Chinese whispering 163
Posted on
August 09, 2016 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Archive for the ‘scottish politics’
Agnostic like the Pope 226
Posted on
August 08, 2016 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
God knows, readers, there’s almost nothing we want to write about less than either David Torrance or the Scottish Six. Just to restate our own position for the record, we couldn’t care less either way about a dedicated teatime Scottish news programme on BBC Scotland – not because it’s a bad idea but because we have no confidence that in reality it’d end up any better than the embarrassment that is Reporting Scotland, far and away the regional station’s worst current-affairs broadcast.
(Certainly now that Scotland 2016’s had the chop.)
Nevertheless, the former’s article about the latter in today’s Herald is one of the most abysmally disingenuous and badly-argued things we’ve seen in the Scottish media for quite some time, and in the absence of any more diverting news in what now seems to have reasserted itself as the traditional summer slow season, we might as well take a methodical look at it.
A point of reference 78
Posted on
August 08, 2016 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Straight from a Scottish Labour activist, here’s a little something that’s worth keeping in mind every day of the next decade (or more) of brutal Tory governments imposing policies rejected by the vast majority of Scots.
The Formula 452
Posted on
August 04, 2016 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Have you ever wondered how you try to poison and shut down a debate and a political environment that you fear you’ve found yourself on the losing side of, readers? Well, it’s funny you should ask, because as it happens we’ve got a visiting professor – an expert authority on the subject – with us today to give us a demonstration.
Make sure you’ve got your pens and notepads ready. He’s got a very busy schedule and we can’t afford to have him here for long.
The cybernat in the trees 109
Posted on
August 03, 2016 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
A parable of internet abuse. Acknowledgements to Alan Moore and Frankie Boyle.
Dedicated to David Torrance, Susan Calman, Johanna Baxter and Angela Eagle.
Until your ship comes in 188
Posted on
August 03, 2016 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
There’s been a statistic released in Scotland, so obviously there’s a crisis.
Anarchy on the streets can only be moments away.
The shopping monitors 252
Posted on
August 02, 2016 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
The mad explosion of news that consumed most of July has largely abated. The Tories have a new leader, Labour are settling in for an insanely destructive and bitter two-month factional war in order to (almost certainly) re-elect the same one they only elected 10 months ago, and Brexit is on hold until next year.
So with a palpable sigh of relief, the Scottish political media has been able to get back to what it does best: juvenile silly-season drivel about nothing.
About time, frankly 324
Posted on
July 31, 2016 by
Ray McRobbie
In December 2013, the editor of this site – who knew nothing of the secret this article is about to reveal – tweeted “When we write the chronicles of independence, I hope there’ll be a whole chapter on @A_DarlingMP”.
Well, this is as close as we’re going to get.
When time stood still again 246
Posted on
July 30, 2016 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Yes supporters are currently holding what seems to be a very well-attended march from Glasgow’s Botanical Gardens to a rally in George Square, with thousands more people seemingly turning up than even the organisers’ highest pre-event estimates.
We could verify that with footage from the Labour-controlled City Council’s webcam at the square, if it hadn’t mysteriously stopped working an hour and ten minutes ago, weirdly enough at the exact moment the march started to arrive.
Funny, that. We’re sure it’s just a coincidence.
An empty quiver 201
Posted on
July 29, 2016 by
Dr Craig Dalzell
This week I published, through Common Weal, a discussion paper on the potential currency options for an independent Scotland in light of the material changes in circumstances caused by the Brexit vote.
This paper examines some of the options open to an independent Scotland and concludes that, on balance, the best option for Scotland would be a Scottish currency, initially pegged to Sterling but with the infrastructure and mechanisms in place to move, replace or remove that peg if and when it proves advantageous.
(As the UK did itself in the 1980’s when the pound was pegged first to the US dollar and then to the Deutschmark.)
One of the requirements of an independent currency is that Scotland would need its own foreign reserve fund which would act as a buffer against trade imbalances and would be used to counter movements in exchange rate (particularly if we were pegged our exchange rate to Sterling).
It was on this particular point that yesterday’s Scottish edition of the Daily Express chose to focus, in its characteristically measured, balanced and thoughtful manner.
