Stories of the week, 16/3/2014
Posted on
March 16, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
The top five most-read stories on Wings Over Scotland in the last seven days.
1. We less, we happy less
Awful grammar and the same old scaremongering from “Better Together”.
2. Sympathy for the devil
The No camp tries not to rejoice at bad news for Scotland.
3. Please stop lying to us
Reporting the news from Things That Didn’t Actually Happen World.
4. The countdown starts tomorrow
We got the date wrong on this – just two days to go.
5. An apology to Gordon Brown
Instantly gazumped in the “old man gibberish” stakes.
This week’s theme: devo schmevo.
Ponsonby made a complete and utter fool of himself on his barefaced lie/voice over thing about Brown and “its all down to more powers or full independence, you decide.” He must be angling for Marr’s job at BetterTogetherBBC because oor Andrew is way too impartial and unbiased for that outfit. Row, row, row your rowing machine, gently now!
This made me chuckle, The BBC responded to the Andrew Marr fiasco by claiming, “The BBC’s coverage of the Scottish referendum debate has been fair and balanced and we will continue to report on the story without fear or favour”
ROFL!!!!
BBC No more!
Question for Lamont and other Labour stooges:
Are the people in Crimea ‘separatists’ – for breaking away from Ukraine – or ‘Unionists’ – for uniting with Russia?
Do enlighten us, Labour drones..
So, Andrew Marr is yet another Scot who won’t be getting a job with the new SBC. Why would a post-independence EBC want to employ Scots, for that matter? Hope Andrew has some plans for a life-after-broadcasting.
why does andrew marr not sound like a scot? because he doesnt want too.
Alas poor Andrew Marr I knew him.
Darling; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is!
My gorge rims at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? Your gambols? Your songs? Your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar?
These Anglo-Scots with their London-centric view of the world have become grotesque figures of fun in this debate about Scotland’s future.
Kirsty Wark, Andrew Neil, Andrew Marr, Sarah Smith, Fraser Nelson, James Naughtie, etc, have all been revealed to be unionist clowns.
@ Thepnr, English right to reign over us is much more like King Lear. Marr, Brillo, Ponsonby, Naughty and Brewer etc are clearly born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. Actually Ponsonby’s just a wannabe but he’s getting there.
Off topic; Over in the Telegraph: MOD has just signed a contract with a private company to look after Trident and the nuclear weapons in Scotland.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/9435227/Private-firm-to-look-after-Trident-nuclear-deterrent.html
Truly horrifying. The MSM will probably pay this story the briefest attention and skip on by.
Sorry, just realised it is an old story that got shared about on fb. Still it is news to me, and I’m still pissed off about it.
Enough of all this nonsense trying to play fair and honest with this bunch of liars, thugs, gangsters and pimps, they are the lowest most corrupt wasters in the country. The cesspool that is Westminster and the establishment, manned by the totally unscrupulous lords, MPs and the mighty privy council. Protected and supported by the totally morally corrupt EBC and MSM.
If we loose this referendum it can only be through corruption and skulduggery on the part of the unionist cabal and their henchmen. Remember the spider. WE NOW KNOW WHAT WE ARE UP AGAINST! Westminster is a cesspool of well dressed well spoken scum without a conscience.
@papadox
Westminster is a cesspool of well dressed well spoken scum without a conscience.
No. These are just puppets that come and go. The enemy lies in Whitehall, not Westminster. What we have, we hold – and all that.
@ Dr. JM Mackintosh
Here is your response by the BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-26600888
“The BBC said Mr Marr had not been intending to express a personal opinion, and its coverage of the referendum debate had been “fair and balanced”.
End of story.
@papadox
I agree.
Totally.
Just in case you couldn’t feel the luv:
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/independent-scotland-clout-like-malta-ken-clarke-1-3342794
“Mr Clarke, a UK government minister without portfolio, said that an independent Scotland would have the same international status as Malta – one of the smallest nations in the EU”
The lack of portfolio must be a bonus when talking tosh.
Scotland would have more ‘clout’ than we have right now with independence.How does clout,which I bet is another term for throwing your weight around,help Scotland right now? Clout that allows a member of the security council call you a small unimportant island,then proves how right he is by actually,in broad daylight invading his nieghbours on tv.
Clout.
Charlie Kennedy on state broadcaster this morning stating that Project Fear should try and be more positive. I sensed subtle criticism and all cannot be well in the temple of doom!
Kennedy another unionist like Wee Ruthie campaigning against Scottish independence but still wants one of the well paid positions in it when it comes there is no hypocrite like a unionist one shame on them.
WOW.. Murphy in a car crash interview on BBC radio Scotland. The interviewer has gone and roasted him with some really hard hitting questions. Murphy claiming the poor will suffer more in an independent country.
Send home to think again!
Bob Doris now on for the SG . He at least is backing up his argument with some figures. Said Murphy lied, what a start to the day
Oh Vincent, that’s a piece of work right there from Ken Clarke, eh?
He’s one of the few (only?) Tories that I had a bit of time for, but that’s out the windae now, he really couldn’t have been more patronising and disrespectful if he tried. Ordinary, sensible, intelligent Scots will vote NO? Really Ken?
Fuck away off back to London, we’re finished getting told what to do by the likes of you and your spivvy chums.
It’s over.
“Ordinary, sensible, intelligent Scots will vote NO”
Wow, so 4/10 Scots right now are not normal/ordinary, lack sense, and are of low intelligence.
Real hearts and minds stuff from Clarke there.
What a wake up call. Jim Murphy being roasted, found myself laughing out loud.And this on the BBC. Maybe Hayley Miller has had enough of the FUD( thats Fear Uncertainty and Doubt, ~Not Murphy) Had an urge to start shouting Fuck Off…Fuck off…Fuck off…
Apologies to Patrick Harvie
re-Jim Murphy car crash on GMS this morning.
Austria, Switzerland, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium and even France have lower borrowing costs than the UK.
Size doesn’t seem to make any difference.
Quite possible iScotland could have lower borrowing costs, especially with favourable Standard and Poors report from last week.
BBC flummoxed Jim Murphy at GMS at 7.10 am this morning when Hayley Miller(?) challenged him on Labour’s record in dealing with the poorest in society.
However she “marred” her argument by not mentioning the fact that under the last Labour government the gap between the richest and poorest widened.
Murphy on a mission with this in to-day’s Herald
http://www.heraldscotland.com/comment/columnists/agenda-working-families-would-pay-price-of-obsession-with-leaving-the-union.23684170
Letters could point Labour’s voting record on failing to oppose the reduction of income rate for highest earners.
Jim Murphy failing to turn up for Bedroom Tax vote in November etc
Perhaps someone could compiler a handy list of dates etc for future reference.
Re: Murphy on GMS.
Must commend that interviewer (‘Haley Miller’ I think) on her demolishing Murphy. She almost did a Marr this morning subjecting poor Jim to a tirade of past history about the tories and the labour party being responsible for hitting the poor and low waged for decades.
Murphy will be full of confidence now and looking forward to delivering his speech later in Glasgow today. NOT!
Probably penning a complaint to the director to remind him that BBC bias is only to be used against the SNP.
Who needs Naughtie? Well done that woman.
Does anyone know if the statement on Tuesday by Scottish Labour regarding “more powers” is going to give us all the details we are looking for or will we have to wait until the conference at the end of the week?
It’s like waitin for Santa, isn’t it.
A’ll no sleep the night.
Aha, today on GMS there is Hayley Millar and Gillian Marle(?). No Gary Robertson
O/T
On GMS this morning, why have a second-hand discussion between two BBC reporters of a recorded interview with Charles Kennedy when they could have broadcast the interview itself???
Charles Kennedy wants Scots to be more positive about a NO vote.
He still wants Westminster to walk all over the top us, to hold all the powers, but what he is saying now that is different, is that he wants us to accept this with a smile on our face.
Vote NO with a smile.
Lady Alba is already getting that message out for him.
http://youtu.be/5SvdecwnYJ4
Louise White on at 8.50 about Ruthies call to pay for prescriptions (Over £8 in England).
As I am going out shortly perhaps someone could mention that Nurses are not getting a pat rise in England but Scottish Health Service workers getting 1% rise.
BBC RADIO SCOTLAND MORNING CALL
Call 0500 92 95 00. Text 80295.
Email morningcallscotland@bbc.co.uk
O/T interesting interview earlier on Radio Scotland with MD of business analytics software firm SAS setting up major new cyber security division in Glasgow (their biggest office outside US).
When talking to any business leaders about anything which involves Scotland, don’t the BBC always ask for their views on the consequences of independence? they seem to have forgot to in this instance.
Six months of campaigning to go. Perhaps an injunction should be taken out against the BBC to stop them mentioning Independence at all! If they insist on being biased, they should be banned from reporting it altogether.
Important to remember that many higher profile Scots working in London have a substantial conflict of interest and significant personal and professional impact from a #YES result.
It is not just MPs for Scottish seats who will be out. Scots in seats across rUK will face an electoral backlash. Those with opinions valued because they bring some Scottish insight to Media and other Orgs will be deminished. And the personal attacks they may face as perceived “representatives” of the people who “broke-up the UK”.
They have a great deal to loose.
Still laughing at Murphy getting his earse royaly kicked this morning, dumb git.
Turned the radio on to GMS at 7:55 and they were discussing newspaper front pages. It seems every paper has a headline re the Andrew Marr interview. Listened to GMS until 8:50 not a word about it. BBC are a disgrace.
“Marr’s Attack”.
It’s from a brilliant piece over on Newsnet Scotland about Andrew Marr and BBC bias reporting, by G A Ponsonby.
http://www.newsnetscotland.com/index.php/scottish-opinion/8894-zeppelin-stories-double-standards-and-andrew-marr
When I hear Chuck Kennedy’s encouragement to vote No with a smile, why do I think of the Eloi in the Time Machine, insensate and happily walking towards their doom as their masters beckon them on..
The problem Jim Murphy and the rest of Scottish Labour/Better Together have is that for years they have never been asked difficult questions by BBC Scotland.
For years they have came into the studio and “preached” for as long as they wanted, knowing that nothing difficult was coming down the line.
Well it has all changed Jim. Because the YES Campaign are on the move and we demand straight answers.
Nothing less will do, not even your biggest scariest story will frighten us any more.
Missed this story in the Sunday Herald, the MoD are seeking permission to dump more liquid radioactive waste into the Gareloch, and increase the amount of tritium gas released into the air at Coulport.
I’ll just repeat that. They are discharging liquid waste into the Gareloch.
It is utterly beyond my comprehension how there are still so many people backing No. Lost for words…
Charles Kennedy made some valid points. No is negative and they are turning people off and secondly if they are serious about Devo Max then there will need to be something agreed and tabled before the vote. Charles may be a Unionist but he is asensible one.
I did chuckle when the report on Charles’ statement was immediately followed by doom-mongering by Murphy. The very poorest will be affected by independence. Interest rates will rise. Aye right Jim, is that interest rates on their £800,000 mortgage or will payday loans go up from 4,500% to 4,700%? I could see a Kennedy listening and doing a Jean Luc Picard face palm.
caz-m
On the Labour statement regarding further devolution I half expect Johann to say “After careful deliberation and taking all the suggestions into account I have decided we need to have a conversation. I would like to thank all my colleagues for helping Labour take this bold and exciting step forward”
@Stuart Black
“Just remember this boys and girls. When freedom comes around. Dont pish in the water supply!”
Alex Harvey, Glasgow Apollo, xmas 1974.
@HandandShrimp
Did you have to be so honest with me. You could have at least told me a wee lie.
That’s like telling me Santa isn’t real.
Since the razor sharp analytical skills of the SLAB think tanks and their spin doctors have had a long time to come up with their EXTRA POWERS for Holyrood, I am sure all will come with guarantees and precise figures. This should be the end of fear and uncertainty, or could be the end of SLAB.
I’m sure Johan and company have been getting schooled in presentation and delivery skills, so a flawless slick presentation should be assured, will stop wee ECK and the separatist in their tracks.
GAME OVER.
I won’t sleep tonight with the excitement.
O/T – apologies and a polite request to anyone who has access to “The Times” articles (behind a paywall)
This article from Saturday past is relevant to us in Yes Pentlands
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/politics/article4034377.ece
And it would be great if someone could provide an “archive.is” link so that I could do a bit of sharing.
Many thanks in advance.
@Training Day
There’s a great analogy between the brainwashed people in the “Time Machine” movie and the majority of Rangers fans.
For years at Ibrox a small group called the Orange Order have lead the majority ordinary Rangers fans.
They lead with the thinking, which is that the Orange message is the only message. You are either in or out.
This minority lead with ALL the songs and the majority happily go along with it. They sing of walls that need to be guarded in Derry etc…
I would say to anyone that is caught up in this brainwashing to start to think differently. These people and their way of life are for another era.
It’s time to let go of that way of thinking. It’s for the past. It’s for Dinosaurs.
If it was to end up a NO vote, are the Orange Lodge going to pay for your children’s University Fees?
Are the Orange Lodge going to pay for your prescriptions?
They will not. You will be left with these bills and a lot more if you vote NO.
So the next time a fellow Bluenose tells you that a NO vote is the right way, have a real good think about what he has just told you to do.
Vote YES.
Re Good Morning Scotland – here’s Jim Murphy at 1hr 09mins in:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03xgrkw
Norman Smith rabbitin on about HS2 to ”the north” , phase 1 and 2. How long are we going to listen to this mince of Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds being ”the north”. This seems to be a gaping open goal for the SNP to exploit as some of the money will come from us, in Scotland, and it wont even reach Bham & Manchester till after 2030 something.
And where are the questions as to where the 50bn+ cost is going to be funded? Is the UK not 1.5tn in debt?
@TMITJ: “Don’t shoot bullets, boys and girls, and don’t pish in the water supply”.
That’s a framework for a Scottish constitution right there!
😉
Establishment will raid the Scottish larder of taxes oil, exports, whiskey etc, and very quickly to pay for all the pay offs to their London business masters and mates, and enshrine it in law to make sure we (including proud Scots) don’t get off the gibbet.
JOB DONE! JOCKS F***** AGAIN HE HE HE!
@Elizabeth – just listened to Murphy who said nothing but made claims about ‘independent beyond reproach think tanks’ – blah, blah, blah – what the hell was he on about – the rUK being a ‘foreign’ country.
I’m glad the interview was short as I couldn’t have listened to him a second longer.
They have got nothing to offer.
Maybe the Marr thing will be good for us in the long run as the beeb know we are watching and the world is listening.
@liz says:
Liz the EBC are on a mission for the establishment/HMG nothing or no one will deflect them from their target. Keeping Scotland under the cosh!
Jon D @ 10.20 am
Sunday Times article here:
Mike Wade
Last updated at 12:19AM, March 15 2014
At a farmer’s market in Balerno, a commuter village in the hills south of Edinburgh, a man at the Yes Scotland stall holds out an information pack. “The UK is the fourth most unequal country in the developed world. Still think we’re better together?”
Inside, a poster proclaims Scotland’s economic strength; there are separate information sheets for Labour and Green voters; Tak, a leaflet in Polish; and the grandly titled Business for Scotland Declaration. “We can change everything but the weather,” the Yes man says with a smile.
He might be right if the frantic activity around the country is any guide. The same day, a squadron of canvassers invades the main approach to the national rugby stadium at Murrayfield, trying to ensure that every fan has a leaflet. Over the rest of the week there are scores of Yes events in halls the length and breadth of the country.
Suddenly, the independence movement is buoyant, with support rising to almost 40 per cent, according to a poll on Thursday by Survation. The Scottish National Party campaign is said to have booked the majority of the billboards and phone booths across the country in a promotional push underpinned by cinema and newspaper advertising worth more than £7 million.
This “ground war” will be decisive, say the faithful. “Yes Scotland can put someone up in any community, for any debate, and the other side can’t do that,” said Bryan, a former pro-independence campaigner, who asked The Times not to use his real name. “D&D [doorstep and digital] is where this is won. ”
In the past few weeks there has been a striking return to old-fashioned campaigning, some meetings so over-subscribed that Yes organisers have asked ardent supporters to give up their seats to undecided voters.
On Wednesday, though, 40 people turned out in Clermiston, Edinburgh, to hear Michelle Thomson, the managing director of Business for Scotland, and Alan Bissett, a novelist, present very different cases for independence. Ms Thomson’s organisation is pledged to “provide significant opportunities for Scottish businesses to become more entrepreneurial”. Mr Bissett talked of “building council houses, redistributing wealth, nationalising industry”.
No one took issue with either speaker. For many, the important thing is that these matters are discussed at all. The campaign, boosted by Alex Salmond’s decision to hold Cabinet meetings on the road, is perceived by many as offering the only forum to debate the country’s future.
Amid all this, Better Together, promoting a united UK, is harder to find. In the newspapers and on television Alistair Darling, the leader and former Chancellor, makes the most of Westminster’s insistence that Scotland will be unable to share the pound, and amplifies the words of every businessman who makes the case for the Union.
And at the Scottish Tory conference in Edinburgh yesterday, David Cameron did his bit by pledging to give the Holyrood Parliament more tax-raising powers if voters reject independence. The Prime Minister gave no details, but said he was “absolutely clear” that making the Scottish parliament responsible for raising more of the money it spends was “the right thing ”.Better Together insists it is making an impression. It has 250 local groups, concentrating on writing to a million “undecideds”. Blether Together, a nationwide phone canvassing campaign, is also targeting the waverers.
Yes strategists profess surprise at these tactics. In the 12 weeks to June the campaigns can spend what they like. Afterwards resources are limited by the Electoral Commission to £1.5?million each. “In the regulated period everything swings in our favour because of the level playing field in terms of spend,” a Yes insider said.
Independence has never been supported by more than a third of Scots, and a majority in September requires a coalition of Nationalists, Greens and Socialists . This notion of a rainbow alliance has been buried in recent weeks as the SNP’s White Paper has become the touchstone of the campaign.
It can still be a close-run thing, Bryan insists. “There is a groundswell here,” he said. “ The trick is to get beyond Salmond and seize the opportunity.”
Indebted to you Linda for posting that article.
Many thanks indeed.
Jon.
@Vincent McDee
I do not think that response is good enough and I think we should expect more of our national broadcaster.
If hundreds or thousands of people lodge format complaints about the BBC bias in Marr’s program and others then someone will have to take notice.
I just do not think we should accept this as the BBC is not the MSM – We fund them!
Here is the link…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/
@Dr JM
I agree, time we piled on the pressure, this is my first complaint to them, have never bothered before, what’s the point! But, at this time we have to use all means at our disposal to fight back, on every front! My complaint:
Whilst interviewing First Minister, Alex Salmond on the subject of Mr Barraso’s comments about Scotland being excluded from the EU in the event of Scottish Independence, Mr Marr expressed his own view regarding the veracity of Mr Barrasso’s view. This was clearly a breach of the BBC’s editorial policy of impartiality.
Alex Salmond explained at length in this exchange the counter reasoning of Mr Barraso’s viewpoint regarding the acceptance of membership into the EU. He cited International sources and expert advice that have more than contradicted the position Mr Barroso takes.
Mr Marr seemed ‘unwilling’ to concede that Mr Barraso may in fact be biased, or for that matter plain wrong. (as he(Barroso)may indeed ‘… have a dog in the race…’ His possible application to become secretary general of NATO, in which he would seek nomination from the UK government, should raise an eyebrow of even the most sloppiest journalist!). Mr Marr’s opinion followed this exchange and revealed his own bias “I think it will be quite hard to get back in, I have to say”.
As he quickly tried to cover up this faux pas, after Mr Salmond quite rightly questioned him. It was clear to anyone watching that he breached his employer’s guidelines. I find this conduct by a supposedly impartial broadcaster completely unacceptable. Journalist report the news, I watched that programme to specifically listen to Mr Salmond and his perspective, not Mr Marr’s.
“If hundreds or thousands of people lodge format complaints about the BBC bias in Marr’s program and others then someone will have to take notice.”
Dr JM Mackintosh, please understand that NO-ONE will have to take notice, not until 19th September anyway.
You are absolutely right of course, but under Westminster rule, we have neither democracy nor freedom.
Don’t waste your time on the BBC. It will only be online publishing like W o S and work on the ground that will count.
The BBC have form on this lack of impartiality. Another glaring example is the bias they show in their lack of coverage of the opposite viewpoint with regard to global warming/climate change. They put forward the view that those who disagree are lunatics and a minority fringe. Without going into examples (this is not the time or place), there was a secret meeting held where all departments of the beeb came together with reps from NGO’s, churches, US embassy and others.
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2012/11/another-bbc-scandal-hiding-their-climate-change-agenda/
They are not accountable to us, and the only sanction is to withdraw your funding.
Herald running with ”Scotland could control 40% of its own revenue. So that must include VAT, Corporation tax, APD, fuel duty, capital gains, inheritance tax, etc etc, or is the headline a LIE?