Wings Over Scotland

If the mark of a strong democracy is a free and diverse press, Scotland has been in a terrible state for a very long time. On the morning of the independence referendum, the biggest issue the country’s addressed in over 300 years, not a single publication could be found on Scottish newsagents’ shelves backing the constitutional option supported by almost half the population.

Today that changed.

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There’s a glorious piece in today’s Daily Mail from BritNat arch-troll Simon Heffer, in which he fumes and splutters about the outrageous idea of finding himself, thanks to the huge surge in support for the SNP since the referendum, ruled next year by a government “that only a small minority in England would have voted for”.

We’re sure that Scots everywhere will empathise with the unfortunate Mr Heffer’s intolerable plight, having many decades of experience of that very scenario. We’d also be interested to know, however, if he sent a submission to the Smith Commission detailing his radical solution to the whole devolution issue, as outlined in the Mail on 6 September this year:

“Far better than offering ‘devo max’, a post-referendum non-independent Scotland should be forced into a fresh start with a reduction in the amount of English taxpayer-funded subsidies.”

We very much hope that he did.

From an editorial in today’s Daily Record:

“The debate in the House of Commons yesterday proved once and for all that The Vow is doing its job.

David Cameron had to stick to his word under pressure from misguided backbenchers who demanded an end to the way Scotland is funded through the Barnett formula.

The Prime Minister insisted no review is ‘on the horizon’, saving valuable funds for Holyrood.”

But that isn’t a very accurate report of events, for several reasons. Not least of them is the fact that David Cameron wasn’t even there.

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Ever since Nicola Sturgeon announced on Saturday that the SNP would never put the Tories in government, various mainstream political pundits have shown an alarming level of inability to grasp the concept of someone who cannot possibly become Prime Minister declaring their preference out of those who can.

Perhaps we’re being a bit unkind, as this isn’t a regular feature of British politics – usually we only hear the leaders of the two main parties telling us why they’re the best for the job, with the Liberal Democrat candidate comically trying to pretend that they stand a chance of being Prime Minister – but it does highlight the extraordinarily parochial nature of political debate in the UK media.

Because anyone who cares to cast a glance across the continent will see that such scenarios are not just common, but often an integral part of politics across Europe.

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In the absence of much news, this morning we’ve been having fun with this.

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We noted with interest this morning an uncredited story in the Herald, suggesting that Scottish Labour leadership candidate Jim Murphy would stand as an unlikely champion of the poor and downtrodden and the heroic defender of universal benefits.

“Murphy rejects Lamont stance on benefit cuts

On investigation, the truth was somewhat at odds with the headline.

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We’re sure our ever-alert readers don’t need telling, but it never hurts to put up a little refresher course for those who might have joined recently.

As it becomes clear to everyone in Scotland that the No camp’s promises of the UK being the guarantor of survival for the Govan shipyards was the cynical lie those of us on the Yes side always said it was, it’s been interesting to watch the panicked response from the Westminster government.

Let’s take a quick look at how it works.

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Just a year and six days ago:

Now, maybe not so much.

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There’s so little happening in Scottish politics today, readers, that the Scottish Sun has been reduced to interviewing a brick. And no, that’s not rhyming slang.

Frankly, folks, at that point we may as well have the day off.

One week after the independence referendum we posted about a fundraiser by the producers of Dateline Scotland. It was an unusual fundraiser, in that it didn’t promise to actually produce anything – the team simply wanted money to sustain them while they worked towards something much bigger. The fundraiser was a massive success, reaching more than three times its target in the blink of an eye.

And today the something bigger started to take shape.

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Earlier today we published an email from Daily Record editor Murray Foote about “The Vow”. In it he referred to an editorial published in the paper on 8 September, attacking the “confused” and “shambolic” position of the three Unionist parties on further devolution to Scotland in the event of a No vote.

The infamous “Vow” was their response. When publishing it on 16 September, two days before the referendum, the Record announced on its front page that “NOW VOTERS CAN MAKE AN INFORMED CHOICE”, thereby implying that “The Vow” had delivered what the 8 September editorial had demanded.

Readers can judge for themselves.

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Disappointingly, we haven’t received a reply from Daily Record editor Murray Foote to our email yesterday inquiring into the provenance of “The Vow”.

However, an alert reader who wrote to him yesterday did. You can read it below.

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