Let’s talk about last night 189
Posted on
May 26, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Some considered thoughts on the evening’s events, then.
Yeah, nice work, Britain.
Archive for the ‘comment’
A day of shame 297
Posted on
May 26, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Multiple journalists are now reporting that no matter what the result of the Western Isles count tomorrow, UKIP have pipped the SNP, by a narrow margin, to Scotland’s sixth European Parliament seat.
Scots, you just let David Coburn speak for you on an international stage. Well done.
The fragile flowers 82
Posted on
May 25, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
A thing we’ve noticed throughout the referendum campaign is just how delicate many of those on the No side are when faced with any sort of unfavourable information. Having perhaps expected a very easy ride, a lot of Unionists (and indeed several journalists) have proven terribly thin-skinned, with a tendency to fly off the handle at comically slight amounts of challenge.
The Secretary of State for Portsmouth, for example, having been introduced into the debate as a “bruiser”, hadn’t been in his post five minutes before he was bawling to STV’s Rona McDougall for protection as the SNP’s Nicola Sturgeon hammered him with nothing more than a few facts and arguments.
When placed under even the tiniest modicum of pressure, No-camp figures will panic and start blurting out the most ludicrous claims, like Ian Davidson’s extraordinary, petulant “Newsnat Scotland” outburst at a justifiably offended Isabel Fraser, or Alistair Darling’s mad assertion that North Sea oil was on course to run out in January 2017.
And so it was this week with Tory MSP Murdo Fraser.
Too gutless to even lie 139
Posted on
May 24, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
While we admit that it probably doesn’t look like it (because we focus on the failures), this site’s default position with the media is to assume good faith. With the exception of newspapers that have explicitly declared themselves for the Union – the Daily Mail, Express etc – we strain every possible sinew to put errors down to incompetence, laziness or lack of investigative resources rather than malicious attempts to mislead.
We’ve even been known on quite a few occasions to publicly chide overly-paranoid Yes supporters on social media for seeing conspiracies everywhere.
But then sometimes we read things like today’s leader column in the Daily Record on the subject of immigration and we wonder whether they might be right after all.
Liars plague our land 191
Posted on
May 23, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
This is the latest cinema ad from fake-grassroots campaign group “Vote No Borders”:
And below is why it’s a despicable, shameful lie.
People like us 89
Posted on
May 23, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Another UKIP voter. This one’s a bit more interesting.
Because the thing about UKIP is that – by their own admission – they don’t actually have any policies about anything other than cracking down on immigration and leaving the EU. Their official position is that the rest of their manifesto is blank paper, to be formulated on all other subjects at their summer conference.
Yet even in the complete absence of any other policies, voters are happy to tell TV cameras that the party “their political agenda suits my opinions”. What does that tell us? It tells us what the 2015 UK general election will be fought on, and it’s not Ed Miliband’s “cost of living crisis”.
Book smart, street stupid 134
Posted on
May 22, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Dear God. It’s now almost two and a half years since this site first comprehensively debunked and disproved the notion that Scottish independence would give the Conservatives a permanent majority in the rUK parliament, in an article that’s been read many tens of thousands of times here and spread far and wide elsewhere.
So you’ll forgive us if we spend a few minutes smashing our heads against a brick wall in despair at the mind-bleeding idiocy of some slobbering, sponge-witted poltroon quoted at length in the Telegraph today.
The fall guys 133
Posted on
May 21, 2014 by
Mark Frankland
When I speak at independence events I introduce myself as the ‘token English guy’. It’s invariably received in the spirit it’s intended. Throughout my 18 years in Scotland, there’s always been plenty of banter, but pals from England have often asked if things sometimes go beyond the joking stage. Does it ever turn ugly?
I’ve always found this quite amusing, but it should always be remembered that there are many south of the border still convinced that Glasgow is three notches down from 1980s Beirut. Years of apocalyptic films and hard-man dramas have filled their souls with terror at the idea of getting off the train at Glasgow Central and walking fifty yards into the deadly streets outside.
Cybernats and phantoms 247
Posted on
May 20, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
One of the long-term goals of Wings Over Scotland is to put itself out of a job. By teaching people how to read newspapers in such a way as to understand what they’re NOT telling you, and to be wise to methods they use to create completely false ideas while not actually saying anything untrue, one day we’ll hopefully reach a situation where there’s no need for us to exist and we can go on holiday or something.
There’s a nicely subtle example of the craft of malicious spin in today’s Scottish Daily Mail, but it also sharply illustrates another toxic aspect of the media’s coverage of the independence debate – the rise of the phantom.
Every man has his price 142
Posted on
May 19, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
And it appears we’ve found Torcuil Crichton’s.
It seems there’s to be no let-up in the Unionist/media campaign of vilification against Chris and Colin Weir – or “the Rich List Weirs”, as a nasty little comment piece by the Daily Record hack in today’s issue calls them. Let’s study those 51 sour wee words.
An absence of Respect 159
Posted on
May 18, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Since we’re (reluctantly) talking about the odious and hateful side of the independence debate today, here’s crusading socialist MP and No campaigner George Galloway of the Respect party, retweeting a troll account depicting Chris and Colin Weir as a couple of fat pigs standing around in filth.
And on this occasion, the retweet IS an endorsement.
The kill count 158
Posted on
May 18, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
It’s been another one of those weekends when the independence debate has taken a bit of a nasty turn. Whether it’s the Sunday Times stirring up Anglo-Scottish tensions (deliberately or otherwise), the Daily Mail running supposedly comic articles that are just an orgy of Scottish self-loathing, or Tory councillors making menacing-sounding threats against us personally, it’s been a grim 48 hours for fans of civilised discourse.
And we can’t in all conscience say that much of it looks like an accident.
