The Scottish media has today leapt all over the front-page lead story from yesterday’s Sunday Times, in which “top economist” Douglas McWilliams of right-wing thinktank the Centre for Economics and Business Research made an apocalyptic prediction of a huge deficit turning an independent Scotland into “a Third World country”.
The Express’ customarily restrained coverage is pretty typical.
We wondered if Mr McWilliams used to have a more optimistic view.
There’s a truly abominable piece of hatemongering in today’s Times. A grotesequely dishonest Nat-bashing smear job based on stupendously misrepresented fragments of quotes, it’s penned by Patrick Harkness, someone who the paper identifies as “a past co-chairman of the RSE [Royal Society of Edinburgh] Young Academy of Scotland”.
For some reason it’s chosen to leave a few lines off his CV.
Alert readers will of course be aware that a recurring theme on this site is looking for the alleged abusive behaviour by supporters of independence which gets regularly reported in outraged terms by newspapers but is mysteriously almost never supported by any actual evidence of the supposed abuse.
In every case the papers and/or alleged recipients of all these dreadful separatist haranguings screamed “VILE ABUSE!”, swooning at the horror of it all, then suddenly turned deaf and dumb when asked to provide any examples.
So we were quite surprised yesterday when a previous complainant – brutal stickering victim and lonely Scottish Labour MP Ian Murray – actually came up with the proof.
Five minutes and 51 seconds, to be precise, is how long David Mundell, Secretary of State for Scotland, spent frantically quacking out meaningless noise on this morning’s Sunday Politics Scotland in order to avoid answering a simple Yes/No question until the interview ran out of airtime.
We could quibble with presenter Gordon Brewer making the assertion that a Section 30 order would in fact be necessary for a second referendum (something which has never been established in law or conceded by the Scottish Government, with strong and genuine legal opinion on both sides of the argument), and with him letting Mundell get away with the blatant falsehood that an overwhelming majority of Scots don’t want another referendum – in fact, 50% want one within the next two years.
But sometimes you have to let some smaller things slide to avoid distraction and stay focused on your main point, and in our view this was one of those occasions.
Should we check out that link and find out whether the then-FM really DID “claim that the Scottish NHS would be privatised if Scots voted No”, readers? Let’s do!
Readers familiar with our standing advice to newspaper customers that the headline is nearly always a lie might like to consider today’s Press & Journal.
The word “pyre” comes from the Greek word “pyra”, meaning “fire”. Surprisingly, it’s NOT the same root as “Pyrrhic”, as in “Pyrrhic victory”, meaning one that’s achieved by metaphorically burning your own city down. (Which in fact is named after the Greek general Pyrrhus of Epirus.)
The Sunday Herald ran an extraordinary article on page 2 yesterday, and by the time we’d finished being startled by what nonsense it was, it set us wondering about why.
We followed with interest an exchange over the weekend between Times columnist Kenny Farquharson and the anti-Brexit QC Jolyon Maugham, regarding the difference between the UK government’s insistence that there won’t be a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland because of the UK leaving the EU, and its continued insistence that there WOULD have to be one between the rUK and an independent Scotland, despite the legal circumstances being indistinguishable.
Farquharson, who like much of the Scottish political commentariat clings doggedly to the implausible dream of a “federal” UK, was adamant that the rules would – and indeed that they should – be different for the two ostensibly identical situations, and his given reason was a deeply disturbing one.
Kenny, it seems, thinks Scottish nationalists should do a lot more murdering.
sam on The End Of Law: “Unsubstantiated garbage” Jun 21, 17:32
James on The End Of Law: “Excellent idea, Onlooker; let’s get on with it! Sadly there are bad actors from another country, and their compromised stooges…” Jun 21, 17:08
Hatey McHateface on The End Of Law: “House! I just needed green cheese to complete four corners.” Jun 21, 17:05
James on The End Of Law: “Can you read? Even one eyed?” Jun 21, 17:02
James on The End Of Law: “Unionist Prick.” Jun 21, 16:59
Hatey McHateface on The End Of Law: “Jay I do attach much weight to personal responsibility. Such as the responsibility of the SNP voters in Arbroath. They…” Jun 21, 16:57
Red on The End Of Law: “List of areas where Muslim Rape Gangs have been found operating in Scotland (so far): Aberdeen City Angus Argyll and…” Jun 21, 16:46
Hatey McHateface on The End Of Law: “Loving it, sam. We need to improve benefits and free health care so we can draw even more millions of…” Jun 21, 16:23
Hatey McHateface on The End Of Law: “You’re missing that a male minus dangly bits isn’t a female. Quite a big miss. Maybe excuse yourself from framing…” Jun 21, 16:18
Nemisis Benn on The End Of Law: “Am I missing something? The blurb from Pollock doesn’t quite say that certain criminals are serving their sentences in establishments…” Jun 21, 15:20
Saffron Robe on The End Of Law: “The admissions practice has been deemed unlawful and yet it remains in place. The irony is, of course, that if…” Jun 21, 14:41
Alf Baird on The End Of Law: ““Wasn’t it psychology” Indeed so, for colonization ‘is based on psychology’ (Cesaire). Of course, colonization itself leads to many other…” Jun 21, 14:39
Jay on The End Of Law: “McHateful, interesting to read your riposte to my comment (11:37, 20th June). Your reply comes close to making me think…” Jun 21, 14:36
sam on The End Of Law: “Social Murder? Austerity and Life Expectancy in the UK Get access Arrow David Walsh, Gerry McCartney Published: 28 November 2024…” Jun 21, 14:32
sam on The End Of Law: “From “UK Poverty Guide 2026..”, Joseph Rowntree Foundation. “Every year, we see the same groups disproportionately trapped in poverty, with…” Jun 21, 14:23
Hatey McHateface on The End Of Law: “I’m almost certain that some of the “Scotland’s Mammie” Covid TV addresses were fronted by Murrell, not Sturgeon. Think about…” Jun 21, 13:56
Hatey McHateface on The End Of Law: “I haven’t read it. Don’t imagine I ever will. There’s some quite clever people plausibly arguing that AI is already…” Jun 21, 13:46
Hatey McHateface on The End Of Law: “Fuck Morocco an aw.” Jun 21, 13:36
Jay on The End Of Law: “Nicely made point,McHateful. On another topic, have you read ‘Rise and Kill First’ by Ronen Bergman? To avoid confusion, Ruth…” Jun 21, 13:08
Hatey McHateface on The End Of Law: “Not sure if I should level the “unclean” or the “fantasist” charge at you Tommo. Probably the latter, as it…” Jun 21, 13:03
Captain Caveman on The End Of Law: “Heh! Well, I guess I’ll just have to lick my wounds and enjoy the tennis here at Queens Club, [capital…” Jun 21, 13:00
Onlooker on The End Of Law: “I do wonder how many of the ‘people’ here are either bots or paid King’s shilling-graspers, I admit.” Jun 21, 12:57
Onlooker on The End Of Law: “I see. So anybody critical of English legal sovereignty on an ostensible Scottish independence site is in the SNP. The…” Jun 21, 12:54
Hatey McHateface on The End Of Law: “As always, sam leaves out demographics so that he can lie with his statistics. There’s something like 10 million immigrants…” Jun 21, 12:54
Jay on The End Of Law: “Is that self-parody from Caveman or is he merely a lout who boasts about how much money he has, so…” Jun 21, 12:48
Lorncal on The End Of Law: “I think it was a BBC2 Open doors discussion from 1973, not 1960s, Jay. Very enlightening for people today, but…” Jun 21, 12:12
sam on The End Of Law: “Do you people own anything? In 1961 poverty levels in the UK were 13%. Under Thatcher they rose to 25%.…” Jun 21, 12:02
Lorncal on The End Of Law: “Well said, H McH.” Jun 21, 12:00
Andy Wiltshire on The End Of Law: “Morning Rev. Do you have any inside info on whether the BBC programme coming up on Tuesday, ‘The Big Cases,…” Jun 21, 11:18
Mark Beggan on The End Of Law: “The Supreme court has to keep stepping in to stop the stupid, thieving perverts from committing offences against humanity. Just…” Jun 21, 11:13
