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A decisive choice 264

Posted on August 26, 2014 by

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Tags:
Category leaks, scottish politics, video

Picking up a buzz 172

Posted on May 01, 2014 by

Yesterday, we discovered a rather curious anti-independence “listicle” on the popular viral-meme website Buzzfeed. Entitled “Scotland. The UK. 10 Myths. 10 Facts.”, it describes itself as “myth busting” by an author identified only as “YouDecide2014”.

It was shared or retweeted by a variety of Conservative Party special advisers, the 10 Downing Street Facebook account, and even the UK Ministry of Defence.

sheepie

The crude, extremely biased article gives no indication that it’s written by the UK government. The closest it comes to doing so is right at the end, where it says “Get the facts at www.gov.uk/scottishreferendum“. The Buzzfeed account page makes no reference to the UK government, and the layout makes the piece look like any normal article on the site, although in fact it’s posted on Buzzfeed Community, which is an area where users can post anything they want to without censorship.

We decided to find out more.

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Tags:
Category analysis, disturbing, investigation, scottish politics, uk politics

How money changed everything 200

Posted on December 05, 2013 by

We all know there’s something strange about Britain. Germany and China have their factories, France and Japan their nuclear power plants. America has Google and Apple and the world’s largest navy. But how is it that Britain, a country that closed its mines and shuttered almost its entire manufacturing industry, is still a major world economy?

infra

The answer is Britain’s best-kept economic secret. It links Grangemouth, the obscene cost of housing in London, the Royal Mail sell-off, Channel Island tax havens and George Osborne’s disregard for the poor, and explains why an incomprehensible financial crisis triggered by bad American mortgages led to the closure of municipal libraries and swimming pools across the UK and a programme of permanent austerity.

And more to the point, it explains why only London, not Scotland or Wales or Yorkshire or Wearside, matters to the British political class today.

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Tags:
Category analysis, uk politics

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  • Recent Comments

    • Breastplate on The shifting sands of memory: “Agreed, Lorn.” May 25, 22:15
    • Breastplate on The shifting sands of memory: “This, I can agree with.” May 25, 22:05
    • Breastplate on The shifting sands of memory: “I think you’ve just proved my point about how people debate from several conflicting standpoints. You say Scotland is a…” May 25, 21:32
    • Young Lochinvar on The shifting sands of memory: “Or, Fred Flintstone, more prosaically; The Empire in which the blood never dried.. It’s not called the “Butchers Apron” for…” May 25, 21:25
    • Lorn on The shifting sands of memory: “Xaracen: yes, the ToU is, indeed, an international treaty and may be challenged only inn international law. I am getting…” May 25, 21:02
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The shifting sands of memory: “Wikipedia: « GEORGE BUCHANAN / SEÒRAS BOCHANAN (1506-1582), native Gaelic-speaker, was a Scottish historian and humanist scholar. « According to historian Keith…” May 25, 20:26
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The shifting sands of memory: “HERMAN DOOYEWEERD (Professor of Law and Jurisprudence at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam 1926-1965) explained: «The Roman republic started with an…” May 25, 20:23
    • Mia on The shifting sands of memory: “That is indeed very interesting, Sarah. There are rumours as well about the ex PM of New Zealand. It is…” May 25, 19:38
    • Xaracen on The shifting sands of memory: ““The ToU does not create any rights or obligations in international law, it is domestic law, so outwith the remit…” May 25, 19:16
    • sam on The shifting sands of memory: “Andy, 3 years to complete negotiations. Sets a deadline. It can be done by seats won rather than votes cast.” May 25, 19:08
    • Young Lochinvar on The shifting sands of memory: “Aidan at 2.40pm It’s bad enough that it might be the case without you wishing it so..” May 25, 18:55
    • Young Lochinvar on The shifting sands of memory: “SM; Yup. Idle curiosity makes we wonder if SHE who’s name shall not be uttered is still shacked up for…” May 25, 18:46
    • sarah on The shifting sands of memory: “@ Mia at 5.16: “Starmer and the three male models/arsonists”. Phil Boswell has something to say about this on today’s…” May 25, 18:41
    • Northcode on The shifting sands of memory: ““a major cultural and legal difference lies between what they regarded as nations following the ‘Latin tradition’ compared with the…” May 25, 18:35
    • factchecker on The shifting sands of memory: “A voice of reason.” May 25, 18:29
    • Andy Ellis on The shifting sands of memory: “@Sam 5.04 pm What’s with the 3 year thing? All that’s necessary is for all pro-independence parties who support the…” May 25, 18:18
    • Andy Ellis on The shifting sands of memory: “@Breastplate 3.19pm Other countries don’t care about the Treaties of Union or 300 year old history, any more than we…” May 25, 17:39
    • Mia on The shifting sands of memory: “What is this thing about Starmer and the three U male models? Why is it being said that the three…” May 25, 17:16
    • Hatey McHateface on The shifting sands of memory: “What do you reckon, Marie, did they have a hand in the Dandy Dons victory yesterday? I mean, why not,…” May 25, 17:04
    • sam on The shifting sands of memory: “What’s the wording of a plebiscitary election to be? This is a tentative try. A majority vote by seats won…” May 25, 17:04
    • Hatey McHateface on The shifting sands of memory: “Well, Mia, at least you managed to reply to Andy without blaming Da Dews. (I think. It’s next to impossible…” May 25, 16:55
    • Mia on The shifting sands of memory: ““The only plausible route likely to achieve results in any reasonable timescale is to gain a majority in plebiscitary elections,…” May 25, 16:27
    • Mark Beggan on The shifting sands of memory: “They are going to paragraph themselves into independence. Paragraph by paragraph.” May 25, 16:02
    • SilentMajority on The shifting sands of memory: ““N.. S… has argued the law on the definition of a woman may need to be changed to accommodate trans…” May 25, 16:01
    • Breastplate on The shifting sands of memory: “Andy, I agree with some of what you say and there’s room for manoeuvre on others. I think many people…” May 25, 15:19
    • Young Lochinvar on The shifting sands of memory: “Over in Tranny-land SHE whose name shall not be uttered is in out of control hose mode again, wanting laws…” May 25, 14:55
    • Andy Ellis on The shifting sands of memory: “Why is it “quixotic”? It’s quixotic in the usually accepted definition of the term in that it’s “extremely idealistic; unrealistic…” May 25, 14:21
    • Aidan on The shifting sands of memory: “If you’re pinning your hopes on the UN enforcing a vote where only Yes voters are allowed to participate then…” May 25, 14:14
    • Young Lochinvar on The shifting sands of memory: “Mia Maybe, maybe not. However it would be interesting to speculate if C3 and his progeny would show up in…” May 25, 14:09
    • Young Lochinvar on The shifting sands of memory: “Well well well! Everyone is a lawyer now using Latin terms 🙂 I always wondered where the lawyers were hiding…” May 25, 13:57

  • A tall tale



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