As readers will know, when professional broadcast journalists can’t or won’t do their jobs properly, we’re not above jumping in ourselves.
So when someone tweeted to tell us that Jim Murphy had just started a phone-in on London station LBC, it seemed an ideal opportunity to quickly ring up and try directly asking him the question that Scottish Labour really, really don’t want to answer.
We’ve just had a fascinating email from Scottish Labour forwarded to us, from a concerned reader who’d written to them to ask if Labour would really refuse to form a government if they weren’t the largest party. The answer might not be the one anyone who’s seen the party’s election literature (below) would be expecting.
We’ve had to illustrate this piece with a tweet from our old chum Duncan Hothersall, because at the time of writing the Scottish Labour account on Twitter has no mention of Labour’s “five point plan”, and nor does the branch office’s website.
And the reason for the absence of any more information is probably that the “plan” is another example of a Labour policy that looks like a tasty boiled egg until you crack its shell and discover that there’s nothing inside.
Here’s Ed Miliband, giving a speech this morning to literally at least 20 Labour MPs, Labour MSPs, journalists and possibly a stray member of the public who accidentally walked through the wrong door in Clydebank, a place where Labour leaders used to address gatherings of thousands.
Unusually, Miliband took a few questions from the hacks, all of whom promptly wasted the opportunity by lobbing completely pointless softballs about coalitions and deals, all of which (a) have been asked a hundred times already, (b) were rendered moot by Alex Salmond on the Marr show yesterday, and (c) were only ever going to be batted away non-committally.
So here’s an actually worthwhile one they can ask instead next time.
With apologies to Jason Donovan, we felt we should probably have a look at the latest election leaflet Scottish Labour are putting through people’s doors.
Yesterday we noted that nothing had yet been heard from Scottish Labour’s policy review into universal services, launched amid much hoopla in September 2012 off the back of Johann Lamont’s infamous “something for nothing” speech.
The party has spent much of its time since then attacking the SNP over social justice, claiming that universal benefits are a middle-class subsidy, hurting the poor by spending money on giving the well-off free stuff they could afford to pay for.
Those two years have come and gone, and nearly six months more, and there’s been no sign of a single report from the commission. And it turns out there never will be.
Alert readers should by now have spotted our story about the findings of the Independent Press Standards Organisation with regard to the Daily Record’s “The Vow Delivered” front page from last November. The paper was found by IPSO to have been guilty of “significantly misrepresent[ing] the fiscal consequences of the Smith Commission’s recommendations”, and ordered to publish a correction.
IPSO also noted in its judgement that the Record had amended the online version of the article accordingly. But that’s only partly true.
Alf Baird on A Long Hard Think: ““if we’d voted Yes in 2014, although even the most cursory thought would tell us it would be much the…” Sep 12, 10:30
Hatey McHateface on A Long Hard Think: “Anarcho tyranny and neo feudalism are two of the terms being used to describe the state of affairs we see.…” Sep 12, 10:23
DaveL on A Long Hard Think: “…don’t stop there! Last word, come on you can do it. We all know you can do it, you’re the…” Sep 12, 10:18
DaveL on A Long Hard Think: “Ten twenty and more at a time soon mounts up but you know better eh. Any idea what the service…” Sep 12, 10:12
Alf Baird on A Long Hard Think: ““burning down the court house records to protect the guilty” was, according to Prof Elkins, a rather common feature in…” Sep 12, 10:11
Hatey McHateface on A Long Hard Think: ““You’re just to thick and gobby for your own good” Aha! The Baton of Erudition has been recovered and is…” Sep 12, 10:00
Hatey McHateface on A Long Hard Think: “I absolutely and categorically believe with every fiber of my being that “ten, twenty or more” isn’t “thousands”. Just as…” Sep 12, 09:51
Spartan 117 on A Long Hard Think: “Good post. Your second paragraph accurately sums up the current state of the whole of the UK. We are ruled…” Sep 12, 09:39
Spartan 117 on A Long Hard Think: “It’s not hard to imagine Chas as that’s exactly what we have at present.” Sep 12, 09:30
DaveL on A Long Hard Think: “The reasoning is quite simple and easy to see. People the police like are left alone to do as they…” Sep 12, 09:25
DaveL on A Long Hard Think: “Do you think that when ten, twenty or more people lifted at a time on ‘terrorism’ charges get to wait…” Sep 12, 09:13
Hatey McHateface on A Long Hard Think: “If you don’t want anybody to be investigated and possibly penalised for the missing money and goods, twathater, just say…” Sep 12, 08:36
twathater on A Long Hard Think: “AND let us also not FORGET Robert Corruption. This sorry excuse for a country, governed by the corrupt for the…” Sep 12, 03:12
twathater on A Long Hard Think: ““That is the UK Gov taking action because the Scottish Gov will not!” Correct. By far the most significant development…” Sep 12, 03:05
Willie on A Long Hard Think: “And meanwhile how many people know that the ‘ Kangaroo court ” they call the Standards Commission Scotland has changed…” Sep 12, 01:05
Andrew Morton on A Long Hard Think: “Obvious, innit? The items in her possession are presumably the ones removed from the charge sheet. As they aren’t the…” Sep 12, 00:28
Lorncal on A Long Hard Think: “Must admit that this is something that I did think about initially, but, now, I don’t care. All I want…” Sep 11, 23:14
Hatey McHateface on A Long Hard Think: ““That is the UK Gov taking action because the Scottish Gov will not!” Correct. By far the most significant development…” Sep 11, 21:45
Hatey McHateface on A Long Hard Think: “Michty Fearghas! You’re remarkably hale, hearty and spry for somebody who’s been riddled with bullets. But to be serious for…” Sep 11, 21:34
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on A Long Hard Think: “« Did we dodge a bullet or did we dodge a bullet in 2014. » No, we invited the hail…” Sep 11, 20:57
Chas on A Long Hard Think: “It did not take too long before the crank professor mounted his hobby horse! I said some years ago that,…” Sep 11, 20:24
Alf Baird on A Long Hard Think: ““We’ll be honest with you, readers, we’re at something of a loss for words at this point.” In the Manichaean…” Sep 11, 19:48
Hatey McHateface on A Long Hard Think: “As things stand, willie, there appears to be £700,000 unaccounted for. In addition, there appears to be items bought with…” Sep 11, 19:14
Frank Gillougley on A Long Hard Think: “Reasoning and law are redundant when used against straightforward brazen and ‘unanswerable to anyone’ corruption. Even this is a waste…” Sep 11, 18:41
Hatey McHateface on A Long Hard Think: ““They are busy locking up thousands of pensioners with cardboard signs” Naw. They’re not. You’re busy either lying or fantasising.” Sep 11, 18:38
willie on A Long Hard Think: “Quite honestly can anyone have any faith in the police. As this response shows Police Scotland are absolutely rotten to…” Sep 11, 18:34
PhilM on A Long Hard Think: “The information may not be held by Police Scotland but is it the kind of information that ought to be…” Sep 11, 18:20
Morgatron on A Long Hard Think: “Just bamboozled! Who says crime doesn’t pay. Obviously not her.” Sep 11, 18:19
robertkknight on A Long Hard Think: “Unlike Rev Stu, I am not at a loss for words, namely… Corruption. This sorry excuse for a country, governed…” Sep 11, 17:56
Mark Beggan on A Long Hard Think: “For many years many people, myself included, have accused Sturgeon and the SNP of being a Cult who’s agenda is…” Sep 11, 17:55
