Earlier today we made an observation about the overblown way the media has been covering the Scottish Government’s underspend of 1.3% of its budget (a figure about which the David Hume Institute today cooed approvingly “Even Mr Micawber could not budget more accurately”).
To nobody’s great amazement, Scottish Labour rentahonk Jackie Baillie – fresh from making a complete idiot of herself over the Michelle Thomson case – couldn’t resist jumping on the bandwagon.
Quite aside from the fact that it means no such thing – there’s no less money, it’s just that some of it will now be carried over and spent this year instead – we suppose the tweet does at least mean that Scottish Labour’s policy position is clear: the Scottish Government should always spend every penny of its budget. Right?
The media and Unionist politicians (we really need to come up with a word to describe that single entity), when not concocting hysterical frothing diatribes against Michelle Thomson or complaining about the Scottish Government giving money to T In The Park – a position we must confess we find ourselves in some sympathy with – have recently been loudly protesting about last year’s “underspend” in the Holyrood budget.
There’s an extremely good article here by Dr Craig Dalzell of the Scottish Greens dealing with the broader issue of why such complaints are idiotic, so rather than go over the ground again we thought we’d look at another angle.
We apologise for another post on the subject of The Wright House, everyone, but we do love getting our teeth into a puzzle, especially when it comes with a side order of lots of juicy evidence of the Scottish media telling people outright lies.
This should be the last one for the forseeable future, and we’ve actually got some solid info to impart this time rather than just a confused expression, so buckle up.
Even the alertest readers will probably already be confused by the baffling tale of Douglas and Jacqueline Wright, who sold their home to Edinburgh West MP Michelle Thomson. We certainly were last night, but on delving a little more into the media coverage of their story, things got a whole lot worse.
Older readers may remember an ITV show called The Krypton Factor, which had an “observation round” section in which contestants were shown a short video clip and then asked a series of questions about it.
The newspaper is a fantastic concept. A cheap, accessible product, it’s a brilliant way of keeping yourself broadly abreast of current affairs. You turn a page and are presented with a diverse selection of interesting stories, often on subjects you’d never have thought to go and seek out in the self-refining echo chamber of the internet.
(Theoretically links on websites serve the same purpose, but dodging “sponsored” advertorial, gutter-level clickbait, pop-ups, autoplay video and pages that judder and leap around so much while loading all this rubbish that you’re about 50/50 to have an epileptic fit before you can read the story, has made clicking on one into a game of Russian Roulette fewer and fewer people are willing to take a chance on.)
This site has never believed that the ongoing steep decline in newspaper sales is a fundamental problem with the format. Rather, the truth is that people stop buying papers because they’re full of garbage.
Most of Scotland’s news outlets, including the Times, Herald, Daily Record, Daily Mail, Express and the BBC, run today with the story that one in three Police Scotland officers intend to leave the force in the next three years, according to a recent survey for the Scottish Police Authority.
(The print edition of the Scotsman makes it the front-page splash, although the article has mysteriously vanished from its website.)
But a couple of pieces of important information are inexplicably missing.
You might have thought that the publication of the “Project Fear” book last month was an embarrassment for the motley collection of highly-paid but hapless Labour and Tory apparatchiks who ran “Better Together”, but it turns out there was worse to come.
Politics Home today reports what sounds like some alarming news:
TURABDIN on The Shortest Day: “everywhere fools, useless idiots and referendum freaks. Scottish democracy is a grotesque inarticulate Frankenstein monster best not viewed in daylight.…” Aug 30, 16:10
Mark Beggan on The Shortest Day: “@ young Lochinvar It is artistic licence. Loosely based on history. Uhtred spanned four kings and fought in about eighty…” Aug 30, 15:58
Young Lochinvar on The Shortest Day: “MB Errr, that’s a no. No matter how much you wish it so..” Aug 30, 15:31
DaveL on The Shortest Day: “If it was up to Chas we’d still be living in caves. “What? Build a shelter? Best not, we don’t…” Aug 30, 15:09
Mark Beggan on The Shortest Day: “No Lochy I was there., I remember distinctly Uhtred kicking the shit out of the Scot. I can still see…” Aug 30, 15:01
sam on The Shortest Day: “The first paragraph of Aidan’s post is irrelevant. “Growth in a time of Debt” was published in January 2010. George…” Aug 30, 14:49
Mark Beggan on The Shortest Day: “That was a worthy effort Northy. The psychiatrists just give him 100mg of largactil three times daily.” Aug 30, 14:44
Young Lochinvar on The Shortest Day: “One to celebrate; On this month in history (best reckoned as August 1018) the Scots under Malcolm II “Forranach” (the…” Aug 30, 14:42
Aidan on The Shortest Day: “Why be so equivocal Alf, why not; Do you want: – to be tortured in the fires of hell for…” Aug 30, 14:19
Chas on The Shortest Day: “Stu. What about starting a ‘crowdfunder’ to get some medical help for Che? If this was a success and the…” Aug 30, 14:12
Alf Baird on The Shortest Day: “Yes James, if Swinney were really our national liberator he would select a referendum question befitting the reality of the…” Aug 30, 14:03
Northcode on The Shortest Day: “No, James, I didn’t. Yours is a classic example of someone mixing historical grievance, constitutional myth, and modern legal reality…” Aug 30, 13:43
Mark Beggan on The Shortest Day: ““What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.” – Captain, ‘Cool Hand Luke’ That is exactly what we’ve got here…” Aug 30, 13:29
James Che on The Shortest Day: “Alex Salmond like other politicians never read the details, and the SNP today ignore that the old parliament of England…” Aug 30, 13:25
James Che on The Shortest Day: “North Code. You sadly missed the point on the Scotland act and the 2014 referendum. It is not up to…” Aug 30, 13:00
Mark Beggan on The Shortest Day: ““Same Shit Different Day” was specifically written for you James. You own that one.” Aug 30, 12:59
Mark Beggan on The Shortest Day: “There are some men who think they are women and some women who think they are men. There are even…” Aug 30, 12:52
Aidan on The Shortest Day: “The really incredible part of the story is how David Cameron/George Osbourne, when divising economic policy in 2008/9, were able…” Aug 30, 12:24
Chas on The Shortest Day: “Easy answer Sam. Who will do the how’s and when? The SNP? Are there people waiting on the periphery ready…” Aug 30, 12:24
sam on The Shortest Day: “https://russincheshire.substack.com/p/the-spreadsheet-that-broke-britain?r=lwml0&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web “In 2013 Thomas Herndon, an unsung, 20-something economics student from Massachusetts, was handed a homework assignment. He was tasked…” Aug 30, 11:57
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
