When you’re 74 452
Posted on
August 18, 2019 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Ah, the good old days of the positive case for the Union.
But oh no! Shock twist!
Archive for the ‘scottish politics’
We Are Not Your Hostage 201
Posted on
August 17, 2019 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Oh dear God in Heaven, not THIS again.
Helen Thompson is apparently the “Professor of Political Economy” at Cambridge University. No wonder the country is being run by imbeciles.
Let’s speak really slowly and see if the idiots can get it into their thick heads this time.
The enemies of democracy 316
Posted on
August 15, 2019 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
This poll from Opinium came out a few days ago, but didn’t get as much attention as people might normally have expected, possibly because it was presented in a very difficult-to-follow graphical form. So we’ve sorted it out, and also added in the missing Lib Dem voters.
The takeaway is that a clear majority of voters both in Scotland and the UK now believe that the UK government should accept the Scottish Government’s request for a second independence referendum.
The big idea 604
Posted on
August 13, 2019 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Crazy stuff happens when we have a thought.
Buckle in for a bumpy ride if you don’t like pictures of my ugly mug.
On Tape 324
Posted on
August 11, 2019 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
We thought readers might possibly like to hear the unexpurgated audio of our interview with The Times this week, so that they could judge the tone of our “expletive-ridden condemnations” and whatnot for themselves.
Other than a few bits of minor tidying-up – such as me umming and aahing trying to remember the name of a song, or when the manager came round to ask if we wanted more drinks – this is the whole of the “official” interview.
(In conversation with Kenny Farquharson of The Times, 1 August 2019)
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Running the numbers 452
Posted on
August 10, 2019 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
So, there’s been quite a response to our interview in today’s Times.
The interview was an interesting one in itself that we might talk more about later this weekend, but let’s leave that aside for now and talk about the headline take, because as usual the Scottish media is presenting it in a remarkably dishonest manner.
Voices of the colonies 406
Posted on
August 07, 2019 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
In case you missed it, there was an interesting phone-in on the subject of Scottish independence on James O’Brien’s LBC radio show from 10am this morning. I chipped my tuppence-worth in at the start (I’m the second caller, from about 6m 25s), but it’s fascinating listening to O’Brien’s tone evolve as the hour-long segment goes on.
(James O’Brien, LBC, 7 August 2019)
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We don’t doubt for a moment the sincerity and good intent with which he states his position. But when he talks in the intro about the special feelings he has when he’s in Scotland, which he also gets in Greece, the whole argument collapses.
Because O’Brien doesn’t appear to need to feel that he “owns” Greece, or that he’s a Greek citizen, to have that warmth towards it. He doesn’t need the people of England to elect Greece’s governments for it – he’s happy to have those feelings towards a completely independent country. So why not about an independent Scotland?
(Sadly I was cut off before I got a chance to respond to his point about Germany and its federal regions, which would have been to point out that no one German region is six times bigger than all the others put together and can – and does – impose its will on them whenever it wants.)
And much to his credit he appears to realise that as the show goes on. Whether he still thinks deep down that the Scottish independence movement is in significant part driven by anti-Englishness, only he can say. But his callers today at least appear to have made him think about it, and it’s a process worth listening to.
The Charlatans 172
Posted on
August 07, 2019 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Honestly, readers, our job is like shooting fish in a barrel sometimes.
Gosh, whoever would take such a scandalous and unprincipled position?
Some things stay the same 493
Posted on
August 05, 2019 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
The cut-off 159
Posted on
August 03, 2019 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
The Times leads its Scottish edition today with a piece on Ruth Davidson’s collapsing popularity with Tory members, which it helpfully illustrates with a graph.
Alert readers will notice, however, that for some inexplicable reason the graph ends more than a year ago, in July 2018, with Davidson’s rating still at a very healthy 54% – some three and a half times what it is now. So we’ve fixed it for them.
