Counting to one
Ever since the SNP’s unexpected majority in 2011, there’s been a constant low-level whine of “one-party state” from various elements of the Unionist establishment. (The first example we could find from a quick Google search was Liberal Democrat buffoon Sir Malcolm Bruce in September of that year.)
It’s a curiously bitter and irrational way to refer to the outcome of democratic elections held under proportional representation, reflecting a worrying contempt for the views of voters, but after the SNP saw the benefits of First Past The Post in May 2015 (having spent decades being its victim), the angry bleating has become far more noticeable.
(The most recent politician to use the phrase was the Lib Dems’ current leader Tim Farron. Perhaps the party is engaging in displacement activity to distract itself from its craven abandonment in 2010 of its lifelong commitment to introduce PR, selling its principles cheaply for ministerial cars and a referendum on what Nick Clegg called the “miserable little compromise” of AV, which was then lost by a humiliating margin.)
But today someone really kicked it up a notch.
Katharine Mary (“KM”) Grant, better known as Katie, is a children’s author who pops up curiously often on Scottish TV and radio shows as a pundit by dint of occasionally penning opinion pieces for the Scottish Daily Mail. She’s a descendant of William The Conqueror, via her parents Sir Simon Towneley and Lady Mary Fitzherbert, and niece to the journalist Sir Peregrine Worsthorne.
Today she has a column in CapX, an almost comically right-wing blog set up in 2014 by the Centre for Policy Studies thinktank (co-founded by Margaret Thatcher), edited by Iain Martin of the Daily Telegraph and regularly featuring other contributors from the batshit end of the Scottish Tory commentariat like Chris Deerin, Bruce Anderson and Gerald Warner, as well as some very well-connected Conservative luminaries.
Unimaginatively entitled “Scotland is a one-party state”, the column rails dementedly in a manner only the privileged and entitled elite (to which Grant has belonged since birth) can when the filthy proletariat get above themselves and refuse to elect who they’re told to. Frankly we couldn’t describe it adequately and advise readers instead to take a look for themselves. But one passage does rather leap out.
Alert readers may have noticed a couple of rather jarring elements in that paragraph. One is that it lists five parties in Parliament in this supposed “one-party state”, and the other is that as it notes, the party apparently running the brutal totalitarian dictatorship doesn’t even actually have a majority.
In fact the SNP currently has exactly 50% of current Holyrood seats, on 45% of the vote. In the UK parliament the Conservatives have 51% of the seats on 37% of the vote – a situation which Grant inexplicably fails to liken to China, whose legislature is entirely controlled by the Communist Party.
(There are technically other parties in Beijing’s National People’s Congress, grouped together as the United Front, but as Wikipedia notes, “Its leaders are mostly selected by the Communist Party of China, or are themselves CPC members. The member parties are almost completely subservient to the CPC and must accept its ‘leading role’ as a condition of their continued existence”. Nicola Sturgeon must be jealous.)
Grant’s real complaint appears to be that the opposition in Holyrood is broken, inept and ineffectual, which is a true enough observation but one difficult to blame on the SNP. And it’s also, of course, equally true of Westminster, where other than the SNP David Cameron is faced by parties either stricken by catastrophic internal turmoil or reduced to a pitiful, embarrassing, irrelevant rump fit only for mockery.
Hilariously, Grant’s solution to this malaise is “Scotland in Union”, a tiny nutter-fringe outfit last seen behind the tactical-voting campaign that was such a resounding success in May, and which links to some of the madder and uglier elements of the hate-driven, often furiously-Loyalist “SNPout” sub-sphere of social media, whose violent rage would be alarming if it wasn’t so impotent.
(Its feebleness was best illustrated by the attempt to disrupt last weekend’s “Hope Over Fear” rally, where thousands of happy independence supporters were challenged by precisely two BNP types waving Union Jacks in a failed attempt to start a fight.)
That Britain’s ruling class is reduced in desperation to reaching out to such a motley bunch of Neanderthals and zoomers isn’t a symptom of Scotland being a one-party state. It’s merely a sign that the one party (with two names) that’s ruled the UK for the past 36 years is no longer having everything its own way.
Ironically, it’s precisely because – with the SNP rampant north of the border and a surge of popular opinion behind Jeremy Corbyn’s old-school Labour – there’s just a hint that Britain might NOT be a cosy, dissent-free one-party state for the forseeable future that Katie Grant and her ilk are in quite such a strop.
Every time I’ve watched her on Scotland 2015 – she seems to be a firm favourite there – I’ve had the same thought, just who is this useful (to the Union) idiot?
That programme is the only place I’ve ever seen her. Is there a dearth of the ‘twin-set and pearls brigade’ since Goldie became a complete caricature and mysteriously dropped from the airwaves?
Now that I’ve glimpsed Ms Grant’s biography I won’t feel quite as bad when I shout ‘Idiot!’ at my tv screen in the future. ;o)
It’s lang syne past, that we got rid o’ these, self important, aggrandizing baisturds. It’s awe SNP bad, but British imperialism and despotism good.
Time tae get the f%£k oot o’ here.
That’s a good point you make at the end. The reason they keep calling Scotland a one party state is because the UK is the one party state if any was. I wonder if this is a known tactic by them to use Orwellian language or are they just stupid? The evidence suggests just stupid but you never know with these Brit clowns.
A brilliant piece Stu. I read that column of hers earlier and I’m gobsmacked that she can actually command a wage. Everything they accuse us of is in face a trait they themselves display. Projection. I think people are coming around now though and recognising her bile for what it is. She’s a fascist bigot.
I thought she was a journalist my mistake now where did I plant that chicken feather.
Thanks Rev. This had me howling with laughter.
Excellent article. The last paragraph nails it exactly. Brilliant stuff.
Never had much time for Katie Grant, a very self opinionated besom. Happy to talk over everyone else, and always right.
When I used to listen to radio Scotland and she came on, I’m afraid my reaction was to switch off the radio.
Mind you, never listen to RS at all now. Plenty other things to listen too and watch. Do not miss EBC at all.
Let us give the SNP a massive democratic mandate in both seats and percentage share of the vote in 2016.
Both votes to the SNP in 2016.
They can call us plebs whatever they like. We don’t give a damn about them.
Nobody said that being born into privelege entitles you to an intellect, and she admirably demonstrates this concept.
The flickering home movie of Liz the Last and Co giving their Nazi salutes keeps haunting my mind.
“batshit end of the Scottish commentariat”
Very fitting, and totally at home in CapX, which likes to explore the totally extreme elitist inhumane side of human activities without having the brains to realise it. They apparently don’t realise the irony of having a ccTLD of .co (Columbia) for their dedicated website.
I think that any chance for this moron’s idea of a “one party state” to be broken may just have gotten a whole lot more difficult if this story grows a pair of feet and runs. 😀
http://scottishindependence.com/2015/09/scottish-tories-tell-scottish-independence-yes-voters-to-leave-party/
” She’s a descendant of William The Conqueror, via her parents”
…. me too, via a modest couple who died in poverty in 1850s Glasgow, leaving their children orphans.
” filthy proletariat get above themselves and refuse to elect who they’re told to.”
…. that’s me now, who certainly vote for one of their Unionist stooges!
This article does hit the target about what it is really all about. Elite BritNats just can’t see outside their little special bubble. They believe, to their core, that there is one rule for them and one for the rest.
How they can overlook the horrendous FPTP system at WM where parties, election after election, win outright with a minority of the votes … and criticise a PR system in Holyrood … just says it all. OK for Blair, Thatcher, Cameron. Not OK for uppity Jocks.
Hopefully we can leave them soon to stew in their own juices. Perhaps Corbyn can sort them out, perhaps not. Not if it will be our problem.
Read this earlier. I re-read the first paragraph about the Queen several times and I still couldn’t grasp her point.
She namedrops Alan Cochrane therefore she is a fucking loony…
Posh English lady hates the SNP! Not really news is it.
Katie Grant is an uber Brit nat, of the Alan Cochrane type. Their problem is not so much the SNP but Scotland itself imo. The concept of Scotland becoming North Britain never really took hold on the Scottish pysche, beyond the usual sellout establishment here, even well before the SNP ever existed.
Grant and her ilk are essentially creatures and servants of the British establishment. To be accepted you have to view the whole idea and existence of Scotland with suspicion, hate anyone who thinks we should run our own affairs, and be as right wing as possible. Grant and co are happy to oblige on these fronts.
A blunt response to Ms. Grant: There are currently six political parties in Scotland with elected public representatives.
If the SNP is dominating our political life then perhaps, just perhaps, they offer an agenda which the electorate agrees with…
Rule 1 of the Rove School of Politics;
Do something, the angily accuse the person/group you’re doing it to that they’re doing it to you.
Works on Americans some of the time, not so good here.
I wonder if she’s playing my old man’s a dustman on the ivories there?
No no no had to stop reading that. Her theory that the snp internal discipline would eventually break down, as it’s been a key factor in their success since 1999 (ie 16 years) was just too painful.
Could have sworn Nicola Sturgeon answered questions from 3 opposition ‘leaders’ today. In public.
Idiots.
On slight off topic subject check this Unionist zoomer Live Red White and Blue Book link out
https://docs.google.com/document/d/16iR4zmlaf3PyU6RiNRtt4bFQt1bQ-q-P23n2xvVQnOg/pub
Fact that author is basically a whole YEAR late is probably all you need to know.
Aw diddums.
People like Katie from some kind of so called aristocratic family, who have been spoonfed bullshit all their lives, seem to think they can spout off on any topic under the sun and expect to be believed.
Their big problem is our Independence campaign, instead of dwindling away, is slowly grinding along like a glacier, gathering more in front every day and threatening their cosy establishment lives.
Katie Grant is keen to talk of her Jacobite antecedents. Who clearly were NOT Unionists.
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jan/25/grisly-inheritance-sedition-head-spike
From her website “In 1746 her five times great uncle, Francis Towneley, supported Bonnie Prince Charlie, and, as a result, was the last person in the UK to be hanged, drawn and quartered.”
What peculiar ancestry for someone who appears to write historical romances in a Mills and Boon style.
This just reinforces what I’ve been preaching for years, inbreeding reduces the IQ.
You only have to look at the top parasites who believe that we are here to serve.
how do they acquire this status? turn a blind eye to your wife being a mistress to whoever.
O.K. all you investigators out there.
Is this David “pork loin” Cameron in the picture? 😉
Could this be the *ahem* missing evidence of the TRUTH about THAT meeting between Cameron and Miss Piggy? 😀
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=944460222285137&set=a.269843603080139.65503.100001635034388&type=3
An excellent and brutal analysis of the zoomer brigade, Rev. I’m glad I don’t have to read their diseased imaginings on a regular basis but I don’t know how you can stand it.
R-type Grunt is right, I think: this is classic projection. I know people like her and their stupidity, greed, sense of entitlement and complete lack of empathy is breath-taking. Strangely, they all read a combination of the following: The Times/Sunday Times, Scottish Daily Mail, Scottish Daily Express. I’ve been getting this One Part State nonsense from them since before the Referendum. It would also be depressing if I weren’t convinced their time in Scotland is almost up.
I bet those wee multi-coloured hingies on Katie’s shelves don’t see much action.
Think she can cope with “Chopsticks”?
As you have said, Tick Tock.
sandycraig
I like the imagery. The general election in Scotland left a moraine with just the odd boulder or 3 left standing.
The task for us Wingers, hard as it may be, is to speed up the glacier!
Yeah Ms Grant noted as a regular BBC SNPbad worthy.
As you say a bit noisy but does not come across as an academic heavyweight.
Just rather annoying & pointless
Read this persons? Article. Does she really get invited/allowed to appear on a supposedly intelligent program (laughs loudly) like 2015.
Do the EC not realise how Xenophobic she is. Right wing, Scot hating.
No wonder they are losing viewers faster than snow of a Dyke.
Its also ironic that they speak about a one party State while at the same time believing and pushing Scotland as nothing more than a Region.
Is it any wonder they are so twisted with such conflicting and contradictory positions.
“To unite people around a positive view of Scotland in the UK”
Better Together spent two years and a fortune, failing miserably to offer a positive view of Scotland, and spreading fear & smear instead. All because we were about to vote for self-determination.
This feels like a replacement for ‘vote no borders’. Tory funded and promoted by the BBC and the daily rags.
With wall to wall austerity, and unending exploitation, the fact is there IS no positive view of Scotland north of the border.
South of the border it’s all so different – Scotland remains the tartan goose that lays golden eggs for England.
Katie Grant – just another J K Rowling type, but with no money.
“One Party State” was what I meant @ 8.10, unless I was subconsciously thinking of Call me Dave and his new “Babe”.
Gwoosome, simply gwoosome!
This is why they invented malt whisky.
It’s not a one party state – the definition of one party state is a state that only has one party to vote for. What these zoomers; for the want of another term, are really bitching about is how utterly shite their own parties are. Thats what gets their goat. But they can’t bring themselves to say it. So they talk complete and utter bollocks.
Remember this. And when you are accosted online or elsewhere – remind them that it is hardly the SNPs fault that their chosen party is shite. It’s not a dictatorship, its not a tyranny, its not jockistan nor is it the USSR. Its simply because labour, the tories, and the lib dems are shite. Their politics are shite, their policies are shite, their candidates shite. In short they are shite and that’s why they lost.
So this message is for those who think Scotland is North Korea: You wanna be effective opposition to the SNP? You want to be the next SG? You want to be relevant? Then stop talking bollocks. But more importantly stop being shite.
Is this the best the Unionists can do?
I hope the kids books contain more sense than she shows here!
Oh good grief, my apologies to Mills and Boon. Just read reviews of her book Sedition in the Grun, and it’s put me off my toast.
David Agnew @ 8.26.
Eh….
Yes, that about covers it.
Well said.
Writers whose audience are children have form in this department.
She’s a really odd personality, she seems to be the ‘go to’ voice of the moderate right and is regularly on BBC Scotland at the weekend.
Nice modulation, pleasant sounding personality, she sounds like good fun but actually it appears she’s a complete right-wing nutter.
I had no idea of her background until now.
It looks likely she is working for her ‘services to the union’ peerage.
Only way to make daddy pwoud.
Why oh why do we put up with this shite?
Ah… Jockistan. Has anyone complained to the beeb about Kelvin’s use of the term? It will be interesting to see how they defend him. Not that I would presume to know how they will respond to that complaint, of course.
Impartiality is, after all, in their DNA
Chitterinlicht: Yeah, I know. It was the third thing I was referring to here:
http://wingsoverscotland.com/a-short-intermission/
Still, I’m sure she supports rights for farmyard animals…
Getting coat.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but prior to the last general election and indeed the Indyref, Alex Salmond was the only political leader with an outright democratic majority from his electorate.
Obviously being ruled by Tory dictats when they have no electoral mandate in Scotland is a different kind of democracy.
“She’s a descendant of William The Conqueror, via her parents Sir Simon Towneley and Lady Mary Fitzherbert, and niece to the journalist Sir Peregrine Worsthorne.”
William The Conqueror! I’m Lanarkshire Scum to the max, and my family goes back thoosands o’ years.
Otherwise, I wouldn’t be writing this.
Fair makes ye think.
I wasn’t going to bother polluting my mind with right-wing zommery but all your talk tipped the scales. Wish I’d not bothered now. What an objectionable cretin!
Re: Scotland’s One Party state. Better/worse than One Nation Britain?
These descendants of Willie 1 are a bit johnny-come-latelies I always think.
The UK has been a one party state for the last 35 years. Just to confuse the electorate they gave this one party three different names.
Just as they do in China.
Two words……. JENNY HUJL
Do you think this woman realises that what she’s ACTUALLY complaining about is the electorate
That’s the problem with this country we won’t vote as we’re told, last year Labour told us to vote for nothing, remember “If you don’t know vote NO”
All the other lot keep saying “We know we’re crap but we promise we’ll change” and we all say “Heard it”
I suppose if you feel that you’re born to rule it really must be disconcerting for you when everybody else thinks you’re not, and telling big fat PORKIES still won’t work
Then they come to the conclusion it’s SNP Baaaad because their brain won’t allow them to think it’s their own fault
Surely by her definition the Tories currently form a one party state given their majority,and will do so again in 2020,given the problems with Labour.
Perhaps this self styled guardian of democracy should look closer to home for one party states.
Those normans that conquered England have a lot to answer for. 🙂 Their descendents still think they rule us.
testing!
yesindyref2 — Katie Grant is wrong on more than one score!-Dr Archibald Cameron was the last person in UK to be hanged, drawn and quartered, for his part in the 1745 Jacobite rising That was in 1749 – he was the brother of Cameron of Locheil! Francis Towneley was executed in 1746.
Bill McLean: think you suffered death by error message. Happened to me recently.
Great point, by the way.
Ain’t history a bummer for diddies like her?
Rev. Stuart Campbell says:
24 September, 2015 at 8:48 pm
Chitterinlicht: Yeah, I know. It was the third thing I was referring to here:
Ah. That makes sense. Ta
Bill McLean: think you suffered death by error message. Happened to me recently.
Great point, by the way.
Ain’t history a bummer for diddies like her?
Rev. Stuart Campbell says:
24 September, 2015 at 8:48 pm
Chitterinlicht: Yeah, I know. It was the third thing I was referring to here:
Ah. That makes sense. Ta
From an interview:
“My children’s books are also quite dark, in some ways,” she argues. How the Hangman Lost His Heart (Puffin, 2006) starts with an execution, with the heroine Alice then carting around a severed head trying to reunite it with its body. The Perfect Fire trilogy (Quercus), which is set during the Crusades, also has a rape scene. “They are quite dark, because history is full of darkness and I don’t want to gloss over that. I try and give hope at the end of the children’s books though, because there is often hope.”
(if this gets through third attempt it’s because I changed the cut and pasted quote which had different ” and ‘ in it – charset problem perhaps?)
Sorry folks – finger trouble!
Bill McLean: think you suffered death by error message. Happened to me recently.
Great point, by the way.
Ain’t history a bummer for diddies like her?
Rev. Stuart Campbell says:
24 September, 2015 at 8:48 pm
Chitterinlicht: Yeah, I know. It was the third thing I was referring to here:
Ah. That makes sense. Ta
Bill McLean: think you suffered death by error message 503. Happened to me recently.
Great point, by the way.
Ain’t history a bummer for diddies like her?
Happened again, just responding.
Apologies to all.
Just slip this in – Wings regulars are meeting up on Saturday in Edinburgh.
Only the industrial scale propaganda propagated by the BBC exceeds the collective psychological projection of the British Establishment; a disturbingly dysfunctional behaviour where persons or groups, often from self appointed positions of authority, accuse others of unorthodox, unethical, subversive & even criminal activities that they, themselves are proven to be guilty of.
Often, it’s curiously farcical but it remains a persistent threat to our very freedoms of choice, movement & expression.
Rather than the evocative messages from an awakened electorate being a threat to “national security” (whatever that actually means is to me anyway, mostly indefinable), it is the state or the Establishment running its affairs, which is the greater threat.
Ms. Grant’s rants are by a large a side show of little relevance but we should nevertheless be mindful that she is a hand reminder & barometer of how the British Establishment views those it regards as a threat.
Stay awake folks.
Looks like there are Gremlins in the machine Rev!
Thanks Tinto – hiding behind the sofa at the moment in case you know who comes after me with those HAMMERS. Are all unionists who put their heads above the parapet thick or do they just bump their heads on the way up before they bump their gums. They can re-write history all they like – and they do, but she should know better since she claims to be a relative of Francis Towneley.
I’d forgotten all about her but remember her now as a weird nutter. Why did I forget about her? Because I don’t watch BBC political programmes or read papers like the Mail. It’s so calming!
Hard core tory gits are an odd crew. Some are great fun, Professor Smirky here gives great Slovenia says NO bullshit
https://twitter.com/ProfTomkins?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
There’s huge swathes of academic advice for arts undergrads on her website but what would I give to see this ridiculous liar marking WoS
http://www.rlf.org.uk/resources/what-tutors-want-1/
JC is watching Sturgeon and the SNP very closely. Red Tory SLabour hate that but ultimately, what really freaks out the blue tory gits is a PR Westminster. If they can destroy Holyrood, it’ll never happen.
After the fantastic monstering SNP got tonight from BBC vote SLab Scotland teatime news, its on.
Presumably Katie Grant’s article excoriates the ‘three main parties’ for being unelectable? Because if one party dominates under a PR system, it is clearly the case that the electorate considers the other options to be pish. And having read the article there is a little bit of acceptance of that – that the SNP’s opposition is far too poor to even take advantage of the occasional open goal.
Interestingly, Katie also says:
I think Katie has got it the wrong way round. One of her employers, Kenneth Roy, correctly predicted Yes would narrowly lose the referendum, yet would win the post-referendum fallout. Kenneth got it right, because he has more understanding of how Scotland works. We are going to lose the big set-pieces to the Establishment. But Scotland is a place where conquerors cannot win the peace.
Possible it was the posting I made with a cut and pasted bit with odd characters in it that scr^H messsed things up, sorry Rev and others. It disappeared twice, then I had “Database connection error”.
Anyway, off-topic, Herald now running with Corbyn worse rating than Miliband as new leader, with Corybn -3 satisfaction against Miliband’s +19. In 2010. Well blow me down with a twister and spinner, if Miliband didn’t have -31 as his rating in March according to the same pollster, IPSOS MORI. I doubt it’s Settle though, the Herald do few of their own stories these days, it probably comes from some right wing rag like the DT.
By the way, there’s unionist or NO posters who are getting hacked off with this type of distortion too, and random deletion of postings on the Herald. Which means YES and NO voters have something in common …
Bill McLean says:
24 September, 2015 at 9:32 pm
Sorry folks – finger trouble!
I’ve heard it called a lot of things Bill but finger trouble!!!
Oh you were talking about your repeat posts sorry thought you were talking about David “Pork Loin” Cameron and his *ahem* fancy women. 😀
Retweet from Murdo Fraser or Fraser Murdo, SNP Scots.gov against liberty now, they’re that toryboy desperate.
http://www.conservativehome.com/leftwatch/2015/09/shami-chakrabartis-praise-for-sturgeon-shows-that-liberty-has-lost-interest-in-liberty.html
Katie G. Has also popped up on BBC Radio Scotland’s comedy show hosted by Des Clark. Every week there’s a built in Unionist Political person. Eg. Kirsty Wark and Willie Ross’s Daughter, Fiona .
If Katie’s at a loose end on Saturday night perhaps she could come along to the Wings night out in Edinburgh, and give us a tune on the old piano. Mind you, I hope her playing is better than her ramblings.
Still I’m sure the Wingers could give her a few melodious suggestions.
Lesley-Anne. This little piggy had roast beef and this little piggy had none ……. oh hang on!
Fuck ’em.
Bill McLean says:
24 September, 2015 at 10:29 pm
Lesley-Anne. This little piggy had roast beef and this little piggy had none ……. oh hang on!
Is it true Bill that oor beloved pork loving P.M. copies Obama and flies around in a Prime Ministerial aircraft called Pork Force One? 😀
@chris kilby
…all there finished that for you.
Watched fmq’s just now for some light relief. Cara Hilton on about foster care stuff. She doesnt look like she gets to speak very often. Must have gone to the Kezia Dugdale speech therapy school as the longer she went on the faster she got. Strange…
Anyway, off to see questiontime, Yanis Farouakis on tonight.
On FMQs from personal experience I can say that bed blocking is not caused by the NHS but by local authorities failing to put care packages in place not helped by lack of social workers and in some casesl close relatives failing to take on basic responsibilities.
Labour fail to recognise this in their attempt to make political attack.
.
Ah yes, Katie Grant, failed Tory candidate (I forget where and for which election) and sometime columnist for Scotland on Sunday, where she once described her ceiling falling in. For some reason she was short of money for repairs, so chose to buy a baby grand piano instead.
Perhaps that’s the one in the picture.
Great analysis. I’m really glad to have it on record as, on the basis of the principle of knowing thine enemy, I regularly look at CapX. As CapX don’t accept comments it needed someone like the Rev to draw public attention to the grossly biased and innacurate article.
I subsequently had a look at Scotland in Union but was far from impressed. If it should it EVER include anything worth reading I’ll donate my pension to the editor.
Compared to a positive Wings rating of +100, SiU would possibly qualify for an amateur -5000 (and I’m being generous).
Can I suggest that you just click on “Submit Comment” once, then refresh the page over a few minutes, BEFORE you repost umpteen times?
Jiss an ehdeah an’ thah’, iye?
Onnyhoo, David Agnew – good comment. A half kilo bag of sherbet kudos is winging its way to you, in the virtual world.
8=)
In the words of Cpl Jones…
“They don’t like it up ’em”
Nothing like squealing stuck piglets err I mean Brit Nat Tories to make me laugh when I am needing one.
So she is a descendent of William the Conq. Bloody Saxons losing that Hastings and control of immigration. She makes me sound sane and I hate that.
I actually wonder if it is Cochrane in drag!
I chuckled ruefully with this bit:
Presumably Katie is referring to the Scots’ apparent ill luck when it comes to battle.
Yet when you actually look at the record of Scots in battle, it tells a rather different story:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_battles_involving_the_Kingdom_of_Scotland
That’s 40 victories to 29 defeats, or just under 4 out of every 7 battles. Ah, but what if we include only battles with the Kingdom of England, their most frequent and dangerous foe? Well that does reduce the ratio… to 29 victories to 25 defeats, or around 6 out of every 11 battles.
Now why is there such a “tradition” of Scots being the losers in battle more often than winners? A warmongering nation takes pride in martial might, and would ridicule its enemies or inferiors for perceived lack of such military valour…
A Tory comes to Scotland.Chooses Edinburgh to live in. She likes Shortbread, tartan and Stovies. You know the cliché pretendy Royal Mile Scottish but types she circulates with.
Apologies to real Edinburgh folk on here. Do you not despair at the Eton vowels and men with red trousers who stole your city.
C: http://www.thenational.scot/comment/wee-ginger-dug-pigs-on-top-on-the-uk-animal-farm.7938
Hi Taranaich.
Presumably Katie is referring to the Scots’ apparent ill luck when it comes to battle.
Are you really sure that she wasn’t meaning the fitba’ an’ thah’?
Re: real battles:- I find this inspiring. Dates back to when the ‘Soldats de Robert Bruce’ marched into Orleans as Joan of Arc’s bodyguard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WulAWn_N_O0
I actually wrote to Katie after a particularly ill-judged piece a few years ago and got a very nice and contrite apology. I don’t think she is particularly sharp or informed politically and she will refect the views of the company she keeps.
Had a bash at her dissertation, pulled up here, on grinching about Sturgeon not being a big enough royals groveller
“We should, of course, not read too much into this, any more than we should read too much into tealeaves. Both can mean something or nothing.”
Does it actually need saying that reading tealeaves always means nothing?
What next, magic UKOK crystals, bettertogether chicken entrail reading, British alchemists for the union, rabbits foot for teamGB, palm reading for the Tory party, clairvoyants vote Cameron, cant think of any more superstitious mumbo jumbo. Mind you didn’t Britnats resurrect famous dead Scots to explain how say this farce union is a divine entity never to be ended?
O.K. folks, hands up everyone who remembers David “Pork Loin” Cameron stomping about like a Hog in a China shop, shouting from the rooftops to anyone and everyone, that under no circumstances would he agree to U.K. paying the European Union surcharge that Brussels was demanding be paid?
Well folks I have a wee bit of news for you all. I hope you are all sitting down comfortably now. 😉
https://archive.is/4MzgL
So in the space of approx THREE days Cameron and co. have handed out £3.8 Billion. This can be broken down into:
1) £1.5 Billion to Brussels
2) £2 Billion as surety for Chinese companies involved in the building of the U.K.’s newest “Hiroshima.”
3) £300 Million to China to help advance their footballing skills in the young.
No doubt MORE will be handed out once we know the Chinese companies who will be building HS2. Remember this one folks. This is the new rail line that Cameron and co love that will stop 6 MILES short of Central London and will NOT stop at any of the current railway stations between Birmingham and London.
http://caltonjock.com/2015/09/24/tritium-is-routinely-dumped-in-the-gareloch-at-faslane-never-heard-of-it-tritium-can-cause-cancer-genetic-mutations-or-developmental-defects-in-unborn-children-no-threshold-or-safe-dose/
@ Lesley Anne
I’m a bit ambivalent about that DC photo at the initiation ceremony. It looks like child abuse. I know he was over 16 at the time. But it’s creepy.
Alice Miller wrote a lot about how abused children re-enact their trauma in adult life. Could it be that all those aristocratic children were so brutalised that they can’t behave like normal humans now?
http://www.alice-miller.com/index_en.php
Usual tory stuff really, except Scotland isnt a state, yet. Or if it is someone had better tell Westminster pretty quick.
“Whatever, the Nats will eventually lose their touch and the internal discipline which, since the Scottish parliament was restored in 1999, has been a key factor in their success, can’t be maintained forever. Knowing this, many Scots feel the best policy is simply to wait, and if you want to wait without a good bashing from the cyber-Nats, you need to wait in silence.”
It all just go away and its all about the cyber-Nats.
A very poor attempt Katherine. See me after to be fired from a catapult back to where ever the feck you came from.
Kenneth Kaunda was accused of running a one party state in Zambia by Reagan.His response was .Same as America, but Americans’s always have two of the same thing.
And look at our neighbours down! They have four of everything.Tory parties that is!
And the pig got up and slowly walked away.
You may well be right there Capella.
This may be another excellent example of what happens to kids once their silver spoons are finally withdrawn from their gobs!
So Katie is a descendant of that well known democrat, William the Conqueror (clue is in the name).
A brief glance at the massive wealth accumulated by William and his avaricious brother Odo, Archbishop of Canterbury, tells you all you need to know about the aristocrats that “came over with the Conqueror”. Pity the average English person is completely unaware of how much they have been shafted. But maybe Corbyn will re-educate them.
Meanwhile, here is “Royal Babylon”, Heathcote Williams’ attack on the present monarchy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIukrdRhnpw
CAN EVERYONE STOP POSTING COMMENTS SIX TIMES? THANK YOU.
Wow, this being related to royalty thing is infectious isn’t it?
My surname suggests that I’m descended from an ancient Pictish/Scottish Royal line. Does this mean that folks should listen to me talking shite?
No it doesn’t, so fuck off Ms Grant.
Listening to the utterings of gobshoite Tories like this lump of excrement doesn’t half irk.
Has anyone else noticed that the unionists almost universally (apart from Michelle Moan humina humina humina)all look pinched faced and miserable while we (in the yes camp) are all smiley pretty people?
Why our very own Bon vivant Macart just the other day said I looked like Kevin McKidd (yea I know kevinmckiddonline.com)
And Irene looked like a young Deborah Kerr,
So there you have it, join the yes camp and look like Hollywood film stars (albeit somewhat unintelligible “Brave”)
or stick with the dark side and look like this
http://tinyurl.com/qabt3qx
but look what happened when those three joined the yes campaign
http://tinyurl.com/o46an9t
YOU KNOW IT MAKES SENSE. 🙂
_______________________________________________________
The second picture was of
Ina Sharples, Martha Longhurst, and Minnie Caldwell..eh …I think? 😉
Tam Jardine says
“I like the imagery. The general election in Scotland left a moraine with just the odd boulder or 3 left standing. ”
Did you know the boulders you see bizarrely balanced on top of each other in Cornwall http://tinyurl.com/p38lrmv
came from Aiberdeen on the ice flow and deposited in Cornwall when it retreated,
WE WANT THEM BACK,
NO REALLY GIVE EM BACK!
theyre oor chuckies give em back!
maitland says
“No wonder they are losing viewers faster than snow of a Dyke.”
No wonder they are losing viewers faster than snawaffadyke!
fixed that for you,
your not from Morningside are you?
just askin sa’ll
________________________________________________________
John J says
“She’s a really odd personality, she seems to be the ‘go to’ voice of the moderate right and is regularly on BBC Scotland at the weekend.”
There must be shum mishtake
to be an odd personality you would have to HAVE a personality in the first place. 😉
________________________________________________________
Alan Mackintosh says
“Must have gone to the Kezia Dugdale speech therapy school as the longer she went on the faster she got. Strange…”
That was because off camera the presenter was using the “wrap it up signal” and holding up an idiot board saying “nobody gives shit about what your saying”.
________________________________________________________
Crazycat says
” For some reason she was short of money for repairs, so chose to buy a baby grand piano instead.”
Whoohahahaha
reminded me of this one
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34282849
_________________________________________________________
BDTT says
“Can I suggest that you just click on “Submit Comment” once, then refresh the page over a few minutes, BEFORE you repost umpteen times?”
Translation;
sir…sir…sir hand up clicking fingers
Bill did multiple posts and noo he’s makin ither boys dea it ana!
CLYPE. 🙂
______________________________________________________
@ Taranaich
I just want to say how pleased I was to shake your hand on Saturday, I recognized you instantly
cant imagine why? 🙂
I didnt introduce myself (we’re not worthy),
but you saw my WGD badge I hope you didnt think I was Paul, I got a row before affa the rev for (apparently) impersonating Bugger the Panda,
sno ma faught BtP gave me his jumper. 🙁
_________________________________________________________
Heedtracker says
“A very poor attempt Katherine. See me after to be fired from a catapult back to where ever the feck you came from.”
Fit aboot Mons Meg?
theyve jist hid it awa fur a guid polish
micht as well pit it tae some use eh?
______________________________________________________
Tartanarse says
“My surname suggests that I’m descended from an ancient Pictish/Scottish Royal line. Does this mean that folks should listen to me talking shite?”
Eh!…
dont bow.
Watched the BBC news few nights ago for the first time since the referendum result!
Man was it shocking to see them calling Scotland a one party state and manipulating our minds on ‘migrants’ and confusing them with terrorists.
State run media / British establishment’s propaganda, paid for by poor bastards like us.
Thank you for a brilliant article Rev.
BrianDTT states:
Can I suggest that you just click on “Submit Comment” once, then refresh the page over a few minutes, BEFORE you repost umpteen times?
Indeed, once you submit your comment, cast your eyes over the website path line (above) and you should have been assigned a 7-digit reference number, yeah.
For example, the path line of this post will probably be:
‘wingsoverscotland.com/counting-to-one/comment-2061308‘
If you’ve gotta number, you’ve gotta posting. You can then mouse-over the date/time stamp at the bottom of your message to see.
Have a great pay-day Friday everybuddy and see you tomorrow capital city.
@John King
Don’t tell Mrs M, but I’ve still got a poster of Farrah Fawcett hidden at work. 😉
The name Grant appears to be Norman in origin, a name inflicted on the people in Strathspey and Badenoch. The records of the parish of Duthil,[ to the north of Aviemore ]show that the real names of the inhabitants of the area had been scored out of the parish records and replaced with the name Grant all of this done by the local Norman laird with the help of Scotlands favourite church, the church of Scotland, who could have guessed.
Katie won’t be a “trough grant’ another nasty story from the grant area.
Like many other so called Scottish names Grant is a slave name, if your name is Grant you should try and find your real surname.
apologies if I have upset anyone.
I must confess, I often benefit from reading an article twice, if only to improve the assimilation process which generates an increase in recognition and appreciation. Moved to do so on this occasion by Haggis Hunter, I find myself in agreement with him when he concludes with the line – ‘Thank you for a brilliant article, Rev.’
There is merit in Katie Grant’s somewhat unhinged remarks, but only as an occasion to read the Rev.Stu’s comments thereon. It’s the difference between listening to someone who is resident in a psychiatric ward and a Consultant in attendance.
“Don’t tell Mrs M, but I’ve still got a poster of Farrah Fawcett hidden at work. ;)”
I wonder how much that durty wee secret’ll be worth? 🙂
OK that double post wisnae me rev,
big boys must have done it an ran away. 🙁
O/T links
https://www.change.org/p/king-abdullah-bin-abdul-aziz-supreme-court-of-saudi-arab-stop-the-crucifixion-of-ali-mohammed-al-nimr
http://www.rt.com/uk/316212-austerity-inequality-deficit-osborne/
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/09/23/time-nuclear-option-raining-money-main-street
http://www.exaronews.com/articles/5672/bbc-seeks-to-delay-smith-review-until-after-renewal-of-charter
@John King
Pint the next time we’re all in Glasgow for a Wings get together?
@Cactus
i never knowed that
thanks for the tip buddy.
wont be at the wings night on Saturday,
working next day 🙁
booo
Manandboy
“There is merit in Katie Grant’s somewhat unhinged remarks, but only as an occasion to read the Rev.Stu’s comments thereon. It’s the difference between listening to someone who is resident in a psychiatric ward and a Consultant in attendance.”
Twas ever thus?
Macart
DEAL! 🙂
Nana Smith says(mornin Nana)
time-nuclear-option-raining-money-main-street
Helecopter money!
the best kind
I’ll have some o that. 🙂
in reality though if they had done that on the first place the banks would be beholden to the public instead of the other way round
@Taranaic 11:11pm
Wow! thanks for posting that. I am genuinely surprised, and not just because there is actually a Wiki page devoted to that. It got me thinking how deeply engrained the ‘Scotland’s shite’ narrative is. The narrative that we were an economic and military failure as a nation, that’s why we needed and still need the Union. Low self-esteem as a nation. Listen to Radio Scotland GMS you would just about slit your wrists because of how shite we are.
That is why the referendum campaign was so intoxicating, I heard for the first time ordinary folk talking positively and eloquently about our country and our future.
@EphemeralDeception
That is the response we should give the claim: So you admit Scotland is a state then? Because they don’t.
O/T
The European Refugee Crisis and Syria Explained
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvOnXh3NN9w&feature=youtu.be
This was in my inbox, it’s not a website I have seen before.
http://beforeitsnews.com/politics/2015/09/captured-isis-leader-makes-terrifying-confession-about-barack-obama-2743632.html
Willie, “Grant”…a slave name..”
If that were true, then any “name” within the medieval hierarchy could be viewed as slave.
The Grants evolved into a fine (in perspective) clan system, slightly offensive to “tar” descendants because of heraldic manoeuvres..
Morning John. I remember helicopter dosh being mentioned and quickly dismissed. Gave it all to the banks instead and we see how that worked out.
I will keep on looking upwards just in case!
See yer getting a mention on common space there Ronnie (Anderson),
gaun yersel big man
Morning, World, such as it is.
Sorry for multiple posts: a strange “error message 503” appeared. Happened yesterday too. I blame John King and his tin helmet.
PravdaSound4 spending an inordinate amount of time just now discussing a film, “The Martian” with Matt Damon, etc. Surely there must be better things to talk about on the Most Impartial Broadcaster in The World at this time in the morning?
Ah, wait, I see!
Paraphrasing John Cleese: Don’t mention the pig!
Interesting reply to Spanish MEP on Catalonia, or rather, what the reply was, then what the Spanish MEP claimed was the reply.
https://euobserver.com/news/130412
Taking a look at car politics tomorrow. This essay from last weekend:
https://grousebeater.wordpress.com/2015/09/18/one-year-on/
Nana, that article about ISIS being funded by the US seems to be an Obama hater site. Not that it doesnt speak the truth. IS is being funded by the US, and Saudi, and Qatar. Israel is giving support, as is Turkey (which bombs the Kurds at the same time). All to get rid of Assad/destabilise another middle east country. And Russia supports Assad and so we have another proxy war, just like all the other ones we have had in the last fifty or sixty years. In other news Yemen is being destroyed by Saudi but you wont hear any of it on the news.
Well we know that Unionist are not bright, well not as bright as their Nanny’s told them.
Last time I looked on a ballot paper there were a whole wheen and shade of Political Parties to choose from. The Fact that people mostly choose one Party does not make it a one Party State, right now you could use the same epithet in England, not much to choose from.
Tinto Chiel says
” I blame John King and his tin helmet.”
Your probably right, it probably was my fault,
if the wind changes direction at my house its my fault, I stopped protesting my innocence when she locked me in the shed 30 years ago. 🙁
I was just listening to the BBC calling for servicing police officers to come on the show to talk about the failings of Scottish police service. Sounds like the BBC is giving the police the NHS treatment!
Wings should invite BBC employees to make contact to talk about the failings and nonsense going on at Pacific Quay.
Tokyo Kay’s call in at its best.
Suddenly thinking
Captain – we might need a bigger boat
Grant’s piece came up on my Faceache time line and I, somewhat ill advisedly, read it. What a load of Cochranesque bilge.
We live in a multi party democracy that happens to prefer one particular party at the moment. What is Grant proposing? A law that forbids any one party forming a majority in Westminster and Holyrood.
I suspect that if the Tories were to get a majority in Holyrood she would be cracking open the champers.
The article is patently drivel but what I dislike is the blatant intellectual dishonesty. Grant doesn’t object to parliamentary majorities just SNP ones. A Pouter if ever I saw one and a disingenuous one at that.
As for Daisley – Scottish National Party Nationalists contains a redundancy. I thought Twitter was supposed to make people character parsimonious and inventive. Get a grip Daisley The Day Today was a satire not a journalistic template.
Heads up for a good anti dote to the Scotland “shite” thesis in the i newspaper this morning by Chris Green headed “Scotland may be the same, but the attitude of its people has changed forever”
@Alan Mackintosh
I did wonder, it’s not a site I’ve come across and don’t know their agenda, linked as the report was from RT.
Anyhow for anyone wanting to protest at the tory conference here is a link to events, accommodation and transport.
http://www.thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/demonstrate_at_tory_party_conference
I believe they have had a wall of steel erected so lobbing stones may be rather difficult.
But lobbyists are of course more than welcome and no doubt the taxpayer is supplying the champers
john king: feeling your pain. Speaking from the dog-house roonthebacko’ Tinto Towers after some (apparently) ill-judged remarks about new high-heels.
PravdaSound4 now has Judi Dench telling us how much she loves coming up to Scotland on holiday, etc, etc, etc.
Wonder if she was one of The 200 who begged us to stay ‘cos they love us really, you know, along with Laughing Gnome Boy? One kind Winger posted the list some time ago but I forgot to save it.
It is good that you can expose this type for what they are. I wonder if Katie has noticed that George was well received in China for not mentioning human rights. Perhaps he would fit well in a one party state ?
I feel cheated. I’ve never even heard of her.
Grouse Beater
It wasn’t just lack of self belief. Labour perpetrated the lie of the Vow and went along with Establishment Spiv version of what Scotland was.
They sacrificed Scotland then utterly failed, full stop.
Though I do detect a strange belief among Labour supporters that someone will save them, some external force.
First there was Corbyn, now the reaction to the Greek former PM. Somehow an MP from London or a politician from Greece seems good to them; this time the answer. They cannot stand up and do it for themselves.
So the Labour Party politicians and activists in Scotland failed in their most fundamental responsibility; protecting and doing what was best for their constituents and the country around them.
At best they had taken the stance of a bird in the bush was worth more than two in the hand!
The British Establishment – the media – the UK population.
The only significant difference between the UK and North Korea is the UK standard of living and cultural variations.
UK/NK Government corruption, state propaganda and a brainwashed population are close to identical.
Outrageous, insulting, deeply offensive, shocking, but true.
Predicted and predictable UK reaction – total denial and pompous, mocking laughter.
Just thought I’d get that off my chest.
O/T Hilarious letter praising Kezia from Labour cheerleader Dr Scott Arthur in the Hootsman.
https://archive.is/9wAa7
Q
Has there been a BBC ‘call-in’ recently that did not include a random call from the pervasive ‘Scott’ from Edinburgh ? ( The good Doctor from a certain Edinburgh University).
Seems like their is a special direct line or is he just getting special treatment since he is not being announced as an invited speaker ?
What we witness daily from the likes of Grant, Adams, Bird, Dugdale, Rennie, Davidson and their supporters is an attack on Scotland, Scottish institutions and Scotland’s people.
If its not Oil, its NHS or Police or Teaching and of course, its all SNP bad Govt that has caused this.
Oil isn’t going to be there forever and Westminster are the ones who set the agenda for Scotland’s budgets by virtue of the money they allow us to have. Our NHS, Police, Teachers etc would be in a better position fiscally if we controlled all our taxes and could spend accordingly, instead of being forced into spunking money away on Trident, HS2, London transport infrastructure etc.
I really hope that Scotland’s electorate hold firm after last May and give these cringing Unionist tractors the political coup de grace they fully deserve next year.
Unionists support Scotland being held as a colony and that is the bottom line.
That’s my rant over for today.
@Paula Rose says: 24 September, 2015 at 8:36 pm:
“Writers whose audience are children have form in this department.”
Ah! Yes! Paula Rose. I suppose this comment applies to that renowned children’s Author, HRH the Prince of Wails.
O/T Hilarious letter praising Kezia from Labour cheerleader Dr Scott Arthur in the Hootsman.
He’s a cracker. Look everyone, we’ve changed, back from red tory, to ye olde SLabour, in but a few days too,
“Under Kezia Dugdale’s leadership, Scottish Labour has at long last got its act together. The party’s confidence in promoting its core values is credible.”
And the spirit of JC moved across the bullshit of SLabour and it was good, or terrible, pending polls
“Jeremy Corbyn: grim poll on eve of Labour conference
Sep 25, 2015
He’s the first Labour leader to score a negative satisfaction rating this early – but Mandelson says any coup must wait
Jeremy Corbyn prepares for his first – and possibly last – keynote speech at a Labour party conference with the odds stacked against him.
He is the first Labour leader ever to score a negative satisfaction rating in his debut Ipsos- Mori poll: minus 3, compared with Michael Foot’s plus 2 and Ed Miliband’s plus 19.”
Future Lady Kezia’s not for turning, pending outcome of next Labour leadership elections.
Dr Scott or Dr Von Scott?
😉
I might have said this before, but, at my age, you tend to forget wee things.
During the run-up to the Independence referendum, someone said – probably on Wings – that when they hear JoLa, it reminds them that, somewhere, there is a ScotMid branch, missing an assistant manager.
Now, when I hear Dippity Dug, I get the impression, that same ScotMid branch is now missing a work experience school girl.
I have just ran my mouse across the picture of Katy Grant at the piano – very droll comment, as ever, Rev.
But, how about; I did write all the right words, but, not necessarily in the right order.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/25/jeremy-corbyn-earthquake-labour-party
More UKOK whiners with your coffee. Long JC ascent to greatness belh here but oddly enough no mention whatsoever of their Scotland region. Its odd because exact same Graun twerps wot wrote it are also routine The Graun hammers of Scottish democracy. Maybe we are an actual “state” now and noone told us
“But as an exhausted and distressed Miliband sat with his advisers on the morning after the election, in a party headquarters smelling of stale beer and despair, he made it clear that he could not face another prime minister’s questions – a decision strongly supported by Justine Thornton, his wife. “I want my Ed back,” she said that morning.”
Alex Salmond lost Scotland to Project Fear/BBC/The Vow fraud/Gordon the Loon Brown vote NO vote The Vow rage etc.
Salmond didn’t quit. I like that.
Power.
Power is reserved to Westminster, and by that I mean electricity generation.
With Grid connector charges (a tax on Scotland and a subsidy to the south of England), and central government plans, the power stations in Scotland are closing and no replacements are in the pipeline.
It seems a given that the state is expected to provide or underwrite the cost of new power stations (privatization only went so far it appears). Witness £2bn support for the new Nuclear plant at Hinkley.
Given another 10 years Scotland will have gone from a major exporter of electricity to dependent upon power from stations south of the border.
Does anyone know if this is identified as deliberate strategic issue ?, after all threats to the pension are not as all encompassing as the lights going off at the flick of a switch.
According to the BBC Scotland website the most important story in Scotland today is.
“Family not critical of police OAP probe”
They just can’t help themselves can they.
http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2015/sep/25/johnston-press-revamps-the-scotsman-in-print-and-online
“I understand that the newspaper will also seek to be more national in outlook in terms of its editorial content. There will be less UK news. Instead, it will concentrate on what is happening in Scotland and in the wider world outside the UK.”
Red and blue tory britnats like Katherine will have UKOK attacks of the vapours. Dr Scott Arthur feels another of his mighty ukok letters coming on, reaches for the good paper…
Yip, one party state
And on that evidence Holyrood should be shut down
Bring it on pigfuckers!
See the Belfast Telegraph is trawling SNP MSP’s taxi bills.
Sun moving steadily into anti SNP mode.
Re: Katie and her “one Party state”.
It is of course all Nicola Sturgeon’s fault for brainwashing the Scottish electorate.
And don’t forget, UKIP blamed the SNP for getting 56 MPs elected to Westminster with a small percentage of UK votes, compared to UKIPs one MP when they had over four million votes.
Is there anything that the SNP aren’t getting the blame for.
We should just keep doing what we are doing. Whether you support them or not, we must surely back the SNP until we reach “the other side”.
After we become an Independent country, we can then start looking at other political Parties.
It’s the English who have the real problem coming to terms with who and where the Normans come from. Yes they were “vikings” but that’s not the whole of it. They were in many cases the descendants most boisterous children of irish, scots and even Danelaw vikings.
Let’s not forget that Bruce was of Norman descent so not play into the automatic hatred of them. The fact that our nobility told the english nobility to do one on a regular basis should demonstrate the fact that subservience to norman nobility isn’t in the celtic nature.
The assumption that “Grant” is somehow a mark of shame imposed on people misses the parallel to some escaped slaves in America taking on the name of those who helped them to freedom. In Scotland the name may have been adopted in order to grant protection. However in this case it’s even easier http://iainthepict.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/proscription-of-macgregor.html MacGregors were compelled to adopt other surnames, such as Drummond, Murray, Graham, Grier, Stewart, Grant, and even Campbell. Their surname was not fully restored until the oppressive acts were rescinded by the British Parliament, in 1774
Shug 9.25am
“Wings should invite BBC employees to make contact to talk about the failings and nonsense going on at Pacific Quay.
Tokyo Kay’s call in at its best.”
Brilliant idea!
But it is surely Tokyo Kay with an “e”.
Smiley thing.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/09/24/labour-snp-ukip-union-jack_n_8188842.html?utm_hp_ref=uk-politics&ir=UK+Politics
Another slice of UKOK slander, pulling UKIP and SNP together in one attack. Son of Neil Kinnock, married to ex Danish PM, all he’s got is SNP=
“racist” or “xenophobic” has allowed other parties to claim British symbols such as the flag as their own.
In his ‘A New Nation’ pamphlet, the MP praised New Labour’s sense of “patriotic endeavour” and claimed nationalist parties the SNP and Ukip were actually anti-patriotism.”
Lovely bunch. At the very least they won’t get near No.10 and Holyrood for another generation, and not just because they were so fcuking awful last time.
I think Cameron will probably step down as soon as a plausible, pork-free excuse can be made. There is just no way he will face the inevitable humiliation of standing for election in 2020 against some dude dressed up as a pig (on a “stop pig abuse” platform).
You just know it’s going to happen. 🙂
@Tinto Cheill
Judy Dench was indeed one of the 200 B list dunderheads that signed a letter begging our country to stay shackled to the corrupt,amoral establishment controlled Westminster.
Here is a list of all the signees.
http://tinyurl.com/pssotr8
Luigi says:
I think Cameron will probably step down
Cameron said he would not contest the next election. which makes me think the Pig Issue here is that someone, or someones, are not willing to wait three and a half years for the change of leadership.
I wonder who benefits most ? … answers on the back of a postcard from China.
I seriously hope not too many ex Scotch Labour voters return to the fold because of Corbyn.
He’s go Michael Foote written all over him.
The Englanders will never vote for him and they would be pissing away their votes.
The only way to get rid of the British Tories is to keep voting SNP and get full Independence.
& ironically the tories preside over Scotland from Westminster with a minority 14.9% of the vote and 1 MP… LoL China has much to learn from the UK.
The one interesting thing in her article is the idea that the SNP have peaked and it can only be downhill from here.
This seems to be the one comfort people of her persuasion are taking from the current political situation in Scotland.
Their presumption is that the only place for the electorate to go after peaksnp is back to the unionist parties.
But the unionist parties have already had their peak moment – and have been on the long slide down ever since.
Which does raise the question –
Where – if anywhere -will scottish voters go if SNP peak while Scotland remains part of the UK?
Oh, and even that Capx site doesn’t like Michelle Mone!
http://www.capx.co/why-does-michelle-mone-need-a-taxpayer-owned-chauffeur-driven-jaguar/
Black Listed
https://blacklistscotland.wordpress.com/2015/09/25/katie-grant/
Cheers for the links to these lists.
Eye opening.
Ewan McGregor was shite in Star Wars.
The Press & Journal are running an article claiming they ran a poll in the North-East, Highlands & Islands with a 69% “No” response to the question “Do you want another referendum?”.
I suspect zoomer bullshit but can’t get past their paywall. I swear I haven’t been on that site and read 5 articles already!
Thanks Stuart…skillfully and humorously dissected. My sides still hurt laughing at this woman’s claims.
Catching up on the “news” at BBC site last few days whilst away.
Seems to be overusing the inverted commas defence. That is put any Labour / Liberal or Tory accusation in headlines but put it in the commas so cannot be stated as BBC position – just reporting story m’lud.
Truly desperate, whiny pish. Everything is really bad, SNP broke it, not doing enough to fix it.
BBC leading the POUTERS.
@scunner 12:03
The rancid, sycophantic-unionist P & J is not to be trusted.
The Scottish Cringe in print since 1747.
Thanks to Scot Finlayson.
Yes, I thought she was one of those. Saved for future ref.
Of, course, she can still come after independence. Will buy her a drink in The Yesbar.
@Tinto Chiel
Judi Dench was indeed one of those who asked us to ‘stay’, though where folk thought we were going I have no idea.
A lot of people on those lists I admire and one or two I’ve come to regard less highly, most especially in the lists of internationals, business and academics. ‘Staying together’, as many would picture it and some would have disingenuously sold it, had and has nothing to do with either the constitutional political issue or democracy. Many folk confused said issues with the familial/social ties and geographical closeness. I have no doubt that some spoke from the heart, but that did not stop them from being in the wrong.
Self determination is an inalienable right of any nation, indeed any individual. Its our choices and aspirations, the freedom to choose that makes us who we are and is the corner stone of a thriving democracy. I hope that more than a few are looking at Westminster parliament right now and reflecting on their actions of the previous year. Looking at the way the Scottish benches are being treated, how Scots and our culture are being reflected in the press over the last twelve month. Maybe ask themselves if this is how they pictured better togetherness?
A couple of weeks ago “Scottish Labour” were the new and improved perfect force to revitalise Scottish politics under new and improved dynamo Kezia Dugdale
Then came Jeremy Corbyn who everybody and his dog including new and improved Kezia Dugdale said this man’s a dud and we should be having no truck with him whatsoever
Now in a complete reversal of all that was holy and sacrosanct to “Scottish Labour” now that Mr Corbyn has been elected leader of the aforesaid doomed party, by the miracle of his new leadership all policies have changed to even more better and perfecter than before
How did this happen, a burning bush perhaps, a flash of light and the word was good, call me an old cynic but was it not a more simple case of “We’re Fcuked” let’s just say anything to get the mugs to vote for us again and worry about it later
Kezia is great fun at times (although her whining voice does make you want to hurl objects at the Telly) but she is extremely dangerous now that she’s developed the Jim Murphy say anything approach
Already she’s saying Independence is OK if you really want it, Trident renewal maybe is bad if you say so, join the Labour party and we’ll talk about it “Later” come on in the water’s fine “Drown Later”
All of us remember the Dim Man’s pronouncements on anything he could think of to get folk to change their mind, remember before he was Leader it was SNP Baad then when he became leader it was “Everybody’s entitled to a different opinion” now that he’s out, it’s SNP Baad all over again
Maybe it’s just me but I’m seeing Whiny Kezia adopting exactly the same new and improved Dim Jim philosophy of just think of something to say and worry about it later politics, and that’s dangerous, because their are still folk out there who have the idea there might actually still be a Labour Party in existence and be daft enough to vote for it
They should remember Kezia works for the same people Johann Lamont worked for and look what happened to her (And her knife)
@Macart says: 24 September, 2015 at 8:59 pm:
“Still, I’m sure she supports rights for farmyard animals…”
Apparently so, Macart. However, she has recently amended her stated public views to exempt pigs from that category.
No explanation of the grounds for this exemption has yet been given.
Getting coat.
@Robert Peffers
They’re never going to live this one down Robert. 😀
“Batshit end of the Scottish Tory commentariat”
Wish I had said that. You would get more profound political insight from Katie Morag than from the high bred Katie Grant.
I don’t know about that, Macart, no one worries about the Earl of Emsworth and the Empress of Blandings any more.
@Paula Rose says: 24 September, 2015 at 9:12 pm:
“These descendants of Willie 1 are a bit johnny-come-latelies I always think.”
Indeed, Paula-Rose, but they are still current at the head of the Establishment. After all it was they who gifted us the feudal system still extant today. To prove it some of their feudal Lordships still sit as unelected peers of the realm in the House of Lords. We peasants pay them £300 per day attendance allowance and provide them with the best subsidised food and drink that it is possible to obtain.
Mind you we have to sanction the poorest of the poor so as to be able to keep them in the style to which they demand to be kept. What’s the deaths of the many poor men, women and children when compared to the demands their lordships for decent grog and nosh?
@Dr Jim says: 24 September, 2015 at 9:14 pm:
” … and telling big fat PORKIES still won’t work”
That’s not all they do to, “big fat porkies”, Dr Jim, but that’s another story.
@msean says: 24 September, 2015 at 9:16 pm:
“Those normans that conquered England have a lot to answer for. 🙂 Their descendents still think they rule us.”
That’s not the problem, msean, the problem is that a majority of our Scots electorate still want them to do so and we have not yet convinced enough of them to stop the Establishment doing so.
@Bill McLean says: 24 September, 2015 at 9:21 pm:
” … Dr Archibald Cameron was the last person in UK to be hanged, drawn and quartered for his part in the 1745 Jacobite rising That was in 1749 – he was the brother of Cameron of Locheil! Francis Towneley was executed in 1746.”
Yes Bill but you know as well as I do that Scots don’t count as, according to English Law, they were rebels.
As I keep pointing out, as there was no Union, (until after 1706/7), then the deposing of the English Monarchy, with the importing of King Billy & Queen Mary, could not legally depose the still independent King of Scotland.
Thus the Scots could not rebel against a still foreign monarchy until after 1706/7 – so just why were they still fighting bloody battles against the Scots for another 38 years.
In fact that was the main reason the English forced the Treaty of Union upon the Scots and the so called, “Jacobite Rebellions”, that began in 1688, continued after 1707 until 1745 – that’s the English enforcing the union upon the Scots for another 38 years after the so called union.
Katie Grant: High born Englishwoman; Edinburgh resident; whiney RP voice; English imperialist; ‘NO’ voter; minor author; crap pianist….perfect choice for BBC Scotland to continue the enforcement of the Scottish ‘cringe’.
Almost forgot, her best qualities: intellectual and political dimwit.
@yesindyref2 says: 24 September, 2015 at 10:02 pm:
” … the Herald do few of their own stories these days, it probably comes from some right wing rag like the DT.!
Where you been, yesindyref2?
Few of the news outlets, including the broadcasters, have done their own stories for many years.
Go to any News Agency, for example this one : –
http://uk.reuters.com/
You will get the news there just the same, and just as quickly, as the MSM and broadcasters. In fact they often print it almost or all verbatim. The editors now sit at their computers and cut and paste the stories into their professional, “Desk Top Publishing”, programs.
In the old days they had reporters go out looking for stories and phoning or telegraphing them into the head office. There the editors wrote up the stories and these were sent to the compositors who laid out the pages on frames with lead print dies that were used when they run the presses.
Now they send the story for printing in electronic data form and the presses can run in minutes.
So just go and get your news from Reuters and cut out the middle men/women
Robert Peffers
The Herald use http://www.ap.org/products-services/text
for most of their copy, and yes cut and paste is cheaper than employing journalists!
It appears to be a growing trend to take hardline establishment “nutters” and present them as a writer or columnist. It is only when a site such as this gives the full background and social connections does the motivation become clear.
The establishment wish to retain control and as always they will reward the champions of their cause.
…we are not going away!
@Taranaich says: 24 September, 2015 at 11:11 pm:
” … Now why is there such a “tradition” of Scots being the losers in battle more often than winners?”
Och! Taranaich, You know as well as I do why the southeron Establishment has always re-written real history. Even the Romans, the first writers of Britain’s history, have distorted history. Propaganda has always been the Southeron’s weapon of choice.
The Establishment have always distorted real facts and, as far as battles are concerned, they still do the same today. They either belittle real victories of their enemies or simply forget about them. For example how many Scots know about, “The Battle of Byland’s Ridge”, often just reported as, “Battle of Byland”, or, “Battle of Old Byland”?
Now about that, “Battle of the Pass of Brander .”
… … …
But that’s another true story.
@Robert Peffers and @Andrew McLean
Does that include the spin put on them? Because there were a lot of articles that were reasonably well balanced in themselves, but given a spin in the headline and strapline, though that seems to have got worse.
As have the articles themselves. Perhaps reuters and AP give a selection of articles about the same topic, to give the slant the customers want?
@Robert Peffers
Considering Grant is so proud of her great great etc uncle she mentions him on her website for his association with the Bonnie Prince, she of all people shouldn’t endorse the establishment who completely rewrote the guy basically as a coward to do him down, to suppress Jacobitism forever.
Hah, entirely likely, though there is a misconception that Scots were more often on the losing side in battles against England.
F£&%ING SAVED. Great find!
I did see it, but you don’t really look like Paul (who I’d love to meet myself, might well go up to his book launch in Glasgow if I can make it) Nonetheless, I’m always ridiculously pleased to meet people who I’ve encountered only on the internet (at least the nice ones!)
Indeed it is. And the key issue is that it isn’t about scores or superiority over England: it’s about being able to hold our own as a nation after centuries of being ridiculed as a wee backwater.
I do indeed, my question was entirely rhetorical, as we know fine well why that “tradition” exists. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed your elaboration.
I wish I’d seen this article earlier, and got my post in where people could read it.
Katie Grant’s boasted ancestral connections are at best tenuous, more probably bogus. It is based on the name of Towneley which was ‘assumed’ by her father – a Belgian whose surname was Koch de Gooreynd – on the basis of, we are told, some kind of connection with a great-great grandmother. Yeah, right. You really have to be a desperate and vulgar social climber to try that hard.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Towneley
Hi Taranaich.
RE: “Soldats de Robert Bruce”.
You may find this link of interest:-
http://www.maidofheaven.com/joanofarc_scots_guards.asp
Who elected her.
There is no universal sufferage in China. Scotland has universal suffrage. Voters just chose not to vote for so many Unionists politicians as in the rest of the UK. Scotland out voted 10 to 1.
There was no Democracy in Scotland until 2000. Who will the voters chose to vote for in Holyrood elections May 2016 and Council elections 2017. Westminster Unionist cheated Scotland in the Referendum with their lies. Then reneged on all their promises. Just who do they think they are? They just do not support Democracy but kill and maim innocent people all over the world. Bully boys.
Malcolm Bruce sat on his hands for thirty years. Did nothing for thirty years for the NE but lined his pockets but supported the sleeper rail service because they used it. The Oil revenues all went south and infrastructure in the North was non existent.
William the Conqueror was French. An immigrant who didn’t stop at Calais. He spoke French. She speaks double Dutch.
Cochrane supports the Labour/Unionists but is in the employment/payment of tax evading Non Doms. They make £Billions in the UK but pay no tax because they live in a private island off the English coast. They are UKIP supporting non elected, non UK residents who influence UK politics through their (illegal) ownership of the right wing Press. Cochrane boasted of receiving a bonus when Scotland voted NO. All the promises have been reneged on.