Alert readers may recall an incident last year in which the Scottish media got itself very worked up about some independence supporters threatening to boycott holiday company Barrhead Travel after its owner sent a barking-mad letter to staff about how the company would go out of business if Scotland voted Yes.
So we’re sure that you won’t be able to move later today and tomorrow for newspaper articles about something similar, but significantly worse, that happened this weekend.
And that’s all very well, but not exactly stop-the-presses stuff – nobody reading this site is going to be terribly surprised at Scottish Labour being caught out in a lie. But the party’s house newspaper the Daily Record went for a subtly different angle on the story that did manage to provoke us to raise an eyebrow.
So we weren’t expecting this. The Telegraph have sent us a reply after we complained to IPSO about this. It’s worth a read, so we thought we’d let you see it.
Kezia Dugdale talking to Gordon Brewer on BBC Scotland today:
“I’m astonished that you’ve spent 10 minutes in this interview talking about independence and Trident when almost 50% of the poorest kids in the country can’t read […] I’m sure you’d be shocked to know that 50% of the poorest kids leave our schools unable to read.”
We suspect he would too. Because it’s total cobblers.
Alert readers of The National will have noticed an article by me in it today. It reads slightly weirdly, jumping from subject to subject, because it was originally done as an interview but they then decided to cut the questions out to get more text in.
That’s all absolutely fine – they okayed it with me first – but some readers may be interested in seeing the full original piece, which is about twice as long. If you are, you can read it below. If you’re not, um, do what you like. I’m not your mum.
All five of the opinion pollsters who regularly poll on Scottish politics (Panelbase, YouGov, TNS, Ipsos Mori and Survation) have now published surveys in the past two weeks asking the independence question. So it seems reasonable to expect there’ll be no more polls before the anniversary of the referendum on Friday.
Given the conventional wisdom that the economy, underpinned by that pesky volatile oil, was the main reason not enough Scots could be persuaded to take the leap into self-government, readers might expect that the dramatic collapse in the oil price since last year (when we checked today it was trading at just over $47 a barrel, less than half the $97 it was at the start of September 2014) would only have cemented voters’ feeling that they made the right decision.
There’s been a veritable flurry of polls commissioned to mark the impending one-year anniversary of the independence referendum. In the last 48 hours alone we’ve seen ones from Survation, YouGov and Panelbase, making a variety of interesting findings. As ever, though, the trick is in the interpretation.
Alf Baird on Seven Days Too Long: ““a lackey for Sturgeon Don’t you mean “a lackey” for the ‘Union’?” Apr 30, 17:56
twathater on Seven Days Too Long: “FFS whats wae awe the girnin and defeatism , a canny vote for this yin or a canny vote fur…” Apr 30, 17:54
Cynicus on Seven Days Too Long: “I have not watched a single Party political broadcast or leaders’ debate.. Have I missed much?” Apr 30, 17:39
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Seven Days Too Long: “To be clear, Fergus Ewing is of course standing as an independent.” Apr 30, 17:27
Alf Baird on Seven Days Too Long: “Independence is of course ‘radical’ in terms of totally transforming our society and governance which means Scots need to elect…” Apr 30, 17:19
100%Yes on Seven Days Too Long: “The outcome of SNP election will be, Swinney failed again. He’s no Alex Salmond and why would he be, Alex…” Apr 30, 17:10
Shug on Seven Days Too Long: “He will fet my first vote but will never see the second until the perjurer is in jail” Apr 30, 17:04
100%Yes on Seven Days Too Long: “These are my predictions for the coming years:- 1 Scotland will still be in the Union in 2031 2 Peter…” Apr 30, 16:58
joe on Seven Days Too Long: “I’m happy , got eva comrie here to vote for, she will get my vote , hopefully get in on…” Apr 30, 16:54
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Seven Days Too Long: “Stu Campbell writes: “With the exception of Fergus Ewing in Inverness & Nairn, we’re struggling to think of a single…” Apr 30, 16:51
100%Yes on Seven Days Too Long: “What also is upsetting is the fact that SNP have made themselves perfectly clear how a majority has to be…” Apr 30, 16:40
Blackhack on Seven Days Too Long: “Me too…..There’s not one prospective SMP member in my constituancy that deserves my vote, So I’ll just stay at home…” Apr 30, 15:22
Confused on Seven Days Too Long: “BB fucking C keeping it classy https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2480r0n6q2o “If you give both votes to the SNP, you’re voting for unionists,” Sheridan…” Apr 30, 15:18
Dave on Seven Days Too Long: “For the first time ever since I was entitled to vote aged 18, I’m not voting in this election. I’m…” Apr 30, 14:58
James on Seven Days Too Long: ““… give it a punt…” Yep, the Alliance to Liberate Scotland. That’ll do nicely.” Apr 30, 14:57
Rob on Push The Button: “As a general rule absolutely not. However there should be far more resource put into repressing illegal gun use which…” Apr 30, 14:31
Shug on Seven Days Too Long: “Will swinney survive if he does not fet the overall majority” Apr 30, 14:29
Rob on Seven Days Too Long: “The muppets that keep voting SNP are still the majority, no idea why after the last few years.” Apr 30, 14:28
Aidan on Push The Button: “@Northcode – I said “your spam is generally well written but communicates nothing of any value” And you said all…” Apr 30, 13:30
TURABDIN on Push The Button: “YET MORE OF THAT «ENGLAND» MONIKER https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/king-queen-england-visit-9-200052300.html? https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000010867018/king-charles-uk-royal-visit-trump.html If you care about your country such mislabeling is deeply insulting, even…” Apr 30, 13:25
James Barr Gardner on Push The Button: “We do not live in a Democracy, We live in a Kakistocracy !” Apr 30, 12:32
Lorncal on Push The Button: “I think it might be a Nietzschean experiment along the lines of ‘Superman’: übermensch v untermensch. Pity for others or…” Apr 30, 11:56
Sven on Push The Button: “Can’t help feeling that in the “Ukranian Three” court case the prosecution have inadvertently drawn more interest than may have…” Apr 30, 10:06
Northcode on Push The Button: ““Every accusation is an admission and all that.” For unionists and their anti-Scots chumleys wha wander roond this place stinkin…” Apr 30, 09:35
Willie on Push The Button: “Well Young Lochinvar there does seem to be a tad of a media blackout of coverage of the trial.of the…” Apr 30, 09:08
Young Lochinvar on Push The Button: “So wet wipe with a haircut Starmer currently hiding in a COBRA meeting is hoping C3 digs him out of…” Apr 30, 02:36
Young Lochinvar on Push The Button: “Beggars Was that in his Democrat, or Republican mode, or in some other future “flexible” mode? Answers on the back…” Apr 30, 02:10
Mark Beggan on Push The Button: “Senator John Kennedy says: Stramers polling in the United Kingdom “is up there with ghunarea”.” Apr 30, 00:05
agentx on Push The Button: “Fabulous “Wizard of Wishaw” tonight. 🙂” Apr 29, 23:07
