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Archive for the ‘stupidity’


Why Labour are losing Scotland 186

Posted on February 18, 2015 by

The election of Jim Murphy as branch office leader has so far failed to produce a shift in the party’s catastrophic polling figures north of the border, with most projections still suggesting that Labour’s Scottish seats will be reduced to single figures in May.

Last night we catalogued a series of its howlers since Murphy took over, culminating in a humiliating climbdown over some false claims about cancelled operations in the Scottish NHS. The party’s Scottish health spokeswoman Jenny Marra turned up on today’s Good Morning Scotland to discuss the subject, and in doing so demonstrated exactly why Scottish voters are deserting it in hundreds of thousands.

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Roll up for the mystery tour 336

Posted on April 27, 2014 by

The Glasgow Subway famously only ever goes round in circles, but that’s certainly not something you can say for Labour-run Strathclyde Partnership for Transport’s excuses for banning our adverts from it last month.

subway3

Because those are flying about all over the place.

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Let’s walk this one through 65

Posted on March 16, 2014 by

Being a journalist can occasionally present some tricky ethical dilemmas. Today’s Scotland on Sunday carries a story about Scottish Labour’s strife-riddled devolution plans, which attributes this quote to the Scottish branch manager Johann Lamont:

johannreduce

Now, that’s an awkward one for any conscientious reporter. We have to presume that the former English teacher MEANT to say “increase” (or “restore”), rather than “reduce”. But you can’t just casually reverse in print what someone actually said on the assumption that they meant the opposite, so the hapless Andrew Whitaker has to resort to the least-bad option, which is just printing it and hoping nobody notices.

It’s the rest of the article that contains the real nonsense, though.

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Instructions on sex and travel 97

Posted on March 12, 2014 by

We don’t mind telling you, folks, we’re struggling on this one.

“If Scotland was independent today we would have no option but to cut spending on services like schools and hospitals or put up taxes – or probably both. Today as part of the UK we don’t have to do that.” (Alistair Darling)

But… don’t…

“Whatever the Scottish government says now, the government of an independent Scotland would be forced to raise taxes and cut public services. We are better off together.” (Danny Alexander, chief secretary to the Treasury)

Aren’t… haven’t you…

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We made a mistake 69

Posted on November 30, 2013 by

This morning we’ve been double- and triple-checking our story from last night, because we were so sure we must have missed something. Even given the low esteem in which we hold the integrity of the hapless “Better Together” campaign, we felt that they surely couldn’t have made such an idiotic and fundamental error, and that instead we must have misinterpreted a word or a sentence somewhere along the way.

btfbsf

But no. We were wrong in that assumption. They really ARE that dim.

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Welcome to the debate 250

Posted on November 27, 2013 by

Dear Yes Scotland,

Please immediately contact Channel 5 and ask them how much they want for this:

Pay any price they ask, and show it on September 17th. 100% Yes, in the bag.

(Download links 1 and 2.)

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The privilege of stupid 122

Posted on November 20, 2013 by

Even as a supporter of independence with little interest in their wellbeing, sometimes you just can’t help slumping face-first onto your desk in sheer helpless despair at the spectacular idiocy of the Scottish Parliament’s clownish, dim-witted opposition parties. Scotland, to coin a phrase, deserves better.

headdesk2

Today’s demonstration appears, as it so often does, in the Telegraph.

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Lies, lies, lies, lies, lies 187

Posted on November 07, 2013 by

We were hoping to come up with a subtler headline than that, but trying to analyse today’s media in fine detail is a bit like trying to translate a complex scientific report from Mandarin into Latin, when it’s taped onto the front of a locomotive that’s hurtling directly towards you at 125mph and you’re standing on the track with a telescope.

recordfrontbae

There’s horror as far as the eye can see on this morning’s newsstands, but the most despicable and inexcusable is the atrocity of a front page disfiguring the Daily Record. The cover of “Scotland’s Champion” is crammed with falsehoods and idiocy from top to bottom, but that’s not the half of it.

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It’s a trap! 106

Posted on November 01, 2013 by

Blair McDougall, director of “Better Together”, Dundee University, 30 October 2013:

“UK ministers are not going to fall into the trap of acting against Scotland until Scotland decides to leave the United Kingdom”

blairsdu

You heard it straight from the horse’s – well, let’s be kind and say “mouth”, folks.

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Spending £20 to save a tenner 81

Posted on October 31, 2013 by

This week it was claimed by Stuart Adam, senior economic researcher at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), that taxes would have to rise almost 14% in an independent Scotland, if they were the sole method used to fill the Scottish budget deficit.

taxes

It’s a dramatic headline, for sure. But is it an accurate reflection on the relative finances of an independent Scotland and one that remained part of the United Kingdom? As ever, you have to dig a little deeper to find out what’s really going on.

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When you have no culture 83

Posted on October 10, 2013 by

Particularly alert readers will have noticed that this site isn’t called Wings Over Wales. Which is a shame in one sense, because “WOW” would be a great acronym to have.

kingsway

But we’re going to make an exception to our normally all-Scottish, all the time agenda today, because of something that happened in the smaller of mainland UK’s sub-states about which we happen to have some personal experience, and which ties in to Labour peer Lord George Robertson’s extraordinary assertion in a debate last month that Scotland has “no language or culture or any of that”.

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A brave electoral strategy 42

Posted on September 14, 2013 by

dannytories

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    • sarah on Just Good Friends: “War of the Worlds? It’s a guess as I’ve not read it.Jul 13, 12:33
    • James Cheyne on Just Good Friends: “Alf Baird, While busy clearing out the house, I came across a book titled ,The White Country by David D…Jul 13, 12:26
    • sarah on Just Good Friends: “@ agent x at 7.47 on 12th July “those links don’t work for me”. Sorry agent x, IT isn’t my…Jul 13, 12:17
    • Captain Caveman on Just Good Friends: “@Aidan 😀 I’ve heard the expression “great oaks from small acorns” but this really does take the biscuit, good old…Jul 13, 12:13
    • James Cheyne on Just Good Friends: “Northcode. 12 july, 9:52 pm, Excellent post.Jul 13, 12:00
    • Aidan on Just Good Friends: “You mean aside from the £200m already committed to Grangemouth?Jul 13, 11:58
    • James on Just Good Friends: ““…The UK government is working to rescue an English oil refinery where hundreds of jobs are at risk. The Lindsey…Jul 13, 11:48
    • TURABDIN on Just Good Friends: “A QUHEIN LETERATOUR, «We have a new type of rule now. Not one-man rule, or rule of aristocracy or plutocracy,…Jul 13, 11:33
    • Aidan on Just Good Friends: “@Andy – and to put that in context, a petition to secure the release of a dog from a dog…Jul 13, 11:21
    • TURABDIN on Just Good Friends: “OK, WE ALL GET IT that union treaty was total gruel, cauld kale, and by today’s standards probably illegal, but…Jul 13, 10:46
    • Andy Ellis on Just Good Friends: “So a whopping 675 signatures on the petition now? I wonder what explains that given you constantly advertise it on…Jul 13, 09:14
    • Chas on Too Tight To Mention: “Hopefully somewhere where they do not have an internet connection.Jul 13, 08:22
    • Hatey McHateface on Just Good Friends: “Inspirational stuff, NC. Do The Collected Speeches Of Nicola Sturgeon next.Jul 13, 00:30
    • Hatey McHateface on Just Good Friends: “Stick around, Dave, all will become clear. OK, maybe not the posts in Scots.Jul 13, 00:10
    • Hatey McHateface on Just Good Friends: “Ah kent ye’d say that, Alf. Remarkable, no?, hoo muckle fowk pick up ootside o formal education when they’re interested…Jul 13, 00:07
    • Hatey McHateface on Just Good Friends: “Epic fail there, YL Sah! Mind and keep your UK passport and your UK driving license safe. It’s the “logical”…Jul 13, 00:02
    • Young Lochinvar on Just Good Friends: “🙂Jul 12, 23:05
    • GM on Just Good Friends: “Hackit.Jul 12, 22:48
    • Alf Baird on Just Good Friends: “A ‘mediocre meritocracy’ is the inevitable reality within a colonial society (Memmi), much as we see. But this is not…Jul 12, 22:28
    • Alf Baird on Just Good Friends: “” if Scotland is still in large parts a Scots speaking nation, there’s precious little evidence for it on here.”…Jul 12, 22:20
    • Shug on Just Good Friends: “It is very telling that the BBC is not making hay with this material. They will when that are ready…Jul 12, 21:25
    • Northcode on Just Good Friends: “This infernal heat has driven me mad and in my madness I’ve been forced to transcribe the first few paragraphs…Jul 12, 20:33
    • agent x on Just Good Friends: “http://www.manifestoforindependence link to petition.parliament.uk those links don’t work for me.Jul 12, 19:47
    • Young Lochinvar on Just Good Friends: “In reply to P3nisbreath McP3nisbreathface @ 4.04pm The sexual perversion thing is all yours, just trawl back through your posts,…Jul 12, 17:25
    • Hatey McHateface on Just Good Friends: “Alf, if Scotland is still in large parts a Scots speaking nation, there’s precious little evidence for it on here.…Jul 12, 16:11
    • Hatey McHateface on Just Good Friends: “If “logically” the UK no longer exists, you’ll have burned your passport and your driving license. Looking forwards to your…Jul 12, 16:04
    • Hatey McHateface on Just Good Friends: “Not too bad a post, NC, but it lacks fundamental clarity. Which union are you discussing? The UK or the…Jul 12, 15:59
    • Young Lochinvar on Just Good Friends: “Good post NC. One small correction, the construct was first called Great Britain. The United Kingdom came along later when…Jul 12, 15:34
    • sarah on Just Good Friends: “A lot of us do, Dan – just not speaking up much nowadays. I shall mention, again, several things that…Jul 12, 13:49
    • TURABDIN on Just Good Friends: “PILE it HIGH, sell it cheap in POUNDLAND. https://archive.is/VLCVd Everything must go!Jul 12, 13:23
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