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Archive for April, 2016


The difficult question 126

Posted on April 12, 2016 by

We tried to ring BBC Radio Scotland’s phone-in show, presented by Louise White, this morning in order to ask Ruth Davidson a question, but because we’re not Scottish Labour activist Scott Arthur (who appears on air most weeks, including both today’s and yesterday’s shows) we didn’t get picked, as we normally don’t.

It was a shame, as the question we wanted to ask was a good one – and also an entirely genuine one that we honestly don’t know the answer to. Furthermore, it’s a question that applies equally well to all three Unionist party leaders, so we’ll be trying to phone in and ask them too when they in turn appear on the programme.

toughq

We rather suspect we won’t get through unless we change our name, though, so if anyone else is interested in the answer perhaps they might like to try their luck too on behalf of everyone, whether it’s on the Radio Scotland phone-in or any other event where the public are allowed to question the leaders.

So the question is below.

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The Scottish Resistance 217

Posted on April 11, 2016 by

It’s a rare occasion when we feel compelled to salute Scotland’s mainstream media, but their restraint on discovering that a whole slew of PFI schools commissioned by Labour might be in danger of falling down at any moment was highly commendable.

Restricting themselves merely to excising all mention of Labour from their coverage, the press admirably refused to somehow contort the issue into a shape that could be used to attack the SNP.

snpschools

They kept temptation at bay for a solid 24 hours before they cracked.

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All across the land 169

Posted on April 11, 2016 by

The Unionist parties are taking such a kicking in the polls for next month’s Holyrood election that you could forgive them for not always knowing where they were.

rdcarnoustie

The above tweet does indeed have the potential to be “astonishing”, given that (a) Ruth Davidson isn’t standing in Carnoustie, and (b) the 2011 result suggests that there are only around 700 Labour voters to find in the entire town behind the “1000s” of doors that 20 Tories have impressively managed to knock by teatime.

(Indeed, the area is so Labour-unfriendly that the Tories actually managed to come 2nd five years ago, getting over 50% more votes than the Labour candidate.)

But it’s not the only piece of geographical confusion afflicting the UK parties.

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One day we’d like to be surprised 331

Posted on April 10, 2016 by

Alert readers may recall that a few months ago the Scottish press got itself in a right old lather about a temporary closure of the Forth Road Bridge. The SNP were attacked relentlessly in the media for what a subsequent inquiry in fact found to have been an “unforeseeable” fault on the bridge which posed no risk to life. But fair enough.

forthcovers

This week, 17 schools in the Edinburgh area were closed down over fears that they might be unsafe after the wall of one of them fell off in high winds, two years after another wall in an Edinburgh school collapsed and killed a 12-year-old girl.

All 17 had been built under a controversial PFI scheme signed in 2001, when the UK government, Scottish Parliament and Edinburgh City Council were all controlled by Labour, and which isn’t due to be finally paid off for another 20 years.

You know where this is going, right?

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Call The Midwife 124

Posted on April 10, 2016 by

The Scottish press and opposition’s incandescent and somewhat vague fury at the Scottish Government working to bring billions of pounds in investment to Scotland has continued undiminished in this weekend’s newspapers. Scottish Labour in particular are getting themselves very worked up about today’s Sunday Times.

mcchina

“Incredible”? Sounds exciting. Let’s find out more.

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Under his hat 376

Posted on April 09, 2016 by

underhat

The final meltdown 338

Posted on April 08, 2016 by

Poor old Daily Record.

rechag

What a distance to fall.

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The panellist and the activist 357

Posted on April 06, 2016 by

Those of you who read our post of earlier today probably didn’t feel there was anything ambiguous going on in it. When Ruth Davidson intervened in an election debate to protest that the chair, the BBC’s Louise White, was being unfair to Nicola Sturgeon, it was pretty obvious who she meant, and White’s response removed any doubt.

Which makes this eye-witness account of the event, spotted by an alert reader this afternoon, odd in several ways.

panellist2

Let’s count them up.

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Hostile questioning 183

Posted on April 06, 2016 by

We were rather gobsmacked, readers, when we tuned into this morning’s BBC Radio Scotland phone-in at 9am. Ostensibly discussing the promotion of “Rangers” to the Premiership, presenter Louise White adopted the most astonishingly, openly partisan and aggressive approach we’ve ever heard from a host on the state broadcaster (which is no small feat), on the subject of whether the club was a new one or not.

louisewhite0

Callers were harangued, interrupted and hustled on for daring to suggest the truth. It was a jaw-dropping display of disregard for not only impartiality but basic journalistic regard for the plain, uncontestable facts of the matter.

But don’t panic, football-haters. This post is about something else.

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Surveying desire 265

Posted on April 05, 2016 by

Right then, we need to start sorting this out.

blackbooks1

And it needs doing in an orderly way.

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Kezia Dugdale Fact Check, Part 676 96

Posted on April 05, 2016 by

Kezia Dugdale, 7 March 2016:

dugcrap

Let’s just run that one through the ol’ Checkalizer 5000.

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April Fool Of The Year 2016 266

Posted on April 04, 2016 by

Goes to the BBC, for this cracker on Friday.

bbcapril

That is some arch satire right there, Auntie. Well done.

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