Scotland’s media is still unable to contain its outpouring of bitter, resentful rage over Alex Salmond’s exoneration by a jury on trumped-up sexual assault charges.
Flailing blindly in all directions it’s achieving little other than to embarrass itself, such as last night when Scotland On Sunday had to change its front page in a late panic. But the media’s toxic fury at being denied Salmond’s head on a pole has also led it to do something far, far more serious and reckless.
And every one of them knows exactly what they’ve done.
It will come as little surprise to any observer of the Scottish media for the last decade that the trial of Alex Salmond is to continue indefinitely after the actual court case that cleared him of all charges.
With very occasional honourable exceptions, including some from rather unexpected sources, the Scottish press has been – even by its own spectacularly low standards – an absolute sewer for the past week. Wings has taken the decision not to link to any of the most disgusting articles, even as archives, because frankly in the current stressful situation none of us needs any extra poison in our headspace.
Scotland’s political journalists have been unable to contain their seething fury at being robbed of the head on a pike that they were all expecting and salivating about like Pavlov’s dogs. But scumbags are gonna scumbag, and that’s not news. What’s far more alarming is something in today’s papers that they didn’t write.
We got blocked by LBC’s James O’Brien today for very gently and politely challenging him over this tweet:
And while this site most assuredly carries no torch for Jeremy Corbyn, it’s a reframing of reality that merits a bit of investigation for what it tells us about the UK media.
We just watched a nine-minute segment on Sky News, purportedly on the subject of “Is the Union between Scotland and England under threat?”, which for maximum balance and impartiality included views from both Labour and the Tories – in the forms of Paul Sweeney MP and John Lamont MP – but nobody else.
Both men spouted some quite extraordinary claims, all of which went unchallenged by presenter Adam Boulton. Let’s just take a quick look at a couple of the best ones.
If you’re a writer for a living and you want to check if something you’ve written might be embarrassingly stupid, there’s an easy and quick technique you can use.
By way of example, here’s Kenny Farquharson in the Times today, on the subject of the supposed similarities in the relationships between the Tories and the Brexit Party, and the SNP and the potential new Wings party:
So here’s the trick: switch the protagonists around.
Peter McAvoy on Green Eggs And Bams: “Another dismissal of the concerns and welfare of all native or permanent resident Scottish people would be to easily forget…” Mar 7, 02:21
sarah on Green Eggs And Bams: “Focussing on getting the hell out of this dreadful Union, there’s one thing that ALL Yes voters have to do…” Mar 6, 22:06
Ian Brotherhood on Green Eggs And Bams: “Cheers GM, It’ll be a good night, even if there’s not that many of us. 🙂” Mar 6, 21:59
GM on Green Eggs And Bams: “Will maybe pitch up Ian. Curious to put faces to names etc and have a craic with like minds.” Mar 6, 21:48
Hatey McHateface on Green Eggs And Bams: “Sorry Dan, I didn’t bother reading your ill-tempered, abusive and no doubt factually illiterate rant. Your belief that wind energy…” Mar 6, 21:42
Dan on Green Eggs And Bams: “Fuck off John Hatey Main the ever-present bot twat. We’ve been over this matter for years and I’ve provided plenty…” Mar 6, 21:14
Muscleguy on Green Eggs And Bams: “And woodburners pollute the house they are in so badly it has been compared to having a diesel exhaust piped…” Mar 6, 20:42
Derek on Green Eggs And Bams: “Of course, the 2021 figures were significantly inflated by the double whammy of the pandemic and Sturgeon’s one and only…” Mar 6, 20:37
Michael Laing on Green Eggs And Bams: “If only the cycle lanes were empty! Here in Edinburgh, these lanes are an absolute menace to pedestrians, with cyclists…” Mar 6, 20:14
Ian Brotherhood on Green Eggs And Bams: “Thanks Sarah. No idea what kind of turnout to expect but the capacity of the function room is 100. 🙂” Mar 6, 20:13
Hatey McHateface on Green Eggs And Bams: ““a geographic area having an abundance of clean renewable energy generation yet it being too expensive for many to access,…” Mar 6, 20:00
sarah on Green Eggs And Bams: “You are right, Breeks. We have been, and continue to be, betrayed by nearly every SNP MSP and MP. How…” Mar 6, 19:59
agent x on Green Eggs And Bams: “The Scottish Government signed off on guidance last month which said “trans staff should choose to use the facilities they…” Mar 6, 19:55
sarah on Green Eggs And Bams: “It sounds perfect, Ian. I know there will be a great atmosphere and old comrades remembered – Cearc, Smallaxe among…” Mar 6, 19:54
Marie on Green Eggs And Bams: “Correct Breeks. I’m with you as well. Scotland has been hollowed out by successive Governments including the SNP led governments…” Mar 6, 19:30
twathater on Green Eggs And Bams: “@ Breeks and 100% yes, YES there are many dullards and fuckwits out there who will continue to vote for…” Mar 6, 19:28
JockMcT on Green Eggs And Bams: “The definition of insanity; Voting SNP 1 & 2 and hoping for a referendum from WM.” Mar 6, 19:27
Dan on Green Eggs And Bams: “Or “enjoy” the illegal level of noise generated by dodgy shite totally inappropriate air sourced heatpump installs in what were…” Mar 6, 19:10
Ian Brotherhood on Green Eggs And Bams: “The next ‘Friends of Wings’ gathering will be in The Eagle Inn, Coatbridge, on Friday April 4th. The function room.…” Mar 6, 18:58
agent x on Green Eggs And Bams: “10 October 2017 The Scottish government is to set up a publicly-owned, not-for-profit energy company, Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed. The…” Mar 6, 18:40
Hatey McHateface on Green Eggs And Bams: ““The Russtis are not our enemies” Phew, thank feck for that. So when one of their senior politicians calls for…” Mar 6, 18:33
Hatey McHateface on Green Eggs And Bams: “It really is black and white though, twathater. An invading army from one country is 40% into its neighbouring country.…” Mar 6, 18:30
Alex stewart on Green Eggs And Bams: “I doubt this, the snp are way too far gone now to “grow up”. This blog post pretty much sums…” Mar 6, 18:09
Ian Brotherhood on Green Eggs And Bams: “No, Breeks, you’re not an ‘oddity’. 🙂” Mar 6, 18:02
twathater on Green Eggs And Bams: “Where is all the misinformation peddled by the kremlin and the honest and verifiable facts issued by the EU, the…” Mar 6, 17:45
100%Yes on Green Eggs And Bams: “The SNP hasn’t changed, its the traitors running us and the SNP leadership which has. Its was all about riding…” Mar 6, 16:32
David Rodgers on Green Eggs And Bams: ““So easy to delude people, so hard to get them to recognise that they’ve been deluded.” – This also applies…” Mar 6, 16:09
