s a soft target, so why make him the head of a campaign ? Same could be said of a few others, maybe Douglas Alexander might lead it. Not sure is the short answer.

    Reply
  72. Can anyone give me a link to the text of Brown’s speech?

    Reply
  73. Juteman says:

    So lets get this straight.
    We now have a Westminster united together apart statement on the union.
    Vote No, and you will definately get more powers to the Scottish parliament, or maybe get more powers, or the parliament will get closed down. Glad that’s sorted.
    Vote No, and pensioners will definately get free travel and prescriptions, or maybe not, or they will be slowly starved or frozen to death..
    Vote No, and there will definately be a bedroom tax, or maybe, or you will be shot for being a drain on society.
    Difficult choice, but heah, what can you do?

    Reply
  74. Craig M says:

    I think they’ve been watching The Life of Brian, when the different sects start forming and splintering the movement. The Judean People’s Front, or People’s Front of Judea, or the Popular Front of Judea.
    So, let’s make up some names.
    The Popular Unionist Front of Socialists. PUFS.
     

    Reply
  75. annie says:

    Kenneth McNeil – No but according to Lesley Riddoch on twitter its the same one he made last year at Edinburgh Book Festival.

    Reply
  76. Eco_Exile says:

    Just a thought, but where will this leave Johann?

    Reply
  77. Baheid says:

      
    Eco_Exile says:

    Just a thought, but where will this leave Johann?`
     
    Looking for squirrels ?:)

     

    Reply
  78. CameronB says:

    Sorry for the repetition of earlier comments and the shouting, but
    THE UNIONISTS HAVE JUST SEPARATED
    BETTER TOGETHER CAN NOT WORK TOGETHER
    INTERNAL DIVISIONS SPLITS BETTER TOGETHER
     
    Just some thoughts that might make good headlines. Any chance you think we might see anything similar in the MSM?
     

    Reply
  79. CameronB says:

    @ Craig M
    And Gordo is the Popular People’s Front (the guy sitting on his own at the end of the scene. That’s right, the “splitter”). 🙂

    Reply
  80. Marcia says:

    Greeting from Germany – on hols:
    I see that the SNP candidate for the Aberdeen Donside by-election has been named:
     
    link to snp.org

    Reply
  81. gman says:

    This news is astonishing.  It reminds me of the Labour c-tax u-turn to match SNP policy a couple of day before the 2011 election.
    So labour are intending to be a member of both BT & UWL?  Do they think that no one will notice once they start sending out completely different (and contradictory) messages?

    Reply
  82. Annie:- From what I’ve seen it is very much like last years speech. I’d like to be able to see a copy just to check what’s different.

    Reply
  83. Jiggsbro says:

    I can’t imagine Gordon will lead the UnLabour campaign. He’s appeared at the launch, so he’ll probably need a lie down for a few months before he’s ready for anything else. And, of course, the UnLabour campaign will need to raise quite a lot of money before they’re able to afford to have him speak again. So it’ll be either the leader of Labour in Scotland or his ‘boss’ doing the running.

    Reply
  84. CameronB says:

    Assuming there will be no meaningful separation or segregation between SLabour and UnLabour in Scotland, the re-branding is just yet more smoke and mirrors. To clarify things, we have the Watemoster ConDem coalition (Better Together) and SLabour/UnLabour, running separate and possibly substantively different campaigns against the multiparty Yes coalition. This does raise some very serious data protection concerns, as commented before.

    Reply
  85. ianbrotherhood says:

     
    Why don’t Labour just join UKIP?

    Reply
  86. mealer says:

    I can’t say I’m much interested in what Mr Brown has to say.Heard it all before.He is yesterdays man.With a record of failure.I’m much more interested in what the man two doors down has to say.He has concerns about the currency in a future Indepenent Scotland.I’m confident I can allay his fears over the months ahead.

    Reply
  87. cynicalHighlander says:

    Kenneth McNeil
     
    link to twitter.com

    Reply
  88. andrew roberts says:

    any bets how long before labour hame get rid of the better together logo

    Reply
  89. Iain says:

    New ICM poll out with UKIP at its highest showing ever:

    Labour 34 (-4)
    Tories 28 (-4)
    LD 11 (-4)
    UKIP 18 (+9)
     
    I think the ‘United with Labour’ headless chicken theme will be spreading down south.

    Reply
  90. cynicalHighlander says:

    Em United with Labour!
     
    link to scottishlabour.org.uk

    Reply
  91. Jeannie says:

    Right.  We know there is no such entity as the Scottish Labour Party.  There is only the British Labour Partywith its branch in Scotland and it’s my understanding that that is funded by a block grant from the British Labour Party. And the British Labour Party is funded by a combination of private donors and the big unions.  I haven’t seen this new lot asking for indiidual donations.  So I can only conclude they’re getting their money from the UK Labour Party. 
     
    I would be livid if my union were contributing to the No campaign using my union dues.  I would urge anyone concerned that their dues might be used in this way to check with your union directly and make your concerns known.

    Reply
  92. scotty says:

    Wasnt it obvious this would happen sooner or later though?..not surprised at all!

    Reply
  93. Max says:

    link to labourlist.org
     
    BRITAIN‘S UNION FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE

    Reply
  94. john king says:

    ““Mr Brown said: “In the last few years I have had time on my hands, time to reflect, courtesy of the British people, and I want to put the positive, principled, forward-looking case for a strong Scottish Parliament inside a strong United Kingdom.””

    Do all sitting MPs have so much time on their hands?”
    I had time on my hands to reflect once, it was when I thought I knew better than my boss,
    it was called the sack

      

    Reply
  95. scottish_skier says:

    New ICM poll out with UKIP at its highest showing ever.

    Holy guacamole. From ICM too.

    Labour on 34%. My oh my. That’s not the first either.

    Reply
  96. john king says:

    does anyone think that if we go on like this,
    splintering of factions off into new teams, we will need a league setup maybe three leagues with relegation and promotion ?

    Reply
  97. Jiggsbro says:

    link to labourlist.org
     
    Only 20? Typical Gordon Brown: a lazy, half-hearted attempt. He even had 500 he could have plagiarised and he could still only be bothered coming up with 20.

    Reply
  98. sneddon says:

    Brown still thinks he should be in charge.  He won’t sit as a back bencher because of his inflated sense of entitlement and self worth  That’s the last we’ll see of him until the new year.  They’ll just have to manage with wee anus and the LA-Mont, the rod  hull and emu of Slab 🙂

    Reply
  99. Jim Mitchell says:

    Another little poser following today’s event, some clever person, sorry can’t remember who, detailed how all those of importance in the Better Together campaign were Labour to a man and had all done sterling service to Labour, so i wonder what they will be up to now, if an entire management team leaves at the same time then chaos ensues and i can’t see them being keen to run an organisation that the  BBC says belongs to the coalition parties,
    However if they do try to keep up the pretense then we only need to keep asking why they won’t share a platform! 

    Reply
  100. scottish_skier says:

    Here we go.

    link to bbc.co.uk

    Tories to publish details of draft EU referendum bill

    The Conservative Party will publish a draft parliamentary bill on Tuesday to legislate for an in-out referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union to be held by the end of 2017.

    #UKOKUP-IP

    Reply
  101. AmadeusMinkowski says:

    Been toying with word plays and memes around “United Under Labour”. Now the past passive participle verb “united” is just crying out for a noun. So, why not supply our own nouns. Here’s a start.
     
    Westminster United – Under Labour
    Bankers United – Under Labour
    Lobbyists United – Under Labour
    Bedroom-Tax United – Under Labour
    Workfare United – Under Labour
    Trident United – Under Labour
    Arms-Dealers United – Under Labour
    PFI United – Under Labour
    Blair United plc – Under Labour
    Any other suggestions or variations on this theme welcome. If we get creative enough, there could be another twitter storm looming! #UnitedUnderLabour perhaps?

    Reply
  102. gman says:

    jackie burd in news intro :  Gordon Brown says BT allies the tories wont deliver fairer Scotland…. Has GB told Darling?

    Reply
  103. southernscot says:

    Living afar (Somerset) I can feel the aspirations of friends and family rising in Scotland only for ‘Scottish’ Labour trying to crush any positivity out of the debate.

    Reply
  104. Morag says:

    The day the “gonnae no dae that” contingent well and truly jumped the shark.

    Reply
  105. Doonfooter says:

    It would seem that they were Bitter Together after all LOL

    Reply
  106. Midgehunter says:

    Kenneth McNeil says:
    13 May, 2013 at 7:41 pm

    Can anyone give me a link to the text of Brown’s speech?
     
    You’re obviously a masochist or you have a massive problem
    with insomnia 😉

    Reply
  107. Tom Hogg says:

    Aberdeen Donside.  Labour desperate to differentiate themselves from their union colleagues in an attempt to win and reduce the SNP to theoretical parity at Holyrood. Labour activists are already pledging to visit from well furth of Aberdeen. http://www.scottishlabour.org.uk/campaigns/entry/aberdeen-donside

    Reply
  108. Jeannie says:

    Correction on previous post – they’re looking for direct donations from the public, too.

    Reply
  109. Boorach says:

    @ Amadeus
    it’s ‘united with labour’ as in:
    UKIP united with labour
    Tories united with labour
    Libdem united with labour
    BNP united with labour
    Bettertogether united with labour
     
    🙂

    Reply
  110. Morag says:

    Big surprise, Brian being real nice about the new development, and the word “split” never gets a mention.

    Reply
  111. Linda's back says:

    BBC Scotland TV news at 10.30 pm Gordon Brown and Bettter Together 2 minutes plus coverage Nicola Sturgeon 45 seconds.

    Reply
  112. Blackford Wheeler says:

    Be interesting to see if Ruth D and Johan L share the same script at this Thursday’s FMQs as they have done every week to date.

    Reply
  113. Mosstrooper says:

    And noo Lord Ahmed has resigned from the labour party over anti semitic comments.
    Maybe he and Notso Smart could get together and have a coalition of the nasties.

    Reply
  114. AmadeusMinkowski says:

    @ Boorach
    Thanks for the correction. Trying again!

    Bankers United with Labour
    Lobbyists United with Labour
    Bedroom-Tax United with Labour
    Workfare United with Labour
    Trident United with Labour
    Arms-Dealers United with Labour
    PFI United with Labour
    Blair United with Labour

    Any other suggestions or variations on this theme welcome. If we get creative enough, there could be another twitter storm looming! #UnitedWithLabour perhaps?

    Reply
  115. Jiggsbro says:

    And noo Lord Ahmed has resigned from the labour party over anti semitic comments.

    Ye see yon birkie, ca’d a lord,
    Wha rants, an’ swears, an’ a’ that;
    Who blames the Jews for doing bird,
    He’s aye a Lord for a’ that.

    Reply
  116. charlie says:

    ‘Heard Broon on the radio. Whole family is Scottish…’
    If Salmond or Sturgeon had said that…My family contains several nationalities, but if Better Together wants to promote racial purity that’s the way to blow the CFC vote. 

    Reply
  117. Chic McGregor says:

    Rev. Stuart Campbell says:
    13 May, 2013 at 4:44 pm

    ““Labour could be inspired by the title of one of Crowded House’s albums and call their referendum campaign Together Alone.”
    Surely that’d be more appropriate for those left behind:
    link to twitpic.com
     
    I have waited patiently long enough, aided by a desire not to give away my age too much, but since no-one has mentioned the most appropriate track by this late hour,  I feel compelled to now do so:
     
    ‘Move Over Darling’ – by Doris Day.
     
    I was only a nipper when it came out. 🙂

    Reply
    • Rev. Stuart Campbell says:

      “‘Move Over Darling’ – by Doris Day.”

      I’m having that one, Chic 😀

      Reply
  118. Patrick Roden says:

    Oh dear, Like everyone else I can’t figure out what’s happening with BT.
     
    Recently it was being touted down in England, that Alistair Darling could make a return to the Labour Parties front bench, because a lot of people don’t like Ed balls ! A
    listair tellingly did not say he wouldn’t do the job, but was clever enough to leave the option open without causing problems for Ed Milliband.
     
    Will we see Alistair slowly drifting away, to replace Ed Balls, if Labour don’t pick up in the polls?
     
    Not in the least but surprised at the rise of Ukip, ive been banging on about it a bit, but believe me ‘you aint seen nothing yet’
    Remember the last local elections where mostly held in the  the shires of England, but just wait until the metropolitan areas of England vote!
     
    I live in one of these areas (West Midlands) and have listened to people getting more and more angry about all the very things that are making Ukip popular (imigration/overseas aid/ spending on Scotland !/ europe etc)
    Now that Ukip are respectable (in the media’s eyes) you will see them rising in the poles. u
     
    This will leave the Tories with no choice, but to adopt Ukips policies, which in turn will give the Labour Party a stark choice: adopt Ukip type policies or ‘Wither on the Vine’ 
     
    In other words, labour will have the choice of losing Scotland, or losing Westminster!
     
    Is this why we are seeing this split in BT? are they trying to fool us (with the aid o our MSM)  with the party in England becoming far right, but the party in Scotland pretending they are still socialist.
     
    It’s all getting interesting.
     

    Reply
  119. Graham Ennis says:

    I quote:”Right.  We know there is no such entity as the Scottish Labour Party.  There is only the British Labour Partywith its branch in Scotland and it’s my understanding that that is funded by a block grant from the British Labour Party. And the British Labour Party is funded by a combination of private donors and the big unions.  I haven’t seen this new lot asking for indiidual donations.  So I can only conclude they’re getting their money from the UK Labour Party.” 

    OK. The purple elephant in the living room, that noone will speake aboot.
    The Unions in Scotland. Their cash, one way or the other, goes to the SLAB, and to union HQ in London. Not impartial, but partisan, I never seem to hear big guns in Unions in Scotland sounding off about a YES vote. But their cash goes to SLAB. It’s time for every trade unionist in Scotland to start asking hard cash questions about their union finances. Also, time for the YES union members to start standing as candidates in their Unions. The “War” of YES must now be taken into the Institutions, Mao style. Confront, and emolish, as “Unpatriotic”, and as supporters of the Colonial Power, the NO vote officials. Simples.Do it now folks!.
     
     
    Jeannie: “

    Reply
  120. annie says:

    Patrick Rodden – I’m sure  I read Alistair Darling said he may not stand again for parliament no doubt he will be expecting to enter the Lords – no pesky constituents to deal with.

    Reply
  121. Desimond says:

    This is a disgrace. How dare the First Minister just sit relaxing in the dressing room allowing his Deputy to dance around the ring while the  manic Opposition tag team batter each other senseless. Shameful, truly Shameful! 🙂
     

    Reply
  122. ukip free zone says:

    @Chic McGregor
    Nice one. And it’s time the campaigns had their own theme songs.

    For Yes Scotland – ‘We Dream The Same Dream’ – by Belinda Carlisle

    For Better Together – ‘Don’t Stand So Close To Me’ – by The Police

    Reply
  123. Bugger (the Panda) says:

    Make no mistakes this is very much a panic driven by Labour. To ditch the Bitter Together Group, something they were “running” with their Westminster chums and tty to set up a separate operation, whilst not pissing off the LibCons will need a mastery of sophistry and the dark arts.  They are simply buggered.
     
    Gorgon’s intervention was a diversion to cover the degree to which the rats qre fighting in the sack FFS he couldn’t even be ersed to write something new, just gobbledegook and intellectual gibberish.
     
    So, which polls are London reacting too, public in the UK pr private in Scotland?
    Either which way the objective is not the needs of the Scottish people but the survival of the Labour Party.
     
    Cameron, or whoever tells Cameron what to think, must be laughing as quietly as AS
     
     
     

    Reply


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