The broken telescope 539
Posted on
December 29, 2018 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
An alert reader spotted this today:
Because with Scottish Labour, lying is for life, not just Christmas.
Archive for the ‘debunks’
Taking the strain 284
Posted on
December 03, 2018 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
We’re on about Day 79 of NoScottishPoliticsNewsGate (today’s big “EXCLUSIVE!” in the Herald is something we told you about last Friday, and was also an “exclusive” in yesterday’s Scottish Sun), so we found ourselves getting diverted by something else in the papers this morning.
The Scottish Daily Mail had a piece on the cost of train journeys from Scotland, and living in Bath you don’t need to tell us how scandalously expensive British railways are compared to almost any other country in the Northern Hemisphere.
But the Mail is the Mail, and it couldn’t help distorting even an open-goal of a story like that until it had almost no relation to reality. And it’s a very useful illustration, should anybody need yet another one, of how this country’s newspapers vastly mislead their readers without actually technically lying.
Something smells fishy 275
Posted on
November 29, 2018 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Ifs and buts and maybes 170
Posted on
November 01, 2018 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Alert readers may have noticed that for a non-holiday period, Scottish politics is a deathly quiet place at the moment. Papers are struggling to find anything to write about at all, and were beside themselves with joy this week when presented with the chance to fabricate a ridiculous “anti-Semitism” story about an obscure blogger criticising a trade union and fill several pages with hysterical fauxtrage over it.
The sheer dearth of anything happening whatsoever is typified by the Scottish Daily Mail’s front-page splash this morning.
It sounds dramatic – a potentially catastrophic en-masse exodus of Scotland’s doctors would certainly be a crisis. But anyone reading beyond the lurid headline will swiftly discover a rather less doom-laden reality.
The recycling plant 351
Posted on
October 18, 2018 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
The BBC’s Scottish politics website today prominently carries this story:
Our famously alert readers may recall as far back as five-and-a-half months ago, which was the last time the Scottish media tried to whip up demented scare stories about baby boxes, which have been given to every new mother in Finland for approximately 70 years and caused absolutely no documented problems.
So what’s fresh about the story to justify this significant new coverage? Let’s see.
A rapid improvement 284
Posted on
October 17, 2018 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
The Scottish Daily Mail today has a big headline relaying the seemingly-unambiguous bad news that unemployment in Scotland has apparently risen by 11,000.
But cheer up, folks, because better times are ahead.
Before the truth has its boots on 70
Posted on
September 28, 2018 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
We’ve been keeping coverage of our ongoing court battle with former Scottish Labour branch manager Kezia Dugdale to a minimum on the site, partly because little of any material impact has actually happened yet.
However, there was a mildly interesting development last night, which was scooped and accurately reported by the Scottish Sun.
Reactions to the party’s statement have already seen serious amounts of what we’re generously going to call “misinformation” generated and circulating around social media, so we’re going to have to clear some of it up. Apologies.
Quick perspective check 208
Posted on
September 27, 2018 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
From today’s Scottish Daily Mail:
Sounds terrible. Let’s take a look in more depth at this rising tide.
The King Of Opposite World 240
Posted on
September 20, 2018 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
We think it’s fair to say that our bestest friend in all of the internet, Scottish Labour activist Duncan Hothersall, is absolutely hopping mad about the latest developments in our court case against the branch office’s former leader Kezia Dugdale.
But keen followers of Dunc might particularly enjoy this demonstration of his legendary grasp of fine factual detail.
So for old times’ sake, let’s have a Kezia Dugdale(-Related) Fact Check.
What isn’t a fact 253
Posted on
September 18, 2018 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
God bless our dear old pals at the Labour-fronted Tory money-sink that is Scotland In Union. Fresh from their latest stirring morning office singalong of “No Pope Of Rome”, they’ve decided to belatedly get in on the fact-checking game.
As the established force in the field, we had to have a look.
The tin-eared soldier 191
Posted on
September 14, 2018 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Vince Cable, who was once apparently some sort of politician, took it upon himself to issue an opinion yesterday on the subject of referendums that had independence supporters on social media hooting with mocking laughter long into the night.
The estimable Wee Ginger Dug has already dealt adroitly with just the 300 or so most obviously ridiculous aspects of Cable’s tone-deaf and spectacularly hypocritical view, so we won’t step on his paws by repeating them here.
Instead we thought we’d do what we do best, and check the facts.
Getting no satisfaction 194
Posted on
September 05, 2018 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
This year’s Scottish Household Survey is out, and the press is in an absolutely gleeful orgy of misery over it. Here’s the Times, for example:
The paper’s leading line is that “only half of those polled were happy with schools, the NHS and transport provision in their area”. So readers would naturally assume that the other half were DISsatisfied, right?
The reality is somewhat different.
