Auntie Tam
Posted on
May 05, 2013 by
Chris Cairns
The world's most-read Scottish politics website
-
About
Wings Over Scotland is a (mainly) Scottish political media digest and monitor, which also offers its own commentary. (More)
-
Recent Posts
- 11-19
- 11-18
- 11-18
- 11-16
- 11-09
- 11-08
- 11-06
- 11-04
- 11-01
- 11-01
- 10-31
- 10-30
- 10-29
- 10-27
- 10-26
- 10-21
- 10-20
- 10-19
- 10-18
- 10-17
- Load More...
We can't blame UK Gov for poverty we're told.
120,000 DEAD because of austerity.
Yes, I really think we can, you fucking reptile.
https://t.co/rm4vPw0g1gThat was an extraordinary attempt to ‘take the temperature’ of Scotland by @jonsnowC4 and @Channel4News - go to (*only*) Peterhead and The Borders.
What could possibly link those two, ludicrously unrepresentative, parts of the country ...? 🤔She'd just incinerate them in a nuclear conflagration. https://t.co/ahtgGR166T
The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.
Prior to 2014 Indyref, I was a newspaper-aholic, I spent £25 + pw on papers. I was so distraught by the negative biased anti-Scottish reporting I cancelled all of them. Over 5 years later I think I have saved a minimum of £6500 probably closer to £10k. Miss the crosswords though.
Wings Over Scotland
Union news
Wee Books
New friends
HA, she wishes.
Och, stop yer twittering Jock!
About the only one I could think of that was postable. 😉
Ahhh, the poor, wee court jester entertains her union masters.
Sorry, being a hypersensitve-chippy Scot (David Torrance’s words), I am incapable of understanding this piece of satire, despite it being hilarious.
Excellent.
I`m with Doug Daniel. I know I am supposed to laugh, but I just don`t get it. I got as far as Sati…and then remembered I`m a separatist cybernat and skipped straight to being furious and abusive; I may have to raise an eyebrow in the general direction of the nearest unionist type person.
Oh no, now I feel all confused and separate 🙂
Dose this mean that her dad is a “great uncle Tam”?
I once had that Sir Kenneth Calman in the back of my taxi once. Laughed, I almost cried with (that’s enough ed. contd p94)
“Soo-oo-oosie MacLean, when are ye going tae change yer name…..or yer job?”
I take it the boxed word SATIRE was for Soosie, should she ever look at it.
Come to think of it, I wonder if the rest of the panel on HIGNIFY were laughing at her, in her desperate attempts at cultural ingratiation, and not at us?
Ms Calman isn’t the only comedian today. I see Danny Alexander has a ‘wee chat’ with the Scottish people in todays’ Scotland on Sunday’. The thing is, I read it quickly, came away from it, and thought ‘…he hasn’t actually said anything about why the Union is great. He’s just waffled mince.’
To turn around and say that ‘Together’ …we created the Welfare State, I just about ‘choked’ on my morning coffee. How the **** can he say that, when his party is happily sitting back, watching it being dismantled.
If I were Danny, I would do what his sister did …and find another career! They said Wendy was the brains of the family; it turns out, it’s true…
JLT
I think you are getting your Alexanders mixed up!
Seasick Dave
Ironically, probably not, as they both hold the same viewpoint.
Slightly O/T
In the Times yesterday (English print edition), Matthew Paris gave his view of the UKIP result. He can see Labour adopting an in/out Euro referendum stance. In other words, everyone and his dog is galloping to occupy the Right wing position. They might as well all just officially form a single party state in Westminster. They’re as good as there at the moment.
Never having heard of Ms Calman until this debacle. I had a look on you tube just to see what she is like. Quite frankly, and I hope that the notoriously thin skinned comedienne is not reading, she is about as funny as a cry for help. I for one don’t think that just because you are from Glasgow you’re funny and hence have never been able to even snigger at Billy Connelly’s banana boot, building titanics out of jobbies and pretendy wee parliaments. Ms Calman has even less charisma on stage than the big yin and so consequently I’m at a loss to understand why poking fun at her own height, sexuality and so on is in the slightest bit funny. Maybe we shouldn’t take jokes seriously and get offended but then is that not what Bernard Manning said about his racist and homophobic humour?
I see even Ian Bell is using the ‘one side’s as bad as the other’ line in this morning’s Sunday Herald – accepting, along the way, Calman’s claims of death threats without qualification.
And so another media-led perception becomes accepted as a reality, a settled fact, and will forever more be discussed as such. For those keeping score, I would proffer a list that would look something like this:
– Calman received death threats
– ‘Cybernat’ abuse is as commonplace as it is uniquely hate-filled and intolerant
– ICAS delivered a knock-out blow to the case for independence by highlighting the need for cross-border pension arrangements
– a currency union is dead in the water
– Salmond can’t make his mind up between the pound and the Euro
– the Yes campaign is in ineffectual chaos
– overall, it’s been a dreadful period for the SNP and the independence movement.
… and that’s just this week!
‘It’s all true,’ says the media.
‘Why?’
‘Because we said so.’
overall, it’s been a dreadful period for the SNP and the independence movement.
And not only that but Kaye with an E and Susan have joined forces.
They will now be known as the Chucklebums.
Seasick Dave,
Aaaargh! My mistake. Your right. Should be wee Dougie; no Danny…but then again, all 3 are cut from the same cloth!
Too early on a Sunday morning to think straight.
OT: sorry rev but did you see the couple of articles in the herald about a paper produced by some academics and economists about a “common weal” approach to a new Scottish economic model. The reports were positive and neutral, but no link to the paper.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/comment/herald-view/at-last-a-vision-for-independence.20985168
http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/referendum-news/a-new-blueprint-for-an-independent-scotland.20985084
Yougov survey (so probably higher than) says 67% believe Westminster should negotiate with the Scottish Government to sort out what happens in the event of a Yes before the referendum.
2 in 3 Scots demand to know what happens after independence vote
http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/4915740/2-in-3-Scots-demand-to-know-what-happens-after-independence-vote.html
SS @ 9:33am
I kn ow I am paranoid and that I think the First Eck and Cameroon have done a deal, under the table but
What if there are already meetings going on between the SNP and the Tories about just that; what to do after the vote?
It is just that nobody told Darling and the BT or Labour about it.
Devious minds and all that.
@Bugger (the panda)
Oh of course they have been negotiating behind closed doors. Anything else would be ludicrous. A smooth transition in the event of a Yes is best for both Scotland and the rUK. Better most of the groundwork is done beforehand as the moment Scotland says Yes it is de facto independent.
Will this be made ‘official’? Time will tell. Would be the instant death of Better Together if it was.
Maybe Darling does know and the result has been his shrill hectoring style he now uses.
Maybe he realises he is being played and is beginning to lose it.
@Freddie Threepwood
At 9:19am
I have just posted a rather long comment on this very subject back on the “Small is beautiful” thread.
@scottish skier
If 67% want the two governments to negotiate before the referendum, then they must be at least considering voting yes. If they were hard no voters, why would they care?
@John H
I’d venture to suggest that the ~7 in 10 who want negotiations before the referendum would be the devo maxers. Would tie in well with previous polls on the subject in terms of % per party in favour of devo max.
Only 21% were against the idea. Presumably they’re the lot not for turning at all. Hardcore status quoers.
Of course the pro-union camp utterly dissmisive of the electorate as usual:
A spokesman for the Better Together campaign said: “The separatists don’t know what they’d do with our jobs, our pensions or our currency.
“Why should anyone help them find answers to a problem only they think exists?”
Calman; Satire or Satyr… a mythical being that lives in the woods and is part goat.
JLT says:
5 May, 2013 at 9:29 am
Seasick Dave,
“Aaaargh! My mistake. Your right. Should be wee Dougie; no Danny…but then again, all 3 are cut from the same cloth!
Too early on a Sunday morning to think straight.”
Maybe Chris could do a follow up cartoon with Danny and Duggie as a new Alexander ‘Brother’s’ act? 🙂
Of course tartan kilts and plaids would be a no no, but perhaps pinstripe or union jack patterned? Come to think of it they would have to have a tribute band style name change since the original still exists. ‘The Alexander Bothers’?
They wouldn’t have any bother singing off the same song-sheet though.
As I recall, the original Alexander Brothers were among the arseholes that came out against a Scottish Assembly in the ’79 referendum.
Is it genetic?
Scotsman.com: BBC Scotland hit by by wave of protests.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MoXmmHM99rs/UYYxrXN0tRI/AAAAAAAAAME/i-3MuYTVm9s/s1600/Pure-viciousness.jpg
Scotsman.com: Faces of hate revealed.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eUyLmxK6XZU/UYYxrenmDgI/AAAAAAAAAMM/X2HkBl47b1A/s1600/Faces-of-hate.jpg
@FreddieThreepwood
Super post. It might be useful to run a UKOK’s Pravda Motifs of the Week as a weekly feature. Up for it?
G Campbell
LOL
Limmy is funny…mental but funny.
So has anyone produced the offending comments yet? Do they exist or are Calman, Wilson, Alexander, Gardham, BBC, Scotsman etc. all a shower of out and out purveyors of pork pies?
UKOK’s Pravda Leitmotifs of the Week
Better still?
A leitmotif is musical.
Agreed!
But I meant it as a metaphor. Also, it captures the sense of the MSM and BitterTogether “singing from the same song sheet”, so to speak. I’m also doffing the hat to Salmond’s tease to Osbourne that he will be “singing an entirely different tune” on the currency issue after the Yes vote.
Propaganda Refrain might work, but that feels bit tired and lacks punch. Happy to hear of any other words that capture such repetition.
@Jiggsbro
Addendum on Leitmotif
The online Oxford dictionary definition of Leimotif
n. a recurrent theme throughout a musical or literary composition, associated with a particular person, idea, or situation
So, I guess its meaning is evolving beyond the strictly musical.
the rough bounds says:
5 May, 2013 at 11:08 am
As I recall, the original Alexander Brothers were among the arseholes that came out against a Scottish Assembly in the ’79 referendum.
Is it genetic?
Really? Didn’t know that. I think Kenneth McKellar was unionist if I remember rightly but it is not a strong recollection so may well be wrong or confused with someone else.
John H says:
5 May, 2013 at 10:35 am
@scottish skier
If 67% want the two governments to negotiate before the referendum, then they must be at least considering voting yes. If they were hard no voters, why would they care?
——————-
Excellent viewpoint, John
Makes you wonder …even if we were to knock off 10% (say some vote ‘No’), then it is still a resounding 57% victory for the ‘Yes’ campaign!!!
That 67% are DEMANDING information before the Referendum …well, it’s the little things like that, that just keeps the flames of hope burning.
Also, even though this goes against the grain of what I have just typed; these so-called You Gov, Bitter Together, opinion polls, or whatever the **** they are …seriously …does anyone know of anyone …anyone …who has been asked to fill in one of these polls, because I know of no-one who has. And if there is no-one, then where the **** are Darling, the Media, and whoever …coming up with these percentages. Is it in the Bitter Together campaign offices, in the offices of the BBC, in the offices of The Scotsman …seriously, where? or have I just answered my own question ie it IS the BBC, the Scotsman, etc
As a Scotsman who happens to be gay, I find the title of this page far more satirically cutting than the cartoon.
Sir Harry Lauder was a very talented man whose international influence was massive on the Music Hall / Vaudeville genre of his time.
From both a Scottish and a gay perspective, I find Ms Calman’s act more akin to this:
@Roddy Macdonald
Brilliant analogy! If ever there was a rebuttal to Calman’s playing the Scot routine for the Southerners, this youtube clip is it. We might speak in future of Calman’s Jim-Crow Tribute Act !
*********************
For those, like me, not familiar with the origin of the term Jim Crow, I found the following on wikipedia.
‘The origin of the phrase “Jim Crow” has often been attributed to “Jump Jim Crow”, a song-and-dance caricature of blacks performed by white actor Thomas. D Rice in blackface , which first surfaced in 1832 and was used to satirize Andrew Jackson’s populist policies. As a result of Rice’s fame, “Jim Crow” had become a pejorative expression meaning “Negro” by 1838. ‘
That about sums her act up for me Roddy, what I’ve seen of her anyway. Would I be unkind to suggest she would be lucky to have half the talent of the Minstrels in the clip?
Comparing her to Sir Harry Lauder and particularly Billy Connolly is utterly pointless. In particular, Connolly rose to international stardom because he pioneered observing the patently comic and relating that to an audience. As he readily admits, there were many like him where he came from – working class West of Scotland.
Anyone who saw the rapier wit of his friend the Late Danny Kyle in action could see that the keynote of both of their comedy was a ruthless honesty, and the ability to spot the ridiculous in real individual people or real situations. Therefore people all over the world could connect with their anecdotes.
I’m damned if I can think of Connolly or Kyle ever poking fun at amorphous groups of people like Scottish People, gays, lesbians, straight people, working or middle class people, bankers or lawyers. They may have poked fun at particular situations or particular individuals who may be deemed to come from those groups, but I can’t recall either of them trading in stereotypes.
It is telling from this article from Ms Calman, and I don’t think I’m missing some intended irony as I read it, that her conception of herself is a battling mix of labels and stereotypes. Although she says in the article that she is greater than the sum of her parts, the mere fact she attempts to describe herself in these terms is interesting. http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2013/04/bwitched-and-sdp-i-am-far-greater-sum-my-parts
Most telling is this observation: “My gender obviously influences what I say. I can’t, for example, bemoan how difficult it is to be a white, straight, middle-class man in today’s society.” Telling in that she lists what she obviously sees as a list of qualities that are diametrically opposed to her perception of herself but she includes white and middle-class. What on earth can a privately educated daughter of a knight of the realm (whose mother is also a doyenne of the establishment) and herself a former lawyer be if she is not middle class? I suspect she only included ‘white’ in the list because in her shallow, cat and celebrity-obsessed world of stereotypes, the black middle class doesn’t exist. Surely she can’t perceive herself as the Rosa Parks of the working class?
Connolly and Kyle were both supremely confident in where they came from and who they were. From that confidence came the honesty to see the funny side in and describe people and the world as they saw it and folk can relate to that.
By the time you’re 38, if you haven’t really worked out who you are, and can’t even see that you are a highly fortunate and privileged member of the middle class there’s only so many times folk will listen to you. I mean … the trials and tribulations of being a middle class lesbian lawyer in 1980s Glasgow? Oh, you poor dear! How on earth did you cope?
There is hope that a new-found honesty in self-perception may be creeping in. Nowhere among the labels and stereotypes in the article does she afford herself the description “funny”.
@ Roddy Macdonald 4.38 last sentence.
Nowhere>>>>does she afford herself the description “funny”. There is a reason for this, she isn’t.
On the other hand this may permit you a smile.
Who invented Knock Knock jokes? Two chaps and a rap singer…Boom Boom!
I’m here every day folks, leave your wallet at the door on the way out.
Oops wrong thread
Noticed earlier today that Newsnet’s substantial piece about Calmangate (which went up early yesterday, maybe night before last) appears to have been dropped – maybe it’s just me, but I can’t find it.
Anyone have it saved/cached, or even remember the title?
@ianbrotherhood
It’s under news tab
“Noticed earlier today that Newsnet’s substantial piece about Calmangate (which went up early yesterday, maybe night before last) appears to have been dropped – maybe it’s just me, but I can’t find it.”
Both of them seem to still be there:
http://newsnetscotland.com/index.php/scottish-opinion/7300-newsnight-scotland-susan-calman-and-satire
http://newsnetscotland.com/index.php/scottish-news/7305-death-threat-comedienne-refused-to-appear-on-newsnight-scotland
Their “indexing” is a nightmare, it’s easy to lose things.
@Baheid & Rev-
Cheers.