Brian Wilson is a liar
Alert readers will already be aware that former Labour MP, minister and nuclear-power lobbyist Brian Wilson is one of our least favourite figures in the independence debate.
A man utterly consumed by tribal hatred of the SNP – even by the standards of Scottish Labour, which is no mean accolade – his Scotsman columns are some of the most mendacious, bilious propaganda to be found in the country, to the extent that we don’t even link to them in our “Zany Comedy Relief” section.
Today, however, he’s outdone himself in spectacular style.
Wilson’s latest article for the newspaper is a foaming-mouthed diatribe about postal charges, based on the price of sending a letter from Northern Ireland to the Republic.
This is a lie. The only stamp on the Royal Mail’s price list costing £2.38 is the one for a 1st Class “large letter” between 500g and 750g, delivered INSIDE THE UK:
The nearest thing for a letter to Ireland – which is “Europe” in Royal Mail terms – is £2.35 for one between 60g and 100g (which would be a very heavy letter indeed, coming in not much below the weight of a quarter-pound bag of Wine Gums). The same letter would have cost either 62p or 93p in the UK depending on its physical dimensions, although at that weight it would have been pretty much a miracle if it didn’t come under the “large letter” category and incur the higher cost.
Now, Wilson’s complaint is in itself obviously fundamentally nonsense. There isn’t any actual REASON why the Royal Mail should charge so much for mail between Northern Ireland and the Republic, it simply CHOOSES to. In the other direction, mail from the Republic to Northern Ireland is more sensibly treated as “internal” mail and charged at the same rate as post within the Republic itself – 68 Euro cents, or 54p (which is 13% cheaper than internal mail in the UK).
(We’re converting all Irish prices to Sterling here for ease of comparison, and because we can never remember which bloody shift key to press to get the Euro symbol.)
Even for mail going across the sea to mainland UK, the Irish postal service charges far less than the Royal Mail does – a 100g letter is just 79p, or £1.55 for a large envelope, compared to the Royal Mail’s £2.35 going the other way.
But scaremongering over stamp prices is by far the least of the lies in the article.
Wilson then goes on to extrapolate to a wider point about the impact of independence on the costs of cross-border trade outside a currency union (so it’s essentially a moot point anyway), and he’s characteristically doom-laden about it:
4% of GDP? Wow, that’s a pretty hefty blow to be sure. But wait a minute – if £600m is 4%, that would mean that Scotland’s entire GDP was just £15bn, which is plainly complete tommyrot – the Scottish block grant alone is around £25bn. In fact, the real GDP figure is almost exactly TEN TIMES what Brian Wilson says it is. Surely the Scottish Government wouldn’t have come up with such a sloppily erroneous claim?
And indeed, a UK government document from May 2014 shows that they didn’t:
What Wilson describes in the Scotsman as “Scottish Government” figures were actually produced by the UK Treasury, allegedly “using the same methodology” as the Scottish Government, which is a rather different proposition. And the UK Treasury’s report correctly identified that the claimed £600m sum represented 0.4% of Scottish GDP, not the much scarier 4% suggested by Wilson.
Of course, we can’t expect Brian Wilson to be up on the finer detail of every last UK government report. There’s no reason he’d have those sorts of figures at his fingertips, so it’s perfectly understandable that as a normal fallible human being he might accidentally misinterpret something and massively inflate the figures as a result. It’d be an unfortunate error, especially if it resulted in a claim that caused undue fear and alarm about independence, but these things happen.
Oh. The UK government’s report was produced by… Brian Wilson.
It seems somewhat unlikely, then, that Wilson would multiply the true figure by 1,000% accidentally. Given that it’s the entire focus of the article, you’d imagine that it’d be the one figure he’d definitely get right, particularly as he’s the one who produced the figure in the first place. But “0.4% of GDP” doesn’t sound very frightening, and if you multiply it by 10 and then correct your “mistake” in a tiny corner of tomorrow’s paper, the damage is done.
Alternatively, of course, Mr Wilson is just a clangingly stupid, clumsy buffoon. After all, we already know he can’t even read a table of postal charges accurately. So if it turns out that he wasn’t deliberately lying in order to fearmonger, he can drop us a line to let us know and we’ll happily change the title of this article to “Brian Wilson is an idiot”.
I love that last paragraph.
Once again Wilson shows his utter contempt for Scottish voters. They think they can say any old rubbish and noone will talk back and they’re probably right, as in this fabrication of what Tesco actually said about being lied about by UKOK
link to bbc.co.uk
After Wilson used his grandmother’s funeral as an excuse to attack the SNP when he wrote a column for the Herald in the 90s, liar is not the word I’d use to describe him.
On fire Rev, absolutely brilliant.
“Alternatively, of course, Mr Wilson is just a clangingly stupid, clumsy buffoon. After all, we already know he can’t even read a table of postal charges accurately. So if it turns out that he wasn’t deliberately lying, he can drop us a line to let us know and we’ll happily change the title of this article to “Brian Wilson is an idiot”.”
Outstanding.
So this, “In a letter to a customer who had inquired about the claim in the leaflet, Tesco said “I can confirm that this is not true”
Becomes this from the biggest UKOK propaganda machine in the world right now
“Supermarket giant Tesco has played down claims its prices would rise in an independent Scotland”
No BBC in Scotland, Tesco is not “playing down” BetterTogether claims that prices will rise after Independence. Tesco are stating quite categorically that BetterTogether are lying again, which is not “playing down” anything Tesco wise, unless of course you’re a BBC propagandist at work.
oops:D
Haha, that made me laugh, terrific stuff stu, you are winning this referendum for us, i have no doubt.
If we get a Yes result, I would hope that Yessers would be magnanimous to No voters who genuinely believed they were doing the right thing. Magnanimity in victory.
OTOH, For people like Brian Wilson George Galloway, Alan Cochrane et al I want to see their noses rubbed in it. No magnanimity whatsoever.
Now folks, we really must keep an open mind on this.
We should accept that it is perfectly possible that Wilson is both a liar AND an idiot.
Not even politics just the self-indulgent rattling of a man addicted to delusions of self-importance.
iScotland
Nice one. 🙂
@James Westland
Indeed. Forgiveness for those we’re duped into voting No. No quarter for the liars and deceives, though.
walofs
I preferred his work with the Beach Boys.
He terms himself Rt Hon. Brian Wilson.
He’s never right and he’s definitely not honourable.
The man is an evil turnip.
Liddel and McLeith summed this loathsome creature up a treat when cut with the tape running,
As one of his constituents he did absolutely nothing for them,that is par for the course for North Ayshire MPs
galamcennalath says:
Now folks, we really must keep an open mind on this.
We should accept that it is perfectly possible that Wilson is both a liar AND an idiot.
Don’t forget to add that he is totally incompetent and incapable of using wee Danny Alexander’s magic calculator either gala. 😛
Everyone should watch this.
link to facebook.com
into pre moderation
ho hum
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
If they had any brains, they would be stupid, collectively so.
See me, not so stupid withe big bad pre-mod monster.
See yeez all, on the other side.
“into pre moderation
ho hum”
There are currently almost A THOUSAND messages awaiting moderation, due to a spam flood which is overwhelming Akismet. Inevitably this is causing errors and false positives. I’ve been tweeting about it for days.
So it would help me a LOT if people didn’t clog up comments any further, or my email inbox, with complaints about it.
One of the reasons to vote YES – Brian Wilson.
The postal workers and the privatised post. Unionists had no concern for them. Longer hours and poor working conditions. Selling off a profitable enterprise, cheap, so Westminster MP’s and their associates could make £Millions. Increasing the National debt.
@ Robert Whyte:
The guy is at a Bureau de Change. They make their living by charging for changing money.
If he was changing English notes into Scots notes he’d probably have been charged the same.
The BT lot are good at exaggeration. For example the article in last Sunday`s Sunday Mail about Jim Murphy being “pelted with eggs”. Sounds much better than hit by one egg.
Having followed Wilson’s career since his youth, I can say that he is not an idiot, but has a psychological problem. He was a rabid, obsessed nationalist at school, one who would have been a dangerous liability to the SNP – of which he was a member – but switched to rabid, obsessional opposition when a student. I’ve never found out what caused it: was it teenage rebellion? a girl? did he read Marx and found more people to hate? or found in Labour politics the extra attraction of a career? He is a person of immoderate antipathies with an unusually strong need to express them. Most politicians, as they get older, mellow, moderate their views, and in retirement adopt a detached, statesman-like objectivity, but Wilson is an exception.
I prefer the current article title. However both could be correct.
Thanks Stu but, not in your mailbox, from me.
to Rev Stu
I just grumble in public.
Do you want another crowd fund, to help hire a couple of spam monkeys, to help.
I am being serious as I am pretty certain that this blog will be as needed after the vote as before.
We, meaning you, will need to consider that, as I am convinced that there will be a latent 5th column lurking.
After that, there will always be the necessity to maintain the Scottish Government under control of the people.
That is how democracy should work, upwards, not downwards.
@ jimbo
Yes but there would be no reason to change English notes to Scottish notes.
Not a coincidence that there has been an increase in spam after the WBB hit the streets – they know it is effective in turning folk around.
This is the same Brian Wilson who denied all knowledge of 6000 square miles of the North Sea being handed over to Westminster control in 1999. Hmmm.
Lol, brilliant, In the event of a yes vote I’d like to invite you to come fix the Scottish media Rev. They seem to think that attention to detail and basic honesty are not needed, and the majority of them could benefit greatly from significant reeducation and further study on things like morals and ethics, um, and economics, and arithmetic, national identity, democracy, free press, when not to wear a kilt, and whether or not brown sauce should go in stovies.You are a Gem and thank you for the continued excellent, intelligent, and amusing words you write 🙂
I would not wait too long for Brian Wilson to respond to your letter pointing out his ‘errors’and expecting him to do the decent thing and correct them.
I tried to get him to withdraw a lie he said about me in the film “The Bridge Rising” (about the Skye Bridge tolls Campaign) he calls me a thief which has no foundation and seems to be based on no more than his dislike for my stand against the Skye Bridge Tolls. I wrote an open letter to him in the West Highland Free Press which he ignored. Yes he is a liar and I can prove it also.
He is simply another angry face in the NO campaign, full of spite and vindictiveness. Those like him are aware their days are now well and truly numbered.
“Brian Wilson is an idiot”.
True. You however are anything but. Splendid!
O/T… But see that hate-filled, racist ‘article’ in the Daily Hate Mail today (yyou know, the one with the ‘sorry we can’t take comments on this’ at the bottom… Anyhow, does anyone actually know who Alison and Ken Porter are? Cus it says they ‘made the headlines in Scotland last week’ but I can’t find anything… So these people are a complete fabrication, then? Disgusting…
WOS. Jan, Patrician,& myself were in Airdrie Main St from 9am until 1.30pm so Almondvale convey had to be missed.
O/T but JK Rowling has stepped in say that her GP husband says the ‘SNP are scaremongering over the NHS’.
Now I didn’t criticise her for her £1m donation to BT as other folk had donated lots to the Yes but this is blatant misinformation.
Maybe her hubby has been too busy to read up on TTIP or the proposed cut to the block grant or the removal of the Barnet formula if – god forbid – there is a no vote.
How does he expect the Scottish government to fund everything when the grant is cut?
Then of course he doesn’t have to worry as he is married to a multi-millionare.
Perhaps someone should send a copy of the interview with Jeanne Freeman and Andrew McNeil to them.
that’s the MSM bar rare few exposed for what they are.
So why did Labour support the partition of Ireland in 1922 and why did Labour reinforce the Border by sending Troops IN in 1969 and introducing laws that broke all the European Union rules? Why is he and fellow reactionary Labour Unionist on the Sellick Board playing the sectarian game against Scottish Independence?#
Just missed Spud Murphy and his gang in Argyle St, Glasgow today and would have asked him these same questions. I am not the BBC.
I can’t stand that man. He is a constant reminder of all that is wrong in Scottish politics. He IS the Scottish/Unionist cringe.
A mix of the Rev Jolly and Rab C.
My old mother says she wouldn’t leave her bairns alone with that man, every time she sees him on the telly. I trust my mither.
He’s a legend in his own Manhattan apartment.
Scum does not even come close to him. Along with George Galloway, this piece of scum should be reminded every day, the lies they spread about the Scottish People. I do not want, under any circumstances, the election of any Unionist MP or current/past member of the House of Lords into any future Scottish Parliament. I see the usual suspects have joined Archie McPherson to save the union, Billy McNeil ect. Fuck them all. They will go down in history as a shower of ("Tractor" - Ed)s. Maybe we can swap the Quisling term for a ("Tractor" - Ed) to a Scottish term, a McPherson. Utter scum.
Stephen.
Liar and rabid attack dog
That’s why we love ya rev
Congratulations! This must rank as one of your most biting and effective refutations ever. No court lawyer – and I have seen many – could have wielded the forensic rapier better. I think it would be better for Mr. Wilson and the No campaign if he now committed himself to a vow of silence until after the referendum. Happily, we know that he won’t, and that he will maintain his sad status as a most effective energiser for the Yes campaign. Isn’t it wonderful!
Nobody with even a few functioning brain cells listens to Brian Wilson. He’s a bitter twisted old man who has alienated the majority of people who come in contact with him.
Lots of us from the highlands have long memories regarding Mr Wilson – and none of them are good.
Juteman, you have no idea how close to the quick that statement from your Mother about him is? (alledgedly). I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.
Stephen.
Are Wilson,Darling,Reid,McConnell,Foulkes,Robertson et al now having to pay up for their rise in the establishment,
” Some day, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me. But until that day, consider this justice a gift” Godfather.
They know they are lying to their own people they surely cannot in their own souls know this is the right thing to do but they have no real option ,their polemic was bought long ago.
If these named people get anywhere near any power in an Independant Scotland I will definitely not be happy.
O/T and with reference to the BBC “Tesco plays down…” propaganda, hopefully come the 19th September we can crowdfund a chartered flight to transport all the BBC Scotland Pacific Quay brigade south, on a one way ticket.
Will ye no’ come back again…PLEASE!
Brian Wilson, a liar??
Next thing you’ll be telling us is Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction was bullshit too. 😀
Frankly, Brian Wilson is the most unpleasant character in Scottish politics. His labelling of the Yes campaign as “fundamentalist” on Radio 4 last week was a quite deliberate attempt to link it with political or religious extremism. Reprehensible even if it is what he happens to believe. The Yes campaign stands for all the values his beloved West Highland Free Press is alleged to support. Yet every week they allow him to sneer and denigrate in his weekly column with out a hint of questioning or criticism. He may have helped save the Harris tweed industry but he’s not fit to thread the loom of your average weaver.
Brian, a liar? Who knew?
After a yes vote can we please erase any historical reference to the likes of Wilson and Galloway.
Yesterdays hasbeens & sweetie wives of the vilest sectarian order.
I don’t think the sorts like Wilson and Galloway will want to stick around in an independent Scotland anyway gordoz. 😛
Ooof I’ve seen some articles since we started but this is shameful
link to dailymail.co.uk
Hootsman puled this very quickly but what a legacy to leave behind Lord Brian
link to archive.today
Lamont behind enemy lines, in Govan!
As an ex-labour voter this whole debate started with an apathy or disillusionment of Labour but as the campaign has gone on and despite my rather left of centre perspective on politics i cannot express my true disdain for the people who have masquaraded as the voice of the people a rather arrogant statement. It is apparent now that allowing this tainted entity a platform from the people is flawed and will only serve to deliver benefits of self interest for people like Wilson. This is our fault yes these people have taken advantage but in our stupour they have thrived.
The choice is for us to take to quote Elaine C Smith from the debate on STV vote Labour, get to the back of the bus and shut up. We are not fools but we have been foolish lets not make the same mistakes.
Great CIF from NO, as. Hootsman’s gags it’s own hacks now, at bottom of link to archive.today
“So much for freedom of speach in SNP controlled areas. After all we all know how well balanced the SNP are, never ever holding grudge against those who speak out gainst them.”
o/t – anyone see this tweet from Rupert Murdoch regarding YouGov poll in tomorrows Sunday Times? link to twitter.com
“Lesley-Anne says:
6 September, 2014 at 4:05 pm
I don’t think the sorts like Wilson and Galloway will want to stick around in an independent Scotland anyway gordoz.”
Well Galloway said, in a debate with Jim Sillars, that he would stand as First Minister if Scotland got its independence.
Just shows the arrogance and misguided self belief that he has.
You are quite correct Stu, none of these figures are readily available are they?
You had to coerce the facts out of who knows where by bribing them with brown envelopes stuffed with cash.
Or am I wrong and I am confusing your hard edges, no nonsesne facts driven analysis with how the newspapers in London acquire their “exclusive” stories?
A Labour politician lying?
Well, I never! Who’da thunk it eh?
@Chris Silver
As another ex-labour supporter, welcome to the club. I am totally sick of their hypocrisy. Here is Elaine c Smith speaking in Wester Hailes.
link to youtube.com
Wilson’s a rich man and deeply conservative. It’s not like that’s news but it’s never mentioned by any BetterTogetherist anywhere just how rich Labour in Scotland has made men like Brian up there.
He’s probably just wanting the same opportunities to get rich for all his colleagues in Labour in Scotland but as I once voted Labour on auto pilot, I’d want him to explain why he’s not going ape shirt over a Royal Mail sell off that was way under valued and forces up the price of a stamp. But here we are, a trougher using a giant Tory fraud on all of us and all to boost UKOK. It’s not very honest, unless you’re a Tory.
WOW Laukat!
I have been hearing rumours, as no doubt others have that there are polls in the offing that will be the game changers of all game changers. I wonder if this is one of them. 🙂
LA, you will see Jim’s brilliant retort to Galloway in this vid, right at the end, 44mins 30 secs or so.
link to youtube.com
laukat, Looks like he is saying YES in poll lead and Times to go for YES, Black eye for Westminster. If correct amazing.
Laukat
I would like to see conflicting polls. That way it will get the Yes people out campaigning right up until 10 pm on the 18th.
Rev – you are basically trying to goad someone into making a libel claim against you, aren’t you?
Brian Wilson is a fanatic, a face contorted and a personality twisted over the years wrestling with different ideologies and shaping them into something that he agrees with. What we see now is the end result of someone who has a completely fucked up view of the world.
To send a 20g (small) letter to the USA it costs £1.28 ($2.09 converted). The same letter sent from the USA to the Britain costs $1.15 (0.70p converted), we’re already being ripped off!
@Liz … sadly there are those who work within the NHS that would gladly see it privatised. These apeople are usually in the upper income margins of the organisation, GPs, surgeons, consultants and administrators. A couple of years ago I had a housemate who was newly qualified junior doctor. She said she couldn’t wait for the NHS to be privatised because she felt it would mean that she will end up being paid more. When Better Together find doctors to say that the SNP are lying over NHS privatisation it’s because they want it to happen and want the people to vote for it (without realising it) because it will benefit them individually.
If people remember that great TV show ‘A Very Peculiar Practice’ with Peter Davidson as a GP, it had an unpleasant character called Dr Bob Buzzard, a doctor who could only see the ££££s, that in itself was a commentary on Thatcherism but sadly they do exist today.
link to youtube.com
Anyone wanting a wee bit of light relief tonight from all the hustle and bustle of the referendum might want to check this out. 😉
link to bbc.co.uk
This could be the panelbase that they said they could not comment on as client wanted no publicity before it came out. We would likely see it tonight.
Laukat
I want to see polls that give mixed messages at this stage to keep the Yes activist working up to the close of poll on the 18th.
Right now Brian Wilson will be biting the arms of his chair, whilst cursing you and the SNP upside down, well done Rev.
Malc
We know there is a Yougov poll due in the UK Sunday Times edition. I doubt if the Scottish edition would have a separate poll by Panelbase.
If there is a Panelbase one as well though Marcia it might appear in one of the other Sunday papers … Sunday Herald perhaps? 😉
O/T
Imagine trying to build a nation on a wee drop of oil. Someone has not done their homework…..
link to oilprice.com
Superb
Marcia, Even better then if it is YouGov. If Sunday Times comes out for YES then the SUN will surely follow.
I’m not sure I want to be on the same side as Murdoch. I prefered it when he had Blair in his hip pocket.
I go with Brian Wilson is a liar and has a serious mental problem with regard to the SNP. This is not something I say lightly as I consider making light of mental problems as quite deplorable but Mr Wilson has always given me the vibe that either something very bad happened to him when he was a member, perhaps they told him he would never get any where or he has got so far up the establishment it is the only way to keep his various sinecures.
@laukat
That tweet from Murdoch reads like the poll is very close.
From the Managing Editor of the Sun
Stig Abell ?@StigAbell 49s
Even the most sanguine representatives of the no vote now accept the possibility of independence. Looks like 12 days of the Union left.
O/T
Tweet from Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch ?@rupertmurdoch 5m
Scottish poll reflects world-wide disillusion with political leaders and old establishments leaving openings for libertarians and far left.
link to www1.politicalbetting.com
Murdoch’s tweet is quite cyprtic (or possibly a wine or two) but it’s certainly looking like at least level pegging or good news for Yes.
The final bend picture is absolutely stunning with auld Lion catching up to John Bull.
Away to save it or print it out for inspiration!
X
No mistake, no error, no typo – lies. To mislead, scare and misrepresent. So, they KNOW the truth, right? So, WHY are they against independence and trying to get folk to vote NO? They know its good for Scotland politically and economically in both the short and long terms. What makes someone stand against this?
Brian Wilson is a venomous frothing rabid dog.He is so blinded by red mist and fury that he can’t look at anything without his bile spewing forth.Not a nice man at all and he should really have come out as a Brit Tory a long time ago.Why was he ever in the labour party.
Has laukat posted on here before?
Beware geeks and their gifts.
@Kenny
The Rev isn’t goading anyone.
Libel:”a published false statement that is damaging to a person’s reputation”
Looks to me like Wilson has libeled himself. Dope.
@David Stevenson … not sure if we wanted to be on the same side as Stalin circa 1941 but it was necessary 😛
Seriously though, Rupert Murdoch hates the ‘British Elite’ he utterly despises the Blairs, Browns, Camerons, Milibands, Lords and Ladies of this world and he, in his own way, will gladly see the Establishment with a bloody nose. These polls conducted by his papers will be an insight into whether he will give the go-ahead for The Scottish Sun to back independence or not.
O/T Another successful day of Yes campaigning at Pilrig Church in Leith Walk: we were going to set up on Elm Row as usual but Better Together got there first (they only stayed for 2 hours or so though). But boy is the No side feeling the pressure now. One guy called other people out leafleting with me fucking Commie bastards and when I dared to tell him to behave himself, he launched into a vicious tirade against me. I gave him a piece of my mind in turn. Then later on, an elderly couple walked past and the woman gave me the evil eye and hissed, The last thing I’ll ever do is vote Yes. A group of guys in their 20s walked past and called us bastards. Three cars drove by and screamed Fucking No at us. It’s a sad state of affairs when people scream at you for wanting more democracy. Tell you what though, a Yes victory will be the greatest punishment for these ghouls, and I’ll go out on a limb and declare now that we will win 55% or higher of the vote. The bitterness & aggression from some No voters really is an ugly sight to behold.
O/T A couple of Youtube videos from today’s Yes flashmob singing ‘Caledonia’ outside Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
link to youtube.com
link to youtube.com
.
O/T this is VERY interesting
link to twitter.com
Juteman, they are Murdoch tweets, so unless he has been hacked it is real.
The more and more folks keep singing Caledonia I feel that this is building up to a case of Caledonia becoming our new National Anthem after independence. 😛
@DaveDee
Haha thanks for that, absolutely brilliant. Copycats 🙂
His follow up tweet is consistent too!
link to twitter.com
Excellently laid out arguments here, totally ripped Mr.BrianW to shreds, agree with others, he’s an idiotic liar, worthless but dangerous if anyone accidentally believes what he spouts.
Do not sink to the vile lowness of Brian Wilson.If we win on the 18th I will not even think about him because I will be too busy working to make Scotland a better place to live.
On Murdoch I have a surprising respect for the way in his early career he exposed the criminal negligence of the British Empire. The truth about the criminal insanity that resulted in the tragedy of Galipoli was exposed by him as was the lies of the Australian Governmen. Why he got into bed with Blair can only be guessed. Was his thinking distorted by dynastic dreams for his children?
stig abell
has just tweeted; looks like 12 days of the union left.
fred blogger says:
stig abell
has just tweeted; looks like 12 days of the union left.
Tick Tock … Tick Tock! 😛
Sorry if this has been posted…
link to youtube.com
:o)
Have a trip over to the Political Betting site. The link is on the main page:)
The Onion has been finished for 35 years. You reap what you sow.
Marcia , they are in a panic over the news , fun to see
I watched Brian Wilson debate in Largs last week. He was very rude to Phillipa Whitford, and called her a liar. She defended herself robustly. Wee Brian also said things about borders and immigration which as former Trade Minister he must know to be untrue.
Jackson Carlaw, on the other hand, came over as a decent enough type whom I happen to disagree with. There’s a big difference.
Stu had that as previous thread Brian. 😉
O/T but I see Jim Murphy was in Hamilton this afternoon. Hang on, 100 towns in 100 days, right? But he’s been in Hamilton before. He was in Burnbank, which is part of Hamilton in July. Another BT fib!
Why are yougov doing another poll so soon and for the same stable? Don’t mind too much if it’s a good one but would be keen to see what the next Sunday Herald poll says. Good response in Hamilton today, plenty of toots from passing cars an explosion of Yes windows around the town and in nearby Blantyre.
Stig Abell of the Sun has just tweeted this. 😛
Even the most sanguine representatives of the no vote now accept the possibility of independence. Looks like 12 days of the Union left.
Lesley-Anne
keep going, chickens before they hatch and all that.
but we know the truth in our hearts, that yes is winning.
that feeling can almost be touched. 🙂
I agree Fred.
We ARE winning.
We WILL win!
Better whatsit are f****d! 😛
thank god for this site and you stu
you dont miss much but they just keep spouting utter rubbish and they dont care if they get exposed..it makes me sick to the pit of my gut to think of all these lying ba***** sitting round a table drinking champaigne and laughing if we lose this…thanks to you i dont think we will though, but every now and then the thought comes into my head and i get that feeling in my gut like the feeling you get when your driving fast over a dip in the road.
FREEDOM!!!!!!!
And I don’t give a flying fuck about Braveheart.
Change is coming and WE will be in charge.
YES price dropping sharply on Betfair
Wilson is the best example of Scotland has of the archetypical Labour machine politician, ruthless, insulting, a serial liar, with no interest in the electorate beyond keeping power over his fiefdom.
Thenpr: I am with you. If we win the day, Murdoch and his klepto-capitalist ilk will want to be in charge though. We have to keep Holyrood at heel and defending the interests of the mass of the population. Hopefully a Yes win will further energise the massively increased volume of people who have become politically active through the referendum campaign. In fact, it is crucial that they remain active and vigilant. Still lots to be done until 10pm on the 18th though!
I try very hard not to comment if I can, so this is my 1st post on Wings and only on account of Brian “Bloody” Wilson. The man is the reason I haven’t bothered with a “west highland free press” since 1997. I’ve tried a few times since the management buyout but Wilson’s column simply reminded me that his creepy hands were still all over it.
“Idiot” is too kind. “Lucifer the deceiver”, shirley.
Uilleachan
On the road returning from my workplace Yes stickers in windows outnumber No stickers by 20 to 1, easily. And yes, I has passengers help count as I drove slowly through the city.
Brian is just a permanently angry man. God knows why.
Murdoch’s tweets are cryptic, but I’m assuming from what he said that the next poll will read either 49/51 50/50 or 51/49. Downing Street will go ape **** tomorrow.
link to facebook.com
Keep going. Even harder than before. They are going to throw everything at us now but we can do it. Final push, flat out effort and we will win.
You mean something like this Thoughsofascot? 😉
link to twitter.com
I was our manning our Yes stall this afternoon and some showed me something on their phone which said they had seen poll data tables of Yes 47% No 46 which would put Yes on 50.5% and No 49.5%.
Might not be the Sunday Times poll but it would chime with Murdch’s tweet. However, everyone is atwitch and rumours about polls seem to be flying around. I can wait till late tonight to see 🙂
Obviously if those are the numbers the No side are going to be a wee bit dis-chuffed. The eggs will be out the box. 😉
Trafalgar Square. Save our NHS. But SLab tell us Yes is lying.
A BIT dischuffed HaS?
I’m thinking they will be more that just a bit dischuffed. I think we are definitively now into squeaky bum time for Better whatsit and all their toys have definitely been thrown out of their pram! 😛
edward robinson says:
6 September, 2014 at 3:11 pm
“He is simply another angry face in the NO campaign, full of spite and vindictiveness. Those like him are aware their days are now well and truly numbered”.
Edward’s statement sum it for me.
I cant imagine the London times or its sister paper coming out for Yes.Maybe the Sun in Scotland will.
Agree with all sentiments above.
The only reason Murdoch would support an indy Scotland is because he would see it as a new opportunity for business.
That’s why the likes of the Rev and Derek Bateman will be needed in the event of a Yes.
It would be fantastic to have a proper press who could be charged and jailed for lying.
We will not be complacent as after my experience in Clarkston today, I know there are a lot of closed minds out there.
He is an idiot but he is a dangerous idiot, this odious lying little fucker will work against Scotland’s interests when the negotiations are taking place you can bet on it
The Wilsons of this world has truly underestimated the voting public. They can see through the years of empty promises from both Tory and Labour. The lib Dems have been exposed as a typical Westminster centred party. Their scare tactics no longer work.
As Winnie Ewing said –
Stop the World, Scotland wants to get on!
I think we can now give serious consideration to making a slight alteration to Winnie’s saying WA.
I’m all for changing it to:
Stop the World, Scotland is getting on! 😉
link to nrtalkradio.libsyn.com
Brian Wilson is the embodiment of the morally bankrupt and financially corrupt Westminster system. Setting aside his blindly obedient careerism while in the Labour party, perhaps best exemplified by a voting record which supported the invasion of Iraq and stifling Gay rights, he used his rewards for loyalty, as so many of them do, to feather his nest upon leaving office. Case in point would be procuring multi-million pound contracts for AMEC while special envoy to Iraq, the same country he played his parliamentary role in destroying and then walking into a directors job with them afterwards. His contacts made while Energy Secretary have also served him well, with his current Harris Tweed Hebrides business bankrolled to the tune of £750,000 by oil baron and friend to warlord and dictators Ian Taylor. The same Ian Taylor who is the Conservative party’s AND Better Together’s largest donor. While publicly taking credit for saving the Harris Tweed industry with this dirty money Brian employs himself by flying round the world (Russia, South America, Japan, China, New York, Paris…all in recent years) staying in top hotels under the premise of promoting the business on the companies dime. Meantime the actual weavers of his cloth are paid less than a living wage. He dines with Fidel Castro but mocks Catalonian calls for autonomy. He sneers at Scottish nationalism as a journalist for pro-union newspapers but firmly believes in the Irish cause, publicly endorsing the singing of rebel songs into the bargain while he collects a wage from Celtic FC. It is plain to see that Brian knows which side his bread is buttered, he’ll endorse anything from illegal wars to dodgy ideologies if he can make some money and still appear a pious man of the people. The truth is he’s capitalist, wrapped in the flag of Old Labour to give the impression of one thing when underneath he’s completely another. The saving grace is that come the 18th he’ll be on the wrong side of history again and it will be amusing to watch his little world coming crashing down.
McTim
Your experience today doesnt surprise me at all. The british states is like a wounded beast right now and it and its supporters will lash out in anger fear and desperation
A steady hand on the tiller is needed with no slip-ups or unforseen nonsense from the Yes side.
The next 11 days will be highly dangerous. What we have in the Indy Ref is an existential threat to the union – its that simple . And if it looks to them like the writing is on the wall, then every dirty trick in the book will be used if need be.
I am baffled as to why so many people don’t phone in formal complaints to the BBC – but just froth on the internet – and request a number for their formal complaint over coverage of the Scottish referendum. With reference to the coverage today ““Supermarket giant Tesco has played down claims its prices would rise in an independent Scotland” I phoned in my complaint today (case number CAS 2905049) and pointed out that the BBC had never covered the litany of false ‘No’ campaign lies either individually, or as story about a whole linked series of whoppers from postage stamps, to Tesco prices to Drivers Licences THE COMPLAINTS LINE IS 03701100222 – GET PHONING .
R.E. The Times poll.
One of my fellow Maryhill activists, has a friend who is married to someone working at the Times and has been told that the no lead is down to 1%
Brian Wilson Rage = Brain in slow gear.
Unlike the Rev. This is brilliant work.
By the way, WBB was flying off the Yes stall in Perth today. The mobbed Yes stall looked great especially beside the (empty) BT stall of 2 UJ umbrellas and a picnic table. The mood is Yes.
The WBB was a popular ask at our table too, surprising how many people know about it.
We didn’t have BT competition today, they never turned up. We had three stalls today, two in Largs and one in Millport. Biggest problem we have is that we are running out of badges and car stickers.
@ James Westland, it wasn’t pleasant but it makes me all the more determined to win. The abuse’s even spread to my Facebook page where someone took my profile picture and badly photoshopped a giant cock in front of my mouth (I am gay and my response was, “so?”). I’m not going to bother reporting them. It’s there for all to see and it only reflects badly on the other side. I hope we run several stalls again next weekend across Leith Walk; I hear reactions have been mostly very positive. If we get abused again next weekend, I’ll try capture it on my phone and publicly shame the morons on youtube.
I can see Wilson spontaneously combusting with heated indignation after a Yes vote. What a waste of good carpet that will be.
@murdoJ
Very well said
Dear Rev. Stu
Gotta congratulate you for the constrain you demonstrate in calling Brian Wilson a Lair. In my opinion he’s much worse than that.
Wasn’t George Robertson also a member of teh SNP in the 60’s and or the 70’s? This would explain their rabit hatred of the yes campaign.
Yes. Also a CND supporter. He was “advised” at uni to stop writing “nationalist” essays. He got eh message and never looked black. he also got he same paid vacation in the USA as Mandelson Murphy, etc. Rearrange these letters to name a well known agency. ACI.
Can Wilson ever be forgiven for his despicable role in the “Scotland is British” campaign in 1970? I believe he was also Scottish Republican in the International Marxist Group, along with A Darling.
As a footy fan of the Celtic persuasion, I’m disgusted that this man has ever had anything to do with my club!!
highseastim says
As a footy fan of the Celtic persuasion, I’m disgusted that this man has ever had anything to do with my club!!
The whole of the Celtic Board are Unionist/Royalist Green Brits and “Forces of the Crown”. Why didn’t Janet Findlay’s Green Brigade turn their angst on them instead of Alex Salmond.
McTim Thats not good. Homophobia as well as unionist bile. Stay strong, stay safe and smile. And keep your phone / camera handy…
I would quite concerned….. IF I thought anyone read the Scotchman.
I agree with Cadogan Enright. The BBC headline tonight is “Push for votes in Referendum Campaign”. This is a report of the FIRST time a poll has shown a lead for YES.
At least the Guardian got the sensation right this time.
THE BBC COMPLAINTS LINE IS 03701100222
None of them are idiots.
But they did take US for idiots for a very long time and were very successful at that.
They have never had to work so hard as in the last 2-3 years.
The only thing they are fighting for is their own interests and that of the Westminster Labour party.
They don’t give a damn about us, the plebs, I mean people, of Scotland
I was out shopping in Inverness today with the wife and being a bit of an old fart I thought about bying a Harris Tweed jacket but then I remembered Brian Wilson and put it back.
I bought a new pair of shoes instead which I will need to deliver WBB leaflets again next week.
Keep up the effort we are nearly home.
“Brian Wilson is an Idiot” ? Now who would think that? Lol!
Why does, “Animal Farm”, keep running reappearing in my thought processes when ever Brian in mentioned? There must be a link, so I’m off to ask “Deep Thought” what the answer is, and for those of a certain age, it’s not 42!
The answer is…obviously… YES.
Well I is was within margin of error.
That disgusting article in the Daily Mail has surely crossed the line into inciting racial hatred territory.
It is particularly frightening for us Scots living in England to have these lies published. There is also an article about Michlele Mone apparently being afraid in her own homeland now that she has come out for No. Some of the comments are unbelievable. The English are falling for the media lies about Scotland hook, line, and sinker. It is mostly not their fault.
Can the Scottish Government not get lawyers involved?
Darling on SKY NEWS IN 10 MINS
They want questions – they say..
update sky means 10 mins+30 mins of adverts..
or are they going to go “off bt script” so darling not doing it hmm ..one wonders
Busgsbunny on 6th September referrs to scum. Not too sure if I would use this term. However, the comments about Brian Wilson George Goalloway and Billy McNeil do have sustance. Problem I have with this is that it may look selective and unhelpful for the cause. For example naming Billy McNeil and excluding such lumanaries as Alistair McCoist, Walter Smith, Alan Hansen, Willie Miller etc etc may look at it that your term may be misrepresented and indicate possibly another agenda???
BBC NEWS NIGHT 8th Sept
Why did reporter Keep saying if Scotland remains LOYAL when talking about a no vote at referendum? ???
THE ESTABLISHMENT WILL NOT ALLOW THE YES VOTE TO WIN
BE PREPARED FOR MORE LIES FROM LONDON LABOUR
[…] (Though of course, Labour has some recent history of spuriously multiplying things by 10 for effect.) […]
link to koreatimes.co.kr NOT ONE SINGLE LNG CONTRACT HAS COME TO THE CLYDE IN SCOTLAND FOR 20 YEARS & THE SCOTTISH LABOUR PARTY DO NOT CARE…………
where are “yesterdays men” & the broken BETTER TOGETHER vow now ? liquidating their hard earned Westminster pensions while Glasgow and the Clyde lie bare and forsaken while South Korea is booming with LNG / FPSO / FLNG shipbuilding contracts with CAPEX valued at circa
$800 BILLION USD . Lets say a big sarcastic “thank you” to Scottish Labour Party & Alistair Darling, Gordon Brown, Brian Wilson for their joint venture with the TORIES making sure SCOTLAND were kept off the bidding lists.
THIS COMMERCIAL ABUSE BEGAN ON THEIR WATCH
Former Republican student Marxist, Bomber Wilson, of the Loyalist/Unionist/Royalist Sellick Board is revered and feted by right wing Teddy Bear keyboard fans for his nasty Labour Weakly column the Hootsmon.
He is obsessive and no’ right in the heid.
From 2014 No campaign. I mean You cant change your mind in 4 years says the advert !! Should it not say — we won’t let you.
link to theguardian.com