We don’t know whether Sky News’ senior Scotland correspondent James Matthews recognised double-jobbing Labour MP and councillor Hugh Gaffney on today’s strike march in Glasgow or not. (We suspect he did, but as Gaffney’s only been an MP for a year and a half we can’t be sure.)
What’s certain is that he gave him plenty of time, opportunity and cues to disclose who he was, and Gaffney didn’t take any of them, leading to this extraordinary clip.
The indyref sometimes caused feelings to run rather high, and people on both sides made themselves very unpopular with those on the other side. But four years of water has flowed under the bridge since then, and not everyone is still in the same trenches.
Some high-profile names have switched to from No to Yes (often but not exclusively as a result of Brexit), and the reception afforded to floor-crossers like Murray Foote, Eric Joyce, Jackie Kemp, Mike Dailly, Tom Morton and Simon Pia hasn’t always been an entirely warm one, with some unable to keep a lid on their old grudges.
And in a similar vein, some of the remarks in recent days on the reported switch to Yes of Billy Connolly – a few from people I thought better of – are deeply offensive and potentially deeply damaging.
Well well, look who suddenly believes in second referendums.
It’s fascinating to note how you can completely reverse Kezia Dugdale’s position on the subject simply by substituting the word “Scotland” for the words “the UK” in that second tweet, and imagine she was talking about the independence march in heavily-Remain-voting Edinburgh earlier this month instead of the (proportionately smaller) one in London yesterday.
The BBC’s Scottish politics website today prominently carries this story:
Our famously alert readers may recall as far back as five-and-a-half months ago, which was the last time the Scottish media tried to whip up demented scare stories about baby boxes, which have been given to every new mother in Finland for approximately 70 years and caused absolutely no documented problems.
So what’s fresh about the story to justify this significant new coverage? Let’s see.
Tory MP Kirstene “dumber than a box of” Hair is best known for being the member of the UK Parliament who didn’t vote in the Brexit referendum because it was too difficult.
The Scottish Daily Mail today has a big headline relaying the seemingly-unambiguous bad news that unemployment in Scotland has apparently risen by 11,000.
But cheer up, folks, because better times are ahead.
We’re pretty sure it was “Listen to you about being ‘better together’, so that they ended up with a Tory government they didn’t vote for but which was imposed on them by the people in a much larger country, and which has a long track record of imposing brutal, callous welfare policies on the poor for largely ideological reasons, and which has entirely predictably continued to do so”.
We’re blacklisted by the press regulator IPSO, but fortunately when we raise issues with especially blatant inaccuracies in UK newspapers alert readers sometimes take up the cudgel and file complaints with them because we can’t.
When indoor-hat-wearing uberYoon nutter George Galloway appeared in some of the madder corners of the gutter press this week after appearing on RT to extravagantly belittle last weekend’s indy marchers, we didn’t bother talking about it because who cares what that irrelevant old zoomer thinks, right?
But when an alert reader drew our attention to this spectacular clip of Galloway’s pre-indyref and post-indyref views on the EU we couldn’t let it go, because it so perfectly encapsulates not just what a huge buffoon George Galloway is, but the jaw-dropping, bare-faced, crass hypocrisy of so much Unionist argument.
We’re only sad he’s neither a politician nor in Scotland, or he’d be a shoo-in.
factchecker on The Slowest Dawning: ““And turned it was no by the tried and tested strategy of blavkmail, bribery with all any any assistance needed…” Aug 28, 19:24
Terry on The Slowest Dawning: “I have seen this on another Indy site. It’s excellent.” Aug 28, 19:19
Rev. Stuart Campbell on The Slowest Dawning: “That IS peculiar.” Aug 28, 18:59
Mark Beggan on The Slowest Dawning: “Brilliantly put Rev. It’s the Woke Jihad.” Aug 28, 18:42
Captain Caveman on Spot The Problem: “Well, I’m sure we’re all devastated, Fatso. (“LOL” – definitely at you pal).” Aug 28, 18:35
100%Yes on The Slowest Dawning: “Just in at The National, “SNP Westminster leader U-turns after opening door to indyref deal with Nigel Farage” I have…” Aug 28, 18:17
Karen on The Slowest Dawning: “What jumped out at me was “15. [Making the case] … over time, well ahead of any future referendum campaign”.…” Aug 28, 18:16
100%Yes on The Slowest Dawning: “The National doesn’t make good reading for people wanting Independence or the SNP membership. It states “SNP members’ fury as…” Aug 28, 18:14
James on The Slowest Dawning: “Or just don’t bother. Would suit most.” Aug 28, 18:13
100%Yes on The Slowest Dawning: “Certain people actually believe ATLS is the party you should now vote for, NAW they ain’t. They have been actively…” Aug 28, 18:09
James on Spot The Problem: “LOL. [at you, not with you].” Aug 28, 18:09
viscount ennui on The Slowest Dawning: “SNP supporters v Christians “So do you actually believe that an angel impregnated Mary to produce JC?” “Well, obviously no.…” Aug 28, 18:03
100%Yes on The Slowest Dawning: “The National doesn’t make good reading for people wanting Independence or the SNP membership. It states “SNP members’ fury as…” Aug 28, 18:00
Spartan 117 on The Slowest Dawning: “Worse than that, Honest John and his cronies want to offshore and outsource democracy to the undemocratic EU and turn…” Aug 28, 17:53
agentx on The Slowest Dawning: “I’ll wait for James Che’s in depth analysis and Alf’s quotes before passing judgement!” Aug 28, 17:46
Spartan 117 on The Slowest Dawning: “Last time round, I found the argument put forward for independence inadequate and lacking in key details, just as the…” Aug 28, 17:46
Aidan on Spot The Problem: “It’s all true CC, but it’s alright James can put a tin foil hat on his oversized head to protect…” Aug 28, 17:45
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
GeoffC on The Slowest Dawning: “They’ve missed out support for Gaza, a favourite topic of The National.” Aug 28, 17:33
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
