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Misleading advertising 52

Posted on April 13, 2014 by

The pitch:

btclydebank

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No That’s What I Call Music 56

Posted on April 13, 2014 by

We’re off to watch the Scottish Cup semi-final now, so to keep you all entertained for the next couple of hours here’s a little something we put together at the request of columnist and broadcaster Lesley Riddoch, and for anyone who was listening to Radio Scotland’s “Headlines” this morning.

Hopefully we won’t need it ourselves by 3.30pm. #COYR

The not-so-iron bar 224

Posted on April 12, 2014 by

Even Sparta’s mythical iron-bar currency – specifically designed, so legend had it, to shackle the economy by being too heavy to buy or trade anything – was marginally better, in Alistair Darling’s view, than anything an independent Scotland might be able to use for money, all of which will lead to inevitable doom.

ironbars

Because Scotland, as all good unionists know, is the only country in world history for which there is no currency option that will work at all.

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The mushroom farm 162

Posted on April 12, 2014 by

Have you seen the film of the coronation? I’m not talking about the grand televised extravaganza in Westminster Abbey with the young Queen Elizabeth done up like a wedding cake – I mean the Scottish coronation, in Edinburgh, three weeks after the glamorous London ceremony of 2 June 1953.

It’s not easy to locate. You’ll struggle to find a picture of it, or even a documented reference – a brief casual mention squeezed in right at the end of this article on the monarchical website is the best we could do.

honours

Acting on the advice of her ministers, Elizabeth attended the ceremony dressed in an ordinary coat and hat. The honours of Scotland were presented to her, and she held them as if they were volatile explosive devices, standing stock-still until they were taken back again by be-gowned flunkies. 

There would be no actual official crowning. It might give the natives ideas.

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Sowing seeds 110

Posted on April 12, 2014 by

Dear Scottish women,

It seems that we’re letting the side down a bit here. If the same percentage of us were willing to vote Yes as the men, we’d be home and dry come September 18th, living in a nuclear-weapon-free democracy for the first time in our lives. But it seems like a lot of us are either not convinced or haven’t begun thinking about it yet.

sowingseeds

I don’t believe it’s the former: anyone genuinely looking at the arguments, not to mention the behaviour of those on both sides of the debate, could hardly fail to be convinced that independence is a good thing. So I’m guessing it might be the latter.

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The sunshine coach 64

Posted on April 12, 2014 by

thesunshinecoach

Keep ’em coming 189

Posted on April 11, 2014 by

We didn’t do a stats post at the start of April (still just under 4m pageviews a month, if you’re curious) but when someone tweeted these figures this morning we thought they were worth a wee toot, because they’re more than just nice news for us.

alexavs

They’re from the independent web-traffic analysis site Alexa.com, and they detail the relative rankings for the seven biggest dedicated Scottish politics sites on the web.

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A new society 86

Posted on April 11, 2014 by

The last batch of data from our Panelbase poll concerns social attitudes, away from directly party-political issues. We did a whole bunch of these last time, with a mixture of predictable and unexpected results, and Scots had a surprise or two for us again.

thechanges

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Neither national nor collective 114

Posted on April 10, 2014 by

It’s late, but we couldn’t let this one pass.

nhstogether

Heavens, where do we start?

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Voices of nationalism 171

Posted on April 10, 2014 by

We’ve had these sitting around for a few days without getting round to posting them, but as we’re currently knee-deep in the last tranche of data from our Panelbase poll, it seemed as good a time as any to clear the decks.

First up in the ambiguously-named Posterotron is the “respectable” face of British nationalism, in the form of UKIP European-election candidate David Coburn.

Easy, ladies.

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They talk a lot of wind 108

Posted on April 10, 2014 by

There’s a wonderful opening paragraph in today’s Courier that we’ll quote in full:

“The UK’S Energy Secretary has accused the SNP of employing ‘negative politics of fear and bullying’ as he warned bills could rocket by as much as £189 a year in the event of independence.”

That virtuoso display of Olympic-class irony from Mr Davey was part of the latest fearbomb from the No camp – Nick Clegg’s plea for a “Sunshine Strategy” apparently having been a casualty of Lord Robertson’s “cataclysm” – in the shape of yet another “Scotland Analysis” report from the UK government insisting that every single aspect of Scottish independence would be comprehensively and unequivocally disastrous.

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Beneath the headlines 115

Posted on April 10, 2014 by

With the Scottish Parliament on a two-week break, it appears to have fallen to the Telegraph to take on the role of Johann Lamont this Thursday.

Scottish Labour’s regional manager has recently been under the curious impression that the most pressing issue on the minds of the people of Scotland is the fine detail of the First Minister’s hotel bill during a trip to America to promote the Ryder Cup in 2012, and the Telegraph seems equally obsessed.

telegraph3k

But that dramatic splash isn’t quite what it seems.

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    • DaveL on Anything But That: “It doesn’t say much for me except ‘give us a pound’.Sep 2, 21:23
    • Young Lochinvar on Anything But That: “P Couldn’t read it all as I don’t and won’t subscribe to the Tories favourite comic. And let’s be honest;…Sep 2, 21:20
    • Young Lochinvar on Anything But That: “S Good stuff, need to pop over and see it.Sep 2, 21:11
    • Phil on Anything But That: “This says it all. https://spectator.com/article/when-will-scottish-nationalists-come-clean-about-devolution/Sep 2, 21:07
    • Young Lochinvar on Anything But That: “CC/ Dan Haven’t been fishing Wolf Clyde this year as Mrs YL has been poorly (but improving). I really miss…Sep 2, 20:16
    • Dan on Anything But That: “@ CC Sod eating quite so many molluscs that will be filtering and capturing so much of the effluent and…Sep 2, 19:45
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    • Captain Caveman on Anything But That: “East End Essex here. 🙂 Never done jellied eels, pie and mash is OK but wouldn’t seek it out. Always…Sep 2, 17:22
    • sarah on Anything But That: “Yes, Billie. And conference went along with the change of rules – it used to need 100 signatures with signatories…Sep 2, 17:05
    • Spartan 117 on Anything But That: “Careful, you’re applying logic to the illogical. The Siol nan Gaidheal activists will be along shortly to give you what…Sep 2, 16:43
    • Southernbystander on Anything But That: “You read some strange stuff on here but this comment is one of the oddest. You think England should still…Sep 2, 16:27
    • sam on Anything But That: “The Great Tapestry of Scotland is now in Galashiels in its own building. It is about twice the size of…Sep 2, 16:25
    • Spartan 117 on Anything But That: “No surprise there then. Unshocked am I that the omniclusterfuckpermashambles don’t have a kcufing clue (or “claim” not to) what’s…Sep 2, 16:05
    • Spartan 117 on Anything But That: “I think it’s an enema that’s sorely needed to flush oot all the keech, followed by an industrial-level disinfectant.Sep 2, 15:58
    • Spartan 117 on Anything But That: “Now that’s funny! Although Mrs Spartan (from Dahn Sahf) cannot stand jellied eels, pie and mash acceptable but a full…Sep 2, 15:54
    • Willie on Anything But That: “Nutzlose Essen or Useless Eaters was a term in the 30s to describe certain classes of persons. But using the…Sep 2, 15:41
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    • Willie on Anything But That: “Guarantees from John Swinney, either in public or in private are as good a bit of used toilet paper. A…Sep 2, 15:26
    • Willie on Anything But That: “Guarantees from John Swinney, either in public or in private are as good a bit of used toilet paper. A…Sep 2, 15:25
    • TURABDIN on Anything But That: “ANYTHING BUT WHAT & WHY. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/sep/02/uk-datacentres-ai-boom-foi-environmentSep 2, 15:17
    • lothianlad on Anything But That: “Just read that twat from scot goes pop ( what kind of a frucking name is that anyway) saying the…Sep 2, 14:49
    • Young Lochinvar on Anything But That: “PS At the Dan Sahf reception following the viewing they were treated to Dan Sahf cuisine; pie mash and jellied…Sep 2, 14:40
    • Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “That’s another diplomatic slur. It’s King Haakon VIII.Sep 2, 14:32
    • lothianlad on Haven’t had a dream in a long time: “I find it hard to forgive the record and the unionist media!! They are looking to survive when independence happens!…Sep 2, 14:31
    • lothianlad on Anything But That: “When they skipped the lite fandango, they didnt know the cartweels would make them fall so hard! the time to…Sep 2, 14:29
    • Hatey McHateface on Anything But That: “Ochone, Spartan! Professor Baird has a special beef with the Gaels. But he’ll tell you himself.Sep 2, 14:26
    • Billie on Anything But That: “Back in 2024 there was a man who secured the required signatures to lodge nomination papers to contest the coronation…Sep 2, 14:21
    • Spartan 117 on Anything But That: “Thanks YL. Must admit, I giggled at that.Sep 2, 14:17
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