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Wings Over Scotland


Box almost half empty

Posted on December 18, 2017 by

The Scottish press and opposition have had it in for the baby box ever since the idea was mooted, but this is a pretty spectacular new low in barrel-scraping.

“Almost half”, eh? How many are we talking about exactly?

Oh. Apparently 38% is “almost half” now, which means that the remaining 62% must be just slightly over half. Let’s illustrate that for you.

Or maybe it’s clearer this way:

(Those are, of course, the same numbers as the EU referendum in Scotland, which we must presume the Herald regarded as more or less a tie, rather than – say – an “overwhelming” victory for the side that got the 62%.)

As a visual metaphor for the Scottish media, folks, it takes some beating.

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  1. 18 12 17 11:56

    Box almost half empty | speymouth
    Ignored

163 to “Box almost half empty”

  1. Doug
    Ignored
    says:

    Perhaps we can get a press release out that the media might pick up “Politicians and Journalists in Scotland found to have lowest maths skills in UK?”

  2. Cath Ferguson
    Ignored
    says:

    Also, 35% have used it – ie 35% of new mothers have been saved forking out for an expensive moses basket or similar just for the first few weeks, or instead leaving the baby somewhere not safe. 27% intent to use it. And the rest…the “snub” it. Really? So not that, perhaps this is a second or further baby and they already happen to have a moses basket they paid a fortune for, so simply won’t need to use it, as the other 62% have done, and 100% now can do. No, they’re “snubbing” it. Really does show the utter desperation and vacuousness of the Scottish media right now. And that’s all it shows.

  3. bobajock
    Ignored
    says:

    So in reality, an awful lot of people used it, and thats superb news.

  4. fillofficer
    Ignored
    says:

    jeez, could you imagine if it had been a baby bag, ffs

  5. Calum McKay
    Ignored
    says:

    Barrel scraping!

    “scrape the bottom of the barrel

    verb phrase

    To use one’s last and worst resources; be forced to desperate measures : He scraped the bottom of the barrel when he proposed that topic for his paper (1942+)”

  6. Almannysbunnet
    Ignored
    says:

    So almost half of Scotland wanted Brexit! They were thwarted when slightly over half voted to remain. Ah I get it now. Wonder how they define 45%?

  7. pitchfork
    Ignored
    says:

    This is even worse when you realise it is the herlad and not the mail or express

  8. Thepnr
    Ignored
    says:

    Clutching at straws again, it really is pathetic. Something in the box has to be the “item least used” and for me it’s not surprising that it is the box itself.

    I’d guess that once the baby reaches 6 months or so you’re likely going to need a cot so many would choose to start off with a cot in the first place, it’s also entirely reasonable to assume that many of that 38% will already own or have access to a cot.

    They call this news, as I said it’s pathetic reporting.

  9. Swiss Perspective
    Ignored
    says:

    Ah, so now you see Stu why the 62% No-to-Brexit Scotss are not as many as you think! Only really marginally over half, obviously.

  10. Graham
    Ignored
    says:

    If 38% is almost half, does that mean that 45% is almost a majority…?

  11. K1
    Ignored
    says:

    Clearer and clearer that we are now just simply dealing with straightforward blatant propaganda. The whole aim is to constantly drip feed ‘SNP Bad’. No matter how low they have to go to do this, they clearly do not care as long as they keep on board the mushrooms.

    Their dwindling readership reveals the sorry state they are in, so it is no longer about making money for them nor about journalistic integrity (if it ever was). Let them drive their own papers into the ground. Never interrupt yer enemies when they are doing a fine job of writing themselves out of existence.

  12. Morag
    Ignored
    says:

    I’m surprised so many people are actually using the box as a cot. I thought relatively few people would do that, at least at first when there’s no existing tradition of doing that and many people will already have cots from earlier babies. I thought using the box as a cot might be seen as something only poorer mothers would do. So nearly two-thirds using it is a brilliant success I think.

    There are also other uses for it. I believe in Finland many families use them as receptacles for mementos they save for the child as it grows. I also hear of students setting of to start university with their baby box packed by their parents with essentials for starting life in their student digs.

    And what pejorative language. A family which is using a regular cot which they may already have from a previous baby, or perhaps a gift from a relative, is being portrayed as “snubbing” the box? How biassed can you get?

  13. Auld Rock
    Ignored
    says:

    Oh dear, Jackie Baillie’s “An Idiots Guide to Simple Arithmetic” strikes again.

  14. John Alexander Ferguson
    Ignored
    says:

    My concern is, the answer to, why is there a need for lies.

  15. K1
    Ignored
    says:

    Also..the more I think on it…the box can be used for anything? A ‘heavy duty cardboard container’ is an oafy handy piece of kit.

    We should get a meme going: ‘Pimp Yer Crib’ with pics sent in from those who have thought of other uses for the crib? 🙂

  16. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    “Box element” is a very creepy word choose too, from the very creepy world of UKOK hackdom in Scotland today. Its not hard to picture them trying to find something, ANY THING, wrong with a pretty nice project.

    Its far more red and blue tory British, to borrow £10+ billion for a couple of aircraft carriers that can rain death and destruction on hot places where the natives cant defend themselves, when we can eventually afford to borrow even more, for the super dooper jets to do that too, because you’re British!

  17. Lollysmum
    Ignored
    says:

    Common sense says that those new parents that can afford to pay high prices for a crib for a new born will do however there are also plenty of parents out there who would struggle to pay for one if they’ve only got one wage coming in.

    You are desperately trying to stigmatise the Baby Box but we won’t allow you to do that.

    As for the maths ability of Scottish journalists in the Britnat media (The Herald) given your reading of these figures you have no grounds to accuse the Scottish government of failings in education. Most of you went to private schools & you still can’t work out what is almost a half. Please note it definitely isn’t 38%

  18. heraldnomore
    Ignored
    says:

    It’s The Herald – moves on

  19. Gullane No4
    Ignored
    says:

    How hard must that Herald sub editor have worked to get an SNP bad headline out of that story.
    Almost makes you want to pity the poor wee souls.

  20. Proud Cybernat
    Ignored
    says:

    Boxing clever they most definitely are not. I suppose “Just over a third of parents….” just doesn’t have the same punch, does it?

    How stupid does the media in Scotland think we are?

    Feckin eejits.

  21. K1
    Ignored
    says:

    Finnish folks should be alerted to this piece from Wings and they should send their pics in tae Stu’s twitter!

  22. Legerwood
    Ignored
    says:

    fillofficer says:
    18 December, 2017 at 11:16 am
    jeez, could you imagine if it had been a baby bag, ffs
    ……………

    And a plastic bag to boot. What would have been the reaction to that I wonder…not.

    I read somewhere that in Finland the parents keep the baby boxes and then their children use them to pack some of their stuff when they head to Uni.

  23. Giesabrek
    Ignored
    says:

    Like Morag above, I’m surprised so many are using it. I’m the proud father of 3 children and we used a Moses basket borrowed from a friend who no longer needed it.

    Would we have used the cardboard box if had been available to us? Probably not because we had the Moses basket. In fact, we’d probably not taken any of the baby box supplies simply because we’d have liked them to be available to those less well off.

    Does the fact I’m in the 62% bracket mean I don’t agree with the concept of baby boxes? Absolutely not, I think they’re a great idea, if only to show new parents that the state DOES care about them, even if it may only be a token gesture (I appreciate the baby boxes do have a proven baby safety record though).

    I’m actually surprised that 52% have either used them or plan to use them – remember, before they were introduced no-one was using them and having to buy or borrow Moses baskets. Now, 52% of new parents have/intend to use them instead, a great saving for them, and that’s the boxes being available across ALL income groups.

    The “Scottish” media are scum through-and-through (with a rare exception or two) and they just don’t surprise me now with their anti-Scottish and anti-SNP attitudes anymore, they just disappoint.

  24. Macart
    Ignored
    says:

    There can’t be an arse left in that barrel by this point surely?

    They truly are a waste of space.

  25. HandandShrimp
    Ignored
    says:

    LOL Gordon aptly demonstrating why he will never be Pulitizer Prize material.

    State propagandist is a dirty job though but someone has to do it. 🙂

  26. Free Scotland
    Ignored
    says:

    According to the caption below that photo, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was at Clackmannanshire Community Healthcare Centre ti distribute the first baby boxes in Scotland.

    – – – ti distribute – – –

    Can’t count, can’t write, can’t sound convincing. Is there anything else they can’t do?

  27. Jim Watson
    Ignored
    says:

    Surely the box belongs to the parents and they are confused therefore snubbing their own box. It is not SNP babies after all…

    Just saying like…

  28. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    There are definitely basic numerical skills deficits in Scottish education that need to be addressed. Mind you, many of these journalists did qualify under a labour educational system.Back to school ,you poison pen authors

    One and one now appears to be whatever you want it to be.

  29. Socrates MacSporran
    Ignored
    says:

    One of my best sports-writing mates, now sadly gone to the great press box in the sky, was a Herald sports-writer/sub-editor.

    The last time I spoke to him, before his final illness claimed him, be told me: “At the moment, on The Herald, those of us who still care, outnumber those who don’t give a fuck.”

    Sadly, these days are gone, today, it’s the “don’t give a fuck” mob who are running the show at the top of Renfield Street – the few remaining real Herald men are in a tiny minority.

  30. rod robertson
    Ignored
    says:

    62% to 38% I do not believe in coincidences therefore I am just going to say that maybe all those types that voted for Brexit are same mindset that are against baby boxes spooky huh?

  31. Proud Cybernat
    Ignored
    says:

    BREAKING from Pravda Quay
    with Jackie Kim Ono

    The Bird Box….

    No – I’d better not.

  32. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    Don’t forget it’s Pantomime Season, and the Herald is just playing Ebenezer Scrooge. “Baby Box??? Bah! Humbug!”

    The Herald staff will come to their senses when the Ghost of Christmases to Come takes them by the hand and shows them the Herald being laid to rest in its own wooden box under an RIP headstone, while everybody is going about their business glad to see the back of them.

  33. ScotsRenewables
    Ignored
    says:

    Graham says:
    18 December, 2017 at 11:19 am
    If 38% is almost half, does that mean that 45% is almost a majority…?

    I would say that makes 45% a thumping majority!

  34. Peter A Bell
    Ignored
    says:

    Aye. But you’re using that old-fashioned arithmetic. You probably imagine that, because it was good enough for Archimedes, Galileo, Newton and Einstein it should be good enough for us. Pfft! I mock your reactionary traditionalism!

  35. starlaw
    Ignored
    says:

    If this an exclusive by Tom Gordon then he is clearly short of material. Utterly Pathetic article from an utterly Pathetic man. He would be better employed sweeping the streets, which would serve the public better and keep him out of mischief.

  36. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    The survey should have been of first time mothers. That would have been more meaningful and a better indication of the future.

    However, even if 80% had used the box the loyal Unionist legacy media would have spun that as

    “Many SNP baby boxes wasted”

    or some other negative spin!

    If the Scottish Government eradicated cancer, they would spin it as “1000s of NHS redundancies” and “Specialist health units forced to close”..

  37. snode1965
    Ignored
    says:

    Tom Gordon really has given up on any pretence of journalistic integrity.

  38. Proud Cybernat
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Macart

    18% trust in journalists. So almost half then.

  39. Mochachoca
    Ignored
    says:

    Aye, using their formula 45% is almost 60%. Wonder if they ‘process’ their readership stats in the same manner?

  40. Macart
    Ignored
    says:

    @Proud Cybernat

    On the Tom Gordon, Jackie Bailie, Ruth Harrison scale… ayup. 🙂

  41. Proud Cybernat
    Ignored
    says:

    BREXIT = a lie meant.

  42. WRH2
    Ignored
    says:

    Can anyone tell me how to “snub” a box? You might choose not to use it for all sorts of reasons, but snub! I think a headline of “Desperation sets in at the Herald” would be restrained by comparison.

  43. Dave McEwan Hill
    Ignored
    says:

    And the self destruct at the Herald continues. It is so very sad that a venerable Scottish institution,one of world’s oldest and most respected media institutions should be reduced to the level of the Beano.

  44. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    Bet they all scoured the boxes for Scotland flags too but it can be a powerful thing though, what’s on a box.

    My now successful bid to get Morrison’s to scrap their union jack filled doughnut boxes and replace them with the Saltire, certainly has made the doughnuts even more delicious, salted caramel, very tasty.

    And sales of Morrisons filled doughnuts have soared too, the extremely hot customer services lady, Hungarian? tells me:D

    So translating this jump in Morrisons filled doughnut sales, to SNP Scots.gov baby boxes…

    Lets face it, if UK gov does ever decide to copy Scot.gov, they will plaster their baby box version with union jacks, large and small, just like they do with everything else.

  45. Proud Cybernat
    Ignored
    says:

    Prof Woland?
    @m_jivetoaster
    2m2 minutes ago
    More
    Replying to @WingsScotland

    Oh to be the landlord in Tom Gordon’s local. Every time he ordered a half…

  46. Tam the Bam.
    Ignored
    says:

    Tom Gordon is the Herald’s most ardent SNP BAD hatchet-man.
    He’s just not very good at it.I remember seeing him outside the SECC last year during the SNP Conference…his facial expression and general demeanour could best be described as akin to that of a particularly morbid undertaker.

  47. Effijy
    Ignored
    says:

    On a positive note, 100% of the Heralds Political Stories are taken out of context, distorted for political gain, or just a down right lie.

    I’m also 100% certain that the Herald will go bust and 100% sure that they will not be missed.

    How disgusting that the rich reprobates like the Herald’s journalists are upset to see babies from disadvantaged backgrounds being supported with a safe environment to sleep in.

    If any of them would like to better themselves, have a look in the dictionary and see if they can get their head around words like Humanity, Christianity, Civilization, Society, Community.

  48. Capella
    Ignored
    says:

    Ferocious keyboard warrior Tom Gordon scorns baby boxes. Wow.
    The entire corrupt edifice of the neo-colonial state shivers in terror.
    First they came for baby boxes. But I wasn’t a baby box. So I did nothing.
    By the time he gets round to hedge fund managers there’ll be nobody left.

  49. Shug
    Ignored
    says:

    Westminster has now got full control and coordination over the unionist parties, the press and the bbc
    Their attacks are fully coordinated now
    When Indy ref 2 is called they will be on a war footing
    We will need a very good plan indeed to court ter

  50. Alibi
    Ignored
    says:

    I bought a box on mince pies. Just like with the Baby Box, I found that the box element was the least used part. The pies were great, but the cardboard box was a bit tasteless.

    I know that article was Tom Gordon before I even clicked the link. his stuff is 100% SNP bad. A bitter, twisted wee man as well as a very poor writer and journalist. I hope his next shite is a porcupine.

  51. cirsium
    Ignored
    says:

    @alsmannysbunnet, 11.17am

    “Wonder how they define 45%?”

    a minority

  52. Roger Mexico
    Ignored
    says:

    As always when newspapers attempt to deal with data, it’s worth actually looking at the report they are commenting on. In this case it’s the SG Report Scotland’s Baby Box – parent’s views on contents:

    http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0052/00528728.pdf

    this reports (Pages 3-4):

    Ratings of all the contents used were very high – the percentage of people (among those who had used them) who said they had found items either ‘very’ or ‘quite’ useful were:
    ? Equipment: 99% (83% said very useful)
    ? Clothing: 98% (76% said very useful)
    ? Bedding: 92% (65% said very useful)
    ? Baby wrap/sling: 89% (74% said very useful)
    ? The box as a sleeping space: 88% (64% said very useful).

    […]Overall satisfaction
    Reflecting the high levels of use and ratings of contents, overall satisfaction levels
    were extremely high. The proportions saying they were either very or quite satisfied
    were:
    ? Overall quality of box and contents: 100% (95% were very satisfied)
    ? Range of items included: 99% (97% were very satisfied)
    ? Presentation and design of Box: 99% (95% were very satisfied)
    ? Delivery arrangements: 99% (92% were very satisfied).

    The 37% (not 38%) who hadn’t/didn’t use the box nearly all had bought or been given an alternative and only 8% of that 37% that is 6 out of the sample of 204 (3%), said they didn’t want their baby to sleep in the box (page 14).

  53. Suzanne
    Ignored
    says:

    So, 77 out of the 204 said they wouldn’t use the box as a crib, but they’re using the contents otherwise the Herald would have moaned about that too.

    Not a bad result at all. And they can use the box as a toy box or whatever else they want.

    Stripe me pink. The Herald would have found something wrong with it even if they had to work all day and all night to find something.

  54. Cairnallochy
    Ignored
    says:

    When our first born arrived, we used a carry-cot referred to always as “the box”. Seems we were ahead of the game.

  55. Cairnallochy
    Ignored
    says:

    PS 40 years ago !

  56. Jack Murphy
    Ignored
    says:

    I heave a big sigh of relief these journalists in Scotland didn’t go into Nursing or Pharmacy. 🙂

    Instead they chose journalism,safer for all of us.

  57. Tam the Bam.
    Ignored
    says:

    Alibi…..@12-51pm

    Actually..he’s quite tall…’A richt languid girnin’ pus.’

    He reminds me of that English Tory MP Andrew Selous.

  58. wull2
    Ignored
    says:

    Wings should boycott the people who advertise in certain rags and let it be known to the manager of the shop.

  59. dakk
    Ignored
    says:

    The Herald have even titled this little tit-bit of a lie as an ‘EXCLUSIVE’.

    How sad is that?

  60. winifred McCartney
    Ignored
    says:

    Tom Gordon – lately of the Jackie Baillie school of maths – 38% is a majority what is 45% – an outstanding victory, not yet but it won’t be long. And still they ask why nobody is buying their lies. I bought it right up to indy and was so disgusted have never and will never buy it again.

    Alex Salmond – RT show enquiry about tweets on first show – one complaint and it is on the national news but remember the bbc is not biased. Lost count of number of complaints to BBC most not even answered so just stopped watching altogether.

  61. Donald anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    Half of the population is under average.

  62. Derick fae Yell
    Ignored
    says:

    Hey! Leave the Beano alone

    it’s a million times better, and more factual, than the Herald of Yoon. Yooned! Yooned! You’re all Yooned I tells ye. Ochone

  63. LD
    Ignored
    says:

    The sooner the herald is put out its misery the better.

  64. heraldnomore
    Ignored
    says:

    I see that bloody bridge over the Forth gets full Mway status, 70mph, in the New Year. Transport Minister surely has to go, bad bad bad…

  65. Ken MacColl
    Ignored
    says:

    I switched from being a regular subscriber of The Scotsman about twenty years ago and faithfully purchased the Herald for several years until its opinions seriously crossed the line into its right wing ant-SNP presentation of news affairs.
    When it distorts local news to such an extent how can anyone believe its other reportage?
    Nothing would now induce me to contribute to its finances in any way and, I am sorry to say that if, as forecast, it goes down the stank it will do so without any regret from me. I suspect that this is a view, as Tom Gordon would imply, shared by well over half the population.
    We should be eternally grateful that the Rev ploughs through this joke “journalism” on our behalf and only hope that the so-styled “journalists” that write it go down with the ship -“Uncle Tom” and all.

  66. Clootie
    Ignored
    says:

    OR….SNPbad!…again.

  67. Socrates MacSporran
    Ignored
    says:

    dakk @ 1.07pm

    When I started in journalism back in the 1960s EXCLUSIVE Meant just that; the particular newspaper you were reading were the only ones to have that story.

    Today, EXCLUSIVE means – “we’re the only ones to have this take on this story, written by this journalist.”

  68. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    heraldnomore says:

    I see that bloody bridge over the Forth gets full Mway status, 70mph, in the New Year. Transport Minister surely has to go, bad bad bad…

    … oh they will definitely have something [SNP]baaaad to say about that. It’s all just one big joke now. Anything and everything gets a negative spin.

    Still, it does mean they are rapidly using up their quota of fakery. It will all be burnt out by IndyRef2. Maybees.

    Just thinking. When the old bridge was opened in the 60s, the speed limit must have been 70mph? Dual carriageway in an era when limits weren’t slapped on everything.

    Of course, my first car could probably only reach 70 with a good tail wind.

  69. gus1940
    Ignored
    says:

    Meanwhile back at Pathetic Quay until the scale of the Cameron House fire became clear they were leading all bulletins with yet another report from a Labour Party PFI which unsurprisingly attacks the Scottish NHS.

  70. SOG
    Ignored
    says:

    I didn’t read the whole report, just as far as this line…

    The box as a sleeping space: 88% (64% said very useful)

    … which I thought was rather good for a box that has completed its primary function when it’s been emptied. We had a second-hand carry-cot for our sprog, it did the job for a while. I think the box looks more attractive than that old thing.

  71. Joe of the Coutts
    Ignored
    says:

    Just discovered that my iPad has now a Saltire emoji. Must have been the last update. ???????

  72. Sinky
    Ignored
    says:

    Yoon media can’t help making themselves a laughing stock.

    BBC saying Ofcom investigating RT tweets relating to Alex Salmond’s Russia To-day show as “at least ONE complaint” received.

    Funny the numerous complaints about UK broadcasters are never reported until Ofcom has ruled and even then we don’t hear about it very often..

  73. Dan Huil
    Ignored
    says:

    British nationalist media ready for a box of their own – a pine one.

    Boycott all Britnat media. Don’t pay the bbc tax.

  74. starlaw
    Ignored
    says:

    Good old Ofcom Witchfinder general of twits and tweets. I believe its just one tweety wee thing that’s being looked into. No doubt BBC will keep us all informed of any updates in this Twits for Tweets saga.
    Personally I have always wondered why txt messages to call K withan E seem to differ from her callers. Perhaps those Ofcom what ever they are could, investigate this, that is if they have any time to spare in their hunt for Alec Salmon and his phantom tweeters.

  75. Dr Jim
    Ignored
    says:

    So are they saying Unionists who object to the scheme are not using the box but taking the free stuff contained therein and then complaining about not using the box

    Coz that would be typical of Unionists

  76. Greannach
    Ignored
    says:

    Save money and reduce blood pressure in two simple moves.

    1. I bought the Scotsman almost every day from the early 80s on. When it went off the rails, I switched to the Glasgow Herald. When it became a British nationalist newsletter, I stopped altogether.

    2. I stopped watching BBC/STV/Sky “news” about 10 years ago.

  77. Fuzzynavel
    Ignored
    says:

    I’m surprised that they didn’t spin it to say that only 38% of mothers can afford a moses basket for their new borns.

  78. geeo
    Ignored
    says:

    Theresa May has quite the imagination…..her Transition wish list is a work of Fiction..!!

    http://archive.is/7zJ36

  79. Andy-B
    Ignored
    says:

    A lot of other items come with the baby box, such as the temperature gauge, I bet the use of the items, other than the box is very high, so overall the whole package in my opinion is a success.

  80. Petra
    Ignored
    says:

    Another load of exclusive old bile being reported by Tom Gordon, the man who’s got the brass neck to call himself a Scottish Political Editor. That’s the man who’s single-handedly flushing the Herald right down the drain to the point that one wonders how many Herald employees actually detest him as much as we do. Loads I would imagine.

    I don’t read the newspaper anymore so wonder if he’s published anything relating to the 120,000 excess deaths due to Tory austerity cuts in England and Wales, the doubling of ESA benefit claimants attempting suicide and that Tory MPs, including the so-called Scots, voted down an amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill which would have helped to safeguard devolution in Scotland….. to name but a few.

    He’s actually a sad excuse for a normal human being publishing this a week before Christmas.

    Here’s what you call an ‘exclusive’, Tom.

    ‘Pro-indy Catalan parties both closing in on unionists and are set to win combined majority in latest world exclusive poll from Catalonia.’

    http://www.thenational.scot/news/15778870.Pro_indy_Catalan_parties_both_closing_in_on_unionists_and_are_set_to_win_combined_majority_in_latest_world_exclusive_poll_from_Catalonia/?ref=mr&lp=1

  81. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    Oscar Wilde who was no stranger to the tabloids of his day stated ” journalism gives us the opinion of the uneducated, so that we may keep in contact with the ignorance of society”

    Never more true.

  82. Petra
    Ignored
    says:

    It’s coming whether you like it or not Tom.

    ‘Indyref2 in early 2019 would mean easy EU entry for Scotland, says top expert.’

    http://www.thenational.scot/news/15776954.Indyref2_in_early_2019_would_mean_easy_EU_entry_for_Scotland__says_top_expert/?ref=mr&lp=19

    ………………………………..

    Interesting article from Bella.

    http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2017/12/17/nae-pasaran/

  83. gus1940
    Ignored
    says:

    Given the ever accelerating daily deluge of tractorous lies threats, misreporting and non- reporting to which we in Scotland are being subjected by our beloved Colonialist parties and their media fan club would it not be an idea to create a Scottish List Of Dishonour nominations for which could be recommended by individual members of the electorate.

    If nomination for membership were accepted the member would be awarded the initials EOS (Enemy Of Scotland) which could be appended to their name every time it is mentioned in any comment.

    Can I suggest a few names for starters:-

    Andrew Neil
    Nick Robinson
    Brian Wilson
    Brian Monteith
    Tom Gordon
    David Torrance
    David Clegg
    Torquil Crichton
    Ewan McColm
    Ruth Davidson
    Murdo Fraser
    Jackie Bird
    Gary Robertson
    David Mundell
    Glen Campbell
    Theresa May
    Liam Fox
    Dan Snow
    Michelle Mone
    Donalda Wotsername
    Jim Murphy

  84. crazycat
    Ignored
    says:

    Ooh look!

    The Guardian (https://archive.is/29ylj) is making a big deal of an Ofcom investigation into whether tweets to the Alex Salmond Show really came from “the audience”. Was it ever claimed that they did? I can’t remember – they may just have been described as “tweets the show has received”.

    It is only in the last 4 paragraphs of the G’s article that we learn that 9 other organizations are also being investigated, including the BBC. They are being looked at for a potential offence that has arisen for the second time in three years.

  85. admiral
    Ignored
    says:

    Ken MacColl says:
    18 December, 2017 at 1:39 pm
    I switched from being a regular subscriber of The Scotsman about twenty years ago and faithfully purchased the Herald for several years until its opinions seriously crossed the line into its right wing ant-SNP presentation of news affairs.
    When it distorts local news to such an extent how can anyone believe its other reportage?
    Nothing would now induce me to contribute to its finances in any way and, I am sorry to say that if, as forecast, it goes down the stank it will do so without any regret from me. I suspect that this is a view, as Tom Gordon would imply, shared by well over half the population.
    We should be eternally grateful that the Rev ploughs through this joke “journalism” on our behalf and only hope that the so-styled “journalists” that write it go down with the ship -“Uncle Tom” and all.

    I started buying the Scotsman when I was about 18 in the early 1970s. I stopped when the Barclays and Andrew Neil took it decidedly down market and decidedly right wing in the 1990s.

    Oh for the day when serious journalists such as Neal Ascherson were regular contributors to the Scotsman’s opionion pages… sigh!

  86. Giving Goose
    Ignored
    says:

    Re gus1940

    I did something similar for a while several years back, I called it the White Feather Club, I found it very cathartic lol.

    Post Independence there should certainly be a naming and shaming ceremony of some sort.

  87. Petra
    Ignored
    says:

    O/T

    Thanks for digging that out Nana. I’ll show it to the lady in question.

    http://truepublica.org.uk/united-kingdom/tory-govt-quietly-axes-mortgage-protection-scheme-thats-around-since-1948/

    …………………………..

    Why on earth are people thinking of holding rallies in Scotland on Harry Windsor’s wedding day? We’re reaching a critical juncture in our history and need EVERY solitary vote that we can get (probably next year) and yet here we have the Scots shooting themselves in the foot once again! There’s load of people out there, especially those sitting on the fence, that support the Monarchy, so why would we think of driving them away? I could see them all far enough, but surely this issue can wait until after we get our Independence?

    One step forward and two steps back. Ideas like this undermining all of our hard work, such as tramping the streets, up and down stairs, and now having to get into discussion about the Monarchy, no doubt, with people saying that they were disgusted with the rallies and that they have changed their minds about Independence. Time for some people in this country (or is it coming from elsewhere?) to waken up and smell the coffee, imo.

    https://thebutterflyrebellion.scot/2017/12/17/an-alternative-may-19/

  88. Vestas
    Ignored
    says:

    @crazycat 3:19 pm :

    ” Ooh look!

    The Guardian (https://archive.is/29ylj) is making a big deal of an Ofcom investigation into whether tweets to the Alex Salmond Show really came from “the audience”. Was it ever claimed that they did? I can’t remember – they may just have been described as “tweets the show has received”.”

    Complaint (singular) appears to have come from the ITV borders political hack….nuff said, SNP BAAD! even when its not the SNP….

    Great how Ofcom jumps into action with one complaint isn’t it? Not at all biased, oh no….

  89. Jimbo
    Ignored
    says:

    Pretty much in the same way as the media interpreted the 2016 Scottish parliament election result as a win for the conservatives with their 31 seats to SNP’s 64.

  90. John Sweevo
    Ignored
    says:

    I’ll have a half ^^

  91. Petra
    Ignored
    says:

    O/T

    Cover up, cover up, cover up from Westminster paedophile rings to who was behind the Brexit win. The Tories trying to cover up once again! Has Tom Gordon of the Herald reported this? Informed the Scots of what’s going on?

    ‘Why is Theresa May protecting the DUP’s dirty little (Brexit) secret?.

    ”….There is a final, crushing irony in all of this – even beyond the fact that Theresa May’s government is being propped up, as it negotiates Brexit, by a party funded by secret Brexit donors. It is this. Just last week, the DUP’s leadership made headlines across for Europe for blocking the Brexit negotiations from progressing.

    Why? Because they did not want Northern Ireland to be treated any differently from the rest of the UK. In the same breath, they want to keep abusing a uniquely Northern Irish legal loophole to ensure the secrecy of the biggest donation they have ever received – cash which sought to influence the biggest democratic decision the British people have made for a generation….”

    http://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/brexitinc/adam-ramsay-mary-fitzgerald/why-is-northern-ireland-office-protecting-dups-dirty-little

  92. Marcia
    Ignored
    says:

    Herald journalists (and others) have a problem for every solution.

  93. orri
    Ignored
    says:

    Sad thing is that this isn’t scraping the barrel. They did that when they spun the lack of evidence that these boxes helped prevent cot death into something approaching the idea that they might actually contribute to them.

    At least this time they’re only saying they aren’t cool, hip or trendy. Or even a modern incarnation of the idea that newborns were put in drawers in some housed, presumably said drawers weren’t then closed.

  94. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    A society that prevents social change, is not an open society and can not expect to be healthy. A society that lacks political agency, can not protect its culture or determine its future. A society that lacks political agency, can not respond effectively to real world circumstances and can not hope to be sustainable.

    N.B. Social exclusion and marginalisation, is a process that brings institutional bias in to view (see Scotland’s democratic deficit). It is not normal for entire nations to be marginalised by the state, it is colonial.

    The Myth of “Broken Britain”: Welfare Reform and the Production of Ignorance

    Abstract: This article takes on the challenge of what Robert Proctor calls “agnotology” (the study of ignorance) to analyse the current assault on the British welfare state by think tanks, policy elites and conservative politicians. The assault is traced back to the emergence of the Centre for Social Justice think tank, founded in 2004 by the current Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan-Smith. I argue that a familiar litany of social pathologies (family breakdown, worklessness, antisocial behaviour, personal responsibility, out-of-wedlock childbirth, dependency) is repeatedly invoked by the architects of welfare reform to manufacture ignorance of alternative ways of addressing poverty and social injustice. Structural causes of poverty have been strategically ignored in favour of a single behavioural explanation – “Broken Britain” – where “family breakdown” has become the central problem to be tackled by the philanthropic fantasy of a “Big Society”. My agnotological approach critically explores the troubling relationship between (mis)information and state power.

    https://www.geos.ed.ac.uk/homes/tslater/mythofbrokenbritain_slater.pdf

    Working Paper 1
    Theories of Social Exclusion and The Public Library

    Abstract

    “Social exclusion” has increasingly taken over from terms like poverty and deprivation as a term for describing social division. The paper considers social exclusion, and the related term “social inclusion”, and its implications for the public library. It reviews the development of the concept of social exclusion and assesses its strengths and weaknesses as a way of describing social division. Here, it distinguishes between narrower and broader manifestations of the social exclusion idea, with the former suggesting targeted action and the latter a wider social project. The paper then identifies aspects of exclusion in the UK, and links these to the transition from an industrial to a claimed “information” society. The final part of the paper explores implications of the social exclusion debate for the public library, concluding that a wide range of policy initiatives will be needed for libraries to have a significant impact on poverty and inequality (April 1999).

    https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/11879329.pdf

    Social Structures
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StMXdmt9etE

  95. Jack Collatin
    Ignored
    says:

    Tom Gordon, or ‘Scoop’ as he likes to be called, is to the forefront of Political journalism with this absolute scandal that baby boxes are not being used as cribs by nearly half the recipients.He knows who to blame too. It’s that nasty wee wummin, Nicla.
    Stop the Press!
    Consign news, comment, or criticism of the Rape Clause , Dementia Tax, Brexit Bunglefuck, 260,000 Scots children being starved to death by Ruth Davidson and Wullie Rennie to the inside pages of the Herald Britland. Old Scoop has done it again.
    First to get the latest SNPRSHIT Better Together briefing from Magnus Gardham and Alan Roden online.

    The Scottish public demand to know!

    Just what is the point of the dying miserable Dead Tree Scrolls nowadays? What is the point of Tom Gordon?
    How much does Tom Scoop Gordon trouser for getting the Copyboy to cut and paste Yoon Propaganda onto the Britalnd site?
    Our citizens are dying in their tens of thousands, and the Fourth Estate Fifth Column willingly bad mouth the only party in Scotland, the SNP, which is doing its darnedest to mitigate Ruth Davidson’s, Wullie Rennie’s, and Richard Leonard’s savage WM cuts to the poor and low incomes.
    Proud of yourself, Scoop?

  96. gus1940
    Ignored
    says:

    The whole of our wonderfully balanced media are now off on a feeding frenzy regarding the SINGLE complaint to Ofcom over some tweets and The Alec Salmond show on RT.

    Does anybody imagine that for one moment a similar feeding frenzy would ever break out over the THOUSANDS of complaints of bias re The BBC?

  97. Iron Man
    Ignored
    says:

    In the Dundee Courier.

    ‘Alex Salmond Show under investigation by Ofcom for alleged accuracy breach’

    SNP baaaaad.

    You couldnae make it up.

  98. mr thms
    Ignored
    says:

    The BBC’s online ‘Scotland Politics’ section, has an article announcing the Queensferry Crossing’s new 70 mph speed limit will take effect tomorrow.

    Why??

  99. jfngw
    Ignored
    says:

    Ofcom to investigate two tweets on Alex Salmond Show which may not be authentic. Ofcom are going to be very busy if they intend to investigate every tweet that’s read out on a show. Nearly every production uses this technique I suspect, It’s what they want to discuss and this gives the impression the public are interested.

    If you see anything on the UK media you think may not be authentic, complain to Ofcom as they seem to have unlimited resources to investigate nonsense.

    Remember how shocked the panel is when they see someone on a ‘talent’ show, despite the fact that they are part of the production and have almost certainly seen the auditions.

    It’s almost laughable that Ofcom will investigate this but ignore real issues with broadcasting, looks a bit politically driven to be honest.

  100. Morgatron
    Ignored
    says:

    So the box itself has a 62% success rate. Not bad at all for something just launched and by all accounts all the goodies inside has a much higher usage uptake. So as Borat would say “Great Success” . The Herald is a rag along with all the other YOON media, but they know that the majority only read the headline or sub line and they have achieved their aim of – SNPBAD , waste money. The media need to be brought to task as their time is numbered and they know it.

  101. Balaaargh
    Ignored
    says:

    38% can be rounded up to 40%.

    Which is 4 in 10 recipients of the box. Of one more recipient didn’t use the box then that’s 5 in 10. Which is half.

    QED.

  102. Proud Cybernat
    Ignored
    says:

    Nice to see the Alex show on RT getting another big plug from the dimwitted MSM. Brill.

  103. Jack Collatin
    Ignored
    says:

    Yet another scoop from ‘Scoop’ Gordon.
    A load of SNPRSHIT nonsense which is another cut and paste job, this time from the arch right Yoon Institute for Public Policy Research, or Gerry Hassan and Professor John Curtice as we know them.
    “The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said the £164m of extra income tax due to be raised in 2018/19 was not enough to avoid even tougher decisions in 12 months’ time.
    “Serious cuts to public spending remain around the corner,” it said. ”
    Scoop Gordon, well done, ye little Yoon Propaganda mouthpiece.
    Children die, yet it is not as worthy of comment as cutting and pasting this toss from an out and out Brit Nat Unionist propaganda outlet.
    Check out who’s who on their web site.
    Perhaps when we are independent, these guys will crawl off and get a real life.
    People are dying, for fuck’s sake.
    Any advertisers readin this, why are you subsidising a Rag that is contributing to austerity poverty?

  104. Socrates MacSporran
    Ignored
    says:

    gus1940 @ 3.16pm

    Just one thing wrong with your list of potential recipients of the EOS (Enemy of Scotland) award. To put oor ain big Jackie Burd on the list is to credit her with intelligence and awareness greater than many of us feel she possesses.

    Big Jackie only reads out the script put in front of her – the BBC will, in time I am sure, find a robot to do it better.

  105. Pentland Firth
    Ignored
    says:

    Why would any business go out of its way to infuriate almost half (45% to 47%, rather than 38%) of its potential customers? Seriously, what on earth is the Herald management thinking? Do they have a death wish?

  106. Legerwood
    Ignored
    says:

    Baby boxes. You cannot be said to ‘snub’ the baby boxes when you actually have to register to get one.

    https://www.mygov.scot/baby-box/

    The act of registering means you want one. What you do with box, and its contents, once you receive it is up to you but the survey results suggest that the majority of people are happy with it.

    Even if you decide not to register for one that may not be a snub but a decision that you don’t really need it. Entirely up to the parents to be to decide.

  107. Davy
    Ignored
    says:

    The Herald , one of Scotland’s natural backstabbers.

  108. sassenach
    Ignored
    says:

    Surely we should now be writing “The Herald, EOS” at every possible opportunity?

  109. wull2
    Ignored
    says:

    The BBC are doing there bit to cut down bias, they say SKY News might go as a result of the SKY takeover, fingers crossed.

  110. Graeme
    Ignored
    says:

    So by my reckoning if 38% is “almost half” and a half is 50% then it’s only 2% off being almost a quarter.

    My brain hurts 🙁

  111. Petra
    Ignored
    says:

    The Ofcom Board Members.

    http://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/how-ofcom-is-run/ofcom-board

    Remember Baroness Noakes with her investments in a number of energy companies? She was on the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee doling out oil and gas licenses hand over fist. I wonder why, lol?

    ‘Fracking shareholdings

    ‘Noakes is a member of the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee, which has called for fracking to be made an urgent national priority in the UK. Parliamentary registers show that at least five committee members have shares in a number of global oil and gas players – Noakes herself holds investments in at least three firms with interests in shale gas, including British Gas owner Centrica. Centrica has invested in Cuadrilla’s exploratory operations in the North East and – as such – could be a major beneficiary of government policy on fracking.

    Noake’s other shareholdings include Shell, BG Group & BP who have all invested in shale gas reserves in the US alongside a variety of mining and support services firms.’

    Register of Interestshttp://powerbase.info/index.php/Sheila_Noakes

    …………………………….

    Forsyth, Darling and Lamont et al are on the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee now. That magical revolving door, eh!

    http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/economic-affairs-committee/

  112. Petra
    Ignored
    says:

    Oh and I meant to say check out their register of interests. The Establishment ‘network’ have got their beaks into absolutely everything.

    ‘Forsyth, Darling and Lamont et al are on the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee now. That magical revolving door, eh!’

    http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/economic-affairs-committee/

  113. Jack Collatin
    Ignored
    says:

    This from Torrance’s take on the budget clearly illustrates how brainwashed Unionists think.
    This from his tepid wee piece on Del’s Bombshell.
    “It is true that the Scottish block grant is being reduced, though not by as much as the Scottish government claims, but it’s also constrained by the SNP’s own spending decisions: ring-fencing health spending and maintaining ‘free’ university tuition necessitates cuts elsewhere within a largely fixed budget, and Westminster can hardly be blamed for that.”
    Is it just me?
    Our Scottish Government is ‘constrained’ in Torrance’s eyes because it refuses to savagely cut Health spending like their his Tory Masters in England, and insist on ‘free’ (his parenthesis) University education, rather than saddling ‘hard working families’ with £36,000 of tuition fees for each of their children attending University.
    In the World of Torrance, if we would just be like his beloved England and charge folk for everything, we’d be in the land of Milk and Honey that is England.
    He is a prize tosser.
    You may not have noticed, Mr T, but Scotland is increasingly taking a different path from that of your preferred part of this sceptre’d Isle.
    I wonder why you don’t just pack up and move back to the Mothership
    I’m sure that you would be a lot happier.
    I get the sense that the Yoon Scribes are slowly but surely running out of steam.
    Brexit has floored them.
    They don’t even attempt at coherent pro England Uber alles arguments any more.
    Scoop Gordon on the Baby Box Scandal, DT on how poorly Del Boy delivered the budget, and Hang On A Minute Brewer’s tired old haranguing of Ivor McKee on Pointless Scotland on Sunday yesterday, bare all the hall marks of a battered and bruised gaggle of mercenaries who have run out of SNP Bad insults and lies.
    I repeat, what are they going to do for a living come independence?
    There are only so many vacancies on the Free Findo Gask advertiser.

  114. Proud Cybernat
    Ignored
    says:

    GAPonsonby?
    @GAPonsonby
    56m56 minutes ago
    More

    Ofcom can’t investigate a tweet because it doesn’t cover online content. It’s why Nick Eardley can accuse me of bullying on twitter. If Salmond read out a tweet, he can’t have misled if he read it out accurately. Thus, the story is a sham. And BBC Scotland knows it.

  115. Proud Cybernat
    Ignored
    says:

    “Say you are dual-earning family both on about £150,000 with a few kids. Nicola Sturgeon just stole your skiing holiday – and you can claim it back by moving to Newcastle.” – Merryn Somerset Web

    From: https://archive.is/RYYyd#selection-1563.0-1563.171

    Gutted for her, so ah um.

  116. PacMan
    Ignored
    says:

    I had wrote a post on a previous thread about MSM organisations being publishers of opinion rather than news.

    It has become more than more obvious that all they are doings is giving opinions rather than factual information. This become all to certain when I was googling the Disney/Fox merger and came across articles when mentions that the American Fox news has successfully won a few libel cases over there by arguing they are publishing opinions rather than news.

    We see this over here on TV with the likes of Preston, Robinson and their like can sputter out what they like without any analysis or criticism.

    The same goes here where an article describes the amount 38% as almost half. It isn’t a lie but depending on your opinion, it could be although it is stretching things a bit. What will happen is that they will print a wee column on one of the back pages and correct this article and then back to normal again.

    There is a lot of antagonism against the MSM from a lot of people and this is the reason for it. All that the MSM is giving for most of their output is an opinion and nothing more than that. You really have to be naive or gullible to think otherwise.

  117. Hamish100
    Ignored
    says:

    If Tom Gordon’s recent journalistic work was 30% correct he would take that as a success. So the politico from the Herald is now an expert on baby boxes.

    I await with trepidation that rock will now respond in order to get 99% wrong.

    I still think he’s a journalist who was rejected by The National!

  118. liz
    Ignored
    says:

    Since when has a poll of 200 people provided an accurate picture of anything?
    My daughter has just received her baby box, and is delighted with it. Whether she uses it for the baby to sleep in, rather depends on whether her friend actually manages to deliver her Moses basket for her to use or not. It at least takes the stress off her worrying about what happens if baby comes sooner than expected. She certainly won’t be buying a Moses basket, struggling as they are on one salary. Like all new things, it will take time, and word of mouth for parents to get the full benefit from these baby boxes. Shame on anyone who talks them down.

  119. geeo
    Ignored
    says:

    Saw this on a Facebook indy page…a Herald Scotland story…SNP/GREEN/LABOUR group going to court over Brexit.
    ………

    “They want to ask the European court to rule on whether article 50 can be revoked by the UK on its own if voters or the Commons decide the final Brexit deal is unacceptable.

    Alyn Smith, an SNP MEP, David Martin, a Scottish Labour MEP, and Andy Wightman and Ross Greer, both Green MSPs, are behind the move”.
    ……………

    http://archive.is/UxFWb

  120. One_Scot
    Ignored
    says:

    Saw a bulletin clip of John MacKay from STV news during the ads where he stated that Theresa May can get a bespoke trade deal for the UK, but then saw there was no mention of this story on the ITN news at 6.30.

    If I did not know any better I would say that STV News is trying their utmost to condition Scotland into an acceptance of Brexit.

    I cannot tell you how much that man and STV News piss me off.

  121. yesindyref2
    Ignored
    says:

    I tend these days to respond more to the article and headline rather than do the underlying research, and try to do it in a “non-partisan” way, and it gives an interesting insight into what I think will be an important part of the electorate next referendum, those with minds open.

    Indy Ref 1, Independence was the province of us nutcases to start with, and it took most of the campaign to make it mainline. But now it is, it’s an issue, just like education, health, or the cost of butter in the supermarket. It’s mainline, and just as most people aren’t actually partisan about butter but might be about the price of it, I think there will be similar in Indy Ref 2.

    I’m finding some people are quite responsive, while with the strongly partisan anti people, it actually makes it easier to trip them up. Any counter they make about “you’re partisan” is then transparently crap, which you can of course point out!

    Yeah, 38% is “well over a third”, not “nearly half” in anyone’s language. Or should be.

  122. Valerie
    Ignored
    says:

    Christ, just to heap more shite onto SNP.

    Ofcom to investigate a complaint about the Salmond show.

    Apparently the complaint is about his reading out tweets, and accuracy????

    Can you get any lower than to hate someone so much?

    The seething hatred of these types thrive on their hatred, and hunting for something like this propels them.

    Very sick.

  123. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @Proud Cybernat says: 18 December, 2017 at 11:33 am:

    “How stupid does the media in Scotland think we are?
    Feckin eejits.”

    Oh! They think that, “almost half”, of us are idiots but as their calculations seem to them that almost 38% is almost half we must assume that they think, “Almost ALL”, Herald readers are indeed almost very stupid. Perhaps it is time for the Herald to almost give Jackie Baillie her calculator back again.

  124. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @Free Scotland says: 18 December, 2017 at 11:39 am:

    “Can’t count, can’t write, can’t sound convincing. Is there anything else they can’t do?”

    Aye! There most certainly is. They can’t sell newspapers on the strength of their abysmal standard of journalism.

  125. HandandShrimp
    Ignored
    says:

    I see HYS has a comment section on the bridge being fully operational. The Tory contingent, impotent, howl on.

    To be fair I don’t think HYS is necessarily typical of all Tory voters, it always did attract the swivel of eyed regardless of topic.

  126. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @starlaw says: 18 December, 2017 at 11:58 am:

    “If this an exclusive by Tom Gordon then he is clearly short of material. “

    That’s not all he is short of, starlaw. Though, we won’t go into that – it isn’t nice to mock the afflicted.

  127. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @snode1965 says: 18 December, 2017 at 12:07 pm:

    “Tom Gordon really has given up on any pretence of journalistic integrity.”

    I was of the opinion that he never had any to give up in the first place. Was I wrong?

  128. Weechid
    Ignored
    says:

    Can I have the boxes then please? I’m a barren, childless auld wumman but I’ve always got a use for a good box – and they look like good boxes to me.

  129. K.A.Mylchreest
    Ignored
    says:

    I’m sure someone has already pointed this out, but I still feel it needs saying : This ‘complaint’ is ridiculous!
    The importance of the scheme is surely the contents of the box, the fact that the container itself can, at a pinch, double as a crib is simply a clever bonus. A boon for any parent in dire need, but thankfully unnecessary in many cases. So what’s not to like?

  130. Craig P
    Ignored
    says:

    The car crash between journalists and basic arithmetic is universal and eternal, which is one reason why Rev Stu is so precious not just to the indy movement but the reportage of facts in general. But I have always wondered if the people who write about ‘a million’ when the real number is closer to 700,000 are as lackadaisical about their expense claims.

  131. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @Shug says: 18 December, 2017 at 12:49 pm:

    “When Indy ref 2 is called they will be on a war footing
    We will need a very good plan”

    Nah! I may be wrong but it seems to me they are doing a great job in turning the more sane members of the electorate against themselves, Shug.

    The only people who now support them are those who, in spite of knowing the truth, simply will not accept it.

    These people are all like Jim Hood MP:-

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2zI2cMuoQQ

    How can any claimed sane person by so utterly stupid?

    He is telling the people who elected him that he so hates the SNP that if electing them to office was to make those who elected him better off he would vote against the SNP – and the Labour MPs from Scotland most certainly prove they collectively follow that very same mantra.

    They would rather impose Tory austerity upon the poorest in order to line the pockets of the rich than vote to see Scots better off. If they do not vote with the Tories they abstain and that has the same result.

    These people do not vote from their hearts, they do not vote from their heads – they vote from their irrational hate and their own personal feelings of entitlement to rule.

  132. crazycat
    Ignored
    says:

    Another thought on the Ofcom investigation into the Alex Salmond Show:

    It’s just occurred to me that the complaint refers to the very first episode of the show. Therefore, there can’t have been any audience comments because no-one had seen it yet. This makes it even more likely that they were not so described (I haven’t checked).

  133. crazycat
    Ignored
    says:

    @ me

    I suppose they were read out part-way through the show, so could have been sent during the earlier bit. In later episodes, however, the tweets refer to the previous weeks’ content. Plus isn’t the whole thing recorded in advance?

    I’m going to have to watch it again, aren’t I?

  134. K1
    Ignored
    says:

    Aye lol

  135. Brian Doonthetoon
    Ignored
    says:

    Hi crazycat.

    The tweets were read out right at the start of the programme.

  136. Terry
    Ignored
    says:

    He he. Can you imagine the manifestos of the unionists parties at next election – WE WILL ABOLISH BABY BOXES.

    Aye, right. They won’t so ha ha they better shut up now before the penny drops!

  137. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @galamcennalath says: 18 December, 2017 at 1:49 pm:

    “Just thinking. When the old bridge was opened in the 60s, the speed limit must have been 70mph? Dual carriageway in an era when limits weren’t slapped on everything.”

    Nope! galamcennalath, The old bridge has never been a motorway standard. The M90 only begins, if memory serves, at the Rosyth, Admiralty Road junction on the Northern side of the Forth. and on the Sothern side the road is the A90 and not motorway standard either.

    The main reasons why it is not a 70MPH road is that it allows pedestrians to North Queensferry and bicycles as far as the Rosyth junction, but also because it is subject to often severe cross-winds. To the best of my knowledge it has always had a 50MPH limit across the bridge.

  138. Highland Wifie
    Ignored
    says:

    “Nicola Sturgeon just stole your skiing holiday.”

    Well I’m really raging now. Just in from a meet where I was told about a lady in her seventies who won’t put her central heating on (in these temperatures mind) but sits in front of a halogen heater switching it off and on as needed, wearing a sleeping bag so that she can sit during the day.

    That Merryn, whatever her name is, is an utter disgrace. How dare she suggest that people on a joint income of £150,000 are the victims of theft because they will pay a sum of money they won’t even miss to support people that can’t afford to heat and eat. And they’ll still have their skiing holiday by the way. Disgusting.

  139. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @Dan Huil says: 18 December, 2017 at 2:19 pm

    “Boycott all Britnat media. Don’t pay the bbc tax.”

    Nah! Dan, Best be warned that it isn’t a BBC tax. Just try telling the beak on the bench when you are charged that you don’t watch only the BBC and you will find out it applies to any and all live video broadcasts including on-line.

    Anyhow, don’t pay it anyway but do not make the mistake in thinking that it is anything other than a , “Licence”, a.k.a, (the government’s permission), to view live video transmissions.

  140. Robert Graham
    Ignored
    says:

    these rags and their readers have been in the gutter so long they cant see the Sky , poor souls devoid of any thought for anyone else on earth its me , me , me .

    Most of them probably sleep with a scowl on the faces just to make sure its there in the morning and nobody else takes it from them .

  141. Macart
    Ignored
    says:

    @Terry

    “He he. Can you imagine the manifestos of the unionists parties at next election – WE WILL ABOLISH BABY BOXES.

    Good point.

    Come on then Con/Lab/Lib. We double dare you.

    Which one of you would abolish the baby box. Time to shit or get off the pot. 😉

  142. geeo
    Ignored
    says:

    Theresa May might want to read Trump’s latest pearl of wisdom from his big America First Speech today.
    ….

    Previous US leaders “negotiated disastrous trade deals” that brought “massive profits” to foreign nations says @realDonaldTrump

    7:15 PM – Dec 18, 2017
    ……………..

    And there goes any hope of a favourable trade deal with America…

  143. Muscleguy
    Ignored
    says:

    My wife and I were undergaduate students when we got married and had our eldest. One set of parents bought us a bassinet, wooden base, wicker sides, oval mattress.

    But the point is for the length of time a baby is in such a thing before a full cot is relatively small so outlaying on something like that is a bit OTT. I think we passed it on to friends after our youngest grew out of it.

    In NZ in the recovery room after delivery was a sort of welcome pack, you got a couple of tiny disposable nappies, some cloth wipes, various tubes and stuff donated by companies promoting their products but useful nevertheless. The thing that most impressed me though was the application form to join the public library. Our kids were members before they were a week old and it had a good supply of baby books too.

    So when I saw the proposal for the baby boxes I semi recognised it. That you can use it as a bassinet as well, the grandparents can buy something with more use in it instead and baby can sleep in the box. Better than a drawer and purpose built for the purpose. Nice.

  144. Street Andrew
    Ignored
    says:

    What did we do to deserve such a petty, mean-minded press?

  145. Jack Collatin
    Ignored
    says:

    Street Andrew @12.22
    In answer to your question: ‘What did we do to deserve such a petty, mean spirited press?’
    We organised, Andrew, we said ‘enough is enough’, we too to the ether and talked to each other, debunking the Unionist Establishment lies and distortions, to the extent that the Brit Oligarchy fear that they are about to lose their Scots Cash Cow.
    In all seriousness, can anyone say that any sector of our Dead Tree Scrolls, or broadcasters is anthing other than a Unionist Far Right British Nationalist cheer leader.
    The fucking nonsense flooding the press and airwaves because a Windsor Universal Credit claimant is getting married sums it all up for me.
    England, its people, customs and values are foreign to us now.
    Not all English citizens but the Establishment, the Government, Religion, Law, Military, Finance, seem to have hardened into Empire 2 mode, fuelled by a nasty Bunglefuck xenophobic Brexit mass hysteria.
    We voted 62% to remain in the EU.
    Scotland is not an occupied colony of England.
    We shall not be driven from the EU by an English Parliament aided and abetted by a Fifth Column of Red Blue and Yellow Tories and Press mercenaries.
    I refuse to lie down and be trodden on by Mundell and Rennie. Perish the thought.
    We shall overcome. Good luck to England and Wales in the Wilderness.

  146. Meg merrilees
    Ignored
    says:

    Proud Cybernat

    5.46

    Just read that ridiculous Merryn Somerset Webb article – best bit of all are the btl comments

    They just wipe the floor with her – brilliant. What a stupid woman!

  147. Wullie B
    Ignored
    says:

    The daughter who is choosing to make me a grandfather in February has already ordered here baby box and all of her friends have taken it up and use it regularly. Anything that could help prevent a parent from mourning due to SIDS is a great thing and am pretty sure if this was a toon idea then the press would have lapped it up but they have to turn it into a SNPbad story now

  148. Clydebuilt
    Ignored
    says:

    If this was balanced journalism a journalist who specialises in child care would have produced the article not a Political journalist who specialises in attacking anything the Scottish Government does.

  149. Mike d
    Ignored
    says:

    Jack c 1.21am. I like your post,my thoughts exactly.

  150. Rock
    Ignored
    says:

    “The Scottish press and opposition”

    Yes, opposition indeed.

    The opposition to the well being of Scotland.

  151. Rock
    Ignored
    says:

    Buy The National to keep its elder sister The Herald alive.

  152. K1
    Ignored
    says:

    They are completely separate operation you utter nitwitted numpty.

    ‘You are published by Newsquest … why should we give them our money?

    The truth is that it would be incredibly difficult to launch a successful daily independent newspaper today without the backing of a large publisher. The fact that we are part of a big media company allows us to benefit from shared resources, like a printing plant, photographers, a circulation department, an advertising sales team – all of which an independent newspaper would have to pay a premium to use.

    In reality, Newsquest doesn’t have a political view. It doesn’t back independence, or the Union. Otherwise, it would never have allowed the Sunday Herald to come out for Yes, or decided to launch The National. Not once, in three years of the paper, has anybody ever told us what we can and cannot publish in The National. The owners of certain other newspaper companies in the UK are not quite so hands-off.’

    ‘Aren’t you part of the same company as The Herald?

    Yes, we are – along with 20-odd local newspapers and several magazines like the Scottish Farmer. But we run a completely separate operation. We have access to the same photographers, and we use the same sports writers. The other papers have no influence over us, and we’ve got no influence over them.

    But is our money going towards The Herald?

    No, we’re in a completely separate financial line. Decisions are made for each title based on the performance of each newspaper, and The Herald will sink or swim based on its own performance. As will the Greenock Telegraph, the Evening Times, the East Lothian Courier, or any of the other Scottish newspapers in our company.’

    I thought you read Wings Over Scotland?

    https://wingsoverscotland.com/the-national-faq/

    Now shut the fuck up about this subject Rock, all the information about how the National is run and by whom is in the fucking article published by Wings. Give it rest.

  153. K1
    Ignored
    says:

    Aren’t you part of the same company as The Herald?

    Yes, we are – along with 20-odd local newspapers and several magazines like the Scottish Farmer. But we run a completely separate operation. We have access to the same photographers, and we use the same sports writers. The other papers have no influence over us, and we’ve got no influence over them.

    But is our money going towards The Herald?

    No, we’re in a completely separate financial line. Decisions are made for each title based on the performance of each newspaper, and The Herald will sink or swim based on its own performance. As will the Greenock Telegraph, the Evening Times, the East Lothian Courier, or any of the other Scottish newspapers in our company.’

    ———————————————————————————————

    Shut the fuck up about this Craig aka Rock. I thought you read Wings Over Scotland? You are punting a lie, insinuating a falsehood and generally stating blatant propaganda. All the things that Wings Over Scotland goes to great length to point out to readers? So we can spot it a mile away.

    The question is what the fuck you are doing on here thinking we don’t ‘see’ that you are part of the problem? Because you are. Now. give it rest.

    https://wingsoverscotland.com/the-national-faq/

  154. Simon Curran
    Ignored
    says:

    Scottish press is an absolute gift for anyone teaching students about bias in the media.

  155. Undeadshuan
    Ignored
    says:

    Rock is a paid government troll.

    Working fae his wee cupboard in the 77th barracks.

  156. orri
    Ignored
    says:

    Thing about the National is that if by some miracle it’s readership is greater than the Herald and one of them has to go it’d a no-brainer to the publisher as to which. So rather than a ruse to keep the Herald afloat it might be what sinks it.

  157. David Caledonia
    Ignored
    says:

    Highland Wifie

    I got £200 from the government and £140 from my electric company,
    thats a grand total of £340 in grants for my electric, did your 70 year old woman not get that, because every person over 60 is entitled to it, are is your little old woman telling porkies
    I am a card carrying SNP member btw

  158. geeo
    Ignored
    says:

    Stop it David ‘caledonia’.. you are a lot of things, but a card carrying SNP member is ABSOLUTELY NOT one of them.

    People can easily look back over your anti indy drivel should they want to.

  159. Foonurt
    Ignored
    says:

    Boax thurr fuckin lugs, furrit.

  160. Robert Louis
    Ignored
    says:

    Let’s all just start laughing at these so-called ‘journalists’. They are just a joke now. Their is no pretence whatsoever to have a shred of integrity of professional ‘journalists values.

    How demoralising it must be for somebody who has their heart set on becoming a journalist in Scotland, then they join the likes of The Herald or laughingly titled ‘Scotsman’ ‘news’papers, only to find their future career, consists of just writing clear blatant lies and propaganda – ALL aimed at undermining Scotland, its people and the Scottish Government.

    Seriously, any young people out there thinking of journalism as a career, forget it. You may as well go work as a spin doctor in Westminster – and you’ll probably get paid more, better pension etc…

    Meanwhile, can anybody tell me just why ‘The National’ is hidden in so many shops? Time and again, I find it under the Morning star or ‘horsey weekly’ or whatever. I know some deluded unionists sometimes do this kind of thing, but I know some shops (scotmid and co-op we’re talking about you), where every single day the large piles of The National are literally buried, on the very bottom shelf or more usually the floor underneath, and usually underneath other magazines.

    One of the worst of course is the services at Harthill (M&S) on the M8, where the National is literally hidden far, far away, nowhere near any other newspapers, on the floor, under the bottom shelf – you really have to look very, very hard in the shop to find it. This is consistent, every day, so it is clearly the policy of the establishment. Meanwhile ultra extreme right wing, and frankly hate-filled English newspapers like the daily mail and express are given full prominence by the entrance.

    Why is this still going on???



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