And finally… #23
Posted on
February 27, 2013 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Better Together leaked posters #11: a special message from Ian Davidson.
(Mole at BT HQ: "Free Scotland".)
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Excellent!
He means YOU, U KOK
Wow, he’s obviously made a bit more effort with his appearance than usual.
Brilliant.
What about one with McGlashan saying “I couldnae get by withoot hivin the Bastartin Inglish tae blame so Ah’m votin Naw!”?
Let’s pre-empt the usual inverse stereotyping propaganda.
I don’t get this “McGlashan” thing. The only context I have for that name is that it is Moira Salmond’s maiden name.
@Morag
He was a character in a Scottish comedy series,the name of which I forget, but I remember McGlashan and it always amuses me that Alex’s wife’s maiden name is McGlashan. There was also a running skit called Stoneybridge and they had a totally mad “toon cooncil” run by a woman called Maigrit. Most amusing.
@ Morag
He was a character from “Absolutely”, I think. Everything was the fault of the English, who were invented by the Scots. Someone posted a link to a youtube clip of him the other day.
@Morag
The series was called “Absolutely”.
Yes, I forget how tempus fugits.
He was an outrageous Scottish nationalist stereotype who was used to subtly put ordinary decent Scots with no anti-English feelings (beyond normal banter and rivalry) off the idea of independence.
He was even resurrected before one election on a so called ‘pilot’ show on the other channel (only two main channels in those days). Of course there never was a new series.
Used to make my blood boil.
‘Absolutely’ is a forgotten gem of TV comedy. Moray Hunter and Jack Docherty – whatever happened to him? – at their peak. Surreal, irreverent, brilliant – Stoneybridge toon cooncil and all.
Limmy’s Show is an embarrassing undergraduate Fringe show in a Pilton community hall by comparison. Need a laugh? Throw in a swear word, be aggressive … etc etc.
Roll on independence when BBC Scotland (SBC)?) once again doesn’t have to commission on the basis that it has to be cringingly shite so the Jocks continue to believe they’re pish at everything.
The last time I listened to BBC “comedy”, all I picked up on was re-hashed Absolutely and Python sketches. I thought the Bob Servant e-mails were quite amusing, but haven’t seen Bob Servant Independent. Any views?
Should have gone to Specsavers. Now there’s an idea which could go virol! Lots of possibilities!
Absolutely was genuinely great. Mind you, you only remember the good sketches with sketch shows, so maybe it was 15% great – that’s OK, given that Python was both brilliant and 65% crap. Them’s the breaks with sketch comedy.
So far as McGlashan goes, he was funny – i never thought he was putting people off the SNP – he was a really broad character. The best stuff was the Stoneybridge stuff, and their constant rivalry with Yetts O’ Muckart. They even had a bizarre B52s style soul band “The Hairstyles”, who I inexplicably saw at the Lemon Tree circa 1994.
“Mr Don and Mr George” was a decent spin-off as well, if I recall correctly.
@ Nairn Clark
Have to disagree in part there. McGlashan was writtten very funnily, but I am certain he did put people off IMO, it doesn’t work if folk realise what is going on, that is the point.
Humour is a major weapon in the propagandist’s arsenal, it gets directly into the subconscious and is very hard to criticise because if you do you are immediately accused of having had a sense of humour by-pass.
The penny dropped for me on the McGlashan ‘pilot’ show when very unusually ITV resurrected a BBC character. In that show, McGlashan persistently racially abused a very nice young English lad (a then young Nick Hancock) throughout, it was not quite up to the usual humour disguising standard – click- lightbulb on.
Maybe you missed that one.
Correction re McGlashan
It was from Ch4 to BBC2 for the pilot so not the main channels and the other way round, but still without precedent (I think) my main points still stand. Real folk switched sides (e.g. Morecambe and Wise) but not modern fictional characters.
Thank googleness for the internet.
BTW there are lots of youtubes so folk can make their own mind up if it was subtle propaganda or not.
Absolutely was the funniest show to ever come out of Scotland and McGlashan was hilarious – modelled I think on the Siol nan Gael characters Jack Docherty would meet in the Heb Bar in Edinburgh in the 1980s. It’s true that all independeceistas in the media in those days were portrayed as demented Anglophobes but McGlashan was far and away the best and funniest and something interesting happened on his last appearance in 1993.
John Major had recently and unexpectedly been elected and McGlashan, instead of bashing the English, did a monologue where he expressed his yearning for Scotland to run its own affairs by the people Scots had voted for – and the audience, instead of laughing at him, gave him a huge ovation. I think it was round about then the first poll showing more than 50% support for independence came out.
But thankfully Mary Doll was chairing Yes Clydesdale the other night, and she was brilliant; as incidentally was Robin McAlpine from The Reid Foundation
Seriously O/T, but of interest to those here.
David Cameron is in Europe today, talking about banking regulation. He has this morning, been shown live on SKY news at 0840 – ish, talking about financial and tax regulation. He turned to the Latvian representatives, and said (I parpaphrase), ‘there are clear advantages such as is the case with Latvia to being able to completely re-organise your tax system when you, for example, achieve or gain your independence’.
The YES campaign and the SNP need to pick up on this.
As an indicator of how much we yet have to do I offer the following.
While doing some remedial work on my garden and enjoying an afternoon of sunshine I was greated by the father of one of my new neighbours. After the usual pleasantries and following a remark by him about losing the AAA rating I said well I would be a YES man in 2014. After the gratuitous ” Oh, are you one of them” there then followed all the usual – can we afford it, what about the EU, I don’t like Alex Salmond, etc. I slowly and calmly (my friends and family will be amazed) demolished each and every one of his disputations. There was a moment of reflection when he looked over at my hedge then said “Ah, but the queen wont allow it” End of my calm demeanor I burst out laughing. and composing myself said “what has the queen got to do with it?” Came back the reply “She ‘ll not want her country broken up so she’ll knock heads together”
I’m sure the sound of my jaw hitting the ground registered on seismographs.
Me “you have to be kidding” him “I better go in to see my daughter”
Down to the pub where I coverted a doubtful to a yes and a no to a maybe.
OHH! my head hurts
There was also the great Rikki Fulton sketch where a B&N owner refused to admit an English guest.
After a bit of toing and froing the unsuccessful guest asked how business was, only to be told that honestly, not very good, he might have to head back up north to Scotland
“The YES campaign and the SNP need to pick up on this.”
Sounds like it. But to do that we need to be able to reference and quote it accurately. I’ve got nothing on the Sky News website except a short clip of him talking about banks.
Sadly, I have no more info on the D Cameron thing, aside to say, it was at the start of a meeting in Latvia, today. Sadly, I can’t devote any time to it, so can’t help any further.
Craig P says:
28 February, 2013 at 8:02 am
“Absolutely was the funniest show to ever come out of Scotland and McGlashan was hilarious – modelled I think on the Siol nan Gael characters Jack Docherty would meet in the Heb Bar in Edinburgh in the 1980s. It’s true that all independeceistas in the media in those days were portrayed as demented Anglophobes but McGlashan was far and away the best and funniest and something interesting happened on his last appearance in 1993.
John Major had recently and unexpectedly been elected and McGlashan, instead of bashing the English, did a monologue where he expressed his yearning for Scotland to run its own affairs by the people Scots had voted for – and the audience, instead of laughing at him, gave him a huge ovation. I think it was round about then the first poll showing more than 50% support for independence came out. ”
Well there you go, it wouldn’t do if we all had the same opinion, and as usual such differences we seem to have are borne of different experience. You seem to have not seen the episode where he racially abused the nice English lad in 1995, I never saw the episode where McGlashan spoke reasonably in support of independence. However, perhaps a salient point is one you make yourself, that it was after a recent election. 😉
Nonetheless, for that reason and for the reason, apparently, that in just a little under 20 years McGlashan has fallen so far off the radar that the point would be lost on many anyway, I withdraw my suggestion that he would be suitable for a reverse propaganda poster as per the Rev’s Rab C effort.
OTOH I would still strongly urge that McGlashan, even though he is hilarious, not be used by the YES campaign.
I was unable to find vids of either the nice pro-indy McGlashan or of the pilot episode but I did find a couple of working youtubes (CH4 seems to be preventing viewing here, although it implies you can see them in some other countries) so here are the links for those who do not know what we are talking about:
However you can get it on now on DVD from Amazon for about a tenner, although as the first reviewer said it took its time (2008).
If some want to find out more about Absolutely there is the following Wiki on it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolutely_%28TV_series%29
It seems your right Craig, Jack did base the character on someone he met in a pub, but just one guy in a London pub, no mention of Siol nan Gaidheal.
I love Absolutely, I have the series on DVD 🙂
Absolutely morphed into a production company (tv and radio) and the original cast remain as the directors, as well as writers and performers. Their biographies are hilarious … “Peter Baikie wrote for Grandstand, introduced Morecambe to Wise and acted in Apocalypse Now and Carry on Doctor”. “John Sparkes, many millions of years ago, was a single cell organism, but lately he’s been working as a mammal with opposing thumbs so he can hold a pint.”
🙂
http://www.absolutely.biz/portfolio?type=bio
You can watch all episodes of Absolutely on Channel 4 od here
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/absolutely/4od
And Mr Don and Mr George here
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/mr-don-and-mr-george/4od
Absolutely brilliant!
BTW Stu, I would have posted this earlier today on my android phone but there’s no comment box (android opera browser)