Smoke without fire
Having done it for 22-and-a-half years now, we’re unable to recommend a career in journalism. While there are upsides, it’s a largely arduous and thankless task, and one where pay rates were on a downward slope long before the financial crisis.
However, if for some unfathomable reason you’re really determined that it’s the job for you, let us at least offer you a crash course in the modern art.
The clipping above was sent to us this week by an alert reader, who didn’t know which publication it had come from. We haven’t been able to track it down either, although the typeface suggests it’s probably the Scottish Daily Express, and the author (confusingly also known as Lalita Augustine) is a freelance hack who’s more usually found reviewing make-up but has worked for the Express before – most recently on a challenging investigative piece about how Charlie Sheen had come to Scotland to find the Loch Ness Monster.
This article, sadly, has rather less basis in solid fact than Nessie.
Take a moment to click on the image and read the whole story. (We did manage to trace an extremely similar and slightly longer piece comprising most of the same quotes to the Mail On Sunday, credited to its Scottish political editor Michael Blackley, but haven’t as yet been able to ascertain which, if either, was published first. Both papers also ran editorials on the story, though we’ve only seen the Mail’s. None of the four articles is available online as far as we can tell.)
Now, by way of illustration and instruction, let’s step through it line by line.
“Workers will pay far higher rates of tax if the country votes for independence”
Will they? We were under the impression that tax rates were decided by governments, and governments were decided by elections. No party is standing in the referendum. The referendum will not put any particular government in power.
The assumption appears to be that the SNP would automatically win any election after a successful referendum. But the SNP is in power now, and will have substantial tax-varying powers when the Scotland Act comes into effect in April 2015. So it’s difficult to see how the referendum in itself could bring about this scenario.
“it has been revealed”
“Revealed” here means “asserted on no factual basis whatsoever”. As recently as February this year, John Swinney stated that there were no plans for rises in the rates of personal taxation in the event of an SNP government post-independence. It is of course possible that he was lying, but if he was nobody’s found out yet.
“Those earning more than £25,000 a year will be forced to bear the burden because, according to the SNP’s deputy minister Nicola Sturgeon,”
Nicola Sturgeon is Deputy FIRST Minister of SCOTLAND, not of the SNP.
“‘those with the broadest shoulders’ would pay to support those less well-off than themselves.”
No source is given for this alleged quote in order that readers might learn its full context. We’re not sure where the definition of “those with the broadest shoulders” that means “anyone earning over £25,000” has come from. No such figure is attributed to any SNP figure anywhere in the piece.
And what of that seemingly plucked-from-the-air figure anyway? According to the Office for National Statistics, the current UK average wage is £26,500. We’re not sure that if you’re getting £1500 below the average wage you count as one of “those with the broadest shoulders”, and we have no evidence Nicola Sturgeon thinks differently.
“The SNP’s plans to reshape the tax system”
What plans are these? We’ve heard no verifiable account of any plans.
“take inspiration from Scandinavia where those earning more than £57,000”
Wait, we thought it was £25,000? Where did £57,000 come from?
“a year contribute more than half to the state.”
A little vague, no? “More than half”? Does that mean 51%, or 70%, or 98%, or what? Is that just income tax, or all taxes? And isn’t “Scandinavia” several different countries? Do Sweden, Norway and Denmark all have the same tax bands and rates? (A: No.)
“Sturgeon claims that ‘most people in Scotland’ agree with the proposals”
What proposals? Who’s made proposals? So far we’ve had half of a non-specific quote, with no numbers in it, from a speech apparently made in an unspecified location on an unspecified date. Got any more on that?
“She said: ‘It means people paying according to their means, those with the broadest shoulders contributing more to the overall good of society.'”
Did she? Where and when did she say this? We’ve tried Googling that quote and we can’t find it reported anywhere. You’d think if it was part of the revelation of dramatic new taxation proposals someone might have picked it up properly. And even if Sturgeon said such a thing, where did the £25,000 and £57,000 figures come into it?
“One of Alex Salmond’s closest aides, Joan McAlpine, has said publicly that she agrees with the Scandinavian system”
Has she? Which “Scandinavian system” was that, exactly?
“and others in the party hierarchy have also backed the plan”
Have they? Who? When? Where?
“Chief executive of the “yes” campaign, Blair Jenkins believes it would promote a ‘fairer society’ in Scotland”
What would? When and where did he say this?
“while John Swinney, SNP Finance Secretary, is behind moves to replace the current stamp duty levy on house sales with a new tax.”
Hang on, what? Does he have a dog called Ruffles as well? Does he like Corn Flakes? Has he ever been to Muckle Flugga? Do you have any other irrelevant facts about John Swinney to impart in the middle of this tissue of fabrications about income tax rates?
“However, full details of the party’s tax policies are not likely to be revealed until after the result of the referendum.”
But you told us in the very first sentence that they’d been “revealed” now! That’s the entire subject of your article! Why are you only admitting halfway-through that in fact you’ve completely made it all up and don’t in fact know anything?
“This has led to claims by opponents that the move”
What move? The “move” of not revealing anything? Is that a “move”? Isn’t doing and saying nothing in fact pretty much the exact opposite of a “move”?
“is a deliberate ploy by the SNP because an early unveiling of the scheme”
What scheme?
“would be a disaster at the polls.”
The referendum is not about tax rates.
“Scottish Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser, convener of Holyrood’s economy committee, says the nationalists have been deliberately very “secretive” about their tax plans.”
The SNP has made a public announcement that it has NO plans to increase personal taxation in the event of it forming a Scottish Government after independence. It was, as we’ve seen, in the newspapers and everything.
But even if it hadn’t, political parties tend for obvious reasons not to produce election manifestos until three or four months before a general election. There’s no Scottish election due until 2016, still almost three YEARS away. The Tories haven’t published tax plans, nor have Labour or the Lib Dems, because it would be ridiculous to do so with 30+ months of unforeseen events yet to elapse. Are they all being “secretive”?
[rentaquote waffle redacted]
“The SNP’s blueprint for tax re-organisation”
Which, we’ve now learned, doesn’t actually exist.
“stems from work carried out by the left-wing Jimmy Reid Foundation.”
Aha! A source!
“One crucial part of its research for the nationalists”
The Jimmy Reid Foundation is non-aligned, and doesn’t do research “for” any party.
“is the finding that three out of five workers in Scotland earn less than £25,000 a year. As a result, if the tax alterations were implemented,”
Which tax alterations? What are the new rates to be, and who’ll pay them?
“it would be on people earning more than that figure in order not to alienate the less well-off.”
Oh. So the attention-grabbing opening line that “workers will pay far higher rates of tax” after independence immediately DOESN’T apply to 60% of the population? Righto.
“Foundation director Robin McAlpine said: ‘Until we fix our economy, we are going to have to tax the wealthy more.”
That does sound like the kind of thing he’d say. But we’re not clear on how one man’s opinion translates to a fact about what a government he’s not a member of might do in a hypothetical future.
“But how would we fix it? The short-term answer is progressive taxes because Scotland’s economy is virtually on life support.”
“Progressive taxes” is an incredibly woolly term. Heck, the Scottish Conservatives claim to be “progressive”. But we’re still looking for numbers. What rates will people pay? How many bands will there be? Will £57,000 have anything to do with anything?
(It’s perhaps worth taking a moment out here to note that the UK already has “progressive taxes”. From 2013/14, earnings between £0 and £32,010 will be taxed at 20%, earnings between £32,011 and £150,000 at 40%, and above £150,000 at 45%.
That’s an awful lot of room for manoeuvre. The threshold for the 40% rate is already coming down very rapidly in the UK – it dropped by a whopping £2,360 this year alone, and has fallen by over £10,400 since 2011.
The size of the group between there and £25,000 is getting smaller and smaller – an extra 400,000 people found themselves in the upper bracket as a result of the last budget, after changes in 2011 captured another 750,000. On that trajectory it seems not unreasonable to assume that by the first budget of an independent Scottish Government, UK workers on over £25,000 might already be paying 40% tax.
But of course we’re just speculating cluelessly ourselves now, so we’ll stop.
What have we learned? The story in the MoS and (we think) the Express is woven entirely from strands of fresh air. The Jimmy Reid Foundation does not determine SNP policy. Referendums don’t decide tax policy, elections do. “Scandinavia” is not one country. The SNP has said it has no plans to increase personal taxation. The UK tax structure is changing so dramatically so fast that nobody can say what tax rates anyone will be paying in 2016 no matter whether Scotland is independent or not.
But “BIG SECRET TAX RISES IF YOU VOTE YES” is a usefully scary headline, so anything so inconvenient and vulgar as elementary facts can be dispensed with. Lalita O’Neill or Michael Blackley – whichever of them came up with the first of these two eerily-alike inventions – have clearly grasped the modus operandi of the Unionist press and the No campaign. We’re sure they’ll go far.
Looks like the Daily Express, smells the daily Express, I express more fact in my morning dump. However, 40% on over 25K sounds appealing.
My boss buys this shitty rag every day. I don’t think he’s clicked that as soon as he’s out the door at 4, it goes straight in the bin where it belongs. I refuse to read it as a matter of principle!
My money is on an alumnus of the Jaqui Baillie School of Journalism, John Smith Ho., in association with ACBT Journalists, Dundee. Jute has gone, jam is tomorrow, this is all we have left.
That fact-free ‘article’, with its misinformation, deceit, FUD and lies is representative of the output produced by the (Scottish) Daily Mail and (Scottish) Daily Express on a daily basis – repeat, *daily* basis.
Higher taxes are the only way to empower the nation. Instead of the few gaining enough to buy Carnegie Hall ten fold, they can gain respect through philanthropy. This may be a big ask in a country contaminated by Western capitalism for so many centuries.
Dreadful, has to be one of the worst I have read, we do need investigative journalism and free speech, just a shame we don’t have a law against subverting democracy though, it’s disgusting that these people can get away with printing this drivel.
Like someone already said, all these articles are being recorded for future generations of Scots and they will know who the scumbags were. Next September can’t come quick enough.
Lalita o’Neill is a freelance journo based in Glasgow, not long in the business, and as you can see this is really a puff piece for the ‘right’ publication and not a well-written one. A few grubby hands have been through it me thinks. Looks like either the Scottish Daily Express or The Scottish Daily Mail looking at the style. Like all hacks (especially recent grads) she needs the cash. She usually writes about lifestye and culture. I think she got made redundant from Trinity Mirror this year.
If sounds like a Johann Lamont proposal. Lamont wanted to scrap free tuition for Scottish University students, because it was for the benefit of the better off.
Then there was the scheme to scrap the Council Tax freeze, as it only benefited the better off.
Then her plan pay for the bedroom tax by increasing everybody’s Council Tax, presumably because only the better off pay Council Tax.
This may be a big ask in a country contaminated by Western capitalism for so many centuries.
I think you may have the direction of travel the wrong way around. After all, the globe was pink because Imperial Britain exported monopoly capitalism to more of the planet’s population, than any other power.
Re. article. Would it not be possible to haul these news papers up under Trading Standards or Trades Description?
Unbelievable shite masquerading as ‘journalism’ then.
If I had written an essay at Higher English like this I would
have been given it back with FAIL scrawled all over it in red pen.
@CameronB;
I meant Scotland contaminated by British, Dutch etc. First Company was the East India Trading co. directly competing for global trade routes with other European countries – the birth of capitalism.
An admirable dissection of the Express article Stu.
Shame you Nats aren’t as forensic with articles which happen to suit your agenda.
Oooooh, get ‘er!
Oi, handclapper!
Jute is going nowhere! 😉
“Shame you Nats aren’t as forensic with articles which happen to suit your agenda.”
That’s your job, love. We make no claims of impartiality here. But you’re more than free to post any such analyses in the comments. Unlike most sites, we don’t censor dissenting views.
@ Atypical_Scot
I knew what you meant, but you provided an inviting springboard. 😉
A very comprehensive rebuttal, Rev. Campbell. Can I ask, are you as scathing of the widely claimed “Project Fear” label, given that it too came from an unknown and potentially false source?
As the great Albert Einstein said “If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts”.
In this case. If the facts don’t fit the unionist agenda, change the facts.
In failing that, just make shite up and put it in a newspaper.
According to Journalisted she previously wrote articles at or for The Herald as Lalita Augustine. How can she get away with writing crap like this?
Shame you Nats aren’t as forensic with articles which happen to suit your agenda.
What? There are newspapers out there printing articles that suit
a ‘Nats’ agenda?
I must’ve missed them! Oh! Wait a minute….
“Can I ask, are you as scathing of the widely claimed “Project Fear” label, given that it too came from an unknown and potentially false source?”
No. Would you like to hear some reasons?
Credit where it’s due – it must take much more skill to produce this type of propaganda than to write an honest who/what/where/when/why/how piece.
@NSTST – go on then, give us a piece of Nat propaganda and we’ll see how forensic we can be with it despite our crippling bias. (Presumably you have lots of juicy examples to choose from.)
Having been at the receiving end of journalists more than once I enjoyed reading about the poor bugger only to read further and find out it was about me, either I couldn’t remember what had happened or I had dreamt it or more likely, they just made it up.
No doubt we have all heard it before, as when at school, were you asked to bulk out an essay about what you did in your summer holidays, may I suggest this journalist goes on an extended holiday perhaps to Siberia for a few years.
OT, but just back from Glasgow airport.
I suppose i’m used to seeing it, but for some reason I actually thought about it today.
Is there any other major airport that has football shops in their airport?
The Celtic and The Rangers shops just seemed to say welcome to a weird city.
“Shame you Nats aren’t as forensic with articles which happen to suit your agenda.”
Regardless of where the critique comes from it’s doesn’t change the facts that the original article was pure puffed up shite. Seems like Unionists want Mulligans on articles now….
OT: I’m sure Manchester has football club shops including Liverpool(not 100% sure) but I am >99% certain that Barcelona and Munich do.
Whits going on here, are all you lot on here those mental cybernat types. Well that’s me out of here before I end up wearing a bloody tinfoil baseball cap. You lot don’t have any respect for the elder statesmen of this country/ region. And you all have wee dicks. Councillor Terry told us that wan.
Juteman says:
OT, but just back from Glasgow airport.I suppose i’m used to seeing it, but for some reason I actually thought about it today.Is there any other major airport that has football shops in their airport?The Celtic and The Rangers shops just seemed to say welcome to a weird city.
The last I was in Vaclav Havel Airport (Prague) it had a Sparta Prague club shop.
I’m also certain I saw a Crusaders shop (Rugby) in Christchurch Airport a few years ago in New Zealand.
Cheers KC.
I must have had too much time to think about things. Dangerous. 🙂
Robert Bruce
Barcelona Airport
Not Real Madrid, obviously
Toulouse
Stade Toulouse Rugby Club
Thanks to everyone else.
I obviously don’t travel enough, or only have eyes for the bar when I do.
Juteman was sober, as he was dropping of a Juteling.
Are you really so clueless about what might happen?
http://wingsoverscotland.com/survey/
76% in favour of higher taxes (admittedly from an unrepresentative poll of weird people including self).
You might also be being a bit unfair to the journo – there are signs that this might have been messed around with by an editor.
Delete the £25k sub-heading and start from “according to” and the article (as opposed to the moronic quotes from politicians) is reasonably factual. The £25k bit at the end effectively only says that it’s likely that people at some level above that would be hit – implies to me that the more strident bits at the start may have been added later.
In Finland speeding fines are based on ability to pay. The thing is earnings and tax paid by individual are public record. http://autos.aol.com/article/highest-speeding-fines/
Progressive taxation does not have to be punitive to be fair. It needs to be consistent, widely understood, enforced and open to inspection.
“(admittedly from an unrepresentative poll of weird people including self).”
Fairly key point there. I suspect most of us are a fair bit further left than John Swinney, never mind the electorate.
“You might also be being a bit unfair to the journo – there are signs that this might have been messed around with by an editor. “
Well, clearly there’s no way of knowing that, so one can only judge by the byline. (I have of course had pieces of work enragingly mangled by idiot subs and editors many times in the past, but there’s no evidence as yet that such a thing happened here. Oddly, Ms O’Neill/Augustine’s Twitter account doesn’t even mention having a piece published on the subject.)
I’ve had someone on Twitter say it was definitely from the Express, probably Monday’s. I haven’t confirmed that, but if it’s the case it smells to me like some work-experience kid being told to copy the Mail On Sunday piece but rewrite it just enough not to get sued. Supposition, though.
And we still don’t know what they’ve done to NS’s coupon – the clothes and hair seem right, but surely that isn’t her face?
If you are a member of Linked In, you can read more about the journalist here:
http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=13569494
I think the recent reporting of Alex Salmond’s speech on the Isle of Man was an interesting take on 180 degree spin.
Every source of news I have seen reports on what A.S said regarding Currency. Then finishes with a response by a treasury spokesman, rebutting what was not said…
“Commenting on Mr Salmond’s speech, a spokesman for the UK Government Treasury warned against any comparison with the Isle of Man.
He said: “Any currency comparison with the Isle of Man is misleading and wrong. The Isle of Man is not in a currency union with the United Kingdom.”
Fine.Except that was never said, nor inferred in the article. In fact the exact opposite was stated and specifically pointed out. A.S clearly stated that Scotland would not follow The Isle of Man model and that the Isle of Man was not in a currency Union etc.
This was so bizarre, and so obvious, that I have trawled around looking for a transcript of the speech to see what I was missing. Or what was misreported.
I can’t. Or am I stupid? So what did A.S say? Why would a spokesman (and other commentators) suggest the exact opposite – on the same page no less.
Excellent work.Report accurately, but ensure the last comments imply the exact opposite of what was said
@Ianbrotherhood, looks like a bad case off mooth full of marbles.
ianbrotherhood says:
And we still don’t know what they’ve done to NS’s coupon – the clothes and hair seem right, but surely that isn’t her face?
They’ve made her look like Nanny McPhee!
https://twitter.com/IOMGovernment
Isle of Man has a few quotes that they are happy to tweet.
The photo doesn’t even look like Nicola Sturgeon, I think maybe it’s ye olde adobee photoshopped…clearly to make her look awful. Is it superimposed with a photo of Lamont?
O/T
just spent a couple hours with very good friends, one is very Labour, tho nothing positive to say about SLAB, he thinks we are doomed and that there will be a ‘no’ vote. The positive case for Independence is not getting out there, at least not enough, persuaded one to come along to the Rally in September. I tried and had some success in making a positive case for a YES, ( if not least by looking into a crystal ball if it’s a ‘no’ ) but it seems the negative propoganda is still seeping through from the ‘no’ lot…
thanks WOS, I’d be as depressed as my friend without sites like this one!
Only my second post on Wings ever and a bit off topic but having braved a glance at Terry Kelly s blog I noticed that he thinks Muirfield is in Ayrshire.
The geographically challenged chump is about 50 odd miles out and on the wrong side of the country with his guess, maybe he is hoping for a job with the NY times
@Alex McI
And you all have wee dicks.
I have a wee dick? That’ll come as something of a surprise to Mr. Jeannie!
“That’s your job, love. We make no claims of impartiality here. But you’re more than free to post any such analyses in the comments. Unlike most sites, we don’t censor dissenting views.”
Am I missing something here? how did you and Bloodnoc know that was a female from the moniker?
Re. NS’s coupon. The repro. quality of the ‘dead tree press’, is not always of the highest standard. For example, what was the original photo like? Printing is like most things, you put crap in and you get crap out. The newspaper was also laid down very unevenly, producing unexpected highlights and shadows in the scan.
@Hetty-
Please don’t let it get you down, and good on ye for trying to get through to them.
Sometimes, it’s like that old joke:
Q: How many Irish Grannies does it take to change a light-bulb?
A: None. (“I’ll be alright-so, sitting in the dark here all by meself...”)
(PS – I had a proper 100% Irish granny and thereby claim immunity from accusations of racism…and she was like that anyway.)
@CameronB-
re NS’s fizzog:
Aye, fair enough, but NS has a very small mouth, petite lips. The mouth on the face above looks like a big one recovering from trout-pout.
We need to get hold of that National Enquirer physiognomist who scrutinises the boat-races of Hollywood’s greatest.
‘I confess to having fiddled with the Deputy First Minister’s face‘ – could be a game-changer.
@ Jeannie, I expect it comes as even more of a shock to your good self.
I haven’t confirmed that, but if it’s the case it smells to me like some work-experience kid being told to copy the Mail On Sunday piece but rewrite it just enough not to get sued.
My thoughts exactly.
Give the journo a break, she’s clearly starting off and has been given this piece to write with the facts and quotes already there…
@ ianbrotherhood
There is a bit of the same thing going on in her Scottish Parliament web page photo. I guess Taranaich’s pal was right, there does seem to be a lot of tinfoil bunnets here. 😉
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/msps/currentmsps/Nicola-Sturgeon-MSP.aspx
Had a new sink installed this morning. Chatted to the plumber who was a definite no, “don’t like Salmond it’s the wrong time how can we afford it” After chat ” must get rid of Trident, what’s the McCrone report,? ” finishing up with “thanks for the info, I’ll think more about it” Softly softly catchee monkey. And we still have well over a year to go. Keep at it chaps and chappets.
I immediately thought Bendy Wendy definite look of her
O/T completely
The bookies have lengthened the odds against a YES vote. Hills now does 5/1.
This is odd. There is no polling movement towards a NO vote and a steady slight movement towards YES.
Before anyone say “the bookies are never wrong” that is most certainly not the case. They were hugely wrong until the late stages of the last Scottish Parliament election and lost a very large sum on that.
Either the bookies are believing the unionist spin or the odds are deliberately being manipulated. I would suggest the latter is the case
@CameronB-
Aye, you’re probably right. But the fact that she looks so different to what we’re used to suggests that they went to some trouble to secure an image of her that’s less than flattering.
We should all thank the Gods we’re not subjected to that level of scrutiny and exposure.
The Mail on Sunday ran the same baseless tripe here.
Ian B
We should all thank the Gods we’re not subjected to that level of scrutiny and exposure.
Have you seen John King’s coupon? 🙂
Before anyone say “the bookies are never wrong” that is most certainly not the case
It is the case. It’s punters that change the odds and it’s punters that are ‘wrong’. The bookies would be out of business if they were offering odds based on what they think will happen. They’d have stopped being bookies and become punters.
Dave McEwan Hill
http://www.oddschecker.com/politics-and-election/scottish-independence/referendum-outcome
Hills have been 5/1 for a while.
john king said: Am I missing something here? how did you and Bloodnoc (sic) know that was a female from the moniker?
I didn’t. I was just having a Julian and Sandy moment.
O/T The results of this week’s doorstepping session. Again, modern, owner-occupied estate in central belt:
Yes: 33
No: 32
DK: 24
Still all to play for:
cynical Highlander
Hills were offering 4/1 when I invested two weeks ago and there has been movement towards us since so there is something odd going on.
Jiggsboro
It is not the case. I’ve worked for William Hill’s and as a bookmaker in my own right.
Bookmakers regularly manipulate odds to influence the way punters bet.
They believed the spin about the 2011 Scottish election until fairly late on and had Labour strong odds on for an election in which the SNP achieved an overall majority. It is also entirely possible that the Better Together campaign has the clout to influence the oddsmakers
Bookmakers regularly manipulate odds to influence the way punters bet.
Well, yes, they manipulate the odds in response to what has already been bet: it’s the punters, therefore, that change the odds by laying bets. What bookies don’t do is manipulate the odds based on what they think will happen. If they did that, they’d go out of business because they’d be gambling. They’re neither right nor wrong, they only reflect the rightness or wrongness of their punters. In this case, they’re not taking much money on Yes, so the odds lengthen to attract the punters. In the 2011 election, they were right to offer the odds they offered, which is why they’re still trading today.
I don’t understand why taxes are made such a bogeyman. Or Scandinavian level of taxes, because Scandinavian level of taxation isn’t actually that much higher than UK. We just spend our tax money more wisely and efficiently. Scandinavians get value for money.
Middle income people in Scandinavia actually pay less income tax than Americans in the same income bracket. In Scandinavia, the poor pay less and the rich pay more. In America, the rich pay less. And their tax money is wasted in military might, penile extensions for the top politicians, not on health care, education or anything lefty-progressive things like that for the citizens.
The UK is hell-bent on following the US model, because it makes the rich even richer, gives pretentions of grandeur and “punching above weight” on the world stage… Ask any ordinary UK person, which is more important, caring for the sick, the elderly, the vulnerable, or posturing on the world stage as a “world power” and I think the answer is clear.
Scotland has a unique chance to leave the sick UK state. It’s a tragedy if Scots don’t grab their chance. Their lifeline.
lumilumi,
Its gets even worse when you add in the fact that in comparison to Norway et al the UK has an utterly crippling and completely unsustainable deficit. It approaches ridiculous territory when we consider that to deal with this deficit, prevailing opinion in the UK is to completely strangle growth. It descends into farce when we realise the only growth in the UK that occurs as a result is an unsustainable illusion.
@pmcrek
Finland is now in deficit, though nowhere near as much as the UK. Still, I remember a few years ago when Finland was in surplus and the politicians and people thought what to do with it. A future fund? Infrastructure capital spending? Pay off government debt?
I think it was spent on old government debt and infrastructure and pretty soon afterwards the economy turned bad, though Finland has always coasted above the Euro criteria (unlike Greece et al., who cooked the books to be admitted). Finns are basically very honest, law-abiding, hard-working people, and they’re geting mightily pissed off about southern European profiligacy that we, the ones who’ve kept our economy in good shape, have to pay for. The Spanish property bubble and the Greek corrupt public sector bubble and all that. The world would be a better place if everybody were as prudent and boring as Finns and Swedes. sigh.
Hmmmm, shock horror. At some point in the future, governments will manipulate tax rates. Strangely only in an independent Scotland will it be a bad thing.
I’m shakin’ in ma boots. 😮
OT, but Ian Bell is spitting feathers over on the Herald, utterly astonishing figures with regard to banker’s bonus payments, contrasted with IBS (sic) and his welfare caps.
The week began with the news that more British bankers earned at least one million euros in 2011 than all their colleagues in the European Union put together. That bland description hardly did justice to the reality. According to the European Banking Authority, 2346 individuals in Britain’s banks did better than the million. Their nearest competition came from Germany, where only 170 people were in that happy place.
With the supernatural timing that is the mark of this Coalition, the information was published as Iain Duncan Smith was rolling out his £26,000 cap on social security for families. Jobseeker’s allowance, child benefit, child tax credits, housing benefit: take your pick. Need and the reasons for need have ceased to be relevant. No-one will receive more than an arbitrary £500 a week.
Sickening and yet another reason why we never have been and won’t ever be “Better Together”.
The social and political catastrophe called Britain is founded on a series of fantastic lies. Chief among the lies is the claim that this is a country impoverished by the excesses of common people. The more they say it, the more they rip you off.
Fantastic article by Mr. Bell, get yersel’s over there and have a look. Should be compulsory reading for everyone in Scotland.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/comment/columnists/the-lies-of-the-land-that-demonise-common-people.21624828
seasick dave says
Have you seen John King’s coupon?
I’m surprised that the major hasn’t yet recognized bluebottle!
oohh eccles.
‘Having done it for 22-and-a-half years now, we’re unable to recommend a career in journalism. While there are upsides, it’s a largely arduous and thankless task,’
—————
Welcome to my world. 25 years in the IT industry. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. The wages are a pittance to any new start (you actually do get more stacking shelves in Asda than messing around with IT equipment), and everything has been outsourced or offshored in the last 10 years to India and South Africa.
All those adverts on TV that show folk being re-trained as an IT Specialist …better wages, company car, career prospects …Ha-ha-ha …the biggest lie ever! I, along with my colleagues hee-haw whenever these adverts appear on TV! I have been in IT sections in three major financial institutions, and believe me …there is no one there under the age of 35. I am not kidding when I say this!
It used to be a young man’s game. Not anymore. It is an old man’s game. For all their love for all techy stuff, the bairns won’t enter the industry, because the money and prospects are rank. God help the UK in the next 10 to 15 years, once my generation begins to retire.
Has anyone more info on the actual questions asked and results breakdown in the BBC (Ipsos Mori?) poll as I am advised that the pollsters asked people whether they thought on scale one to ten whether the BBC favoured or were against “the Government” and which organisation they relied on for most of their news.
My informant tells me that when she queried “which government” the interviewer said Oh the UK government I suppose.
Now if it had been the Scottish government it might have skewed the results.
Can’t find info on the internet but as licence fee payers (not me) paid for it surely they are entitled to know the full results.
But then the BBC are notorious for hiding behind such concepts as “commercial confidentiality” when it comes to questions on how much they spend on sports coverage in Scotland compared to England.
@Stuart Black
Oh good catch sir. Ian Bell in fine form.
Another London Dividend
This might cover what you are looking for:
http://www.newsnetscotland.com/index.php/scottish-news/7734-fewer-than-half-of-scots-satisfied-with-bbc-news-and-current-affairs
Things seemed to be going quite well for a while “women and youngsters moving slowly to YES” and other positive responses reported. I go away for a few days and return to the news that Cameron has already won the referendum. What is happening Scottish Skier? Have I missed a poll? Should I go away again? My Glass needs re-balancing!
Jiggsboro
This is not the site to have a long discussion but it is a lot more complicated than you imagine. The running and promotion of false favourites is a very common device.
“This is not the site to have a long discussion”
Post something over on the quarantine thread, Dave – it sounds interesting (more interesting than grumbling at an article in the Express).
If the Coalition have there way there won’t be anyone earning over £25k so it is a bit academic.
Surprised the hack didn’t have everyone on benefits to pay 40% tax – more up the Daily Heil and Daily Excess wish list street.
Vronski
(more interesting than grumbling at an article in the Express).
I think that is a very unfair comment to make, this is EXACTLY the kind of article that needs to be exposed to the wider public. We all have a right to show our outrage and continual disappointment of the MSM in their lack of impartiality.
For goodness sake, if you are ‘tired’ of this thread, then move along till something interests you.
I hear that the Beeb, having removed or sidelined most of the impartial journalists like Bateman and Fraser are send Labour and Unionist man Naughtie to head up the BBC North Britain coverage of the independence debate. Not sure why they didn’t just appoint Blair McDougall.
Not surprised that the Beeb in Scotland has the lowest satisfaction rating. They really are our own little Pravda.
Expect a rough day in the press – latest unemployment figures out this morning showing the rate has increased to 7.5% (up 0.3%) in Scotland. Most of the rest of the country has seen reductions.
However, the UK rate is still 7.8%, plus we’re still doing better than England, Wales and N.Ireland individually.
I used to work with a Lalita Augustine. I wonder if it’s the same person.
@john king
Ohhh-ohhh, dingle me dongles and spud me puddlers! I’d know that tea-stained crumpet-ridden idiot anywhere. Except when he was cunningly disguised as himself. Or john king. [winky thing]
Rooster
As names go it isn’t exactly John Smith
on second thoughts I won’t say that
tartanfever
The Scottish unemployment figures for the last rolling quarter were surprisingly low at 7.2% and they had Scotland well below the UK rate. 0.3% is probably more in keeping with longer term trends. On the positive side, employment has risen, claimants are down and employers are making positive recruitment noises for the coming year. The underlying trend is, given the austerity backdrop, relatively optimistic. I’m not sure there is much purchase for negative spin which is why Moore’s comments are pretty low key. I am sure Johann and Co will try although they are in a bit of a cleft stick. Too negative and it makes it look like the Union isn’t that good after all.
‘I used to think I was poor. Then they told me I wasn’t poor, I was needy. Then they told me it was self-defeating to think of myself as being needy, I was deprived. Then they told me deprived was a bad image. I was underprivileged. Then they told me underprivileged was overused. I was disadvantaged. I still don’t have a cent. But I have a great vocabulary.‘
Jules Feiffer, quoted in John Pilger’s A Secret Country (Vintage, 1992)
Rooster
She is. She’s easy to find online
1st time comment as only recently found WoS, but seen that look before in the picture, dead ringer for Wendy Alexander. I think Photoshop or GIMP has been used here.
Well, William Hill is going to get £100 bet on YES today. At 5-1 it must be a gift. Do they really not look at the comments on this site? When it comes through I’ll contribute my bet money back to WOS. Has anyone yet found out who the tosser is that put £200k on NO?
@Nick Halloway: Welcome Nick, and if you have only recently discovered Wings, you’ll be able to spend many happy hours going through the back catalogue. Perhaps happy is the wrong word, your blood pressure might get dangerously high!
The odd thing about the £200,000 bet was that it was all over the papers yet the punter would have got more by investing his cash in a high interest account for a couple of years. At the same time they were limiting the size of YES bets.
The false favourite device is frequently deployed at greyhound racing where relatively small sums of money can skew the odds. I’ve seen it done with no money at all when the bookies have found themselves overexposed on a “job” when a dog thought to have little chance has been offered at high odds which have been taken all along the line in an exercise of military precision by several informed punters stepping forward at exactly the same time. The bookies’ response has often been to invent a run on another animal which has no chance by bringing its price down all along the line which then brings in the daft money of the inveterate uninformed favourite punter which brings the no hoper into firm favourite.
Betting on horse racing has always been a conspiracy between the horse owners/trainers and bookmakers on one side and the punters on the other. The big bookies offer special facililties to the stables who get their money on at favourable odds long before the betting shops are open and the punters get shortened odds. It goes without saying that the big bookies get a good idea about “non triers” as part of this process and there is nothing they like better than a favourite “not on the job”. This can be shamelessly talked about all morning in the pre racing rundowns in the betting shops. Despite the fact that less than one in three favourites win betting shops are full off punters who back every favourite
Cynical? Moi?
It is very much in the interest of Better Together to persuade the bookies that YES is dead. It is easy to manipulate the odds. The bookies might well be part of the plot.
Get on at 5/1
I did work with a fella who owned a couple of greyhounds. Those in his circle occasionally got the nod when he had a dog “trying” 🙂
Interesting article. What I don’t understand is the Reverend’s predilection for the incessant abuse of the journo who wrote it. The writer is inconsequential, it’s the newspaper itself that needs to be dissected and slandered. It’s a sad fact that so called “Scottish” newspapers are ruled by an iron fist in the big brother state that is the media.
As an ex journalist, I thought the Reverend would have had the decency and the intelligence to point out the flaws in the article alone. As such an eloquent writer himself, it lowers the general consensus that he should be respected and listened to when he continually “bullies” the writer.
As a raging Nationalist, I hate to see my fellow Nats lowering themselves to such petty details.
“the incessant abuse of the journo who wrote it.”
Um, like what?
@Kirstie
RevStu didn’t attack the journalist (much) – he mainly shredded certain aspects of the article (in particular the bits that I think are suggestive of editorial spin).
The comments below the line do look a bit like incessant abuse of the journalist.
@RevStu
You could possibly have omitted the snark implicit in “a freelance hack who’s more usually found reviewing make-up but has worked for the Express before – most recently on a challenging investigative piece about how Charlie Sheen had come to Scotland to find the Loch Ness Monster.”, without any detriment to the thrust of your argument.
Although that kind of thing is why I enjoy your dispassionate commentary.
“a freelance hack who is more usually found reviewing make-up”
“most recently on a challenging investigative piece about Charlie Sheen”
“confusingly known as Lalita Augustine”
“Lalita O’Neill or Michael Blackley………We’re sure they’ll go far”
Everything else you said was spot on, I just don’t agree with taking the proverbial out of a person who is merely trying to make a living. As I said, you’ve been in the business before, I thought you of all people would understand that editors change things and because her name appears on the article, that doesn’t necessarily mean the views expressed are her own.
@NorthBrit
I completely agree to everything the Rev said in his response, I just felt it was unnecessary to involve the writer. He did a brilliant job on the story, he didn’t need to involve the journo.
@Kirstie
It’s a sad fact that so called “Scottish” newspapers are ruled by an iron fist in the big brother state that is the media.
I’d love to hear more about this, Kirstie, especially from the point of view of someone who has worked in the industry. Sounds like there’s a good article there.
““a freelance hack who is more usually found reviewing make-up”
Simply a statement of fact. It’s a bit weird for someone whose work appears to be 99% about cosmetics to be suddenly handed Scottish political coverage. She didn’t even mention the piece on her Twitter account, which is odd – freelancers usually scream any bit of national-newspaper work from the rooftops over and over.
(And noting that she writes about make-up isn’t a criticism. I spent half my career writing about stupid videogames.)
“most recently on a challenging investigative piece about Charlie Sheen”
Ditto. This is a very sudden and dramatic leap into dry political coverage.
“confusingly known as Lalita Augustine”
That IS confusing. It’s not like she’s changed her name, she appears to be using both simultaneously.
“Lalita O’Neill or Michael Blackley………We’re sure they’ll go far””
A comment, of course, on the UK media and what it’s looking for in a Scottish reporter, not the individuals.
Heavens, by all means express the view that the journalist shouldn’t be mentioned at all (I disagree), but not one word of any of that constitutes “abuse”, let alone “incessant”. Blimey, if it did, what does the stuff we say about Magnus Gardham and Torcuil Crichton get classed under?
@ Jeannie
Sorry J, I am merely a housewife but I know a few journalists and I know whatever they write can be completely taken out of context. I’ve read original pieces and compared them to what appeared in the newspaper – it was a completely different story! I’ll ask a few friends to maybe look into the big brother media state but I doubt anyone (apart from possibly The Scots Independent) would print it.
Principles.
If i was a journo, i couldn’t work for someone who was acting against the interests of my country.
Bottom line.
“I’ll ask a few friends to maybe look into the big brother media state but I doubt anyone (apart from possibly The Scots Independent) would print it.”
I, of course, would be interested.
@Rev.S.C.
She may be freelance but calling her a hack is a bit much. You know nothing about her. “She reviews make-up”. So? What did you write about before this? Is there some strange journo law that should prevent her from writing about anything else?
Name change….did you ever think she may have gotten married? Or uses a pseudonym at times? It isn’t exactly rocket science.
As soon as you mention names, a comment becomes personal. You can’t mention a name or two then fob it off as a generalisation. I understand these people are often there to be scrutinised but to go on so much about a journalist who is not exactly known for her right-wing political views is a wee bit too much.
Back to my original point. Concentrate on what was said, not who said it. I felt your dissection of the article was first class, I just felt it was ruined by snide wee comments about the author.
@Kirstie
I agree with your point and the comment that the general theme would make an interesting article.
However this article’s like a warm soapy bath of praise compared with what other journalists (cf. the charming Ewan “wankers” McColm) say about the Rev’s output…
@Juteman
Yes, I understand what you mean but principles don’t put bread on the table.
Also, after the article has been passed to the editor, it is out of the journalists hands. What may have began as an unbiased report often ends as something completely different.
“She may be freelance but calling her a hack is a bit much. You know nothing about her.”
I know what’s been published with her byline on it. And, y’know, pretty much anyone who writes for the Express qualifies as a “hack”. But it’s a widely-accepted synonym for “journalist”.
“She reviews make-up”. So? What did you write about before this? Is there some strange journo law that should prevent her from writing about anything else?
You perhaps missed where I edited my reply to address this. It’s just a very sudden leap, and therefore noteworthy. If the Daily Record suddenly got their fashion or horse-racing editor to write a piece about taxation and politics it’d be equally weird.
“Name change….did you ever think she may have gotten married?”
As I’ve already said – it doesn’t seem to have changed, she seems to be using both names at once.
“Or uses a pseudonym at times? It isn’t exactly rocket science.”
Nor is it normal. I can’t think offhand of a single other journalist who writes under two different surnames. (It’s also a TERRIBLE use of a pseudonym if you put your picture alongside it.)
But again, I don’t see how any of that is even within a million miles of “abuse”, with the arguable exception of “hack”. None of it is “snide”. It’s simply observing some rather curious facts.
@Kirstie
Thanks for that. But as Stu says, he’d print a good article like that and he has a lot of readers who would definitely appreciate it so it would be great if one of your contacts would consider it.
@Kirstie.
Please don’t patronise me about putting ‘food on the table’.
In the ’80’s, I was on strike for a long time, and lost my job due to my principles.
At the time, I was married with two young kids. I would rather have eaten grass than crossed the line.
Myself and a few friends would drive into the country at night to steal potatoes, cabbages, etc, from fields to feed our families. Yes I was doing wrong, and I apologise to any farmers that suffered due to my actions. Nowadays I would have simply sold drugs to feed my family.
Walk a mile in others shoes…….
I should add that i’m now a ‘normal’, respectable member of society. 🙂
@Juteman
You consider people who comment on Wings normal. You’re wyrd sister 🙂
Note for messages:- more tinfoil, more chicken wire.
Sorry if I came across aggressive there, Kirstie.
@ Jeannie
I will certainly look into it 🙂
@ Juteman
My comment was not a dig. If I offended you, I am truly sorry. I just know of some situations in which people are hard pressed to make ends meet and every situation is different, yours included. I like to think I’m a woman of principles too, hence why I posted here in the first place. It’s such a pity you’re a respectable member of society now 😉
@Rev. SC
I understand the sudden jump and maybe a pseudonym was a tad dramatic. I know if I was using a pseudonym, I would make it completely different, not just change my surname. I still feel you were hard on her and that your comments about her took the shine off your brilliantly written argument. That was my main point. And stop bloody quoting me! I hate re-reading what I’ve written, hence why I would make a naff journo 🙂
Bravo Reverend!
May I congratulate you on an outstanding piece there. I especially like the petty-minded hatchet job you did on the journo. The fact that she must do some makeup blog on her own time for fun is exactly why she shouldn’t be allowed to report on politics. Perhaps if she followed a similar career path to yourself and spend a good chunk of her career reviewing video games for a living would qualify her to write on the subject of Scottish snce. Afterall, having judged the quality of Sonic and Mario’s adventures, political proselytising is a natural career step.
You do an admirable hatchet job on her based (by your own admission) on the byline which you should know will have been devised by the news editor. If you know anything about journalism then you’ll know that a journo can write a relatively objective piece and when submitted to editorial only then the corresponding political slant including exaggerated byline is inserted before publication. The Daily Express, Daily Mail and Daily Record are particularly scandalous at this. You suspect that this is a work experience kid, and you’re probably right, so you’re happy to belittle someone young, inexperienced and new in the business. I also love the fact that you find Ms Augustine/O’Neill confusingly named. Perhaps she recently married, but why let that mundane explanation get in the way of a perfectly good character assassination?
I, like my father before me, am a raging nationalist and big old Leftie and I’m quickly turning into an old man shouting at the Tories on the TV, but trolling some journo isn’t on. By all means dissect the rambling tripe and fearmongering spouted by the Unionist press and I’ll cheer you on, but shame on you for effectively some little journo. You’re coming across as a sad, petty little bully and exactly the sort of thing we so-called “Cybernats” or whatever label the right wing press choose to throw at us can be doing without.
SShame on you Rev. You’re better than this.
@Juteman
No problem. I’ve had worse, honestly 😉 x
I’m divorced, and can be as ‘respectable’ as you want. 🙂
Ahaaha! I’ve been married for almost 20 years now. I couldn’t handle the single life but I’m somehow jealous of those who can!
“Shame on you Rev. You’re better than this.”
Evidently not.
See previous replies.
I might as well be the bad man here.
“As a raging Nationalist, I hate to see my fellow Nats lowering themselves to such petty details.”
I know of no one who supports independence for Scotland who defines themselves as “a raging nationalist”. It is something a cyberbritnat might say. I think you are only here to put it politely “muddy the waters”. I do not think you are genuine.
BTW It is interesting where the link attached to your name takes one. Yer maw indeed.
” I am merely a housewife”
Aye, right!
@KOF
Hi there. Is your first name Fu by any chance?
“A raging nationalist” was my not-so-eloquent way of saying I’m very much pro-independence. There are many of us raging nationalists, we’re quite nice people when you get to know us.
I am here neither to muddy the waters nor be dishonest. I don’t understand why you think I can be anything other that who I say I am.
The “Yer Maw” part. When posting, it asked for a website address. I try not to affiliate myself with any web addresses so i put in something silly.
I hope this clears a few things up for you. If there’s any other way I can be of assistance, please let me know.
PS. Cyberbritnat. I’ve never been so insulted in my life!
Lot of very strange faux outrage on the thread today…