And finally… #4
Posted on
January 27, 2013 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
We guess you’d have to call the 1979 referendum leaflet on the left the whole-ish truth.
(Yep, we’re still mining the Scottish Political Archive. It’s a rich seam.)
5 past 10:00 – Bahh, where was the 10:00 every night we were promised…..
I’m old enough to have remember the 79 campaign, indeed to have voted in it and campaigned in the streets of Glasgow (I was a student there) for a yes. I’m also old enough to remember the significant number of Labour Politicians who went on to hold high office under Blair who were very very active in the Labour No campaign.
Yes Brian Wilson and Alasdair Darling – I mean you. Nothings changed eh?
I wonder how many people realise Alistair Darling campaigned against devolution? I don’t see why the media don’t bring it up (apart from the obvious reasons…) It’s exactly the kind of thing you’d see Andrew Neil bringing up in The Sunday Interview on the Sunday Politics, for example.
Oh for a fair press…
Don’t know if this is entirely O/T – does anyone intend going to the Feb 23rd demo calling for the BBC to get its act together? I’m not even sure if the details have been firmed-up, but I guess it’ll be at the new HQ on the riverside in Glasgow, or as close as license-fee-paying plebs are permitted. It could be a good chance for some of the regulars here, BellaC, NNS etc to clap eyes on one another.
I appreciate that a lot of folk are wary of using their real names here, but those who do shouldn’t fear meeting one another. I’d certainly be happy to make myself conspicuous (?!) if anyone wants to have a blether to take the mind off the frostbite.
It’s just a thought.
Anyone up for it?
(Careful now – I might be a spook trying to draw you all out into the open….bwahahahahaha!!!)
I don’t believe having a demonstration outside the BBC in Scotland will have much impact.
If anybody organises one for outside Parliament or outside the BBC in London count me in.
@ Dave McEwan Hill –
Understood. It won’t have the high heid-yins quaking in their boots, but it would be a good chance to meet, and we’re as well meeting where our physical presence means something rather than furtively gathering in some subterranean pub.
Sites like this constitute a solid historical document – it already details a lot of material the MSM have opted to ignore. As participants in the debates which sustain these sites, we have a stake in such protests, and I’m sure that beleaguered, disaffected BBC staff would draw great encouragement from seeing some of us there. After all, if things carry on as they are, a lot of them may have to get used to the horrible fact that real journalism isn’t measured by who you work for, but the quality of what you write. At the moment, there’s no doubt where the ‘real’ journalism is appearing, and, as has been previously pointed-out by Rev Stu and others, it’s known that a lot of ‘professional’ journalists make a point of reading these blogs. I really believe that the striking BBC staff would appreciate our presence. The more I think about it, the more determined I am to go.
There has already been one demo outside propaganda Scotland not that the media picked it up, suprise suprise.
http://www.sponsume.com/project/make-believers-documentary
and fight the good fight by continually harassing them whereever.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbpointsofview/NF1951574?thread=8297690&skip=0
Was pleased to see the latest poll for the sundy times shows the yes vote at 34% and now only a 7% swing needed to secure freedom from this endless lies and corruption from Westminster.
Get a sticker get a badge and get visible. The momentum is well and truly turning for the Yes vote.
@cynicalHighlander-
Thanks again. You keep giving me links to stuff I’ve not seen.
Re the second link you provided – I went through the whole ‘complaints’ process, approx three years ago now, via the BBC ‘The Editors’ blog. It was about a ‘Conspiracy Files’ programme. The producer was Mike Rudin. The blog is still accessible via BBC ‘The Editors’ homepage (I’ll try to link, but am hopeless at it, might not work…) – it’s called ‘Caught Up in a Conspiracy’ and remains, so far as I know, the busiest site they’ve ever hosted – it took over 5,000 posts in a year. Bear in mind, all of those posts had to be moderated, and ‘moderation’ could take up to ten days. Eventually, some of the regular posters submitted formal complaints to the BBC over the non-responsiveness of Rudin, and a few of us received replies, were able to share them before the blog was summarily closed on on the 1st anniversary of its launch.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2008/10/caught_up_in_a_conspiracy_theo.html
Can anyone point me to archival material regarding Darling’s involvement in the No campaign to Devolution?
O/T but check this out:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21221773
UK citizenship test ‘to cover Britain’s greats’
A new version of the test taken by foreign nationals who wish to become UK citizens “focuses on values and principles at the heart of being British”, the Home Office has said.
….The Migrants’ Rights Network said the test was “like an entry examination for an elite public school”.
Ten example questions offered by the Home Office include “which landmark is a prehistoric monument which still stands in the English county of Wiltshire?” and “what is the name of the admiral who died in a sea battle in 1805 and has a monument in Trafalgar Square, London?”
Aye, sod info on driving, banking, NHS etc, it’s knowing about the Battle of Trafalgar that’s crucial to being ‘British’!
Stomach churning aside, this is slightly worrying.
@David McCann
A quick search didn’t immediately throw up Darling’s name, Cook, Dalyell, Wilson, Ingram, Chisholm all there ….. I’m sure the Stirling Political Archive unit will know …..
If you have any queries about the work of the Scottish Political Archive Please email us at scottishpoliticalarchive@stir.ac.uk
Re the demo outside the BBC.
My thoughts, if you’re going to get less than 10k people, don’t bother. I went to the small demo’s last year, 150 or so turned up – hardly news headline grabbing. I was stunned the turnout was so low. The BBC has never had a large scale demo protesting on it’s doorstep ever and yet it’s the only thing that has never ‘happened’. We’ve tried complaining, both through official channels and through other media as well as Holyrood and Westminster and still we get snubbed.
Like last year’s disappointing numbers at the Edinburgh rally (sorry, but they were) a poor turnout to any public meeting will be jumped upon by the unionist press and commentators. people organising events have to think and actually ask themselves, ‘ could my actions actually harm the independence movement ?’
http://newsnetscotland.com/index.php/affairs-scotland/6650-glasgow-rally-to-call-for-balanced-and-enlightened-independence-debate
for some further detail on the rally – venues still not confirmed, but the start-time is 4pm, Sat 23rd Feb.
“He was anti-devolution in 1979”
“Although he was not born in Scotland he is said to feel Scottish.”
“one of the most famous things about Mr Darling was his insistence on wearing a beard” [Captain Blackbeard pictured]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/news/vote2001/hi/english/key_people/newsid_1179000/1179283.stm
The venue should be somewhere like Buchanan bus and train station. Will target many more people. Having it outside BBC won’t do anything. They already had these there and look what we still get.
Thanks folks for the references. Very interesting!
Again OT, but interesting all the same…
http://tinyurl.com/bkoxx2z
In each individual poll the changes are relatively small, but they are consistent across the pollsters, so we can be fairly confident that the Conservatives have enjoyed a small boost from the [EU] referendum promise and the positive publicity around it.
Very early doors – these things can take a few weeks to really start to show, but something to keep an eye on.
O/T you should get a look at Andrew Nicol’s piece in the scottish sun today
@Alex Mcl
Here’s the link:
http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/4766686/Two-sides-of-same-coin-Its-all-scary.html
I read the Sun link and its fair enough as far as it goes but still runs with the 23% canard.