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Asking for it 573

Posted on March 01, 2015 by

Because this is an actual thing that’s happening.

jimmysavile

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Thrown to the wolves 210

Posted on February 25, 2015 by

Before we start, let’s make this plain: we will NOT be submitting any sort of complaint to any healthcare body regarding what we’re about to discuss, and we ask readers not to either. When push comes to shove, we don’t want nurses losing their jobs.

richardsimpson1

We just wish Scottish Labour felt the same way.

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This is Wednesday, tax is bad 85

Posted on February 25, 2015 by

We’re starting to think that we could save ourselves an awful lot of trouble by only posting every other day. Obviously that’d reduce the workload in numerical terms, but also we could avoid the impossible task of having to keep track of Scottish Labour’s endless litany of U-turns, flip-flops and reverse ferrets on policy, which as far as we can make out appear to switch 180 degrees on alternating days.

Whichever one we picked we’d end up with positions that were at least consistent, and not have to try to make sense of which of two totally conflicting viewpoints the party was professing to hold according to whether the date was odd or even.

As it stands, we have to deal with this sort of thing.

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The graveyard of competence 209

Posted on February 17, 2015 by

There’s been considerable mirth in nationalist circles ever since Jim Murphy became leader of the Scottish Labour branch office late last year. Announcing that he wanted to “reach out” to Yes voters, his idea of an olive branch was to hire three of the most divisive and obnoxious figures to be found anywhere in his party’s entire hinterland, in a move about as conciliatory and unifying as when Rangers signed Mo Johnston.

Counter-intuitively, the link-up with Blair McDougall (who headed Murphy’s successful leadership bid) is the one that makes the most sense. After all, as “Better Together” campaign director McDougall was responsible for turning a 30-point lead for No into a 10-point one, so he clearly knows something about how to appeal to Yes people.

stooges

But for a man widely cited as smart and savvy, Murphy also staffing his office with comically unpleasant Twitter troll John McTernan and the nutter-fringe imbecile Susan Dalgety – someone who was last seen resigning in disgrace after likening the SNP to the Omagh bombers – was harder to understand.

And the non-stop trainwreck that has followed leaves only one explanation.

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An apology to Scottish Labour 224

Posted on February 15, 2015 by

We’re feeling a bit stupid right now, readers. Earlier on today we sarcastically dubbed Scottish Labour “geniuses” over their plans to reintroduce alcohol (and sectarian singing) back to Scottish football at exactly the point when Scotland seemed to have finally turned the corner in its dysfunctional relationship with alcohol.

And this week vile cybernats had also been enjoying mocking a pair of hapless Labour members who’d posed outside a Fife health centre bemoaning the “clear” shortage of staffing, when in fact it had no staff at all, because it was an old closed-down facility, located right next to a brand shiny new £6m one built by the Scottish Government.

slae

Indeed, for days now Labour have been carrying out a two-pronged stunt-photocall strategy, touring the country standing outside hospital casualty departments looking concerned about an almost entirely imaginary “A&E crisis”, while also leafleting every major football ground promising to let fans get smashed at games again.

Seeking a cheap laugh, we tweeted that we hoped they didn’t get confused and start handing out their “MOAR BOOZE!” literature outside the A&E wards, but then an alert reader pointed out that we were idiots and Jim Murphy was in fact an evil mastermind.

And they were right.

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How numbers work 105

Posted on February 12, 2015 by

The very few readers who don’t immediately just snort and turn the page when they see the words “George Foulkes” may have noticed in yesterday’s Herald that the thirsty peer could be found gloating gleefully that had Scotland voted for independence last September it would now be “bankrupt” due to the decline in oil prices.

georgefoulkes2

We can’t be bothered pointing out for the 500th time that a Yes vote wouldn’t have seen Scotland actually independent until March 2016, and that the oil price NOW is therefore about as relevant to anything as, well, Baron Foulkes himself.

But we couldn’t help noticing a couple of small arithmetical details.

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Biting bullets and chewing carpets 232

Posted on February 10, 2015 by

It’s somehow fitting that the lead article on Labour Hame today is headed by a lie before it even starts – an offer to join the party for £1 that takes you to a page where it actually costs five times as much.

(We’d noticed days ago that the much-hyped £1 offer had been quietly dumped after just a month, but it appears that nobody in the Scottish branch office thought to keep poor hapless Labour Hame in the loop.)

labourhame1pound

The article below, though, is remarkably even more dishonest.

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A thousand miles of stupid 233

Posted on February 04, 2015 by

Even we can’t quite believe this one, readers.

Good grief, where do we even start?

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Those who would rule us 345

Posted on February 02, 2015 by

There’s currently a fake “petition” on the Labour website.

faketition

Ostensibly it’s gathering signatures representing opposition to the bedroom tax, but in fact its only purpose is to harvest email addresses so that Labour can then bombard unwitting recipients with dodgy, untruthful solicitations for cash. (What would actually be the point of a petition about the bedroom tax at this stage?)

That’s not the terrible thing about it, though.

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Always crashing the same car 221

Posted on January 22, 2015 by

The media is aflame today with the claim that Jim Murphy has finally ended weeks of speculation about whether he’ll stand again for his current Westminster seat of East Renfrewshire in the general election. Numerous sources including STV, the BBC, the Scotsman and Murphy’s local press have all announced unequivocally that the MP has confirmed his candidacy.

murphystand

The only slight hitch is that he’s done absolutely no such thing.

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Shooting at shadows 106

Posted on January 22, 2015 by

We’re a bit surprised The Sun managed to get an issue out at all today, to be honest. The editorial team must have been struggling to see through their tears of laughter after they managed to get two days of free publicity in every rival newspaper in the country and a ton of coverage from national broadcasters over a completely imaginary decision to stop featuring topless models on Page 3.

And they must have almost wept with the hilarity of getting The Guardian to line up a whole collection of its most pompous feminists to prematurely proclaim victory and parade some gloating triumphalism across several pages, before putting a winking Nicole, 22, from Bournemouth front and centre this morning and innocently pointing out that they’d never actually said anything so why was everyone acting so surprised?

Now, of course, every rival paper in the land will spend ANOTHER day or two talking about the sting, and The Sun will continue to roll on the floor and clutch its sides and get away with printing stuff like this:

sunfatties1

And the thing is, nobody who looks like an idiot today will learn the lesson.

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Chimp of the day 219

Posted on January 20, 2015 by

It is sometimes said, unkindly, that in parts of Scotland it would be possible to get a monkey elected as a Labour MP, so long as said monkey was wearing a red rosette.

Here, not entirely unrelatedly, is Brian Donohoe (Central Ayrshire), earlier today.

Um, just a couple of points.

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    • Andrew F on Governing For Beginners: “Digital ID was the whole point (or at least a very large part of the whole point) of the C*vID…Jan 12, 15:14
    • sarah on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “@ Willie at 10.52 a.m., many thanks for posting your report on this morning’s court case. It is good to…Jan 12, 14:37
    • Alf Baird on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “The cultural assimilation process seeks to make the colonized ‘into something else’ (Memmi). Colonialism is described as ‘hateful racism’ (Cesaire)…Jan 12, 13:55
    • Hatey McHateface on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “You’ve got it all arse over tit, sarah. There’s no true, Sovereign, patriotic Scot who wants to see his or…Jan 12, 13:33
    • sarah on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “As ever, Northcode, this is the sad truth. I cannot for the life of me understand how any Scot would…Jan 12, 13:09
    • Northcode on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Time for a reminder: In braw rich Scots leid: Ther scarce be a wird pit doun here fae colonialists (unyonists…Jan 12, 12:34
    • Northcode on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “It’s hardly worth the effort, but let’s gie it juist wan mair try, eh? Defintion of the Scots word Plummet…Jan 12, 12:23
    • DaveL on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “What? You don’t like my suggestion? What’s wrong with you? Go on tell us about Stepan Bandera then…Jan 12, 12:06
    • James Cheyne on The shifting sands of memory: “There was always a reason why I chased and persued the treaty of union relentlessly, Perhaps a few more people…Jan 12, 12:01
    • Northcode on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: ““I’ll do the math.” 2+3 = 10Jan 12, 11:59
    • Hatey McHateface on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “@DaveL Why don’t you practise swinging your keyboard at arms length. Firmly grip your keyboard on the short side, really…Jan 12, 11:55
    • James Cheyne on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “And this is where it becomes very complicated for the Snp and the devolved governance. They either trust they are…Jan 12, 11:49
    • Hatey McHateface on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “@ Northcode says: 12 January, 2026 at 10:33 am “plomet (Wyclif), -ette (Caxton), plommet (1483), plummet(te (1494), ball of lead…Jan 12, 11:45
    • DaveL on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Hatey, you could get the UK government to invite some of your Azov Brigade pals (the UK government loves them…Jan 12, 11:42
    • Hatey McHateface on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “@ Alf Baird says: 12 January, 2026 at 11:06 am “Scots language speakers, aboot twa million o us still” I’ll…Jan 12, 11:34
    • James Cheyne on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Sarah, It will come to many eventually that they will have to make a decision on wether the treaty of…Jan 12, 11:23
    • Alf Baird on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “The reason the Scots language is of central importance to the matter of independence is because it is primarily the…Jan 12, 11:06
    • Willie on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Just finished listening to the live stream of the court of session proceedings in the case of the proceeding relating…Jan 12, 10:52
    • Northcode on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Scottish National Dictionary (pre 1700) PLUM(M)ET, -at, n. Also: plwm(m)-, plumb-, plomand -ett, -it. Only Sc.: The pommel or knob…Jan 12, 10:33
    • Hatey McHateface on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “@ Northcode says:11 January, 2026 at 10:43 pm “‘plummet’ means something other in the language of the Scots than your…Jan 12, 09:56
    • Hatey McHateface on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “An article about Homeless Project Scotland: https://unherd.com/2026/01/scotlands-rebel-homeless-shelter/Jan 12, 09:45
    • Hatey McHateface on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: ““disna bather lairnin ony o his host fowk’s languages, neither Scots nor Gaelic” Whoops! Correction required. “disna bather lairnin ony…Jan 12, 09:22
    • Hatey McHateface on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Great news, sarah. Personally, I can’t wait until it becomes legal to march through Scotland’s streets, chanting about “rivers” and…Jan 12, 09:14
    • Cynicus on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: ““I might also take the opportunity to draw attention to a recent quality illustrated book investigating the Gaelic and Welsh…Jan 12, 02:42
    • Cynicus on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: ““there’s an oven ready and legitimate Stuart pretender Franz, Duke of Bavaria” ========== Be careful! The Crown Prince, Francis of…Jan 12, 02:18
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Northcode writes « Tho if a culture had the nature of a coloniser aboot it… then a wid hae nae…Jan 12, 01:20
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Alf writes: « The point, which you appear to have missed, is that our friend wha comes here tae bide…Jan 12, 00:59
    • Alf Baird on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: ““plummeting” The point, which you appear to have missed, is that our friend wha comes here tae bide notes he…Jan 11, 23:49
    • Northcode on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: ““You’re plummeting, Alf.” Only in your eyes, Gael. And only because Professor Baird challenges your false narrative on the importance…Jan 11, 22:43
    • Northcode on Grandpa John’s Nightmare: “Dinna be daft, Alf. Us Scots fowk be ane o the wrechit o the Earth… ye micht as weel expect…Jan 11, 21:53
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