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Not you, Scotland 149

Posted on January 31, 2017 by

The Tories yesterday:

mayroi1

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Contenders ready 464

Posted on January 30, 2017 by

The Sunday Herald ran an extraordinary article on page 2 yesterday, and by the time we’d finished being startled by what nonsense it was, it set us wondering about why.

shgreens

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Time catches up with us all 342

Posted on January 29, 2017 by

Here’s the Conservative MP for Stratford-on-Avon 10 months ago:

zahawi1

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Call the experts 850

Posted on January 26, 2017 by

Because when you really want people with their finger on the pulse of Scottish politics to analyse the implications of the Supreme Court decision on Brexit, where else would you go but to Channel 5’s The Wright Stuff, to hear from um, former rugby league star and haircut pioneer Martin Offiah?

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The simpler version 292

Posted on January 26, 2017 by

Way back in October last year we analysed what now seems to have become the key plank of Unionist argument against independence in the wake of Brexit – the idea that because Scotland does more trade with the rest of the UK than it does with the EU, independence would be economic suicide because Scotland would be sacrificing “the UK single market” (a thing that doesn’t actually exist ) for a much smaller one.

wto

It’s a completely idiotic position, but to be honest we didn’t do a very good job of boiling the counter-argument down to something snappy and quoteable, so let’s have another go and see if we can manage something a little better.

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While the truth gets its boots on 367

Posted on January 25, 2017 by

Here’s Alex Salmond on last night’s Newsnight:

Let’s just quickly fact-check that claim.

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Fooled you again 564

Posted on January 24, 2017 by

Supreme Court ruling just in: “LOL SUCKERS!”

sewel

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With their bombs and their guns 282

Posted on January 23, 2017 by

We followed with interest an exchange over the weekend between Times columnist Kenny Farquharson and the anti-Brexit QC Jolyon Maugham, regarding the difference between the UK government’s insistence that there won’t be a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland because of the UK leaving the EU, and its continued insistence that there WOULD have to be one between the rUK and an independent Scotland, despite the legal circumstances being indistinguishable.

Farquharson, who like much of the Scottish political commentariat clings doggedly to the implausible dream of a “federal” UK, was adamant that the rules would – and indeed that they should – be different for the two ostensibly identical situations, and his given reason was a deeply disturbing one.

kfni1

Kenny, it seems, thinks Scottish nationalists should do a lot more murdering.

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The Template 233

Posted on January 22, 2017 by

Actual Scottish politics news continues to be thinner on the ground than the crowds at a Donald Trump inauguration, so we sympathise once more with the gentle souls of the Scottish press as they endeavour to fill empty pages without doing anything more journalistically strenuous than slightly rewording a Labour or Tory press release.

yourname

Fortunately for us, of course, we’ve always got their dismal efforts to talk about.

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The next pages of the script 203

Posted on January 20, 2017 by

It’s morning in America, readers.

booth0

Judge Dredd: Origins was published in 2007, although in fact the basic story of how Bad Bob Booth became the last President of the USA and what he did next was established right back at the 1970s beginnings of Dredd’s parent comic 2000AD.

We actually have a theory that it’s all the Lib Dems’ fault.

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The new lie 712

Posted on January 18, 2017 by

Alert readers may recall as far back as July of last year, when we highlighted an odd thing that Scottish Labour branch manager Kezia Dugdale had started saying.

kazmajority

Regardless of the fact that it was total hooey, Dugdale repeated it every chance she got, and the inevitable Scottish-media consequences have duly followed.

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The competition 158

Posted on January 17, 2017 by

You very rarely get useful stats about online newspaper readership, so we were quite intrigued by this snippet on tonight’s BBC2 Scotland documentary “Paper Thistle”, about the 200th anniversary of The Scotsman.

We don’t know what the numbers are or how brief the period was, but Wings’ average traffic is higher now than it was in 2014, while we suspect The Scotsman is moving in the opposite direction. For a single-issue website to be anywhere even in the same ballpark as a two-centuries-old broadsheet news brand with scores of full-time writers and production staff and a daily newsstand presence is a remarkable thing indeed.

We might start doing classifieds and sport just to see what happens.

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    • Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: ““I see you’re a fan of Better Together” For myself, I’m a fan of Plausible Divorce Plan, although I do…” Nov 2, 17:39
    • Northcode on Vibecoding A Better World: “I think a further clarity intervention is needed about dates. James Che’s narrative blends two unrelated historical facts into a…” Nov 2, 15:53
    • Northcode on Vibecoding A Better World: “For even more clarity… Queen Anne’s proclamation dissolving the Scottish Parliament was issued in April 1707, not in 1752. Anne…” Nov 2, 15:16
    • McDuff on Vibecoding A Better World: “My mistake just testing.” Nov 2, 14:05
    • Chas on Vibecoding A Better World: “How interesting. I have never read interpretations of 300+ year old stuff before. But only if we discount the exact…” Nov 2, 13:53
    • James Che on Vibecoding A Better World: “Indeed a clever attempt north code, Except England did not update its Calendar year until 1752 to be in line…” Nov 2, 13:25
    • Dan on Vibecoding A Better World: “@ Northcode at 11:04 am You don’t have waffle some word twisting shite on here. Over the course of the…” Nov 2, 13:03
    • Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “Cheers, sarah. There was me reading about the Scottish Men’s Curling team’s European Championship triumph on the BBC website and…” Nov 2, 12:55
    • sarah on Vibecoding A Better World: “European championship, not World.” Nov 2, 12:31
    • sarah on Vibecoding A Better World: “Thanks for reporting this achievement. And making clear that once again the BBC has worked to hide a Scotland triumph.” Nov 2, 12:19
    • McDuff on Vibecoding A Better World: “Scotland’s men pick up a gold at the world curling championships and es far as I can see it has…” Nov 2, 11:13
    • Northcode on Vibecoding A Better World: “Alf’s argument frames Scotland’s economic condition through a mythic lens of colonial underdevelopment. In its historical and economic framing, these…” Nov 2, 11:04
    • Northcode on Vibecoding A Better World: “For clarity… James Che’s argument rests on a mythic moment they place in 1606, where they believe the Scottish Parliament…” Nov 2, 10:28
    • Alf Baird on Vibecoding A Better World: “Yes of course “a radical change in the political (and colonial) landscape” is absolutely critical for recovery and development of…” Nov 2, 10:24
    • Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “@Aidan The laughable aspect to this is that there are plenty of Scots, myself included, who would love Scotland to…” Nov 2, 10:20
    • Aidan on Vibecoding A Better World: “Well done Izzie, you’re exactly right. If Nicola Sturgeon had been first minister between 2014 and 2023 Scotland would be…” Nov 2, 10:15
    • Aidan on Vibecoding A Better World: “You are right James, when people hear about the true nature of what happened in 1606, they will take to…” Nov 2, 09:47
    • Aidan on Vibecoding A Better World: “So the plan is, Day 1 – become independent and Day 2 – become identical to Norway? Scotland on Day…” Nov 2, 09:41
    • Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “Awa and shite, Alf. The context is you lying about Scotland having the highest energy prices in the world. The…” Nov 2, 09:39
    • Alf Baird on Vibecoding A Better World: “The ‘context’ Hatey, which you completely ignore, much like your beloved ‘union’ hoax, is that Norway’s economy is so advanced…” Nov 2, 09:09
    • Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “Could be so much worse, Bob. At least she’s not claiming the route to Scottish Independence is via climbing on…” Nov 2, 09:01
    • Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “So true, James. People vowing to edumacate themselves about the shenanigans of 1707 is all I ever hear at the…” Nov 2, 08:56
    • James Che on Vibecoding A Better World: “One can understand the need and fear of Unionist to Squash Alf Bairds voice before it grows and becomes known…” Nov 2, 08:22
    • James Che on Vibecoding A Better World: “When enough Scots identify where and when the the treaty of union failed to be completed or accomplish its purpose,…” Nov 2, 08:01
    • Bilbo on Vibecoding A Better World: “Given that they only teach postmodern theories in the education system nowadays, students are only interested in bringing down the…” Nov 2, 07:40
    • James Che on Vibecoding A Better World: “To make the theory of of the treaty of union of two parliaments merging to create unitary State of Great…” Nov 2, 07:39
    • robertkknight on Vibecoding A Better World: “That’s the least of your worries… There’s clearly other issues elsewhere! (I speak as a sufferer of osteoarthritis in both…” Nov 1, 19:59
    • Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “I get it, Alf. Having higher petrol and diesel prices than ours in Norway doesn’t matter because of “context”. As…” Nov 1, 19:30
    • Aidan on Vibecoding A Better World: “The charging infrastructure in Norway is excellent – i’ve seen EV chargers on unsurfaced roads. However, just under 70% of…” Nov 1, 19:17
    • Izzie on Vibecoding A Better World: “My sincete apologies i have arthritis on hands” Nov 1, 19:11
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