Quoted for comedy 83
Posted on
December 05, 2013 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
The Herald, 5 December 2013:
Archive for the ‘comment’
Small lunatic fringe forms splinter group 99
Posted on
December 04, 2013 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
About 1,000 more and LFI will be bigger than Scottish Labour’s actual membership.
Partial freedom 147
Posted on
December 03, 2013 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
The talent pool 64
Posted on
December 03, 2013 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Well done to everyone who correctly guessed that our Mystery Guest last night was indeed Ruth Davidson. If you’d like to listen to Ruth’s 2009 demo reel for voiceover work which accompanied the letter, click the image below.
From that to the leader of a major Scottish political party in just two years. Hats off.
Quoted for truth #37 93
Posted on
December 02, 2013 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Professor James Mitchell of Edinburgh University, 2 December 2013:
“Under what circumstances would a UK Government (or Scottish for that matter) incline towards cooperation or conflict in its relations with its neighbour? The key is motivations.
The Captain’s Abyss 190
Posted on
November 30, 2013 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
The realisation that the No camp’s reaction to the independence White Paper has been based on a massive, scarcely-believable misunderstanding/misrepresentation of reality has thrown a new light on all sorts of things from the past week.
The most recent “BLACK HOLE!” story is a case in point.
A tonic for the troops 125
Posted on
November 29, 2013 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
As a living embodiment of the posh, braying public-school Tory-boy stereotype, Fraser Nelson of the Spectator used to reside in our “Zany Comedy Relief” links bar until we kicked him out for rarely lowering himself to write about Scotland.
But his guest appearance in today’s Telegraph we enjoyed at least parts of.
What Mariano Rajoy didn’t say 234
Posted on
November 28, 2013 by
Paul Kavanagh
In “breaking news” during a dull ding-dong of a debate on Wednesday’s Newsnight Scotland, we were breathlessly told that Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy had made an important intervention in the debate about whether Scotland should keep paying for railway lines between London and Birmingham, weapons of mass destruction and Ian Davidson’s expenses. (We paraphrase.)
Stopping just short of a drum-roll or mariachi band (yes, those are Mexican, but are you telling us BBC Scotland would know the difference?), viewers were dramatically informed that in a major new development Mariano Rajoy had said… exactly what he’s been saying for most of the last two years.
White line fever 87
Posted on
November 26, 2013 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
We’re still dutifully ploughing through “Scotland’s Future”, but in truth we’re not really its target audience. We’re already convinced, and much of it is just like reading our own articles back except in rather blander language. What we can definitely say for certain is that it doesn’t lack detail – the composition of an independent Scotland’s armed forces, for example, is laid out almost down to the rifle.
Naturally, that didn’t stop the No camp from rushing onto the nation’s TV screens within minutes of the press launch ending with their considered, serious and thoughtful assessments of a document none of them had read.
The Loch Ness Monster’s underwear 119
Posted on
November 26, 2013 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
There’s an atrocious piece of journalism in this morning’s Guardian, and on this particular occasion we’re referring to its technical standards rather than any bias or spin. Here are the opening paragraphs:
We’re confused already.
Pay up and shut up 148
Posted on
November 25, 2013 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
So today we got a response from the BBC to our Freedom Of Information request concerning this story. Those of you who’ve ever sent an FOI request to the state broadcaster before probably won’t need to read any further.
King of the palefaces 109
Posted on
November 25, 2013 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
We’re indebted to an extra-specially-alert reader who keeps an eye on the Spanish press for us. Last week, leading newspaper El Pais carried a story which reported an interview given by Alistair Carmichael to various foreign media. The first paragraph contains a quote which Google Translate renders thus:
“If Scotland becomes a foreign country, we will treat [it] as a foreign country.”
A fascinating use of “we” there from the Secretary of State for Portsmouth, we’re sure you’ll agree. (Though we’re not sure who “we” would be in that scenario, as if Scotland was independent there’d be no Scottish Secretary and no Scottish MPs, so we can’t quite fathom what Mr Carmichael’s locus would be in the matter.)
We’d be prepared to chalk it down to the vagaries of automated translation, were it not for the fact that the minister said basically the same thing twice more this weekend, first referring to Scotland as “they” on the Andrew Marr show on Sunday morning, and then repeatedly as “her” on The Sunday Politics.
