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Granny’s at the gin again 220

Posted on December 24, 2014 by

We missed this on Sunday, because it was 17 minutes into on the short-lived and unlamented “Crossfire” (now binned for a Sunday edition of “Good Morning Scotland”) and therefore pretty much everyone in Scotland missed it. It’s former Labour minister Helen Liddell, or as we should properly address her, Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke.

[audio http://worldofstuart.excellentcontent.com/liddell-crossfire-21dec2014.mp3 ]

We’ve spared you her subsequent painful bleating about a general election 35 years ago that she doesn’t seem to have quite gotten over, but we couldn’t help raising an eyebrow at her curious assessment of the referendum result, which we suspect fellow guest Andrew “Lallands Peat Worrier” Tickell was simply too stunned to react to.

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Category audio, comment, scottish politics, stats, wtf

Asymmetric warfare 68

Posted on December 24, 2014 by

From last night’s actually rather good “2014 – The Rory Review”:

BBC Scotland has 1,250 staff and an annual budget of just over £100 million. Yikes. We’re going to need a bigger fundraiser.

Category comment, media, navel-gazing, scottish politics

God loves an optimist 264

Posted on December 23, 2014 by

The Independent, 22 December 2014:

“Labour’s newly-elected Scottish leader, Jim Murphy, has told his party’s major donors and fundraisers that he needs to find £1m to combat the rising fortunes of the SNP.

The call to arms ahead of next year’s general election is Mr Murphy’s first acknowledgement that Labour will struggle to hold on to their former heartland unless they mount a forceful  campaign against the nationalists.

Although UK Labour can expect trade unions to underwrite any campaign funding gap, the majority of the affiliated unions in Scotland chose to back Mr Murphy’s left-leaning opponent, MSP Neil Findlay, in the leadership contest.”

We can only admire Mr Murphy’s ambition.

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Category comment, scottish politics

The alpha ned 219

Posted on December 22, 2014 by

Fans of the bewildering in Scottish politics don’t look set to be disappointed in 2015.

murphyfootball

Jim Murphy’s only been the Scottish Labour “leader” for a week, but already he seems hell-bent on hurling the party’s North British branch into the padded walls of its cell with more vigour than ever before, heroically ignoring the open door.

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Category analysis, comment, football, scottish politics, wtf

The Legacy 234

Posted on December 21, 2014 by

Iain Macwhirter in “Disunited Kingdom” (Cargo Publishing, 8 December 2014):

“It seems clear that the newspapers allowed their editorial agendas to get in the way of their communication with their readers. And this has had very serious consequences.

There is now a very large body of people in Scotland who are deeply disillusioned with the press, to such an extent that they simply no longer believe what is written there.

Look at any of the internet sites related to the Yes campaign and you will now find, not just criticism of mainstream media but a complete rejection of it, as if it were the propaganda arm of a foreign power.

This degree of alienation from the press, shared by hundreds of thousands of Scottish voters, is unprecedented and should be causing alarm, not just in editorial offices, but in the political parties which are also losing their ability to communicate. “

It’s a difficult assessment to dispute.

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Category comment, media, scottish politics

An economy with the truth 141

Posted on December 19, 2014 by

By now readers will probably be familiar with STV News reporter Stephen Daisley’s superbly withering review of Alan Cochrane’s referendum diaries. One quote from the book aroused particular interest:

“There are one or two interesting tidbits. He shares a story that Bank of England governor Mark Carney fired a warning shot at Alex Salmond when he came to Edinburgh for their landmark meeting. 

According to Cochrane, the Canadian economist told the First Minister: ‘I’m only here for one day, Alex, but don’t f— with me or I’ll be up here a lot more often.’“

But did that really happen?

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Category comment, media, scottish politics, uk politics

Oilmageddon 116

Posted on December 19, 2014 by

Political etiquette is a funny thing. Should some of the more vocal supporters of a Yes vote dare to express any degree of satisfaction at a couple of dozen journalists’ jobs being lost on a Unionist newspaper, social media is suddenly aflame with pious, angry lectures about the poor taste of rejoicing in others’ unemployment – regardless of whether it might perhaps have been caused by the paper’s own unethical actions.

bdoil1

But when tens of thousands of blameless oil workers face unemployment just before Christmas, it’s proving all but impossible for Unionists to keep a lid on their glee.

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Category analysis, comment, scottish politics, stats

A Christmas bonus 84

Posted on December 18, 2014 by

Hang on a minute. We just got yet another begging email from Labour.

labourbeg

Those vacancies sound familiar. The amount, not so much. £87,500?

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Category comment, scottish politics, uk politics

Running terrified 181

Posted on December 18, 2014 by

The egos of the SNP’s tiny band of six Westminster MPs must be swelling by the day. For weeks we’ve been recording Labour’s standard, decades-old mantra of how Scots mustn’t vote SNP or the Tories will get in. In today’s Herald, meanwhile, no less a figure than the Prime Minister warns that if we vote SNP, Labour will get in.

cameronsnp

And the Lib Dems? The Lib Dems have completely lost their minds.

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Category analysis, comment, uk politics

The preposterous truth 251

Posted on December 17, 2014 by

BBC News, 12 September 2014:

“Better Together, which is campaigning for a No campaign, dismissed Mr Farage’s call for the Queen to intervene as ‘absolutely preposterous’.”

The Guardian, 17 December 2014:

“Senior figures in Whitehall and Downing Street became so fearful that the Scottish independence referendum could lead to the breakup of the United Kingdom that the Queen was asked to make a rare public intervention in the final days of the campaign.

Britain’s most senior civil servant and the Queen’s private secretary crafted a carefully worded intervention by the monarch, as No 10 experienced what one senior official described as ‘meltdown’ in the closing stages of the campaign after polls showed growing support for a yes vote.

The discussions between Sir Jeremy Heywood, the cabinet secretary, and Sir Christopher Geidt for the palace, led the Queen to issue an appeal to the people of Scotland four days before the referendum in September to ‘think very carefully’ before casting their vote.

The Queen, who has been scrupulous during her 62-year reign in observing the impartiality expected of a constitutional monarch, intervened publicly on 14 September.”

And with a mighty rush, rebellious Scots to crush, eh readers?

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Category comment, scottish politics

Start as you mean to go on 342

Posted on December 16, 2014 by

When Jim Murphy spoke on last night’s Scotland Tonight, he’d been the “leader” of Scottish Labour for approximately 60 hours. Here’s how he’s going to play it.

Let’s quickly examine those statements, shall we?

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Category comment, investigation, scottish politics

The man who should know 117

Posted on December 15, 2014 by

The Times, 14 December 2014:

“Scottish Labour has an ‘intellectual deficit’ because it is filled with ‘time-servers’ given seats to keep them quiet, according to Paul Sinclair, who served alongside Johann Lamont, the Scottish Labour leader, and at the heart of the ‘no’ campaign against Scottish independence.

In an excoriating attack on the moribund state of Labour north of the border, Mr Sinclair said that the party will pay the price in May.”

As someone who wrote Johann Lamont’s speeches for the last three years, on this occasion we’re going to defer to Mr Sinclair’s superior expertise.

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Category comment, scottish politics

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