Let’s get this started 244
Posted on
June 17, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Archive for the ‘uk politics’
More stuff that doesn’t matter 193
Posted on
June 17, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
The big story in most of today’s papers is the British Social Attitudes survey, which has discovered a whole bunch of things of absolutely no importance whatsoever.
The Scotsman, for example, highlights the fact that while Scottish people don’t want the UK to have nuclear weapons, if they’re going to exist then a sizeable number of Scots want them – and the hundreds of jobs dependent on them – to stay on the Clyde. (Though just as many want them to leave.)
None of which, of course, will have the slightest effect on anything.
Another paranoid cybernat 163
Posted on
June 17, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Charlie Brooker in the Guardian, 17 June 2014:
Nice to know it’s not just us noticing.
The evolution of tone 180
Posted on
June 15, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
WEDNESDAY: Panini “politics sticker album” jokes are evidence of vile abuse:
SUNDAY: Panini “politics sticker album” jokes are light-hearted comedy material:
The BBC: you have to pay for this or you go to jail, readers.
In the public interest 131
Posted on
June 06, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
We got another letter from the government today. After a sudden outbreak of candour last week with regard to the civil service writing Buzzfeed articles, this is more the sort of thing we’re accustomed to from Freedom Of Information requests.
We don’t need your pity 131
Posted on
June 05, 2014 by
Thomas G. Clark
One of the most commonly-occurring arguments proffered by the left side of the No camp (regardless of how often it’s comprehensively debunked) is that should Scotland decide to leave the Union, it would condemn the English to perpetual Tory rule.
It’s essentially an appeal for Scotland to give up the chance of self-governance in order to mitigate someone else’s problem. But it could be even worse than that.
Startled like a fox 72
Posted on
June 03, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
We’ve had so many Freedom Of Information requests knocked back that we’re still a little bit wrongfooted when one comes in that doesn’t try to wriggle out of it and actually answers the questions we asked. So we’ll just let this one speak for itself.
An Englishman not abroad 143
Posted on
May 30, 2014 by
Math Campbell-Sturgess
Why would an Englishman vote for Scottish independence? Why would a whole group of English people vote Yes? It’s a question I’ve been asked many times, and which the group I helped to co-found last week, “English Scots for Yes”, intends to answer.
Just so you know 109
Posted on
May 30, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
From today’s Guardian:
And as well as being bad news for the whole UK, we already know what that means for Scotland too. Because Labour has openly said, over and over, what its plans are.
A good point well made 245
Posted on
May 26, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
We’re rather kicking ourselves for not having spotted this one when it was staring us in the face, so kudos to Welsh professor of political science Roger Scully for the catch.
In the 2009 European elections, UKIP got 16.5% of the vote in the UK as a whole, and 5.2% in Scotland – a gap of 11.3%. In this year’s election the tallies were 27.5% in the UK and 10.5% in Scotland – a gap of 17%.
In other words, despite all the bluster from Unionists about how Scotland can no longer claim to be different to the rest of the UK in terms of supporting Nigel Farage’s party, in fact the degree of difference has substantially increased, by a whopping 55%.
It just seems worth pointing out.
Friends and enemies 178
Posted on
May 26, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
According to Mandy Rhodes of Holyrood Magazine, this afternoon Johann Lamont issued a press release bizarrely calling on all supporters of “progressive” politics to unite against the SNP and UKIP. Now, that’s fairly mindboggling in itself in all sorts of ways, but we can’t help wondering whether she ran it past her deputy first.
Because that tweet raises a whole host of questions.
