Still, at least the Record hasn’t been so completely lacking in self-awareness as to point a finger at others in Scotland and say something like “far too many people who should know better are complicit in the tragedy”.
From today’s lurid Scottish Daily Mail cover splash about a “£1 BILLION TAX BLACK HOLE” appearing in the Scottish budget “despite [imaginary] Nationalist tax hikes”:
There’s quite an interesting piece in today’s Sunday National detailing the extremely unequal representation of various parties on the BBC’s network politics shows in the last month, in which readers will be astonished to learn that the SNP (and Scotland in general) come off very poorly.
(Five appearances compared to eight for the Lib Dems, 40 for Labour and a startling 143 for the Tories.)
As it happened, it coincided with our coming by a list of people who’ve appeared on the Corporation’s nightly newspaper-review show, so we wondered whether the brave members of the press whose job it is to scrutinise politics independently might have redressed the balance somewhat.
When this complaint got the brush-off from the BBC, flatly refusing a right of reply under Article 28 of the Broadcasting Code to the Corporation’s grossly unbalanced and factually-inaccurate coverage of our court case against Kezia Dugdale:
We now have to go through TWO more rounds of pointless dickaboutery and dismissal from the BBC, taking up several weeks, before Ofcom will take the matter up.
(You may have noted, incidentally, that the letter gives no indication that its response can be appealed in any way. It took Ofcom to tell us it could.)
You’re going to need to before you watch today’s episode of The Jeremy Vine Show, featuring Paul Burrell (who used to be a royal butler about 20 years ago and somehow is now a political commentator), Nicola McLean (who used to get her surgically-altered breasts out for tabloid newspapers around the same time and then went on a reality show for halfwits with no actual talents), and Carole Malone, who we assume is some sort of live public-safety-information warning about the dangers of overdoing HRT.
Vine watches the unfolding horror with the expression of a man absolutely convinced he’s going to be murdered the next time he comes to Scotland. The most painful part is probably just after (Scottish) co-host and former weathergirl Storm Huntley (no, really) helpfully pipes up to suggest “shortbread, tartan… bagpipes” as Scotland’s economic foundations, at which point Jeremy turns in last-ditch desperation to the audience to save him from this slow-motion trainwreck and… well, you’ll see how that goes.
When the second indyref comes along, whenever the Yes campaign has a political broadcast slot on TV, we suggest just putting this on every time.
As Ofcom require any complaints about the BBC to be directed to the Corporation first, I’ve sent the BBC the letter below today (by physical mail, as the online complaint form is comically inadequate), which I expect to be a waste of time and energy. If I don’t receive a satisfactory response – and I’m sure that I won’t – I’ll take it up with Ofcom.
An alert Wings reader noted that they hadn’t been able to locate any coverage by the state broadcaster of the SNP’s annual conference this weekend either, even though they send live cameras to just about any other party’s gatherings even if they amount to three people in a phone box (hi, Scottish Lib Dems).
Alert readers will know by now that there’s nothing the Scottish media – and the Scottish Daily Mail in particular – likes more than printing scary-sounding figures with no context whatsoever by which people could judge how big or small they really are.
Nothing’s changed today (other than a rather sneaky inset shot of an old story about a different statistic which misleadingly makes today’s one look like a big increase), so rather than bang on we’ll just fill in the blanks: ScotRail runs around 760,000 trains a year, so this year’s cancellation figures amount to about 3.5% of all trains.
Which is to say, around one time in every 30 that you go to get a train it’ll have been cancelled and you’ll have to wait for the next one, which on the average commuter line will probably mean 15-20 minutes.
Which is still a pain in the hole, of course, but if it’s such a high number ask yourself why the Mail is so pathologically averse to simply telling you what percentage it is.
We’ll see you again with these figures in a few weeks, folks.
willie on The shifting sands of memory: “Andy, Britain is a hollowed out busted flush heading towards a potential Greek style debt crisis. And that is why…” May 23, 22:15
willie on The shifting sands of memory: “Interesting how LPG which is much greener than diesel or petrol is being phased out by the Westminster government. Why…” May 23, 22:08
Scot Finlayson on The shifting sands of memory: “Scott McTominay wins the Italian league for Napoli, Finn Russell wins the Challenge Cup Final for Bath, Wha`s like us.” May 23, 22:05
Andy Storrie on The shifting sands of memory: “Scotland deserves a gargantuan reparations package when she finally gets tf out of this shit show, Fake country, international GDP…” May 23, 21:54
Alf Baird on The shifting sands of memory: “Yes, ‘banishment of the natives’ combined with ‘se**ler occupation’ are well established ‘colonial procedures’ (Memmi) resulting in mass population displacement,…” May 23, 20:13
sarah on The shifting sands of memory: “Since we are now all talking about the key issue of restoring Scotland’s status, there’s another easy thing that may…” May 23, 19:15
Dan on The shifting sands of memory: “Or alternatively… Why we shouldn’t listen to anybody who’s a climate Armageddon net zero zealot that gets taken in by…” May 23, 19:00
sarah on The shifting sands of memory: “@ Tartanpigsy: I’m hoping for a zoom link for tomorrow’s AGM in which case I might see you!” May 23, 18:53
David Holden on The shifting sands of memory: “This place smells a whole lot better since Yoon’s cum has left the building and a question over whether he…” May 23, 18:25
twathater on The shifting sands of memory: “Yes Dan, Leah certainly provides information of the continuation of contempt that the Scottish administration inflict daily especially when there…” May 23, 18:11
Dan on The shifting sands of memory: “Oh, that’ll be Norway that managed their oil and gas resources somewhat better than the UK’s incredibly bad shitshow of…” May 23, 18:08
Northcode on The shifting sands of memory: “Mia @ 4:59 pm “I wonder if we will ever know what that political fraud Sturgeon got in exchange for…” May 23, 17:50
Mia on The shifting sands of memory: ““plenty are getting a lot denser” Oh dear, are you having trouble keeping up with the pace and depth of…” May 23, 17:38
Tartanpigsy on The shifting sands of memory: “Hmmm, there is certainly the smell of fear in the myriad unionist posts on this thread. The UN route is…” May 23, 17:34
Northcode on The shifting sands of memory: “James Cheyne I could be wrong, James. But as far as I’m aware Denunciation is just a legal term for…” May 23, 17:33
Bilbo on The shifting sands of memory: “The idea of independence has been irrevocably tarnished by the actions of Sturgeon and the SNP. Besides, what exactly is…” May 23, 17:19
Mia on The shifting sands of memory: ““today I’ve seen a petition from people in Fife in 1701 asking for the removal of “the army of occupation”!”…” May 23, 17:18
Mia on The shifting sands of memory: “If the ToU remains valid, then Scotland could have ended it at any time of its choosing. The problem is…” May 23, 16:59
James Cheyne on The shifting sands of memory: “Northcode. I am interested on how denounciation would take effect and what strength it would have say compared to ending…” May 23, 16:54
sarah on The shifting sands of memory: “@ Mia, Fearghas, Xaracen and Northcode: yeah, let’s focus on denouncing, ending the Union. This stand demonstrates that Scotland has…” May 23, 16:36
Mia on The shifting sands of memory: ““The Monarchy is different, part of 1603 matters not 1707 so if the public will is there it can then…” May 23, 16:27
Mia on The shifting sands of memory: “I like it. Question in the ballot: “Should Scotland end the union with England?” I think it is very clear.…” May 23, 16:10
Northcode on The shifting sands of memory: “I believe bilateral treaties can be denounced. Legally, Denunciation is a unilateral act by which one party terminates its participation…” May 23, 16:04
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The shifting sands of memory: “Or a Proclaimers version: “UNION NO MORE!!”” May 23, 15:52
Young Lochinvar on The shifting sands of memory: “Westminster is where it’s at, like it or not. Holyrood has been clarified by the so called Supreme Court as…” May 23, 15:43
Andy Wiltshire on The shifting sands of memory: “If the 1707 Act were declared null and void by a court decision, wouldn’t that mean that every law enacted…” May 23, 15:18