The dogged determination of Scottish Labour to insult the Scottish electorate is a source of constant slack-jawed astonishment to us. Over the years we’ve lost count of the number of times the party’s politicians have effectively said “People are just too stupid to vote for us”, in the apparent belief that abuse is the way to win back support.
But it’s not always so overt. The subtler ways in which the party treats voters like morons include the assumption that people’s memories only go back to yesterday’s newspapers, and there can surely be no more stark illustration than its recent adoption of the attack line that the SNP are standing “shoulder to shoulder with the Tories”.
An interesting and illuminating exchange has taken place in the last few days between the First Minister and Times columnist Kenny Farquharson, one of the many senior journalists who’ve recently jumped from the sinking ship of The Scotsman to take up less prestigious but more secure positions elsewhere.
It started on Saturday night, when Farquharson tweeted this:
In what may be a new all-time low for the broadsheet press in Scotland, this morning’s Scottish edition of the Telegraph makes a front-page lead story out of a petition with a pathetic 4500 signatures, put together by some extremist Yoon nutters to express their rage that there might be a peak-time news show actually made in Scotland.
The idea of a so-called “Scottish Six”, whereby the main six o’clock news bulletin would be a single programme made by BBC Scotland and covering Scottish, UK and world news – rather than the current half-hour London-centric UK programme followed by 30 minutes of regional murdur’n’fitba in Reporting Scotland – has been exercising the media (and pretty much nobody else) for the best part of 20 years.
But now it’s become a constitutional battleground, and the funny thing about it is that the two sides are fighting bitterly over something neither of them actually really wants.
Newspaper sales figures in Scotland now come out in a patchy and unco-ordinated sort of way, with different frequencies and at different times of year, so we thought it’d be worth collecting them together for easy reference.
The numbers below are the most recent figures for each title that we know of – for papers classed as “national” that means November last year, and for those counted as “regional” (which includes the Scotsman and Herald titles) it’s this month.
Figures have all been rounded to the nearest 100, and increase/decrease stats refer in all cases to the corresponding sales for one year previously.
So just to clear that up: four times £12 million is £200 million. The mystery of why people are increasingly reluctant to believe what they read in newspapers continues.
So after all the kerfuffle and commotion and comedy, a deal was done, of sorts. The unsquareable circle wasn’t squared, but the day of facing up to it was punted down the line for five years, by which point everyone hopes that it’ll be someone else’s problem. (Which is certainly the case for David Cameron.)
Every newspaper in Scotland tomorrow will look like this:
It’s quite incredible that someone with Jim Sillars’ political experience should be so naive about the tactics surrounding the EU referendum. Regardless of your feelings on the EU itself, there’s absolutely no point in any supporter of Scottish independence voting Leave this June, and here’s why.
Aidan on The Shortest Day: “It’s nonsense to suggest that this single paper was the entire basis for the post-2010 coalition economy policy, not least…” Aug 30, 11:47
Hatey McHateface on The Shortest Day: “You barsturt, CC. I really didn’t want to know that! Another fondly remembered experience from the past that the young…” Aug 30, 11:46
factchecker on The Shortest Day: “Perhaps that’s because that’s how democracy works in the 21st century. The reason we (the people of Scotland) were not…” Aug 30, 11:43
Hatey McHateface on The Shortest Day: “Sure, Bob. If you tell us you don’t celebrate Christmas either, we’ll believe you. After all, that was never a…” Aug 30, 11:41
Knuckle_Heid on The Shortest Day: ““….Good Governance in Scotland….” er, you what, Dave? As has long been documented on WoS, since 2015 your “Government” has…” Aug 30, 11:38
Hatey McHateface on The Shortest Day: “Respect to you, Northy, for daring to utter some of the truths that most won’t. It remains but to add…” Aug 30, 11:36
sam on The Shortest Day: “It can’t be said with any certainty what any independent country will look like as time passes. Within my considerable…” Aug 30, 11:33
Dan on The Shortest Day: “robertkknight says: at 10:37 am “It’s raining outside…” https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyrv84yd9ko #WetterTogether” Aug 30, 11:26
Aidan on The Shortest Day: “Good man Spartan! I’m guessing you have your PPL? It’s something I’d love to do, particularly in Scotland where we’re…” Aug 30, 11:17
robertkknight on The Shortest Day: “…and it’s NOT a “holiday weekend” in my country.” Aug 30, 11:04
100%Yes on The Shortest Day: “Oh dear, it’s now dawned on the zombie SNP membership. I’m not laughing I’m applaud you’ve been taken in so…” Aug 30, 10:58
sam on The Shortest Day: “Spreadsheets get it wrong. It does happen. As so often with you, you let your prejudices overwhelm your limited intelligence.…” Aug 30, 10:44
Chas on The Shortest Day: “It may have escaped your notice that most!! Of the Scots thst were around in 1707 are now deed.” Aug 30, 10:40
robertkknight on The Shortest Day: “It’s raining outside…” Aug 30, 10:37
Northcode on The Shortest Day: “The Scottish Independence Referendum (Franchise) Act 2013 set the scope for the franchise for the referendum. It defined those able…” Aug 30, 10:27
Chas on The Shortest Day: “I believe that roughly 50% of Scots, residing in Scotland, are in favour of Independence. I am one of them.…” Aug 30, 10:25
Captain Caveman on The Shortest Day: “Absolutely Hatey, it’s my favourite building in the entire world. As an Engineer, it’s surely an unsurpassed gem for that…” Aug 30, 10:24
Hatey McHateface on The Shortest Day: “Ha, James, any Sovereign Scot alive today can choose to ratify the Union. Until you can get your head around…” Aug 30, 10:13
Hatey McHateface on The Shortest Day: “I’m not ruling out, sam, the possibility that you truly believe that one fifth of UK adults choose not to…” Aug 30, 10:08
James Che on The Shortest Day: “Saffron Robe, Regards your comment yesterday, Indeed, Scots were delberately not asked to join the 1707 treaty of union, because…” Aug 30, 09:57
Hatey McHateface on The Shortest Day: “Hope you take the time to visit the Pantheon, CC. It’s an amazing example of architecture and engineering. It’s also…” Aug 30, 09:53
Hatey McHateface on The Shortest Day: “Good post, Bob. Seeing as how it’s a holiday weekend, why not spend the rest of the day fretting about…” Aug 30, 09:47
Hatey McHateface on The Shortest Day: “Loving the way Alf effortlessly equates Scots with Yes voters there. Thus proving what I’ve always said about the true…” Aug 30, 09:41
James Che on The Shortest Day: “There are of course individual names on a old list, with signatures that explicitly name the people that are in…” Aug 30, 09:40
sam on The Shortest Day: “The Keynes Mutiny – “Growth in a time of debt” https://russincheshire.substack.com/p/the-spreadsheet-that-broke-britain?r=lwml0&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web” Aug 30, 09:32
James Che on The Shortest Day: “The Scots remain out with the treaty of union, The devolved government in the Country of Scotland from Westminsters Scotland…” Aug 30, 09:31
robertkknight on The Shortest Day: “A majority of Scots, 53%, voted Yes in 2014. That majority for Yes was overturned as a result of non-Scots…” Aug 30, 09:31
Hatey McHateface on The Shortest Day: “Then there’s the cognitive dissonance you need to master before you willingly hand over your hard earned to buy expensive…” Aug 30, 09:27
J Robertson on The Slowest Dawning: “WFD James is that Whats for dinner or World Federation for the Deaf ?” Aug 30, 09:27
Captain Caveman on The Shortest Day: “What bike is that, Spartan? Back in the day, I used to have an old Honda CD200 Benly. Indestructible thing,…” Aug 30, 09:26
