Wings Over Scotland isn’t the only website dedicated to scrutinising the truthfulness of things claimed by politicians and media pundits. There’s the widely-respected and diligent FullFact.org, there’s Scotland’s own The Ferret, and there’s the BBC’s Reality Check (which frequently takes the more unconventional approach of, er, not making a finding either way about what the reality of things is).
And then there’s Channel 4’s FactCheck, which we’re going to generously assume had a liquid lunch yesterday and was a little under the weather.
Because not only is the conclusion that it reached on the subject of an independent Scotland having to use the Euro utter nonsense that’s been debunked roughly 1000 times in the last six years, it doesn’t even agree with itself.
This was the Scottish Tories two years ago, when Scotland’s economy registered a small downturn for a single quarter, which was definitely the SNP’s fault:
Shall we find out what actually happened, readers?
Several media outlets today relate a story from BBC Scotland’s fascinating three-part documentary of the indyref, revealing that secret UK government polling in the first week of September 2014 gave Yes a lead even bigger than the famous 51-49 one published by the Sunday Times on the 7th.
And naturally we couldn’t help wondering what might have caused it.
Dr Craig Dalzell of the Common Weal is a very sharp guy we’ve run several pieces by on Wings, and he’s currently appearing all over the place with a highly accessible and concise explanation of how an independent Scotland could sensibly run its economy.
If you haven’t been able to make it out to see him, a quiet Sunday might be an ideal time to catch up with it.
For some time, most polls for “Who’d make the best UK Prime Minister?” – the stat that really decides who wins general elections – have shown a solid lead for “Don’t know”, narrowly ahead of Theresa May and a long way ahead of Jeremy Corbyn.
It’s a prime symptom of a UK-wide contempt for politicians the magnitude of which we’ve never seen in our lifetime, and Scottish voters are in no way immune.
We loaded this question from our latest Panelbase poll in the party leaders’ favours, because you don’t have to think any of them is doing a GOOD job to say that one of them is doing the BEST job out of the four. Everything is relative – and we also didn’t ask the question specifically about Brexit.
But even with those get-outs, “They’re all useless” came out on top by a clear seven points over Nicola Sturgeon, and the rest weren’t even at the races.
Tonight sees what’s likely to be a highly-charged Scottish Cup quarter-final replay at Ibrox Stadium. Defeat will effectively end the losing side’s season, and games between the participants, Aberdeen and Rangers International, have tended to be fierce affairs ever since the latter club was formed in controversial circumstances in 2012, with this season’s clashes already having seen numerous red cards.
(Mainly for the home team’s temperamental striker Alfredo Morelos.)
Football authorities will be hoping for a minimum of flashpoints on the field which might lead to repeats of shocking recent scenes of abuse and violence from spectators, which have prompted the nation’s media to wring its hands in theatrical angst and demand that something be done.
The public’s view on the subject, meanwhile, has remained absolutely consistent.
Sundays have been the low point of Scottish political journalism for a while now. Traditionally a day when newspapers are heavy on comment and light on news (because politics tends to happen on weekdays), they unleash all the weary old dinosaurs who’ve been driving away readers for the last 30 years.
So you really have to stand out to be noticed for especially appalling hackery on a Sunday, which is probably why nobody from Scotland On Sunday wanted to have their name on this toe-curling piece of second-hand, lifted-from-another-paper garbage.
Professor Ronald MacDonald, you say? That name seems to ring a bell.
MARR: “What would [Theresa May] need to bring back [from Brexit negotiations] to win you over?”
DAVIS: “She needs to bring back a clear ability on the part of the United Kingdom to be able to leave this treaty when it chooses to. There is no other treaty in the world I’m aware of where a sovereign nation undertakes to join up and can only leave when the other side says so.”
We’re pretty sure we can think of an example, David.
Michael Glackin of the Sunday Times is the only serious contender to the Scotsman’s demented Brian Wilson as the most poisonously, blindly instinctive hater of anything even passingly connected to the SNP or independence in the Scottish media. His weekly bilious rants in the paper make even Scottish Daily Express hacks wince and say “Blimey, that’s a bit strong”.
But even by those standards, this week’s column is quite something. So let’s take a little look at just how much of an idiot you can make of yourself if you never allow facts to get in the way of your rage.
100%Yes on The Slowest Dawning: “What attracted my attention was the elephant in the room “59. abolish The Scotland Office”. What ever the UK PM…” Aug 28, 17:38
Gav on The Slowest Dawning: “The Wee Blue Book is the gold standard in getting reliable, fully-sourced information out there in a format that supports…” Aug 28, 17:23
ScottieDog on The Slowest Dawning: “When in difficulty, there’s always the civilian branch – Believe In Scotland to get the (non-jingling) collection tins going” Aug 28, 17:15
Willie on The Slowest Dawning: “Absolutely yes, bang on Fheargas. The SNP exists now purely to stymie independence. That’s is exactly what its handlers in…” Aug 28, 17:13
Willie on The Slowest Dawning: “Absolutely yes, bang on Fheargas. The SNP exists now purely to stymie independence. That’s is exactly what its handlers in…” Aug 28, 17:05
robertkknight on The Slowest Dawning: “None so blind as SNP members who will not see. Apart of course from the gender Woo-Woo and Wokerati carpetbaggers,…” Aug 28, 16:49
Jim Thomson on The Slowest Dawning: “Right at the top of your post you point out that anyone disagreeing with the general direction of the party…” Aug 28, 16:28
Captain Caveman on Spot The Problem: “Well, we all know you haven’t, Fatty. Unless you call a park bench “air conditioned”.” Aug 28, 16:26
Ian Smith on The Slowest Dawning: “Will conference discuss the big thing that happened a few months back, or show any interest in who was responsible…” Aug 28, 16:25
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Slowest Dawning: “The SNP is not a failure. I have no doubt the SNP is fully achieving what it’s dark handlers wish…” Aug 28, 16:23
James on Spot The Problem: “Ah; Pricks 2 & 3, right on cue as booked. Got air con in there, girls?” Aug 28, 15:45
Captain Caveman on Spot The Problem: “I think you’re forgetting the undoubted malign influence of 5G phone masts and flu vaccines, Aidan, not to mention “Humphrey…” Aug 28, 15:31
Captain Caveman on Spot The Problem: ““Not for nothing was the SNP referred to as the Tartan Tories – strangely enough – back in the days…” Aug 28, 15:29
Peter McAvoy on Spot The Problem: “Regarding the genius of our unwritten constitution,that term is a contradiction the genius is that the term is believed by…” Aug 28, 15:26
Aidan on Spot The Problem: “Ooooh yes rigged heavily was it. Let me guess “MI5 in the polling stations” “ballots counted in England” “people who…” Aug 28, 15:10
Marie on This Other Earth: “You’re obsessed with Muslims Hate-filled. Helen Joyce (Sex Matters) followed the money and in her book “Trans” named the American…” Aug 28, 15:03
Willie on The Slowest Dawning: “The reality of the so-called 40% membership is that these lost souls are not to ve seen on the ground.hidden…” Aug 28, 15:00
Spartan 117 on The Slowest Dawning: “Depressingly, it didn’t stop the public voting for them in their droves however at the last election. A substantive chunk…” Aug 28, 14:48
Spartan 117 on Spot The Problem: “Rob – you speak pure logic and sense, unlike some of the other witterings here.” Aug 28, 14:42
BLMac on The Slowest Dawning: “Maybe it’s time to do what a sovereign people do and take control of our government like the Icelanders did…” Aug 28, 14:42
James on Spot The Problem: “Inwhich case it won’t ever happen; not even a rigged one like last time which ran them close. England needs…” Aug 28, 14:37
Chas on The Slowest Dawning: “The starting point for Independence has to the the complete obliteration of the SNP. Any individual currently holding power within…” Aug 28, 14:36
Campbell Clansman on The Slowest Dawning: “The document is 18,663 words in length. Fifty-seven pages in all. One wonders how many SNP members will bother to…” Aug 28, 14:12
Rob on Spot The Problem: “What some folk can’t seem to understand is that outside their own bubble the majority of folk don’t care about…” Aug 28, 13:59
James Che on Spot The Problem: “The records that give evidence the king or Crown was not Sovereign in Scotland comes from the acceptance of the…” Aug 28, 13:33
Hatey McHateface on Spot The Problem: “Sure, Chas, but this site’s byline is the “world’s most read Scottish politics site” or something like that. It’s important…” Aug 28, 13:26
