We have to give Jim Murphy credit – on this week’s Sunday Politics he started off with the subtle, misleading but technically-accurate version of Labour’s line about the “biggest party forming the government”, which involves making the true but irrelevant observation that in the past it’s usually been the case. (Mainly because UK elections almost always give the biggest party a comfortable majority.)
But it only took a couple of minutes of questioning for the Scottish branch manager to lose his cool and resort to the comprehensively debunked flat-out lie again.
We thought you’d enjoy this clip from this morning’s Andrew Marr Show, readers. It came after a very sensible interview, in which Salmond had calmly and reasonably laid out the SNP’s view on events should there be a hung parliament this May with the former First Minister’s party holding the balance of power.
Tory minister Anna Soubry seems to be experiencing a degree of regret about having begged Scots to stay in the UK. The body language says as much as the words.
Sometimes the UK media is so soul-crushingly moronic, readers, that it’s hard to get out of bed in the morning. Nevertheless, we’re pretty sure we haven’t nodded off and woken up in 2017, so today’s papers must be even more idiotic than usual.
The Scottish Sun is around 80% the same newspaper as the English edition (with the bulk of the difference being accounted for by football coverage) so presumably the south-of-the-border version has a broadly similar view, right?
If we’re honest, readers, we almost never bother with BBC Scotland’s televised political coverage any more. We suspect the viewing figures for Scotland 2015 are down to fingers-and-toes territory now, and if last night’s edition – which we gritted our teeth and watched after noting the incredulous response on social media – is anything to go by, the state broadcaster is now using it to try out work-experience kids.
But we can cut fresh-faced new boy David Henderson (who suffered the indignity of being billed as Sarah Smith) a bit of slack for being outmanoeuvred by an experienced operator like Jim Murphy, who at one point in the show was actually interrogating the presenter rather than the other way round.
Kirsty Wark, regular anchor on the Corporation’s current-affairs flagship Newsnight, on the other hand, has no such excuses whatsoever.
A lot of people this week quoted a line supposedly from the former Labour cabinet minister Roy Jenkins, which runs “a statement is only interesting if a sane man could say the opposite”. We haven’t been able to verify if he ever really said that or not, but it doesn’t really matter, because it’s true either way.
If you ask them on social media, Labour MPs and activists will all hotly deny that the party signed up to the Conservatives’ plan for £30bn of austerity cuts in the next five years. It’ll be interesting to see whether they try to continue doing so in the light of Ed Balls’ appearance on the Andrew Marr Show this morning.
Southernbystander on Believers In The Ruins: “He was hounded by a relentless media onslaught, much of it driven but those made mad with rage by their…” Aug 16, 21:59
john h williams on Believers In The Ruins: “Captain Caveman very well said,it is a disgraceful post from someone who has very little idea of Autism or disabilities…” Aug 16, 19:57
James on Believers In The Ruins: “Look at yersel in a mirror, wee man; you’ll see yin.” Aug 16, 19:37
DaveL on Believers In The Ruins: “That’s rich coming from the Nazi fanboy himself! Who’d be Hatey? What a winner!” Aug 16, 18:59
agentx on Believers In The Ruins: “When you see “Confused says:” scroll on by.” Aug 16, 18:44
Alf Baird on Believers In The Ruins: ““”In physics, the concept of “opposites attract” is a foundational principle.” It is well known that certain groups of colonized…” Aug 16, 18:39
Red on Believers In The Ruins: “It’s regrettable when empathetic hearts are tricked into sympathy for the worst people. This is what Courtney Gartshore did, without…” Aug 16, 17:43
Hatey McHateface on Believers In The Ruins: “Pointless. Murrell endorses superglue for Scotland. Don’t be fobbed off with inferior substitutes.” Aug 16, 17:21
Hatey McHateface on Believers In The Ruins: “C’moan Confused. Dae Restore next! Then the Jews aboot 9 PM after the second boattle kicks in. It’s nae lik…” Aug 16, 17:19
robertkknight on Believers In The Ruins: “Hammer meets nail. Farage would sell his own Granny for glue.” Aug 16, 16:34
twathater on Believers In The Ruins: “Keep on telling it like it is confused , don’t let the middle class claimants put you off” Aug 16, 15:40
Hatey McHateface on Believers In The Ruins: “Light cannot exist without darkness? So if I turn on a bright light in a dark room, I can’t turn…” Aug 16, 15:01
Hatey McHateface on Believers In The Ruins: “Sorry, TURABDIN, you may not be fully up to speed with the lunacy here. Burnham is simultaneously letting real criminals…” Aug 16, 14:54
Hatey McHateface on Believers In The Ruins: “Hands up now! How many alert readers have twigged that a fatberg can’t ever know what a phallus is!” Aug 16, 14:46
Captain Caveman on Believers In The Ruins: ““An appalling post stuffed full of ignorance and bile” Welcome to Confused.” Aug 16, 13:43
James on Believers In The Ruins: “Adrian; noted and acknowledged. Meanwhile, as predicted the site phallus appears just like clockwork….. But you’re the one doing all…” Aug 16, 13:26
Spartan 117 on Believers In The Ruins: “An appalling post stuffed full of ignorance and bile, aside from the closing point about the BBC and the Western…” Aug 16, 13:20
Southernbystander on Believers In The Ruins: “TURABDIN, If there is irony there it is covered in too much of the blank variety, and so has become…” Aug 16, 12:53
Confused on Believers In The Ruins: “er, the point I was making about “things can always get worse” – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz977nxww1jo the main reason people hit the…” Aug 16, 12:24
TURABDIN on Believers In The Ruins: “THE SCOTTISH ANTISYZYGY PARADOX AND PHYSICS. Understanding Oppositional Forces in Physics Fundamental Principles In physics, the concept of “opposites attract”…” Aug 16, 12:01
Captain Caveman on Believers In The Ruins: “@Alf Well, there’s only one person around here “in perpetual darkness of their Colonial Echo Chamber®”, Alf – as you…” Aug 16, 11:46
Jay on Believers In The Ruins: “Hi 100%, i typed in all those characters but youtube and this tablet do not communicate. Was keen to see…” Aug 16, 11:39
Hatey McHateface on Believers In The Ruins: “I think Burnham shouldn’t have been daft enough to threaten people flouting the disposable barbecue rule with prison. Even if…” Aug 16, 11:20
Hatey McHateface on Believers In The Ruins: “Odd hoo mony times I post tae Northy and you reply, Alf. Or vice versa. Here’s an echo I just…” Aug 16, 11:11
Hatey McHateface on Believers In The Ruins: “We can all see and understand those cases where a cold blooded killer is arrested, charged, tried and sentenced, and…” Aug 16, 10:46
100%Yes on Believers In The Ruins: “@ alurker and everyone else link to this conversation. Lets say for arguments sake, that Scotland doesn’t exist anymore just…” Aug 16, 10:34
Alf Baird on Believers In The Ruins: “Here is a wee bittie licht for yersel an ithers Hatey, in the perpetual darkness of your colonial echo chamber:…” Aug 16, 10:22
Alf Baird on Believers In The Ruins: ““These must be English elections in Scotland seeing as the English parliament was not dissolved 3 hundred years ago.” True,…” Aug 15, 21:59
Aidan on Believers In The Ruins: “For once I have to agree with James, there are no jurisdictions to my knowledge where the death penalty is…” Aug 15, 21:42
James on Believers In The Ruins: “Well said, Grace. “…When are we going to bring back the death penalty…” they wail. If they could, they could…” Aug 15, 21:20
