We don’t normally ask you to watch videos as long as this, readers. (Although at 4m 22s it’s still not War And Peace.) As a rule the key part of any TV discussion can be boiled down to a few seconds, but this one needs to be taken in at a bit more length.
It happened on last night’s Question Time from Dundee, and was already 10 minutes into a discussion about whether there might be a second independence referendum and what might trigger it, in particular the prospect of Scotland voting to remain in the EU in June but the rest of the UK voting to leave, dragging Scotland out forcibly.
At that point, host David Dimbleby made an inexplicable intervention, abandoning his position as supposedly neutral moderator to pluck a “fact” out of thin air with which to attack the SNP’s John Swinney. Here’s what unfolded.
This week Scottish Labour have been attacking the SNP’s rather timid plans for the reform of Council Tax, which is an entirely fair and legitimate opposition pursuit.
But as is their wont, Kezia Dugdale’s branch office just can’t help overplaying their hand and doing it in a highly dishonest way.
An alert reader just found this. It’s quite something.
We especially liked this bit:
“The growing practice of the socialist government is to take decisions vitally affecting Scotland in Whitehall… this is a process which we have every intention of setting in direct reverse.”
The dogged determination of Scottish Labour to insult the Scottish electorate is a source of constant slack-jawed astonishment to us. Over the years we’ve lost count of the number of times the party’s politicians have effectively said “People are just too stupid to vote for us”, in the apparent belief that abuse is the way to win back support.
But it’s not always so overt. The subtler ways in which the party treats voters like morons include the assumption that people’s memories only go back to yesterday’s newspapers, and there can surely be no more stark illustration than its recent adoption of the attack line that the SNP are standing “shoulder to shoulder with the Tories”.
The title of this article is a phrase that people use when publishing a transcript of someone’s intended speech, to signify that this is what they INTENDED to say, but that the reader should verify it with the actual speech to check whether they did, because sometimes there are last-minute changes or the person simply forgets bits.
It’s been a fair few months since we last documented the Daily Record’s increasingly panicky attempts to save its own hide over its infamous eve-of-referendum “Vow”.
In its growing desperation, the paper bizarrely turns today to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, demanding that SHE should be the one to fulfil a promise that the Record made specifically in order to thwart Sturgeon’s lifelong goal of independence.
The Labour Party has today published Margaret Beckett’s report into why it lost the 2015 general election. We were rather struck by this line:
Let’s just go over that one again to be sure: Labour believed that an SNP victory in Scotland would make it “impossible” for the Tories to form the government.
Which is weird, because that’s not quite what we remember them saying.
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Nobodies: “« In another place [Carl] Schmitt calls sovereignty “true state omnipotence.” He holds that sovereignty lies with the person who…” Jul 29, 21:07
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “You give way too much attention, Northy, to the voices in yer heid.” Jul 29, 19:28
James on The Nobodies: “LOLZ…..says the Keyboard Warrior – sitting on it’s fat arse in East Kilbride posting Unionist Shite on here all day,…” Jul 29, 19:26
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “Ah, Wally, as ever you show us why the smart money is on you still wondering, as the emergency services…” Jul 29, 19:24
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “What’s that you say, Sooty? Burnham’s going after people on benefits? Well, well. Maybe he will live up to the…” Jul 29, 19:09
James on The Nobodies: “Nah, everyone here knows you’re just a Unionist “Prick”…..” Jul 29, 19:05
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “This is Scotland, sam. Why should we believe you know what a woman is?” Jul 29, 18:39
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “We have serious claims from Professor Baird that I’m a racist and a fascist. We have serious claims from Professor…” Jul 29, 18:37
Captain Caveman on The Nobodies: ““My point wasn’t about the emotional harm of mockery… it was about its structural uselessness.” Well I daresay, Northy, if…” Jul 29, 18:22
Alf Baird on The Nobodies: ““It sounds good but it’s not right.” Spot on, James. The statement (“Scotland did fine as a colony from 1750…” Jul 29, 16:03
Confused on The Nobodies: “Burnham’s been in the job 5 seconds and what has he been doing : – FUCK OFF SCOTLAND was near…” Jul 29, 15:39
Northcode on The Nobodies: “You’re raising points about government size and historical interpretation, but none of them actually engage the argument you’re responding to.…” Jul 29, 15:31
Northcode on The Nobodies: ““Mockery and insults are different.” Your distinction makes sense at the level of tone, but my point was about their…” Jul 29, 14:53
Ross on The Nobodies: “BTW, There’s an easy fix for the ITV screen capture problem – in the browser settings, do a search for…” Jul 29, 14:09
James on The Nobodies: ““Scotland did fine as a colony from 1750 to 1900, not asset stripped. It was only when big government arrived…” Jul 29, 13:50
Ian Smith on The Nobodies: “The colonialism is not a serious claim, it is presenting obscure academic opinions as fact. While there are none so…” Jul 29, 13:01
Ian Smith on The Nobodies: “Assuming no mainstream political party is going to radically improve anything for the country, there is still a good case…” Jul 29, 12:55
diabloandco on The Nobodies: “If any silly sod replies to derogatory comment at 12.10 then hell mend ye! On a completely off topic subject…” Jul 29, 12:45
sam on The Nobodies: “Mockery and insults are different. Alf usually gets insults and mockery. Insults are unnecessary.The intention is to hurt someone who…” Jul 29, 12:10
Chas on The Nobodies: “Does that mean you are leaving ‘Wings’ for good? I hope so.” Jul 29, 12:10
Northcode on The Nobodies: “I was in the mood for a spot of speech writing the other day, and I’m in the same mood…” Jul 29, 11:43
Jamie on The Nobodies: “More pictures of Monica Bellucci are welcome.” Jul 29, 11:11
Captain Caveman on The Nobodies: “Sometimes mockery is richly deserved and entirely apt. Besides, sticks and stones eh? Maybe people need to have thicker skins…” Jul 29, 10:54
Xaracen on The Nobodies: “It had to be said, Northy, and you said it well.” Jul 29, 10:37
Northcode on The Nobodies: ““Democratic institutions inside a colonial framework cannot produce constitutional change”: Is a premise put forward by Alf Baird as part…” Jul 29, 10:24
sam on The Nobodies: “The i paper ‘Burnham bounce’ puts Labour ahead in poll, but can it last? 18:44 Mon, 27 Jul Yahoo News…” Jul 29, 09:58
Alf Baird on The Nobodies: “Hatey, you are on the wrong side of history and morality in your admiration for the mafia and its backers…” Jul 29, 09:19
Captain Caveman on The Nobodies: ““Racist yesterday, Alf, and now fascist today.” Is he really expressing such sentiments and views? If so, that’s a disgrace…” Jul 29, 08:53
Hatey McHateface on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “On the subject of shite, Dan, it’s interesting that you have nothing to say to a poster who not only…” Jul 29, 08:13
Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “Racist yesterday, Alf, and now fascist today. You academics don’t half like to throw the big, complicated words around. How…” Jul 28, 19:54
