We got an email from our Prague correspondent last night, but that’s not the only thing the disgraceful pun in the headline refers to. As Michael Moore was kicked around the playground by Nicola Sturgeon in the first Scotland Tonight debate that same evening, the soggy security blanket he clung to more than anything else was the currency issue, which the No camp appears to believe is now its most powerful weapon.
It’s a two-pronged Trident, if you’ll forgive the even more tortured wordplay in that metaphor. Firstly there’s the scaremongering part containing the (empty) threat that the rUK would refuse to enter a currency union with an independent Scotland, forcing it to join the embattled Euro, and as back-up there’s the claim that if we DID get a currency union, Scotland would somehow end up getting less consideration from the Bank of England governors when it came to monetary policy than the none it gets now.
Let’s take the briefest look we can manage at both of those assertions.
We should point out in advance that we’re using the word “voter” quite wrongly here. But a piece in today’s Daily Record has us beaten all ends up for wrongness.
We’re indebted to the alert reader who sent us a link to this last night:
If you don’t have time to sit through it all now, it’s an STV referendum debate – not about independence in 2014, but about devolution in 1997. In short, all the arguments and dire warnings we’re fed by Unionists now about independence were also deployed against devolution, which doesn’t in fact seem to have caused the sky to fall in.
It’s also interesting to note a BBC news story uncovered by National Collective this morning which reports a poll finding that “76% of businesses believe a double-yes vote in Thursday’s referendum would harm the climate for business in Scotland”.
While right-wing, conservative organisations like the CBI and FSB will doubtless never stop bleating about the terrible “uncertainty” of constitutional change, it’s good to see that there’s been at least some progress made in that field.
It’s come to our attention that despite all of our hard work transcribing interviews with Unionist politicians, some of our stupider readers still – incredibly – aren’t 100% clear on certain aspects of the policy alternatives the UK parties will be offering the Scottish electorate in hope of persuading them to vote No in 2014.
One such issue is Labour’s preliminary proposal to devolve income tax entirely to the Scottish Parliament, which is backed by Johann Lamont but strongly opposed by many of the party’s Westminster MPs.
Fortunately, an interview on last night’s Scotland Tonight with former Labour leader Gordon Brown eliminated any possible remaining doubts, with the sort of direct, straight-speaking approach for which the ex-Prime Minister was justly renowned.
The Guardian today reports the incredibly depressing news that “Labour voters [are] increasingly turning against the poor”, with growing numbers of the party’s supporters now blaming the victims of recession and austerity for their own plight.
Julia Unwin, chief executive of the anti-poverty Joseph Rowntree Foundation, is quoted in the piece saying “The stark findings of this report highlight the increasingly tough stance people are taking against people in poverty. We appear to be tough on those experiencing poverty, but not tough on its causes.”
How can such a horrific, callous scenario, with the supposed party of the downtrodden and voiceless abandoning those who need the most support, ever have come to pass?
When we’ve been asked on a couple of different occasions why we started Wings Over Scotland, we’ve always given the same reply – to ask (and thereby try to answer) the questions that the Scottish media was dismally failing to ask on our behalf. It would be hard to illustrate that failure with a better example than what happened yesterday.
We’re not even talking about the bog-standard factory-default Unionist bias that’s seen not a single newspaper today depicting the launch of “United With Labour” as a “split” in the anti-independence movement – after a year of leaping on every single policy difference or minor spat between members of the Yes campaign as evidence of “chaos” and “turmoil” – despite the news/comedy value of an organisation devoted to “unity” and “togetherness” breaking into splinter groups just months into its existence.
We refer to something much more fundamental – basic journalistic competence.
Sorry this post is a bit late, folks. We’ve been pretty stymied all morning trying to get a handle on the extraordinary, unmockable mendacity that’s being fed to the people of Scotland as we speak, which keeps crashing our powers of rational comprehension.
We quite often highlight the utterances of The Labour Party in Scotland (henceforth TLPiS) as examples of “blackwhite”, the Orwellian term for presenting the truth as the exact opposite of reality. But today must surely have set some sort of world record.
Lorn on Just Good Friends: “A vox populi was carried out in London some months ago, and it asked passing young men whether they believe…” Jul 10, 21:16
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Just Good Friends: “DfE SAFEGUARDING GUIDANCE PROTECTING GENDER-QUESTIONING PUPILS FINALLY PUBLISHED « Safeguarding guidance which recognises the risks of ‘social transitioning’ has finally been…” Jul 10, 21:01
agent x on Just Good Friends: “@ insider Many thanks – it worked for me.” Jul 10, 20:56
Hatey McHateface on Just Good Friends: “I’ve been swithering, x. Should I claim there’s a typo in your post? An extra pair of letters on the…” Jul 10, 20:00
Insider on Just Good Friends: ““I can’t read more because it is a paid for article” Go to your device’s “settings” and disable javascript for…” Jul 10, 20:00
James Galt on Just Good Friends: “Of course the exact opposite is the case – the women are firmly in charge – no middle-aged white male…” Jul 10, 19:49
Hatey McHateface on Just Good Friends: “They won’t bring it forwards because it was only ever intended as a Trojan Horse to protect men who masquerade…” Jul 10, 19:42
agent x on Just Good Friends: ““Crime writer Val McDermid has branded the current political landscape an “absolutely cesspit of misogyny.” The best-selling author suggested the…” Jul 10, 19:21
Mark Beggan on Just Good Friends: “The whole Scottish government is corrupt to it’s core. Our future must have a different political system. Party politics is…” Jul 10, 19:20
Anthem on Just Good Friends: “It would solve a lot of problems. Just saying.” Jul 10, 18:51
Hatey McHateface on Just Good Friends: “David Davis? The Westminster English Tory? That David Davis? Isn’t WM the pit of Hell, and aren’t Tories the devil’s…” Jul 10, 18:16
Hatey McHateface on Just Good Friends: “I’ve had more than enough of that lot. Strangely enough though, the people in the ME who really understand what…” Jul 10, 18:10
Hatey McHateface on Just Good Friends: “That’s just daft, sarah. If the people have direct and immediate power, then there is no need for politicians at…” Jul 10, 18:02
Hatey McHateface on Just Good Friends: “Cheers, Callum. I’m defo not a Yoon by that definition. I think Scots are too corrupt, too perverted and too…” Jul 10, 17:54
Red on Just Good Friends: “Don’t forget Nicola’s refugee pals. According to Police Scotland’s Operation Cerrar, they’ve raped a load of weans in Glasgow. Silence…” Jul 10, 17:34
Onlooker on Just Good Friends: “You lost me at ‘y’all’. Yank idiocy.” Jul 10, 17:34
Callum on Just Good Friends: “U.K. has given Scotland Thatcher, Major, Blair, Cameron, May, BoJo, Truss, Sunak, Starmer and possibly Farage. That represents institutional idiocy.…” Jul 10, 17:25
Cathures72 on Just Good Friends: “She really seems to gravitate towards the worst people.” Jul 10, 17:23
Hatey McHateface on Just Good Friends: ““Only the most cowardly and idiotic still support them” Yet they are predicted to do well in 2026. Because a…” Jul 10, 17:10
Hatey McHateface on Too Tight To Mention: “The Scots just want shot of the likes of you. We wouldn’t have the shits that are running us at…” Jul 10, 17:05
Hatey McHateface on Just Good Friends: “Defo something rotten in the state of Scotland. I’m grateful and relieved we still have the institutions of the UK…” Jul 10, 16:54
callum on Just Good Friends: “Progressive = Predatory” Jul 10, 16:49
Derek on Just Good Friends: “It’s amazing how obvious it is to other men when a certain type of right-on “anti-misogynist” guy is a wolf…” Jul 10, 16:17
Mark Beggan on Just Good Friends: “Another winner from the BBC.” Jul 10, 15:58
Sven on Just Good Friends: “Corrado Mella @ 14.09. I do believe that we’ve all got it, Corrado. It’s achieving independence and sorting out the…” Jul 10, 15:43
lothianlad on Just Good Friends: “The disgusting SNP! Only the most cowardly and idiotic still support them. They sure aint for independence.” Jul 10, 15:41
Ian on Just Good Friends: “Despite his belief that transwomen are women, he isn’t accused of raping a transwoman. Odd that they know what a…” Jul 10, 15:17