A close call
Posted on
March 18, 2015 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
The Daily Record, five days before the independence referendum:
The Times, earlier this month:
Phew! Thank goodness for that No vote, eh readers?
The environment must be really important to Labour, they’re even recycling their lies now.
DOH! (slaps forehead)
If only we’d known. 🙂
ahh… what he really means is that we’d be £2bn worse off if we’d voted yes.
I feel bad about voting yes now
O/T but this quote from Danny Alexander to Gordon Brown in 2010 was the truth after all ” The national debt sits at £1trillion, this cannot go on, we must get this down as the interest of £1 billion per week could be helping the vulnerable in our society”. Osbourne just announced this govt had cut it to only £1.5 trillion.
Probably another conspiracy..
link to atrueindependentscotland.com
That’ll be one of those conspiracy theories that Douglas Alexander was talking about then?
Let’s hope no one sees it on Facebook, especially any intelligent women. I mean democracy is under threat with this kind of informatin just blithely being put out there by crackpots like the Daily Record and The Times…
Jings, we better rush out and vote Labour to stop the Tories getting in. That Ed Miliband sure is good at getting things right before voting.
I am sure that there will be a number of disasters ready to befall Scotland if the Tories get in and Ed will make sure to warn us over the coming days.
Such a nice, considerate and caring man, wanting to look after Scotlands interests.
Dobber
He didn’t say only a yes vote.
Seriously, if anyone ever tells me they voted ‘No’, I think I will have a mental breakdown.
Thats the Daily record who had “HIS VOW” headline this week following the infamouse “THE VOW”
Appreciated the Wings App buzzing on phone to let me know a new item had been posted there..the F5 key will be pleased.
That’s really the trouble with Labour isn’t it? They say one thing in public and then they say the complete opposite thing in public!
They keep publicly saying things that are opposite to what they said in public. It is a conspiracy; the politicians are the crackpots and everyone else gets the blame for their getting found out that they are lying cunning spinmerchants.
Vote SNP – Get Shot Of Labour (Accounting Branch in Scotland, especially that wee nyaff Alexander)
World champion con artists these unionists.
I’m getting to the point of thinking that Labour just pull a figure out of thin air and hope that it sticks.
The BMI have taken to asking the main parties to stop using the NHS as a political weapon. Have they listened? Have they tried?
Career politics Ed, Dave and Nick … shame on you all.
O/T
Just me being cynical or are the following costs likely to be passed on to the customers of the Bank’s through rises in existing charges or new fabricated charges?
“The chancellor wants banks to make ‘a bigger contribution to the repair of our public finances’. So, with the financial sector now recovering, the rate of the bank levy is being raised to 0.21%, raising an additional £900m a year. Banks will also be stopped from deducting from corporation tax the compensation they make to customers for products they have been mis-sold, like PPI insurance. “The banks got support going into the crisis; now they must support the whole country as we recover from the crisis,” Mr Osborne says.
Just another one plucked from Labours ‘The lies that will not die’ campaign handbook.
The Hard copy Daily Record is at its foaming at the mouth best today, 3 pages including front page re the councillors who burned a bit of paper. A cursory 2″x1″ paragraph about Coburn alleged apology to Humza.
You know what is amazing is that this muppet is still in with a chance to be PM ,its like watching a slow motion car crash ,they are so messed up as a party void of any ideas and only have pathetic scare stories left,so ED you halfwit if you stick to the tory budget plans and austerity policy that you have said you will be even tougher on does that mean voting for you lot will cost us 2billion for the NHS.
Me i will be voting SNP just for the fun of it 😉
Ed Miliband has his hand firmly on the pulse of working* class voters as he tours the council estates of Primrose Hill.
* Non working people need not apply, speak or quibble.
bob, check out Derek Bateman’s skewering of this crap from the Record:
link to derekbateman.co.uk
The pronouncements of labour and the tories on what is or what will be good for Scotland are made on the assumption that the Scottish electorate are as thick as mince and have dysfunctional memories.
When did nurse become the recognised currency for its savings?
But, how many nurses equals a doctor? Or an MP? Or a Rev?
Articles like this get right to the heart of Labour’s problem – they are habitual liars.
You can almost understand why Labour in Scotland are in such a state of panic they will say and do anything as they sink beneath the waves. You can’t quite say the same for Milliband and Labour in England – they are not dying, they are in with a shout of doing reasonably well. So what’s Milliband’s excuse for dishonesty? It really does seem to have infected the whole rotten party.
What a shame Milliband isn’t a Scottish MP. If he was, he could be given his joggers like the other 30-40 who are for the chop.
@joemcg
“World champion con artists these unionists”
Dont think so Joe if they were “World Champions” I am positive that they would come up with much better than this pish! 😉
(Dream sequence)
AGGIE
(a whip-smart reporter played by, oh, let’s say
Julianne Moore)
So, Mr Miliband, this £1 billion Tory cut to the NHS in Scotland. Will you work with the SNP and other progressive parties in Westminster to vote this down?
RED ED
(for it is he)
Er… I…
(JIM MURPHY narrows his eyes and snarls.)
Um… eh…
(JOHN McTERNAN makes slashing motions across his throat and mouths “I’ll ram a fuckin’ bacon sandwich up yer arse if I hear one more um fuckin’ eh!”)
Ah…
I’ve got two kitchens, you know.
McTERNAN slaps his forehead in exasperation. MURPHY draws his lips back to expose fangs.
@Dr Ew
That’s what comes of eating cheese before bedtime. Try a mug of Horlicks (other warm milky beverages available)
galamcennalath, aye in May we can say “jog on!” to the Slab troughers. 🙂
Scotland is £10Billions worse of because it voted NO. Vote NO you get nothing. Even with over £1Billion more spent on SHS by the Scottish Gov.
The Pathetic Daily Record loses £thousands and even more readers. 5.1Million non readers.
link to bbc.co.uk
“Northern Ireland’s two biggest unionist parties have agreed a general election pact in four constituencies, including the UK’s most tightly contested seat.
The deal between the Democratic Unionist Party and Ulster Unionist Party means there will be a single candidate from the two parties.
The DUP will step aside in Fermanagh and South Tyrone and Newry and Armagh.
The UUP will step aside in East Belfast and North Belfast. Sinn Féin has now called on the SDLP to form a pact.
However, the SDLP told BBC NI’s Good Morning Ulster that it was against the idea, calling the unionist move “a sectarian carve-up”.”
Looks like David Cameron has sent word to Peter Robinson
to get the Unionist parties in NI together
in preparation to be called upon by the Tories
in the event of a hung Parliament.
the NI Unionist parties together
Couldn’t make it up……
Looks like David Cameron has sent word to Peter Robinson
to get the Unionist parties in NI together
in preparation to be called upon by the Tories
in the event of a hung Parliament.
That’s better.
Bateman Brilliant
Frankly, (Mr. Shankly) I don’t know about anyone else, but i am now of the opinion i’d just rather the corrupt Tories got back in power for two main reasons:
1) in the long run, i believe this would hasten the inevitable arrival of an independent or home rule scotland. i don’t want this to drag on and on interminably over another 20-50 years
2) In the immediate short term, when i look at the horse trading required for Labour to get a working majority, I don’t believe it would be in the SNP’s long-term interests and goals to dirty their hands with the westminster two-indivisible-horse system as it stands. Currently, as the polls stand, Labour would even need the ‘support’ of an other bloc other than the SNP.
So i have come to the conclusion that it is all really just political posturing that is going on.
Now please shoot me down. It’s a slow afternoon and I’ve the soup to make. When any semblance of truth goes out the window i’m past caring. They’re both the same. Could the SNP make a difference within Westminster. I think not. Don’t dance with the devil.
[…] A close call […]
Labour speak with forked tounge .
Yer Fcuked with YES , and even more Fcucked with No vote , simples !
Was alerted to the NI carve-up by a friend. Think you’re anaylsis is spot-on, manandboy – expect thorough coverage and incisive questioning by our dogged Fourth Estate.
Sorry, that should have read DOG-EARED Fourth Estate…
K1 @
“That’s really the trouble with Labour isn’t it? They say one thing in public and then they say the complete opposite thing in public!”
Hopefully we will be spared Labour MP`s in Scotland come May, imagine the fankle they and Better Together would get into if there was a referendum on the EU. Birlin` like peeries.
It’s all like the internet isn’t part of Labour’s thinking!
Labour in Scotland have been exposed to a politically engaged, internet saavy, often youthful, ever inquiring and challenging, population. Labour have not responded well to this massive shift in where power lies and this change in the way politics are conducted. As is often said, Labour has been left behind by its natural supporters.
Conservatives, such as there are, in Scotland draw support from a small group who are outwith that described above.
Conservatives in England are lucky because most of the electorate down south haven’t woken up yet! Both they, and Labour in England, are in for a rough time when that happens.
Put another way, they both use 20thC tactics in 21stC politics. Only in Scotland, has there been a change among voters, so far!
I’m sure when he realises the honest mistake he made back in September he will apologise to the Scottish people for inadvertently misleading us all.
paul gerald mccormack
I’m now thinking that the SNP need to leave that bone alone. Think they’ve made the point about their potential influence and called enough of labour’s bluff. Think joe public may get fed up if it carries on.
I also agree about the dangers of ‘dancing with the devil’ as you put it.
A new pound coin was announced today.
It bears symbols of the 4 constituent parts of the UK,
a rose, a leek, a thistle, and a shamrock leaf.
The Treasury are not taking Scotland’s forthcoming
Independence too seriously then.
Forward planning for future disappointment.
Sounds right for the UK Treasury.
Vote SNP
Graeme Doig says:
18 March, 2015 at 3:30 pm
Graeme
Do you really think that it is the SNP who are highlighting their potential success?
It is the MSM, English Newspapers and the Tory Party. I have not heard it raised once by SNP politician.
@ Ken500 says:
Bateman Brilliant
I can’t improve on that.
Though not quite the same, there was always Cameron’s wee speech from one of the oil rigs back in February 2014, when he stated that ‘North Sea oil is better off with the broad shoulders of the UK being able to stand behind it, because you never know whether the oil price is going to be over 100 dollars or, as it is today, around 50 dollars’.
link to archive.today
Actually looking back at that statement …how very strange that Cameron literally prophesised the collapse of the oil price, and literally down to its exact lowest price.
However …after the GE …we’ll see if the ‘broad shoulders’ will come into play when the (expected) redundancies begin to take place.
Miliband’s lies need to be spread far and wide on social media and Facebook as it absolutely nails the sickening hypocrisy of the Red Tories.
If Miliband gets into power we will need SNP MPs to stop Labour continuing their ‘market reforms’ and creeping privatisation of the NHS just as much as the tories.
The scottish public can’t trust Miliband or Cameron with our NHS, that much is obvious.
O/T
Much as I despise the Tories, I cannot for the life of me, think of any time when the Tory party have been so moronic as to publicly declare they do not represent people on benefits. Of course the policies they have introduced, have utterly destroyed the lives of people claiming their rightful benefits, but at least they notionally represent all voters (albeit very badly).
It truly is the final nail in the Labour coffin when Rachel Reeves in a Labour friendly newspaper, chooses to declare that Labour do not represent those out of work or on benefits.
I really thought I had seen it all with Labour, but this latest abandonment of people is just beyond compare. I know a person who worked for 32 years, not missing a day, paid their taxes and all, yet has fallen on hard times due to ill health. Labour have now said publicly they do not represent him, and, even worse, do not want to be seen to represent him.
Still their seem to be dummies who think Labour will stand up for them. They won’t.
More and more I have come to the conclusion that everyone should have to sit some form of test before being allowed to vote. Certainly there should have been people who were disbarred from it in the Referendum. I admit they were not helped but our wonderful investigative 4th Estate, perhaps it was they that should have had to pass a test.
A bit of investigation as per the Reverend would have meant we won the Referendum.
Paul
There’s a scientific basis for the “thought reform” pumped out continuously by the MSM. 😉
link to amazon.com
Manandboy I see that the new pound coin resembles a threepenny piece, I expect it has the same value.
@JLT,
Aye, and there’s been a distinct increase in chopper flights heading back and forth since September, like the taxi service at Aiberdeen Airport.
Wagons packed with supplies chawing up the roads.
Nae bad for a country wi nae ile eh?
Funny that.
Classic question at PMQ’s by “Scottish” Labour MP about the Smith report. Cameron gleefully lapped it up, as expected. “Scottish” Labour have no shame.
PS. Sorry, Rev, about my cat comment yesterday.
Much as keeping your hands clean sounds like a good idea it’s not going to work. Another Tory government that the SNP could have prevented is simply going to lose them votes in the future. If the SNP have over 50 seats then for them to not even attempt to use them is going to persuade many ex-labour or lib dem voters to go back, including me.
Oops! My mistake. Wrong version. That one I posted is Jan 2015 (grrr! I do apologise Prime Minister!).
Here’s the original where Cameron states,‘It’s more important than ever that the North Sea oil and gas industry has the backing of the whole of the United Kingdom, it has the deep pockets and the broad shoulders of the UK economy to make sure there are the tax allowances, the solidity, the investment, to make sure we can go on benefiting from this for many years to come’
Personally, with that statement, he is implying that no matter what, the UK can take a hit with any fluctuations with the oil prices. Well, as we all know, that hasn’t quite happened, and there is still talk of redundancies and the ending of investment in some fields. This was one of the key battlegrounds in the Referendum debate, and the Unionists talked about the safety of the oil industry in their hands.
Well …it hasn’t been handled too great in those last 6 odd months.
link to archive.today
No matter how, many times, I check. I still can’t find the buttons on the back of my head, that these chancers obviously think I have.
Hope wee Dougie, their election strategist is reading this post, so he can finally twig that Scotland has access to the internet.
Painful as that may be, Dougie, suck it up.
Quite a balancing act is it not, trying to keep Labour at their current levels of support down South, in order to maximise the position of the SNP.They appear inept in major areas of policy, and do not inspire confidence that they can maintain public trust.The Conservatives seem to be doing most of their work for them.It may be us Wingers may have to climb on the Labour bandwagon at some point to keep them afloat ,at least in England.
God forbid.
Did anybody else hear Osborne using the Battle of Agincourt celebrations to have a snipe at the SNP during the budget? I titttered – cos this sort of anti-Scottish sneering will only alienate the “ProudScots but…”. Keep it up Georgey boy! He really doesn’t understand, does he? Here’s the link to the BBC take on it.
link to bbc.co.uk
Osbourne has only reduce the Oil tax that he increased in 2011 Budget. Having lost Scotland £4Billion a year – £16Billion. The Oil price has nearly halved but Osbourne has not lowered the tax regime accordingly to keep people’s jobs. Osbourne set out to try to ruin the Scottish economy.
The Exchequer get 25% of all pension funds cashed in. (5million?) Lowering tax on drink will increase social costs.
Just heard on the news, new royal baby due at the end of April.
Hip hip hooray, weeks of union bunting on ?7th May
Maybe a public holiday will be declared on ?7th May.
“A spiv is a flashy, slick operator who makes a living more from speculation or profiteering than from actual work.”
(Urban dictionary)
I have absolutely no wish to press old bruises,
far less to open old wounds,
some of which are apparently still bleeding.
But not so long ago, Scotland was given a masterclass
in how to acquire a struggling business,
and by less than transparent means,
strip out the remaining assets,
con it’s customer base
to part with large sums of money,
and then resign or retire or be fired,
to faraway places.
This all took place with the full co-operation of
a wide range of regulatory authorities
who had a vested interest in the business recovering.
Fast forward to the ConLibDem Coalition Gov 2010-2015.
Almost right away, they passed a law giving themselves
the full 5 years in power.
This ensured that their opportunity was maximised
for full extraction of asset value.
So the rich became immeasurably richer,
through transfer of funds, asset sales
and offshore tax avoidance.
It was like taking candy from a baby.
And the poor became immeasurably poorer
because what money they had
was taken from them
and given to the wealthy.
And now, with the end in sight,
it is time for the asset strippers
to tidy up a few remaining loose ends
and to walk away – leaving the business far worse off
than when they took over,
and, in addition, with far greater debt.
Naturally, the money men have a version of events
which exempts themselves completely of any blame,
while at the same time paints a rosy picture of the future.
So what of those who are left to carry the can.
Sadly, many of them believed the lies of the
asset strippers in the beginning,
and continue to do so now.
These will vote again at the AGM
(the GE) for the same people.
Cameron & Osborne are spivs.
To them, politics is simply a commercial enterprise;
an opportunity to remove vast sums of money
from the public purse,
to a private place of their choosing.
Clearly, there are still a lot of people in the UK,
including in Scotland, who just don’t get it.
Sadly, many of them are well educated.
Think, for a moment, about the net result
as being the desired result.
The net result of 5 years of Coalition Gov is
that the rich have got much richer,
and the poor have become much poorer.
In 2010, thinking of 2015, that was the desired result
of the Tory Spivs.
When Cameron & Osborne appear in secret
before the panel of City Financial Leaders,
they will be warmly applauded,
and congratulated on their success
in preventing banker prosecutions,
safeguarding tax havens,
giving the banks shed loads of money,
and adding to their already considerable wealth.
The poor may weep, but the rich will shed tears of joy.
Meanwhile, the unionist minded electorate
are preparing to do it all again.
Vote SNP – leave the UK Asylum.
@galamcennalath
So what do you think would wake up the English electorate?
I would have thought that the shrinkage of the middle (income) class begins to hit home.
link to londonmapper.org.uk
Poverty and Wealth in England and London 1980-2010 by Benjamin Hennig and Danny Dorling
Many people who live middle class lives now will not be so comfortably off if the trends in this report continue. I wonder how long it will take.
Hmmmmm… I wonder which one was a lie?
@ Orri
The SNP, as you know have never entertained the idea of being in power at WM. Support on an issue by issue basis to the Labour party is all they are prepared to consider.
The ginger hordes descending on London to rule England is nothing more than smoke and mirrors by WM and their media lackeys, the SNP will never vote for more austerity,, that does not mean that a Labour government could not get it through parliament, the blue Tories would of course support them.
The real concern in WM is the issues the SNP vote against, and the resultant lack of authority they will have in Scotland
@ Liz
Naw, the 8th!
It is, after all my birthday, so quite appropriate.
Dode Osbournes History knowledge is as good as his grasp of mathematics.How can you have a renegade force of Scottish nationalists in an independent country? Maybe he thinks we were under English control since year one.
@Orri. You would go back to Labour or the Lib Dems? You would go back to the swamp that you have just climbed out of?
bjsalba – a friend of mine who lives in London reckons the housing situation is so desperate there, it might push people too far. Prices are going up again and there are loads of empty properties held by speculators who don’t even bother letting them out. He was ranting about the need for a rent cap to stop private landlords fleecing the state and to burst the housing bubble, and a ban on foreign buyers. And this guy is a South African not known for left wing views.
@Ken500 says:
Lowering tax on drink will increase social costs.
Whisky duty down 2%.
A bit of payback to distillers who supported the NO campaign, including Famous Grouse owners – Edrington Group
I remember Glenfiddich producers, William Grant and Sons, donating £100k to Better Together.
Sorry, O/T… but in the same vein.
The Guardian rerunning Project Fear: How to write articles that hide the truth within and get the headline written to mis/disinform and smear the chosen subject.
Devious, misleading, opportunistic and quite deliberate misinformation from Severin Carrell, the Guardian and its headline writers.
The Times, not exactly known for its SNP-friendliness headlines the story: Sturgeon refuses to become the highest paid politician in Britain
Subheading: Nicola Sturgeon has turned down a rise in salary that would have made her the highest paid politician in Britain
And the Guardian…?: Nicola Sturgeon awarded higher salary than David Cameron
Subheading: Pay rise would give first minister Nicola Sturgeon biggest salary of any UK politician including prime minister and Boris Johnson
The Guardian: so far up their own middle-class metrocentric arses, thinking they are somehow above the levels of the tabloids, that they don’t realise they are swimming in the same rancid gutter as those they pretend to abhor, such as the Mail, Express and Record. Establishment to the core, corrupt, anti-democratic, anti-Scottish independence, anti-SNP and, basically just anti-Scottish.
Erm … excuse me here … but … I think … no that’s wrong … I know … I’m confused here. 😀
Is this a £1 Billion thing here or have I missed the use of the BBC calculator here and it is a £2 Billion thing? 😉
liz says:
Just heard on the news, new royal baby due at the end of April.
Hip hip hooray, weeks of union bunting on ?7th May
Maybe a public holiday will be declared on ?7th May.
Oh joy of @#%&*$£ joy … NOT!
That said perhaps, just perhaps, this might backfire on the unionist morons Cameron, Clegg and whatisname big time. I mean folks are so p****d off with the Three Amigos that this new *arrival* may just be the catalyst that is needed to push anyone still wavering about voting S.N.P. towards the end April over the *ahem* edge into full blown #@&* it “I’m voting S.N.P.” territory. 😀
Who knows perhaps thanks to whatsername we may all be sending her NOT congratulations on your new arrival cards but Thank You cards for helping *cough* deliver 59 S.N.P. MP’s to Westminster. 😛
@orri says:
Another Tory government that the SNP could have prevented is simply going to lose them votes in the future. If the SNP have over 50 seats then for them to not even attempt to use them is going to persuade many ex-labour or lib dem voters to go back, including me.
SNP would never make that mistake.
The big danger is that the Tories get in again with a clear majority – possibly with no seats in Scotland.
There is every chance this could happen.
The economy is starting to improve.
And UKIP voters are likely to go back to the Tories en-masse, to get an EU referendum.
Miliband hasn’t agreed to one, but he will possibly be forced to, making him look even weaker.
iz wrote:
“Just heard on the news, new royal baby due at the end of April.”
ffs, another silver-spooned parasite, splendid.
@ Panda.
Good to see you up and running again.
😉
Osbourne and his contacts benefit a lot more than from salaries and expenses. His brother-in-law and best man (Bank) made £Millions from the Royal Mail pension fund take-over. His father-in law is a consultant HS2. The White elephant train with no business case – no customer base – that will make train journeys to and through Scotland longer.
The rise in unemployment in Scotland is Oil sector related jobs. Thanks to conman Osbourne.
terry @ 5.00pm
I sincerely hope the £1 million cost of the commemoration of the Battle of Agincourt (1415) isn’t going to be paid out OUR taxes, a battle fought by the ENGLISH 3 centuries before the union, or we’ll be looking for the cost of celebrating The Declaration of Arbroath (1320) to be paid by Westminster!
Mind you I would expect we’ll need to fund that ourselves as we’ll be independent by then. 🙂
Whisky companies already evade tax. Cameron’s wife has made £Millions from tax evading Smythsons. Her step-father has a highland estate. Land is exempt from Inheritance tax in the UK.
Ha ha. The Red Tories have only got about five headlines. Maybe less than that.
Labour bingo anyone?
Roll the tombola Ed, see what comes out:
NHS, roll again, £1 billion, roll again,Tories = House.
Aw the noise comin’ up frae England,
an’ the groanin’ in their Press’n TV,
it’s just the wailin’ o’ their country tearin’,
an’ the greetin’ aboot whit’s tae be.
(It sings to the tune of ‘Freedom come all Ye’ by Hamish Henderson, which in turn, is ‘The Bloody Fields of Flanders)
Dal Riata at 5:49
No worries, it’s the usual devious comparison of apples and oranges.
FM’s salary is given after the proposed 0.9% (?) rise whereas Cameron’s is before his 11% increase.
@Liz: “Just heard on the news, new royal baby due at the end of April.”
That would mean she was only about 5 weeks pregnant when they announced it on 8th September, far earlier than the normal 12 week convention.
Wonder why they announced it so early? She wasn’t hospitalised this time so an engagement being cancelled due to morning sickness could easily be explained away with “stomach upset.” No, there must have been some other reason for them to announce a pregnancy during the high-risk 12 week period, 10 days before the Scottish referendum. Any ideas folks?
@ Stoker says:
18 March, 2015 at 6:12 pm
@ Panda.
Good to see you up and running again.
😉
It sometimes when I am getting up to blog that my legs are tied together and I am running from the back of the pack 30 minutes after the start.
It is just so lacking in immediacy.
Thanks again Stoker 🙂 !
Thanks Stoker.
O/T
Someone’s been busy whilst everyone’s been busy guessing about the budget
link to rt.com
The police state is getting even closer!
Sorry o/t.
When somebody asked a few threads back about putting posters on lamp posts to counter Labour lies such as “The biggest party” etc. I thought that I had heard something about this recently.
Sure enough when I asked around it seems that the use of street furniture as it’s apparently called was banned by most councils a couple of elections ago, because it was taking too long to remove them post-election.
This is not the case in East Dunbartonshire, but the other parties banned it’s use anyway. Probably because they can’t match the small army of SNP activists here. Fourteen hundred members the last time I heard.
They still can’t stop us putting posters in our windows though. 🙂
Further to my comment re. Lifton’s “Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of “Brainwashing” in China”, check out how many of the criteria SLabour/BBC tick. 🙂
Lifton outlines the “Eight Criteria for Thought Reform”:
1. Milieu Control (SNP BAD!)
2. Mystical Manipulation (Saint Murphy?)
3. Demand for Purity (SNP BAD and you’ll let the Tories in if you vote SNP)
4. Confession (Saint Murphy didn’t sniff clue, though everyone else did)
5. Sacred Science (Saint Murphy says SNP BAD)
6. Loading the Language (SNP are “Blood and Soil” nationalists, which is BAD)
7. Doctrine over person (Labour works for Scotland, which is Better Together, oh and SNP BAD)
8. Dispensing of existence (11 million scroungers and the SNP will not be saved, cause they’re BAD)
link to en.wikipedia.org
john king says:
“we’ll be looking for the cost of celebrating The Declaration of Arbroath (1320) to be paid by Westminster!”
Whit! I sincerely hope we have nothing to do with WM by 2020! 😉
john king says:
terry @ 5.00pm
I sincerely hope the £1 million cost of the commemoration of the Battle of Agincourt (1415) isn’t going to be paid out OUR taxes, a battle fought by the ENGLISH 3 centuries before the union, or we’ll be looking for the cost of celebrating The Declaration of Arbroath (1320) to be paid by Westminster!
Mind you I would expect we’ll need to fund that ourselves as we’ll be independent by then. 🙂
Well I’ll tell you this much for nowt I aint paying a bleeding penny towards the celebration and that’s for sure!
Signed
Arbroath 1320
😀
@orri
That’s not even a good try
‘Paisley’s Militant Tendency’ and a severe dig at the DR:
link to newsnet.scot
🙂
Lesley-Anne @7.08pm
I felt the hand of history on my shoulder just then,
and it felt reassuring. 🙂
Lollysmum says:
18 March, 2015 at 6:40 pm
O/T
Someone’s been busy whilst everyone’s been busy guessing about the budget
link to rt.com
The police state is getting even closer!
Posted on RT, thanks.
@omi
What do you mean? – “Another Tory government that the SNP could have prevented.”
How on earth could the SNP prevent a Tory government? As long as the Tories gain enough support in Westminster to form a government then that will happen. The Tories at the moment only have one MP in Scotland. It was with the help of Lib Dems in Scotland as well as elsewhere that they became the government. Scotland in 2010 voted mainly Labour and still we had a Tory government in the end. Did you not notice?
Your comment makes no sense at all and I suspect that you are sailing under false colours attempting to imply that you ” will go back “. I would guess that you never left.
By the way, Labour in Westminster found themselves voting with the Tories on various issues which is why they are shedding voters. If you haven’t been following that, then you are probably a Labour voter who never examines the voting record of your party at Westminster.
Agincourt was famous, of course, because it was a small force defeating a much larger force.
Osborne is an utter twit.
In the spirit of Agincourt, let’s see what a small force of SNP MPs can accomplish against a much larger enemy.
Um – just a wee note to folks, apart from stating the name e.g. “omi” could you also put the time of the comment? Makes life easier.
john king says:
Lesley-Anne @7.08pm
I felt the hand of history on my shoulder just then,
and it felt reassuring. 🙂
Doffs the oft doffed hat once more. 😉
@John H at 6:41.
FOI to NLC.
link to whatdotheyknow.com
Despite the CEO and a senior council member stating and being reported in the media that the decision to ban was due to a “substantial cost” to the council taxpayer for the removal of referendum material, NLC say in their FOI reply that no such costs are available.
Raises a number of questions.
1. What was the basis of the decision if there were no costs available and therefore could not possibly have been on cost grounds.
2. Do the managers not know on a day to day basis what their staff are doing – do they just get sent out in the morning in their vans with the instruction ” just do something until 4:30 then come back in and go home”
3. If no attempt was made to recoup costs from the offending organisations then NLC are showing poor stewardship of council tax money.
Our chance to replace local councillors will be coming up in 2017.
Can’t wait.
Appologies for going O/T here folks but it appears Wings has a *ahem* secret admirer in Westminster. 😉
link to twitter.com
Heard Dim Jim on EBC radio today and McFearnan or McDoodal has altered his “biggest party forms the government” shit. Forget now what was actually said as I wasn’t really listening, it was however a subtle change to the old tune.
Guess we got to thank you for that Rev, o and your bestest pal Kaye and the fairness and impartiality of EBC Scotlandshire.
@orri 4:18pm
Mmm certainly different, good luck, watch the motors!
Not sure I get the Agincourt reference. Scotland was independent in 1415 so we didn’t need to be nationalists. Also, I don’t think Scotland was involved in Agincourt. It was the aftermath of Agincourt when the whole of France looked like coming under Henry’s control that the Dauphin asked the Scots for assistance.
Agincourt. Let’s not forget whose side we were on in that particular war!
link to historic-uk.com
“Henry V’s victory at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 was one of England’s greatest military achievements … In desperation the French Dauphin turned to the Scots, England’s traditional enemy, for help. As always, anxious for a fight with the Auld Enemy, more than 12,000 Scots boarded ships bound for France. And they didn’t have to wait too long: in 1421 at the Battle of Bauge they defeated the English army, killing the Duke of Clarence. …. the military intervention of the Scots had bought valuable breathing space, and the delay ultimately saved France from English domination.”
SO … we all going to celebrate saving France from the English!?
Also, I remember reading somewhere that if the French has succeeded at Agincourt, we were ready to invade England.
How differently history might have turned out!
Margaret Curran has blocked me on Facebook. Her talking to the voters thing isn’t going too well. Think I might get her on Jeremy Kyle?
@ gerry parker 8.12pm.
I’m hoping the SNP will do well in the next council elections and gain a majority. Just now the others simply gang up and out vote them.
Sorry for going O/T but I’ve seen this photo and could not stop thinking about this. 😉
link to youtube.com
R-type Grunt says:
Margaret Curran has blocked me on Facebook. Her talking to the voters thing isn’t going too well. Think I might get her on Jeremy Kyle?
If she keeps this up R-Type she’ll have no *ahem* friends left by May 7th. D
NLC Salaries.
link to northlanarkshire.gov.uk
Sorry Mr Ed, call me reckless but, despite the 1billion cut for the NHS, the banks leaving, the supermarkets leaving, the Universities closing, the oil running out, us maybe not having a currency and definitely no pension to look forward to… I’m voting SNP.
Are your soldiers along the border yet?
Chrichton Torquil must be wondering how to sell Osborne’s spectacular England budget spin machine going on down here.
ITV, C4 and BBC especially want Cameron and Osborne for the win but what ever will Red Ed do after politics May 8? He cant pull a Crash Gordon and never go back to Westminster again after they booted out that maniac, can he?
Its not going to save the yellow tory boys of their Scotland land though. Danny Alexander gave so much for tory boy teamGB, so House of Lords with fellow Libdem liggers like Nicol Steven. Pip pip.
So Osborne wants to spend a million celebrating Agincourt! How pathetic. Let us remember that after Agincourt the French army, led by an eighteen year old girl called Joan of Arc, who turned the war from a feudal dynasty dispute into a war of national liberation, defeated the English.
I expect Ian Davidson will be incensed by this expensive celebration of English nationalism?
Incidentally, after being captured and put on trial by the English for “cross dressing”, she was burned at the stake but later made a saint by the Catholic church.
The Agincourt celebrations are going to be such fun!
More shíte in the Record about an ex SNP/Yes activist now blogger/writer for the Record being abused by ‘Cybernats’.
link to twitter.com
I followed his Twitter at the very end of the Ref, but seems he build up a reputation a lot of retweets/chats etc with McColm, Clegg etc then noted he went very quiet with regards the SNP being a Salmondite, gave up his membership, and is now writing.
He does not credit any abuse at all. Although, he does require a stronger back bone if he’s to be a journo. Now posted up a pic of him as a Yes activist to prove his point.
He has a point to an extent, I wish many of disgruntled Yes voters would keep their hands on their arse rather than ‘abuse’ people like him. It’s bad press and the Record will jump on anything to discredit the SNP. Their paper is rag, and I will never buy it, but none the less it’ll be more negative press tomorrow about us ‘cybernats’.
How come the Record or Mail haven’t gone hunting for the Britnats, and the likes of Maggie Vaughan who has a Twitter account, and a history of ugly language towards Yes/SNP with 1 minute of Googling you’ll know exactly who her other half.
The thing is this crap creates a story for the likes of Record. They know Labour are toiling, just like their paper is. There’s no way to self police the internet, but let’s get on with painting a positive vision of the SNP – it’ll give them absolutely nothing to write about, and will help us secure even more votes.
More shíte in the Record about an ex SNP/Yes activist now blogger/writer for the Record being abused by ‘Cybernats’.
link to twitter.com
I followed his Twitter at the very end of the Ref, but seems he build up a reputation a lot of retweets/chats etc with McColm, Clegg etc then noted he went very quiet with regards the SNP being a Salmondite, gave up his membership, and is now writing.
He does not credit any abuse at all. Although, he does require a stronger back bone if he’s to be a journo. Now posted up a pic of him as a Yes activist to prove his point.
He has a point to an extent, I wish many of disgruntled Yes voters would keep their hands on their arse rather than ‘abuse’ people like him. It’s bad press and the Record will jump on anything to discredit the SNP. Their paper is rag, and I will never buy it, but none the less it’ll be more negative press tomorrow about us ‘cybernats’.
How come the Record or Mail haven’t gone hunting for the Britnats, and the likes of Maggie Vaughan who has a Twitter account, and a history of ugly language towards Yes/SNP with 1 minute of Googling you’ll know exactly who her other half.
The thing is this crap creates a story for the likes of Record. They know Labour are toiling, just like their paper is. There’s no way to self police the internet, but let’s get on with painting a positive vision of the SNP – it’ll give them absolutely nothing to write about, and will help us secure even more votes.
@ John H. says
There is nothing to stop Yes / RIC putting up anti Labour posters in middle of the night just so long as the don’t say Vote SNP then council won’t be able to find out “who done it”
Never heard of Aidan Kerr so I am pretty certain I have never thrown any abuse his way. 🙂
@ orri and others concerned about the events of 1979 and the vote of no confidence which Labour continues to spin – you could read this Wings article which goes into much detail:
link to wingsoverscotland.com
A quick google brings up many interesting memoirs such as this Roy Hattersley one in the Guardian starring many luminaries of the era, “The Party’s Over”. (for anoraks).
link to archive.today
Thursday’s front page for the National;
link to twitter.com
Faltdubh says:
“There’s no way to self police the internet, but let’s get on with painting a positive vision of the SNP – it’ll give them absolutely nothing to write about, and will help us secure even more votes.”
Exactly.
From what I can see there is TEN times more anti-Scottish abuse out there, with the rise of the SNP.
Yet it won’t get reported, or if it does, it is in the context of paranoid, conspiracy-theory seeking cybernats who can’t take a joke.
Yet one moronic comment on twitter or whatever, sees all self-government supporters branded as a nasty mob.
It’s the same tactic they used in the referendum.
These people need to remember who runs the media.
Why shoot the mouth off and give them ammunition at this time?
It’s frustrating as hell.
Danny Alexander,
“Dead Man walking”
And did anyone else notice the amount of Daily Records that were on show in The House of Commons today?
Paisley North MP, Jim Sheridan, even picked it up and waved it about, because the headlines were about those bad Paisley SNP Councillors who burnt the Smith Commission.
@ Sinky 9.26pm.
Good idea Sinky. I’ll pass that on. 🙂 🙂
Fantastic Budget. I might have to start drinking again to see if I can save a few pence,
I wonder if this was Murphy’s idea. Another 16000 jobs in A&E
perhaps.
Thanks Marcia
That’s just the best front page for a budget day…ever!
I also see Wee Ginger Dug is in it tomorrow too…how fab is that!
How many times can BBC’s Scotland 2015 mention Agincourt?
K1,
Just the best front page ever!
Sorry for going O/T here folks but it appears that wee Georgie porgie really really DOES love us all here in Scotland … NOT! 😉
link to archive.today
@Joemcg says:18 March, 2015 at 1:21 pm:
“World champion con artists these unionists.”
Dinna be daft, Joemcg, champion con artists dinna ever get fund oot as con artists. Ainly failed con artists get fund oot.
;-))
Edward says:
How many times can BBC’s Scotland 2015 mention Agincourt?
They can never stop mentioning that amazing name in my view. 😉
Now remind me again folks WHO exactly were WE fighting in that battle? 😀
At this afternoon’s meeting of Opportunities In Retirement in Ayr’s News Review group, the members were asked to put down their voting intentions for the General Election.
These intentions will be monitored at each meeting between now and the GE, to see how things ebb and flow.
Today’s vote saw the “Don’t Know” party at the top, with a dead-heat for second place between the SNP and Labour, which surprised me: I thought a group of sixty-somethings in Ayr would have had more potential Tory voters, and fewer SNP supporters.
In reality, the SNP ought to have been joint leaders with the DKs, but, one definite SNP voter put himself down as favouring the Monster Raving Loony Party – just to see what the reaction would be.
I’m buying The National tomorrow.
That front page is going up on my window, right next to SNP poster.
Thankx Marcia.
🙂
Front page ofThe National,completely (f’ing) brilliant. Ha ha ha ha ha ha!
@Graeme Doig says: 18 March, 2015 at 3:30 pm:
I also agree about the dangers of ‘dancing with the devil’ as you put it.
Or, as we say in Scotland, “Ye muan tak a lang shankit spin tae sup kail wi auld clootie.
Owersettin intil the Inglis – “You must take a long handled spoon to sup soup with the devil.”
@capella @ 9.21
That Joan of Arc, wasn’t she a wee lassie in a tin helmet?
@manandboy says:18 March, 2015 at 3:31 pm:
“A new pound coin was announced today.
It bears symbols of the 4 constituent parts of the UK,
a rose, a leek, a thistle, and a shamrock leaf.
The Treasury are not taking Scotland’s forthcoming
Independence too seriously then.
Alternatively, manandboy, it could indicate the Treasury have reconsidered and agree to a future currency union.
Aye!
Richt!
Honestly no one from the SNP or pro-independence movement should have anything to do with the Daily Record. Turn your back on this unionist rag and walk away.
Re Cybernat abuse per DR: they appear to have missed this explanation/apology, which Rev Stu retweeted yesterday
link to swatchoscotland.blogspot.co.uk
@Helena Brown says:18 March, 2015 at 3:59 pm:
” … I admit they were not helped but our wonderful investigative 4th Estate, perhaps it was they that should have had to pass a test.”
Trouble is that the whole boorach of them are just different factions of, “The Establishment”. No matter what else they will thus unite against their common enemy and the current common enemy is the Scottish independence movement.
Have you not noticed the subtle change in the onslaught of recent weeks? Where as before it was only the SNP who were the cybrernats and thus, “The Establishment’s”, prime enemy, it has now become all Scotland they have drawn a bead upon with their sniping.
I assume this to be due to the opinion polls and the increased numbers of non-SNP Scottish voters claiming to be about to vote against Establishment candidates of every unionist party.
Both of these statements can’t be true! But the same man said both? Well, that only makes sense if….OH MY GOD!!! That means Ed Milliband has told lies to the public, and he’s done it deliberately!!! Does the BBC know? This will be a major scandal when people find out! I can’t see the press sitting on this, not when there’s a closely fought election campaign going on!!!
I’m just so happy to have added another name to myself
Along with..Insurgent..Separatist..Extremist..Ultra extremist
Ginger Rat..i’m sure i’ve left some out but i like todays one
Renegade..Makes me feel all oily with a motor bike and long hair…Totally does not describe me at all but if that’s what they fear…Hell..i’m a comin..with my BRO’S
@Gary 11.45. Ho Ho, fat chance
@everyone The National has had quite a number of good poster-style front pages lately – I hope you are all making sure that it is visible in you local newsagent(s)
@Helena Brown says: 18 March, 2015 at 4:03 pm:
“Manandboy I see that the new pound coin resembles a threepenny piece, I expect it has the same value.
Tell you what, Helena. When I finished my apprenticeship, (it wasn’t yesterday), I’d hand over my pay-packet to my mother and she’d extract, “a ten bob note”, (in old money), and hand it back to me.
That Ten Shillings kept me in fags, bought my morning paper, paid for admission to a Saturday football match and a couple of admissions to either a film or a couple of night’s dancing at the Fountainbridge Pallis de Dance each week.
Now what would that cost me now in today’s , “New Money”?
Sorry for O/T but someone has been busy today. 😉
link to twitter.com
@orri says: 18 March, 2015 at 4:18 pm:
“Much as keeping your hands clean sounds like a good idea it’s not going to work.”
Aye! orri, it is going to work.
For the very good reason the large SNP presence is not just there to subdue only the Blue Tory members of the Westminster Establishment, but to subdue the worst excess of ALL the Establishment parties.
Bear in mind that LibDems are but Yellow Tories with their brains bashed out who went along with Tory austerity measures. Labour to are but Red Tories with their brains bashed out who have publically pledged to actually outdo the promised Blue Tory austerity cut promises.
While the SNP have stated they will, under no circumstance, form any agreement to keep a Tory government in power they have never actually stated they will formally agreed a coalition with Labour. I can only guess, (but an educated guess), they will only deal with Labour in an informal manner on an item by item basis.
They have, after all, definitely pledged to hold ALL the VOW makers feet to the fire and that includes Labour’s wee bare tootsies.
@jimnarlene says:18 March, 2015 at 4:27 pm:
“No matter how, many times, I check. I still can’t find the buttons on the back of my head, that these chancers obviously think I have.”
Err! Have you checked for a zip?
Ah’ll get my jaikit!
@Joemcg says: 18 March, 2015 at 5:37 pm
” … Maybe he thinks we were under English control since year one.”
That, Joemcg, is exactly what Osborne, (and the entire Westminster Establishment), do believe.
Remember the words of the sole elected Tory from a Scots constituency who quoted from a Civil Service published paper during the run-up to the Referendum. He said this, “The Treaty of Union Extinguished the Kingdom of Scotland and renamed the Kingdom of England as the United Kingdom”.
Thing is the Treaty of Union said nothing of the sort and, in any case, was a bipartite agreement signed by only two kingdoms and the Kingdom of England of 1706/7 comprised also the annexed, (in 1284), Principality of Wales and the annexed, (in 1542), Kingdom of Ireland.
O.K. folks.
Any one who wanted a wooden SNP plaque can get one here. 😉
link to ebay.co.uk
Robert Peffers
@12.14 am
Ms Sturgeon has stated time and again that the SNP will not go into a coalition with Labour but will support them on a confidence and supply basis issue by issue. See for example her speech at the LSE and the Q&A session which followed. It is on Youtube
This has been the stated position for quite some time
O/T
“Did Britain have to invade Iraq? No, but if we had not, when the Mutual Defence Agreement came up for renewal in 2004 would John Bolton have recommended to President George Bush that Britain was worthy of another ten years of nuclear supplies “in light of our previous close co-operation”?
link to caltonjock.com
Hi Robert Peffers.
When I started work as a ‘bank apprentice’ in 1968, my monthly take home was £32 per month. (£480pa gross.)
My mum took half for ‘board and lodgings’. Of course, my weekend job as a ‘professional cyclist with responsibilities for food distribution’ (message laddie), which I kept on until Hogmanay 1968, allowed me to socialise in the manner to which I aspired.
Cadogan Enright says:
18 March, 2015 at 11:51 pm
The National has had quite a number of good poster-style front pages lately – I hope you are all making sure that it is visible in you local newsagent(s)
Yep.
My local supermarkets always have it at the back of the rack. I always make a point of grabbing a few and putting them to the front.
Usually over the Times or the Telegraph – something not so popular, so they are likely to remain there for a while.
O/T: Agincourt
“George Osborne told MPs that the battle showed a strong leader defeating “an ill-judged alliance between the champion of a united Europe and a renegade force of Scottish nationalists”. link to bbc.co.uk
There is so much about this that makes me furious, as a lover of Scottish history, that I can’t bear to comment further. Squalid ignorance for the sake of a cheap joke, George? This is how you will keep Scotland close? I think not.
@ Fiona
I left a comment for you last night at the fag end of the Rachel Reeves thread.
Bye
BtP Gone Tonto
Osbourne set out to try to ruin the Scottish economy, for spite. Increased Oil taxes 11% in 2011 (up to 80% a year) Budget losing Scotland £Billion a year – £16Billion. Now he has just reduced the tax to what it was before the increases, although the Oil price has halved. The tax should rise and fall in relationship to the price of Oil. A fund should have been created to stabilise the industry. Westminster gets away with murder.
Scotland still raises more taxes pro rata than the rest of the UK. £54Billion and could raise more revenues so the most vulnerable are not sanctioned and starved to death. The Scottish Gov has already put over a £Billion more into the SHS while Westminster has cut the NHS £2Billion a year (saving?) since 2011 – £8Billion. The Scottish Gov has mitigated the ‘room tax’ and put £34Million into welfare benefits to mitigate the £32Million cuts from Westminster. The SNP Gov can alleviate Westminster cuts. Scotland could save £Billion a year cutting Trident/illegal wars and £1Billion could be saved by a tax on ‘loss leading’ drink. Increased Oil revenues and increased investment in Renewables (EU Grants etc) would boost Scottish revenues and save on loan repayments. Scotland could be £10Billion better off.
The UK raises £466Billion in tax revenues. Scotland raises £54Billion. The rest of the UK raises £412Billion (borrows and spends £90Billion). Scotland gets £54Billion back £35Billion + £16Billion (UK ) Pension/Benefits and £3Billion Defence. Scotland could raise more revenues and create jobs, if it was Independent. Westminster policies holds Scotland back.
Helena Brown says @ 4.03pm
“I see that the new pound coin resembles a threepenny piece,”
Thrupenny bits Helena, we called them thrupenny bits and it still makes me snigger like it did when I was twelve, 😉
who said that?
I HEARD THAT. 🙁
______________________________________________________________
orri orri orri says @ 4.18pm
“Another Tory government that the SNP could have prevented is simply going to lose them votes in the future.”
What?
Like we (supposedly) did in 1979?
1st can I be cheeky and ask your age orri (serious question)
because if you we around in 1979 you would be aware that the Labour party brought themselves down without anyone else’s help, reference Callaghan “obituary”
exhibit 1
link to wingsoverscotland.com
exhibit2
link to theguardian.com
hear any bloodcurdling screams of SNP treachery there orri?
What about this
exhibit3
link to news.sky.com
That sounds a mite unfriendly to me pilgrim!
Now while the SNP have already forgone the comfort of Ministers limo’s and the street cred? snigger of a ministerial post,
So when Ed insists there will be no of those nasty nats in his government thank you very much, it sounds to me like,
“the lady doth protest too much… Why would you be so passionately denying something you weren’t accused of”
So what we appear to have is a potential “minority” government in waiting who with the supply and confidence” support Nicola Sturgeon has already committed to Eddie boy is going to spurn our help because its “the wrong type of help”
So you orri are going to jump right back into that murky deep water that Ed is treading?
well pilgrim you go right ahead just don’t expect to thrown a set of water wings.
Lets get this straight orri the Labour party are not our friends they aren’t now and wont be in the future, they caused their own demise (in Scotland) so shed no tears for them.
THEY’RE NOT WORTH IT.
I better stop now because I hear Paula Rose has been growing her nails and she cant half give you a nasty scratch.
____________________________________________________________
Stoker @ 6.09pm
Cumon Stoker we cant blame an (unborn) child for the family he/she is born into.
_____________________________________________________________
Clan Donald says @6.37pm
” No, there must have been some other reason for them to announce a pregnancy during the high-risk 12 week period, 10 days before the Scottish referendum. Any ideas folks?”
Eh… um…em…
naw I got nuthin.
____________________________________________________________
Agincourt .. was that the battle in which most French soldiers did not want to fight and simply surrendered only to be murdered by the English archers on the orders of the king. Or do I have the wrong battle.
John King, You can blame my Mother for that, she is the guilty party,made me speak proper. Hence me no using thrupenny bit.
Unionist journalists getting more hyper as general election approaches
telegraph
alan cochrane
“But, sadly, in that parallel universe currently inhabited by the Nats and their fact-blind supporters it seems that nothing dents either their poll-ratings or the fervour of their belief that only theirs is the true path.”
“They’re assuming the manifestations, not of a political party, but of a cult.”
Helena Brown and John King
Thrupenny bit, that is Danny Alexander?
Nothing seems to dent Alan Cochrane’s stupidity.
O/T re Agincourt, maybe the French could be persuaded to have an ‘Armed Forces’ ‘celebration’ at the same time?
OT – I hope the UKIPer’s read this, apparently the English share 40% DNA with the French…
link to archive.today
PS Stu the twitter link isn’t going to your feed..
So true Capella, Alan Cochrane is something else –
like an inmate who has slipped out
and found a newspaper owner from the same ward.
STV Scotland Tonight last night is worth watching. Bernard Ponsoby interviewed Danny Alexander, Ed Balls, Stewart Hosie and Ruth Davidson.
Ponsoby demonstrated why he is the top Scottish political journo at the moment. Not surpisingly,only Hosie did well.
Balls was asked repeatedly to commit to not cutting Scot Govt funding thereby quashing SNP campaign, but stuttered and waffled-big failure!
Can anyone imagine being in the same room
as Alan Cochrane of the Torygraph
and describing it as Better Together?
Independence – not without suffering.
Call “my backroom staff and me haven’t a scooby about politics” is on about The Budget
BBC RADIO SCOTLAND MORNING CALL
Call 0500 92 95 00. Text 80295.
Email morningcallscotland@bbc.co.uk
Perhaps Stu could try to get on.
A great article on Singapore in The National this morning as well as excellent analysis of the Budget from George Kerevan.
Cult has 2 main definitions,including
A person OR thing that is popular or fashionable to individuals or a group among sections of Society.
I suppose therefore I am a bit of a cultist. Unashamedly so.I am a Nationalist among the cult of Unionism.
@kininvie says:19 March, 2015 at 3:34 am:
“There is so much about this that makes me furious, as a lover of Scottish history, that I can’t bear to comment further. Squalid ignorance for the sake of a cheap joke, George? This is how you will keep Scotland close? I think not.
Then, kininvie, you will appreciate the several posts I’ve made on WoS on that and other practicle Scottish/British history. Which history tends to not only be written by the victors of conflicts but also by academics not too well versed in the practicalities of real life.
They tend to miss some quite obvious real life situations. For example the obvious fact that when south Britain was covered by, “The Wild Wood”, and North Britain by, “The Great Caledonian Forrest”, the main superhighways of the day were the seas and waterways. So we were taught that the aboriginal Britons came across the imagined land bridge the old historians though existed where the English Channel is now.
In actual fact more recent discovery shows the people came from what we now call, “Doggerland”, that was flooded when the rocky ridge, (across what is now the North Sea)fractured and allowed the cold polar waters to flood Doggerland. The English Channel was a deep existing channel and was no land bridge. It was, though, narrow so probably did also have cross-channel traffic.
The stone age digs at Howick in Northumberland not only explode the Channel land bridge myth but also the one that stone age Britons were all Hunter/Gatherers. The idea of the Scots originating in Ireland has also been trashed as artefacts on Scottish islands and costal mainland predate those from Ireland. This indicates that as the water was the highway and the land impenetrable forest the Scots were a tribe that inhabited the costal areas on both sides of the Irish Sea.
Just yesterday I heard a report on BBC Scotland that reported that new genetic discoveries prove the Scottish Northern Islanders are not, as so often claimed, genetically Vikings but just like the rest of Britain descendants of the Stone Age Britons.
This is not new but something I’ve long ago posted on this site. The same report also makes claims that the Celts are not mainly genetically Celtic. Something I’ve also been posting here for quite some time and did so just a few days ago before the BBC, “News”.
The fact is that since the Romans formed the first known South British Establishment there has indeed been a ruling elite class in Britain and the common British people have more or less continued genetically as descendants of the aboriginal Britons while those succeeding ruling elites have always tended to interbreed among themselves and still do.
Thus the truth is the Celts are not really Celts but simply adopted Celtic culture while the South Britons were adopting Roman then the several flavours of Viking/Norseman/Norman culture. Our differences are thus cultural not genetic but the elite ruling classes of the succeeding Establishments have remained the same Royal/Aristocracy class even today. For example George Osborne is the Heir Apparent to two ancient Irish Baronetcies, (known in Ireland as, “The Ascendancy”).
Shakespeare wrote a play about Agincourt called Henry V starring Sir Laurence Olivier where the English king searches through contracts to prove that he actually owns France (Norman of course) and then marries the French princess called – wait for it – Kate.
The Olivier film was made in 1945 to boost morale during the war. We can expect much morale building this year although union jacks would be out of place.
@ Caroline Corfield good point. A French fly past would be appropriate.
“Thrupenny bit, that is Danny Alexander?”
Snigger
Eh don’t blame me Helena,
er.. Gone Tonto made me do it. 🙂
john king wrote:
“Cumon Stoker we cant blame an (unborn) child for the family he/she is born into.”
Who’s blaming anybody for anything, john.
It is what it is, another silver-spooned parasite.
Anyway, try telling that to Scotland’s poverty stricken families.
😉
Postscript to my last post.
Anyone any ideas on a suitable cultist robe?
House of Lords have red cloaks and ermine
Masons have the sash and gloves
Orange Order have Mr Benn outfits.((complete with sash and gloves)
Seems like a unionist thing dressing up. Think I will leave it alone.
Next year they will be able to celebrate 950 years since they were sucessfully invaded, trounced and taken over by the Norman French.
I do hope that the Scottish Goverment are very vocal in demanding Barnett consequentials for that million quid.
@ Bob Mack.
Aye, and some of them even wear white robes.
link to archive.today
Re: Alan Cochrane. Do you think he reads Wings? Do you think my post about Lifton’s analysis of totalitarian regimes and cults, may have been a close call?
@ Alan Cochrane
Please stop poaching my ideas.
@ Gone Tonto put the cork back in the bottle you Indians urna allowed Fire Watter or in your case ( Rid Biddy )winky thing.
Bella having a go at billionaires next. When did they ever do anyone any harm!
link to bellacaledonia.org.uk
re: Cochrane
I have seen a recurring theme now from Unionist posters, not least the prolific Tellen, that we are no longer a political movement but some sort of all pervasive, one party state, cult.
Seven weeks to go and the polls if anything firming towards the SNP seems to be generating a fair degree of discomfit. However, none of it is their fault…apparently. It is all the bad SNP’s fault that and the stupid voters who no are no longer prepared to swallow their pish without question.
Alan Cochrane is a Cult..although I suspect I’ve got the wrong consonant in there somewhere
@ Alan Cochrane
You’ve pinched my M-theory gag, as well. 🙁
Form a orderly que Tickets are on sale to see the Eclipse, the bastards would fit a air intake meter on us if the could get away wie it.
Just ordered my copy of:
‘The Dream Shall Never Die: 100 Days That Changed Scotland Forever.
Will pick it up later,should be very interesting.
I also got one of those messges from facebook this morning you know the do you know such and such and a familiar name appeared?
It said Do you know Will Podmore do you think its oor wee troll!
🙂
Bob – smashing post for those of us interested in history. I have always understood that it was not all “Scots” who were descended from the “Celts” of Ireland but that the Scotti were originally a tribe in the northern part of Ireland who mostly moved to the west of Scotland and through time mixed with the Picts and the other ancients in this northern part of the island of Britain (first called Vrettanikos by the Greek geographer Pythias I believe then latinized to Brittania) Interested to read your comments!
Ed Balls the tory labour would be chancer
link to politics.co.uk
Maggie,s Marble Overcoat £££££
Agincounrt re-enactment £££££
Whits next the Smell of Burnings Scone,s,noo who wiz that manny ?,an the next question is were the Scone,s levened or unlevened.
Ok ave screwed the lid doon ( thats the jam jar lid) ah heard the cheering in the background, I,ll be aboot fur a while yit.
A couple of links for those who may have missed them…
link to thescottishindependent.com
link to snp.org
Ronnie@10.13am
the bastards would fit a air intake meter on us if the could get away wie it.
Absolutely spot on 🙂
John King
When I was fifteen and somebody told me Sadie McGuire had a fine pair of thruppenies I thought she had sixpence.
More seriously this budget is failing. It is flailing about and is obviously designed to encourage the core Tory vote of which there is not a lot in Scotland.
I’ma away into town now to see if I can get a penny of my pint yet
Number three daughter and I are off to the Alex Salmond book launch this evening. You’re 100% correct Alex. The Dream will never Die. Thus far the dream has encompassed my grandparents, my parents (who signed the National Covenant), me, my children and now my grand children.
Soon the dream will be realised.
O/T
link to blog.foe-scotland.org.uk
@Capella says:19 March, 2015 at 8:27 am:
“Nothing seems to dent Alan Cochrane’s stupidity.”
Well, Capella, as my wise auld Granny would have put it, “Ye canna mak a silk purse frae an auld soos lug”.
Granny knew a thing or twenty two.
Still stand by what I said. If the SNP have the seats and can support a Labour government over a Conservative then any prissy keeping your hands clean crap is not going to wash. Not is any appearance of being willing to have the electorate of Scotland suffer under another Conservative term for future advantage. The reason I, and a lot of ex-Labour supporters, are voting SNP this time is because we believe they have a chance at election.
I was just short of voting age in 1979. I doubt anyone knew just how bad Thatcher was going to be. However that doesn’t mean the SNP were wrong to withdraw support from a Labour administration that had completely lost control and seemed determined to cling on to their Scottish stronghold. The bullshit about SNP having to back Labour at all costs is just that. If anything the SNP showed more integrity then than anything else. The Labour government were a dead man walking and the SNP just helped put them out of their misery.
What I take exception to is the idea that, if I understand it, even if the SNP have the seats needed to oppose a second term for Cameron and his cronies that’s somehow preferable to working with Labour if at all possible. I’m willing to give the SNP my vote this time. If they don’t make a reasonable attempt to deal with a Labour party that’s had it’s head handed to it in Scotland and in doing so allow a second term for that shower then I’ll not do so again. Especially given that there’s no guarantee that the FPTP electoral system will ever be used again in Scotland if not the UK as a whole at a GE. It’s already on the radar. One of the ideas being touted, how seriously is anyone’s guess, is a grand coalition to introduce that change.
So with all due respect the SNP not using what might be the one chance it gets before Labour get themselves sorted isn’t going to impress. And reminders of what happened to the last Labour Government that shat on the SNP might not have the effect that those punting them have in mind. It’s certainly doing nothing to stop the current popularity of the SNP in Scotland who if they wanted to vote Labour would do so. It’s not going to stop those in England and Wales voting Conservative or Labour. The only effect is going to be as a reminder to Labour of what will happen if instead of a bunch of red rosette wearing monkeys from Scotland they have to govern with the support of a party that won’t simply way yes in return for the occasional banana.
I assume Salmond’s Referendum memoirs will be on Edinburgh bookshelves today too – though his signing session is in Glasgow!
Must get a copy so I can dump Torrance’s ramblings in the bin.
Grouse Beater says:@11.08
Yes it is indeed out today i have ordered my copy for collection from Waterstones at Cameron Toll.
Happy days
🙂
@ orri (11:07 am)
What I take exception to is the idea that, if I understand it, even if the SNP have the seats needed to oppose a second term for Cameron and his cronies that’s somehow preferable to working with Labour if at all possible.
I have no idea what this means. Can you rephrase it, please?
@Croompenstein says:19 March, 2015 at 8:38 am:
“OT – I hope the UKIPer’s read this, apparently the English share 40% DNA with the French…
link to archive.today
This is not a new finding, Croompenstein. I also wonder what the U-Kippers would make of the scientific truth of just how much genetics we share with the apes and monkeys? There has been so much stupid media hype about genetics it is obvious most of them have as little knowledge of sciences as they have of our real history.
Here’s an actual genetic fact for them. When the Stone-Age site at Howick, (in Northumberland), was first being worked several things were revealed that shot down long held academic beliefs. One being that the stone-age Britons came across a land bridge at the English/French Channel. North Sea oil & gas survey work had already shown the land-bridge was around the corner at the Dogger Bank and stone-age tools had been recovered there and carbon dated.
The now undersea Doggerland is just 25 miles from Howick. A strange find in Inverness during building work turned up a thin layer of white sand that also dated to the same stone-age period. It indicated there had been a brief period of sea flooding at Inverness and this linked to a known breach of the rocky ridge that had once held back the cold waters of the polar seas.
Two and two plus one made five and the truth that the low lying Doggerland had been well populated but the polar waters had come in and the inhabitants had moved to higher ground … in Britain. Furthermore they were not just Hunter-Gatherers for the Howick site showed several layers of former human habitation. Hunter-Gatherers had co-existed with Britain’s first stone-age farmers.
Now here comes the startlingly true facts of the real original British descent – The Scientists did genetic tests around the area of Howick and discovered a woman living within a few miles of the dig who was a direct genetic descendant of people’s remains recovered from the Howick dig. That woman’s family had been living almost within sight of where her family had arrived in Britain when the North Sea was being formed.
Something like 80%-90% of Britons are actually descended from those ancient Britons. If anyone had lived here before the Ice-Ages we will never know as the Ice-Agers wiped out any chance of ever finding out. Thus the aboriginal Britons came from the main European continent via the land-link that was Doggerland.
Futhermore, we Britons mainly share the same genetic past as there are actually less than 5% Anglo-Saxon genes in our Gene pool and those can mainly be traced back to the Viking, Norseman, Norman immigrants who came by invite to south Britain after the Romans left and these 5% mainly form the Royalty & Aristocracy who can trace their descent back to those original Norse immigrants some of them still sitting in the Lords.
The Celts are not really mainly Celtic and the Anglo-Saxons are not mainly Anglo-Saxon as, in both cases, the Britons north and south just adopted different cultures from the elite immigrant Establishment leaders who came to enslave them. Much like the African-American former slaves have done in the USA. Though in the USA both the slaves and their masters were immigrants.
@Fiona
I was responding to the post by
paul gerard mccormack
His first point was about how much more useful to the SNP another term of conservative rule would be
His second point was that he thought that the SNP shouldn’t get involved in the horse trading needed if current polls are right. In other words that we should simply let the conservative government stay.
Closing point said that he didn’t think SNP could make a difference at Westminster so shouldn’t even try.
All in all a defeatist piece of bullshit. A kind of best we don’t get power kind of thing. If that’s so then why bother voting SNP?
Ah, I see. Thanks for the explanation 🙂
Fiona
Left a comment for you away back at the fag end of the Rachel Reeve thread.
Damn this delay in posting
England’s claim to the French throne was due to their king marrying a French princess and asserting that the offspring of that marriage were the rightful heirs to France, whatever the marriage contract terms. The problem was Salic Law which prohibited female descent to that throne. Hence the vast expence and loss of human life of the Hundred Years War which England lost big time and most of her French territories into the bargain. Scotland supported France, as per its treaty obligations, suffered heavy losses, and came out on the winning side. For Osborne to be bragging about Agincourt is a bit like the Yanks bragging about their victories in Viet Nam, ignoring the fact that they were booted out.
If there were any “renegades” in the Hundred Years War it was the English, whose kings were due homage to the French crown, their feudal superiors for their posessions in France.
@Bill McLean says: 19 March, 2015 at 10:25 am:
” Bob – smashing post for those of us interested in history.”
Thanks, Bill but much of the stuff I post can often come before things get out into the public domain and I’ll explain just how that came about. I run a wee motor home and until fairly recently used to take my wee Papillon bitch around homes, hospitals and hospices as a befriender. On one such outing I was driving round the Dollar Bends when the wee dog cried to get out for a pee. There’s a nice layby there and the old railway has been made into a wide path as a public amenity so I pulled in walked the dog and decided to have a lunch break and then a longer walk.
It turned into quite a long walk alongside the River Devon. I sat down for a rest and saw a group of people working across the way a bit. It turned out to be an archaeological group investigating the Roman Gask Road and Gask Ridge Roman remains. Being me we soon got talking and I had my fairly good history knowledge updated somewhat.
I still keep contact with some group members and so get lots of really good information of the cutting edge research going on. Furthermore, it got me using the internet to keep up with more recent discovery of history around the United Kingdom.
The Gask ridge itself is a fascinating subject and highlights lots of Roman facts. For example, unlike most other Roman sites there are no discovered Roman graveyards. Yet in Roman times there was a fair number of Roman troop deaths, it wasn’t really a safe job. Yet there are no Roman graveyards along the whole Gask Ridge. The speculation is that the troops were not really living on site but were marched in and out doing a stint before returning to a more permanent base.
It also highlights that these once thought of as defences were more to prevent smuggling than to defend the south from attack by the north. After all what had the Northern Britons to gain by attacks upon the Romans or the Britons south of the Gask Road or Antonine wall? The Romans were in Britain for metals and other spoils including slaves. They also collected tax revenues such as customs and excise.
Thanks again Bob for that interesting insight. Would like something of your view on “Scotti”/”Celts”/Picts and other ancients of Scotland? Are we likely to be turfed out by the Rev?
orri @11:07 am
“Still stand by what I said. If the SNP have the seats and can support a Labour government over a Conservative then any prissy keeping your hands clean crap is not going to wash. Not is any appearance of being willing to have the electorate of Scotland suffer under another Conservative term for future advantage. The reason I, and a lot of ex-Labour supporters, are voting SNP this time is because we believe they have a chance at election”
I would be more worried about Labour letting the Tories govern again.
I think there is another reason that Labour are drumming in the lie that ‘only the largest party gets to form a government’
It depends on the seat difference.
If the Tories end up only a handful of seats ahead, then Labour will pretty much have to make a deal with the SNP if it holds the balance of power.
But say the Tories end up 25 seats ahead, and the SNP have 30 seats.
Labour could be preparing the ground for saying that the Tories have the ‘moral’ right to govern.
There are plenty of Labour politicians who would rather see another Tory government, instead of making concessions to Scotland.
just to say again that if we do anything to put Labour into government I’ll never vote SNP again.
test
Don’t know where to put this really, but there have been several threads where the debt and deficit have been discussed. Today I came across this really excellent presentation from Steve Keen and it explains the subject clearly. If anyone is interested I urge you to watch it, because it shows why you will be in more debt if the policy of balanced or surplus government budgets is pursued. It is really important, I think
link to thosebigwords.forumcommunity.net