Brexit isn’t really this site’s remit, which is why we’ve been relatively quiet in recent weeks as the UK’s shambolic exit from the EU hogs all the news and Scottish politics has been relegated to a largely-dormant backwater in the press.
Yes supporters don’t speak with one voice on the EU, and while we’re in favour of it we’ve long said that the indy movement can’t really move on until the fog clears and we know for sure what Brexit’s going to look like. Deciding whether to be part of the EU should be a decision for an independent Scotland to make, not a precondition.
But dear lord, this is such a mess it needs to be examined.
We all knew this already, of course. Last year we commissioned a poll from Panelbase which found an enormous 41-point gap between Yes and No voters on immigration. But it was still nice to have it both confirmed and laid out so clearly by Sir John Curtice on Good Morning Scotland earlier today.
(About 1h 55m in. We’re having some trouble recording sound on our new PC at the moment, we’ll get you a proper audio link as soon as we’ve figured it out.)
It’s worth keeping to hand the next time some witless Scottish Labour goon tries to tell you that independence is bad because it’s “separatist” and that voting for the Union is the international-solidarity option. Because that’s a flat-out lie.
We now have the verdicts on Brexit from three of the UK’s four nations. The Scottish Parliament, speaking for the Scottish nation, voted overwhelmingly this afternoon to reject both Theresa May’s draft agreement and leaving the EU without a deal.
We’re on about Day 79 of NoScottishPoliticsNewsGate (today’s big “EXCLUSIVE!” in the Herald is something we told you about last Friday, and was also an “exclusive” in yesterday’s Scottish Sun), so we found ourselves getting diverted by something else in the papers this morning.
The Scottish Daily Mail had a piece on the cost of train journeys from Scotland, and living in Bath you don’t need to tell us how scandalously expensive British railways are compared to almost any other country in the Northern Hemisphere.
But the Mail is the Mail, and it couldn’t help distorting even an open-goal of a story like that until it had almost no relation to reality. And it’s a very useful illustration, should anybody need yet another one, of how this country’s newspapers vastly mislead their readers without actually technically lying.
At a time of unprecedented political chaos and uncertainty, just about the only thing you can still count on is that for any given situation, senior Labour figures will issue proclamations both firmly in favour of it and stoutly opposed to it, usually the same day.
So the stories below, which are respectively from today’s Scotsman and today’s Times, won’t come as much of a shock to anyone.
But against the odds, we think we’ve made some sense of it.
The front page lead of today’s Scottish Daily Mail:
As alert readers of this site will know, the Mail has a particular fondness for presenting statistics bereft of any context so that people have no idea how big or small they really are. So is 1,600 passengers a week receiving compensation for delays a lot or a little? Let’s find out.
All political discourse is plagued with genuine imbeciles, of course. But what’s far more depressing is when educated and normally perceptive people merely act like imbeciles for money, such as the case of Alex Massie in the Sunday Times today.
Because for the last two years, commentators who ought to know better have insisted in presenting Scotland’s choice as between Brexit or Brexit plus independence, and solemnly concluding that the uncertainties and risks of the latter being piled on top of those of the former prove that independence is no solution.
And we don’t care to have our intelligence insulted in that way.
Rev. Stuart Campbell on The Turning Point: “Swinney has closed down all routes for the membership to do anything except leave.” Sep 28, 17:54
Cuphook on The Turning Point: “The surge in the Green vote was due to Polanski in England. Look where the Green vote did well and…” Sep 28, 17:34
willie on The Turning Point: “It is utterly no surprise that so many of independence supporters distrust the SNP and will not vote for them.…” Sep 28, 17:20
James on Cowering From Destiny: “What has R* ever done to Scotland – or rUK for that matter? I’ll tell you as you’re obviously too…” Sep 28, 16:35
Aidan on Cowering From Destiny: “Great argument James – are you off to the UN? You’d undoubtedly be a huge asset to the cause.” Sep 28, 16:26
James on Cowering From Destiny: “Utter bollox. But you know that, eh? Distract, divert, divide.” Sep 28, 16:04
Aidan on Cowering From Destiny: “So because some independent sovereign countries joined a defensive alliance, that provides a lawful excuse for an aggressive expansionist dictatorship…” Sep 28, 15:52
Mark Beggan on The Turning Point: ““can re-group and recommence the drive towards independence.” Not only has the SNP failed the bid for independence but is…” Sep 28, 15:42
James on Cowering From Destiny: “Aw, Adrian, sweetie – don’t be coy. You know it all basically goes back to one broken promise; “..not one…” Sep 28, 15:34
Mark Beggan on The Turning Point: “What action would you recomend the “membership” take? This is the same membership that got fleeced twice.” Sep 28, 15:10
Aidan on Cowering From Destiny: “Oh aye of course it isn’t James – let me guess you sit all day in your pants drinking cheap…” Sep 28, 13:56
100%Yes on The Turning Point: “I would say the graph is precisely what Sturgeon and Swinney wanted these two never wanted Independence. I’d go even…” Sep 28, 13:54
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Turning Point: “« Data from: Scotland, Great Britain »” Sep 28, 13:45
James on Cowering From Destiny: “LOL. Oh, Adrian; even you know this is disingenuous Bollox. Divert, distract, divide, remember? Must try harder.” Sep 28, 13:39
Angry Weegie on The Turning Point: “I would only complain about your use of the word ‘stalled’ in the last paragraph, when we all know she…” Sep 28, 13:35
Colin Dawson on The Turning Point: “The pro-independence vote used to be solidly behind the SNP and the unionist vote was fractured. Increasingly, the unionist vote…” Sep 28, 13:30
Captain Caveman on Cowering From Destiny: “Very good post, Lorncal, which I very largely agree with, albeit I don’t think the fundamental issues you describe are…” Sep 28, 13:26
Lorncal on Cowering From Destiny: “The greatest problem for the hard left which is essentially urban, and which has been adopted by the middle-class luvvies,…” Sep 28, 12:07
Captain Caveman on Cowering From Destiny: “I do agree with a lot of what Spartan has said there. Have we not now finally learn of the…” Sep 28, 11:07
Aidan on Cowering From Destiny: “I don’t think Lavrov (a horrible slug of a man) said anything approaching: “liberation is a matter for the oppressed…” Sep 28, 11:02
Spartan 117 on Cowering From Destiny: “@Alf – For the SNP, EU membership represents a good backstop on the event of independence actually being achieved (which…” Sep 28, 10:51
Spartan 117 on Cowering From Destiny: “Many of us, myself included, grew up in very deprived areas. We also got bullied at school for being different…” Sep 28, 10:39
Alf Baird on Cowering From Destiny: ““every delusional who really believes that Scottish Independence is synonymous with majority rule from Brussels” Indeed, Scottish self-determination has absolutely…” Sep 28, 10:10
sam on Cowering From Destiny: “Not so sure about “irrelevant grudges” being a part of the picture in Garvaghy road. This part of Portadown is…” Sep 28, 10:06
Spartan 117 on Cowering From Destiny: “Our politicians don’t act in our national interest though, and haven’t for some time. The EU is a great idea…” Sep 28, 10:04
Hatey McHateface on Cowering From Destiny: “Naw, Spartan, I think “white feathering” is to accuse somebody of being feart. I’m not doing that. I’m accusing you…” Sep 28, 09:28
Spartan 117 on Cowering From Destiny: “I’m assuming ‘Yoons’ refers to independence supporters who happen to disagree with the pissed low-IQ ramblings of the more loony…” Sep 28, 08:46
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Cowering From Destiny: “Bill Browder’s backstory is engaging and informative. www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlF0ZzH6C9s” Sep 27, 22:24
