The Daily Record, still smarting from the humiliation of being forced to very quietly admit it told its readers a £20 billion lie about the Smith Commission late last year, has been in a demented overdrive trying to provoke Yes/SNP supporters this week.
It started on Tuesday with an echo of the paper’s infamous “Vow” cover, clearly aimed at winding up its detractors but which passed without much comment as social media users merely raised a brief weary eyebrow and got on with their day. But then the Record started turning up the volume.
Sometimes the UK media is so soul-crushingly moronic, readers, that it’s hard to get out of bed in the morning. Nevertheless, we’re pretty sure we haven’t nodded off and woken up in 2017, so today’s papers must be even more idiotic than usual.
The Scottish Sun is around 80% the same newspaper as the English edition (with the bulk of the difference being accounted for by football coverage) so presumably the south-of-the-border version has a broadly similar view, right?
If we’re honest, readers, we almost never bother with BBC Scotland’s televised political coverage any more. We suspect the viewing figures for Scotland 2015 are down to fingers-and-toes territory now, and if last night’s edition – which we gritted our teeth and watched after noting the incredulous response on social media – is anything to go by, the state broadcaster is now using it to try out work-experience kids.
But we can cut fresh-faced new boy David Henderson (who suffered the indignity of being billed as Sarah Smith) a bit of slack for being outmanoeuvred by an experienced operator like Jim Murphy, who at one point in the show was actually interrogating the presenter rather than the other way round.
Kirsty Wark, regular anchor on the Corporation’s current-affairs flagship Newsnight, on the other hand, has no such excuses whatsoever.
When someone sent us a link last week to a picture of an Anas Sarwar election leaflet, we were immediately struck by the fact that it had the weird characteristic of being ostensibly handwritten but underlining every word in a sentence individually, which reminded us of one we’d seen from Douglas Alexander back in January.
So after a busy weekend of saving stray cats from going blind, we went to dig the two leaflets out, in the modest hope of getting a quick cheap joke about them both using the same fake-handwriting font. But instead we got a bit of a surprise.
This is how Scotland is seen in the largest part of the UK today. There’s nothing at all new about Scots being portrayed as “stealing” money rightfully belonging to England, of course, nor in the stereotype depicted by the Jimmy hat. It’s the word on the placard that tells the story: “immigrant”.
A lot of people this week quoted a line supposedly from the former Labour cabinet minister Roy Jenkins, which runs “a statement is only interesting if a sane man could say the opposite”. We haven’t been able to verify if he ever really said that or not, but it doesn’t really matter, because it’s true either way.
barelybare on A Stitch In Timing: “I am having trouble understanding how Section 170’s imprisonment condition could cause Mark Hirst’s action to be thrown put, but…” Feb 5, 23:56
Jay on A Stitch In Timing: “Re-read Rev. Stu’s article. Think i have the answer.” Feb 5, 22:54
Jay on A Stitch In Timing: “Is ‘The.Ciminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995’ legislation prepared and passed by the Parliament in Westminster? Which Parliament can enact amendments…” Feb 5, 22:31
barelybare on A Stitch In Timing: “Is Gordon Dangerfield still the solicitor? This blog post https://gordondangerfield.com/2022/02/27/mark-hirst-v-chief-constable-and-lord-advocate/ nearly 4 years old(!) suggests he felt assured that Section…” Feb 5, 22:24
GM on A Stitch In Timing: “I agree with with everything you wrote there Lorna. (Although It is just plain wrong that the legal process can…” Feb 5, 22:14
ALANM on A Stitch In Timing: “The treatment of Enoch Burke at the hands of the Irish State is evidence enough for me that Scotland had…” Feb 5, 21:22
Campbell Clansman on The Marshalling Plan: “THIS is the real SNP–shaking down people who want to do business in Scotland. At £750 per person: “The SNP’s…” Feb 5, 21:10
Campbell Clansman on A Stitch In Timing: “Mark Hirst HAS been punished. Not with imprisonment, but with the malicious prosecution itself, and the 4-year legal fight (undoubtedly…” Feb 5, 21:05
J Robertson on A Stitch In Timing: “Completely agree Lorna” Feb 5, 20:52
Young Lochinvar on A Stitch In Timing: “The Royalty, Scottish nobility, the Church of Scotland and the Scottish legal community; the main players in 1707 of ensuring…” Feb 5, 20:33
Lorna Campbell on A Stitch In Timing: “Dear Lord, will people stop trying to blame everything on England and take responsibility for what is happening in Scotland?…” Feb 5, 20:32
Hatey McHateface on A Stitch In Timing: ““It’s like someone committing a vile and vicious murder and then when found guilty the judge says there is nothing…” Feb 5, 20:28
J Robertson on A Stitch In Timing: “If it has taken in excess of 4 years to bring a case for malicious prosecution to court this is…” Feb 5, 20:16
PC Foster on The Marshalling Plan: “So heartening to see the EHRC intervene in the way that they have.” Feb 5, 19:34
Hatey McHateface on The Marshalling Plan: “Here’s one you can write on the side of a bus, BB: “Just 3 months left to save our NHS”…” Feb 5, 19:08
Hatey McHateface on The Marshalling Plan: “Ah, c’moan noo, Fearghas. Take away his antisemitism and what’s he left with? Just rabid anti-Englishness, enthusiasm for gas chambers,…” Feb 5, 19:02
Willie on A Stitch In Timing: “The decision shows you vicious, malicious politically motivated prosecution can be mounted against selected individual and thereafter, when the prosecution…” Feb 5, 18:53
Disgruntled of Dumbarton on A Stitch In Timing: “I thought the HRA meant judges could turn the law as written on its head if it breached someone’s human…” Feb 5, 18:04
Tartan Tory on The Marshalling Plan: “Yes Iain, I will be voting for an English Nazi party. I’ve spoiled all my votes for almost the past…” Feb 5, 17:50
Cantankerous Skank on The Marshalling Plan: “That comment about (do do do the funky) Given being given a place on a law course with bad grades…” Feb 5, 17:37
Sven on A Stitch In Timing: “John Burns @ 16.42. Obviously inspired by their succes with the Fur Farming prohibition Act of 2002, our devolved administration…” Feb 5, 17:06
John Burns on A Stitch In Timing: “Only the SNP could bring a bill before the Scottish Parliament to ban something that doesn’t exist in Scotland (…” Feb 5, 16:52
Andy Wiltshire on A Stitch In Timing: “I’m almost tired of being tired of being outraged. It really seems that there is nothing that can actually be…” Feb 5, 16:38
100%Yes on A Stitch In Timing: “It make you wonder if the incompetence of justice system in Scotland isn’t being done by design, in order to…” Feb 5, 16:28
Jesus H. Cunt on A Stitch In Timing: “Scots law, along with Scottish institutions and Scottish democracy, is being deliberately and systematically undermined and discredited in plain sight…” Feb 5, 16:28
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Marshalling Plan: “ROOTS OF WESTERN CULTURE by Herman Dooyeweerd PDF of full book HERE: https://vcho.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Roots-of-Western-Culture-B-Vol-15.pdf” Feb 5, 16:11
100%Yes on The Marshalling Plan: “Cynicus, The Euro lottery is enough. Who ever becomes PM nothing changes for the Scots.” Feb 5, 15:51
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Marshalling Plan: “(Perhaps not the optimum choice of headline, but anyway…) WOMEN’S GROUP PETITIONS FOR BLANKET BAN ON MEN IN WOMEN’S PRISONS…” Feb 5, 15:49
sarah on The Marshalling Plan: ““Better” in many ways e.g. that the people were sovereign, in addition to the examples I mentioned re politicians being…” Feb 5, 15:32
