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Take my breath away 143

Posted on May 02, 2014 by

Just magnificent work from the Daily Mail today.

mailputin

Really only a couple of tiny quibbles.

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Manhattan skyline 180

Posted on May 01, 2014 by

Readership stats for April, for those interested.

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Something to think about 345

Posted on April 30, 2014 by

STV Sport has tonight broken the news that Scotland will play England in a friendly international at Hampden on November 18 this year.

gazzaeuro

Would you like to imagine, readers, the songs the visiting England support might sing if Scotland had voted to continue being ruled by them exactly two months earlier?

If you feel your strength sapping between now and September, remember that.

Little lies 107

Posted on April 30, 2014 by

The Scottish independence debate is characterised by so many gigantic lies from the No camp and the media (no pound, international outcast, bankrupt, cataclysm, etc etc) that there’s rarely time to pick up on all the small, casual, offhand ones that also litter the news-stands and the airwaves and poison any hope of intelligent discourse.

joarmstrong

So let’s make an effort with one, just by way of example.

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A circular argument 155

Posted on April 30, 2014 by

You can’t make this stuff up.

circledunc

Yes Glasgow has been inviting No speakers to take part in this Thursday’s event for literally months. They’ve contacted every single MP and MSP from a Unionist party representing a Glasgow seat, asking them to participate. They offered from the very beginning to let “Better Together” co-organise and co-host the debate, which will be chaired by the neutral Electoral Reform Society Scotland.

The only reason that “everyone on the platform is a Yes supporter” is because nobody from the No side is prepared to face the Glasgow public and put their case. The opportunity is still there. We confess ourselves perplexed that they seem determined to refuse it, and then to complain bitterly that the debate is one-sided.

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More crowdfunding required 87

Posted on April 30, 2014 by

Can we please buy the Telegraph a new picture to depict “Scottish people”?

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The belly of the beast 164

Posted on April 29, 2014 by

I had no idea what to expect from the UKIP public meeting in Bath tonight. The city is genteel, wealthy and has been solidly Lib Dem for over 20 years. While there are of course some sketchier areas and it hasn’t been immune to the UK’s recent economic troubles, generally speaking it has little to complain about.

So when UKIP booked the 730 downstairs capacity of the Forum (a rather beautiful old Art Deco former cinema from the 1930s) for a public meeting, I hung onto the hope that there was at least a reasonable chance it’d be half-empty.

ukipf1

No luck there, then.

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Frightened rabbits 205

Posted on April 29, 2014 by

ers1 Read the rest of this entry →

The headline ferret 120

Posted on April 29, 2014 by

Alert readers will be familiar with a phenomenon we often like to highlight in these pages – that of the dramatic newspaper headline which rapidly turns into something completely different by the time you read the text of the story.

fiscaus

There’s an especially fine example in today’s Telegraph.

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The dividing line 112

Posted on April 29, 2014 by

Alert readers will be aware that this site spends a not-insignificant amount of time pointing out how few and how trivial are the actual political differences between the three UK parties. Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats all basically offer slightly tweaked and rebadged versions of the same centre-right policies, in an unhealthy consensus set in concrete by the UK’s undemocratic electoral system.

channelferry

There does, however, remain one major issue on which there’s still clear blue water between the only two parties who might provide the next UK Prime Minister, and it’s one that’s a lot more important to the independence debate than is generally thought. Have you guessed what it is yet?

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In Bruges 320

Posted on April 28, 2014 by

If you were by any chance wondering what all the hysterical media coverage today of some innocuous comments by Alex Salmond about Vladimir Putin in GQ magazine was trying to distract attention from, it was this.

bruges2

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Looking out for Portsmouth 99

Posted on April 28, 2014 by

The transcript below is taken from a public meeting hosted by the Scottish Office at Murrayfield in Edinburgh last Thursday (24 April), featuring Alistair Carmichael.

soundwave2

You can listen for yourself by clicking the above image.

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    • Mark Beggan on Before Action: “Badges? Badges! We don’t need no stinking badges!Aug 21, 18:32
    • twathater on Before Action: “So gobshite what are you doing about making Scotland a better place ,who did you and your fellow unionists vote…Aug 21, 18:29
    • Hatey McHateface on Before Action: “If you’re coming to the colony, form an orderly queue behind the flood of formerly oppressed and crushed colonised victims…Aug 21, 18:06
    • Captain Caveman on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “Another day, another stellar display of rank, ignorant stupidity I see Confused. You’d be banned anywhere else, ten times over.Aug 21, 18:03
    • Mark Beggan on Before Action: ““What good is sitting alone in your room? Come hear the music play Life is a Colony, old chum Come…Aug 21, 17:45
    • Hatey McHateface on Before Action: “Very true, Alf, we can only imagine. In fact, the rest of us don’t even have to imagine while we…Aug 21, 17:36
    • Hatey McHateface on Before Action: “No referendum, section 30, or UDI required? It’s bold, James, but I guess you wouldn’t have posted it if you…Aug 21, 17:29
    • Spartan 117 on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “You can’t help yourself, can you. You’ve just proven my point, yet again. What an arse to make of yourself,…Aug 21, 17:14
    • Mark Beggan on Before Action: “The cash incentive is one thing but I prefer, ” tell us what we want to know or it is…Aug 21, 17:10
    • Alf Baird on Before Action: ““The Scottish establishment will always kowtow to Westminster until we manage to get out from under the “union”.” Yes sarah,…Aug 21, 16:03
    • Gavin on The Aims Of Justice: “Thank you for sticking with this, Stu. What you are doing is really important. Without your courage and tenacity, we…Aug 21, 15:37
    • James Che on Before Action: “All this effects and affects how the law is dealt with in Scotland. If a Colonial Country comes to light…Aug 21, 15:35
    • James Che on Before Action: “For instance is the 1800 Anglo- Irish agreement in 1800 with the parliament of England or the supposed parliament of…Aug 21, 15:27
    • James Che on Before Action: “Alf, Indeed this is not Scots laws but the justice and laws of England, That said Scots know now that…Aug 21, 15:18
    • Mark Beggan on Before Action: “I reckon the Scottish establishment will fight this with every means at their disposal. If they lose the legal battle…Aug 21, 14:37
    • And Spouse on Before Action: “What is the chance that there might be a long game here. If they, SNP, can summon up the money…Aug 21, 14:21
    • Confused on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “arday got the martyr’s death alright – he also fills a more pagan role; the “fool”, the “king for a…Aug 21, 14:18
    • Mark Beggan on Before Action: “I understand that Sarah but to ride a bike you must first posses one then you need to learn how…Aug 21, 14:15
    • Confused on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “incoherent as usual, main. I think you are in “must have a dig, because”- mode. do you have some perverse…Aug 21, 14:13
    • Mark Beggan on Before Action: “Woke ideology! As you say it is a concept, nothing more. It has no foundation or academic relevance. Professor Alf…Aug 21, 14:03
    • Confused on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “that was a fucking zinger – you should get your own slot on C4, or HIGNFY you’re yet another fucking…Aug 21, 14:01
    • Hatey McHateface on Before Action: “Relax and don’t worry. It’ll pass.Aug 21, 13:48
    • Captain Caveman on Before Action: “”You choose to ignore the content of just about EVERY article that Stu writes. Instead you continue to focus on…Aug 21, 13:41
    • Garavelli Princip on Before Action: “I find myself in the extremely unusual position of agreeing entirely with Hatey!Aug 21, 13:32
    • Chas on Before Action: “Absolute shite Alf…… as usual. I am amazed that all the faults, incompetence,sleekitness in Scotland are ALWAYS the fault of…Aug 21, 13:02
    • Hatey McHateface on The Land Of Do-As-You-Please: “@Southernbystander Not the least of the terrible evils of DEI is the niggling doubt, every time one encounters a burocrat…Aug 21, 12:59
    • Hatey McHateface on Before Action: “Naw, sarah, Alf is wrong. A simple majority of MSPs at HR passing a vote of No Confidence is all…Aug 21, 12:36
    • 100%Yes on Before Action: “Who are you calling the “establishment” if you mean the SNP or Scottish government then say it.Aug 21, 12:32
    • Douglas on Before Action: “Excellent response to an apparently deaf, dumb and blind organization which, in my view, is shaming Scotland. A crowd funder…Aug 21, 12:28
    • lothianlad on Before Action: “Thank you Stu for your persistance They know that the truth will expose their crimes fully. We know that sturgeon…Aug 21, 12:28
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