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If it hits you in the eye 301

Posted on March 24, 2017 by

There’s a new hot buzz-phrase in the Yoonstream: “GERS deniers”.

It’s actually been around for quite a few months – coincidentally since this site started exposing the true nature of the figures – but has become a constant mantra recently, in particular since the intervention of an actual proper expert who doesn’t sell cat litter for a living, Professor Richard Murphy.

Ever since he set tongues and tails wagging by writing a series of hard-hitting articles for his widely-renowned Tax Research UK blog last week, rubbishing the quality of the data, Unionists have been in an increasingly shrill flap about it.

And it’s not hard to see why.

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How the times do change 314

Posted on March 23, 2017 by

Unreliable sources 235

Posted on March 21, 2017 by

It seems counter-intuitive – given Rupert Murdoch’s often-overstated (despite endless and fevered speculation, the Scottish Sun didn’t back a Yes vote) but still seemingly real support for Scottish independence – that Sky News should be seen as the most hostile of the nation’s broadcasters to the Yes movement.

Yet such it is.

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Stitched up like kippers 261

Posted on March 20, 2017 by

Panelbase have released data tables for their recent Sunday Times poll. And wow.

That’s quite something.

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To keep links with the world 84

Posted on March 19, 2017 by

No 9: Mark, until recently from London.

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How soon isn’t now? 524

Posted on March 16, 2017 by

Sigh.

None of the tweets below are true.

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A unique opportunity to escape 76

Posted on March 15, 2017 by

No 8: Elizabeth, from Bonnybridge.

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Some things are simple 428

Posted on March 14, 2017 by

Judging by the first 24 hours, we’re in for a two-year festival of utter horror from the UK and Scottish media. Yesterday saw a never-ending parade of metrosplaining idiots dragged willingly in front of cameras and microphones to pontificate their clueless and mind-numbingly ignorant drivel about Scotland.

It wasn’t possible to keep track of it all, because it was frequently happening on five channels at once, and it was harder still to watch it for any extended period of time without hurling a brick through the screen in frustration at the offensive stupidity of it.

Feeding into that was a stream of Scottish politicians who actually did know better, but who are too catastrophically dim to adapt to changing circumstances and had no strategy other than to endlessly repeat the same cretinous soundbites over and over.

(Adam Tomkins in particular was ubiquitous, spending what felt like several hours on various airwaves reciting the same brainless 10-second schtick forever.)

The constitutional politics of the UK and Scotland are in flux, and many aspects of the situation are complicated. But quite a lot of them aren’t, and if we’re all going to make it through the next two years without stabbing each other in the throat, it’d be a lot better if everyone accepted the things that are definite, empirical, indisputable facts.

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Great news, Mrs Hudson 325

Posted on March 13, 2017 by

We’re going to need to print more books.

The incredible persistence of stupidity 88

Posted on March 12, 2017 by

We saw this exchange on Twitter this morning, involving left-wing Labour activist Eoin Clarke, a reader, and Scottish Labour list MSP Elaine Smith.

idiotsmith

Smith professed to find it “unbelievable” and “scary” that the reader thought he’d had Tory governments for most of his lifetime. (We asked him how old he was and he said 34, which means he’s had Tory governments for 62% of his life, so that checks out.)

But it’s a standard Scottish Labour line that there’s no real difference between Scottish and English voters in terms of favouring left-wing politics, so we thought we’d just quickly check the arithmetic on that. The results are unlikely to shock you.

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If you thought Willie Rennie was funny 182

Posted on March 11, 2017 by

…on Good Morning Scotland yesterday, then we suspect you’re going to love the Lib Dems’ heroically glaikit MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton on the same show today.

(Good Morning Scotland, BBC Radio Scotland, 11 March 2017)
.

Our favourite line is probably “the SNP didn’t win an election”, although it’s run quite close by “If you listen to Christine Jardine”.

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The lion’s share 63

Posted on March 11, 2017 by

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    • James Cheyne on A matter of class: “The Snp , the dodgey trials, the governance, the gender issue, british media bias reporting or none reporting, resources and…Dec 24, 12:25
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