Fair and balanced
Posted on
March 21, 2013 by
Chris Cairns
The world's most-read Scottish politics website
-
About
Wings Over Scotland is a (mainly) Scottish political media digest and monitor, which also offers its own commentary. (More)
-
Recent Posts
- 04-13
- 04-10
- 04-09
- 04-05
- 03-28
- 03-27
- 03-22
- 03-20
- 03-17
- 03-17
- 03-16
- 03-15
- 03-12
- 03-11
- 03-08
- 03-07
- 03-06
- 03-05
- 02-27
- 02-25
A tall tale
Wee Books
Video
Probably a robbery
Transphobia
By Mr Salmond’s opponents, do you mean the ridiculous Labour MSP Elaine Murray, by any chance? God knows what she’s on, but whatever it is, it’s not strong enough.
O/T In other news, traces of class A substances have been found in the Parliament toilets.
@Albert
A-ha, so that’s where the third A went.
I would disagree with you Jeannie whatever she is on it would appear from her performance this afternoon, considering her background, she would check the recommended dosage more carefully
..And class A idiots found in debating chamber!
@Dunphail
I think she’s been sharing it with Alastair the Disaster. He’s on Scotland Tonight and looks like a man on the brink of a breakdown.
O/T Darling on Scotland tonight is having a major rant.
Funny as f***
What was he saying Baheid? Was not anything negative was it?
The cartoon reminds me of Beavis and Butthead, and, I’m sorry to say, doesn’t do Brian any favours.
Here’s my all-time favourite picture of Brian, which is available from BBC Scotland (you can get it as an A2 poster if you ask nicely, and I can recommend a mellow pastel mount with light-oak-effect framing):
link to node1.bbcimg.co.uk
Elaine Murray did actually say 18/11/2014. No doubt any month with a “ber” at the end is the same to her.
Could also be that she has cottoned on to the possibility of a time shift.
link to bbc.scotlandshire.co.uk
Gordon Brewer being a total arsehole towards Nicola Sturgeon on Newsnight.
Just watched Brewer on Newsnight Scotland interviewing Nicola Sturgeon, is he actually mentally challenged?
He demands actual policies from Nicola to support the argument for independence, then when he gets actual policies from the Green bloke he complains that ‘these are just political arguments’. Utterly hopeless.
I don`t think a fair and balanced debate is possible with a media almost entirely populated with unionists.
Watched Reporting Scotland this evening; so many unionist journalists talking through gritted teeth on this “momentous” day. Just watched Newsnight with Gordon Brewer openly laughing at Blair Jenkins.
Scotland’s biggest decision in 300 years and the BBC focus on whether the choice of day will affect turnout. Interview on radio with a clapped out pollster from the 70’s droning on about Wilson being elected in February and claiming Salmond has rigged an unfair question.
The BBC could have interviewed a succession of eminent Scots, inviting them to comment on the mood and meaning of this moment. Instead, a bunch of bitter third rate pols ranting about trivia allowed to dominate.
The BBC is finished as a serious news medium.
Could not believe the sheer bloody effrontery of Patricia Ferguson to criticise the SNP over the bedroom tax when its the Labour Party which introduced it in the first place and is now complicit in its implementation and saying they won’t repeal it anyway. And their criticism of the Scottish Government? It’s that they’re not, apparantly, allowing Housing Associations to immediately build more one bedroom homes to accommodate the people who are being penalised for having an extra bedroom.
You just couldn’t make it up. I really don’t think there’s a force on this earth now which could ever make me vote Labour. They’re an embarrassment and a shower of cynical, manipulative, opportunist con-men/women.
Brewer what is he on? I can’t say anything about the man that would not be considered overly offensive.
@muttley79
Here’s a summary for you.
We’re doooomed, dooooomed l tell yi. (throw in agitated twitches and, fuck how thick are people look, and that’s about it).
I have a deep feeling we are going to have fun over h next months.
Well said Jeannie couldn’t agree more.
I have just read that the date of the referendum may have to be changed.
link to carons-musings.blogspot.co.uk
Apparently a major political party is having its conference, in England!
Jeannie/annie ,I could’nt agree more .
Nothing they say now can crush my hope and optimism for independence. Listening to the Proclaimers – On My Way to celebrate!
Maybe all the Nos need is a good party, a wee dance and some hope & optimism too. They always look so dour and resigned.
Think Patricia Ferguson has been watching too many grand Designs with Kevin Mcleod, she seems to think houses pop up within an hour. Stroke of Genius BT putting her on tonight.
Patrick Harvey was good – for a Green that is
@GP Walrus- I heard that too, was he from MORI or something, he was a real live AS hater and said as much. Interviewer was rather taken aback. Took the producer in his ear to rescue the interview to some extent – chap was barking mad, as much as I was taken aback, I couldn’t help laughing at him, still can’t figure out if he was for real.
Apparently a major political party is having its conference, in England!
In Liverpool. Ending the day before the referendum. How on earth are Scottish LibDems supposed to get from Liverpool to Scotland in less than day? It’s disgraceful. I demand that the SNP invent several forms of transport more advanced than the stagecoach immediately. Perhaps giant eagles could be bred which can carry passengers?
Could not believe the sheer bloody effrontery of Patricia Ferguson to criticise the SNP over the bedroom tax when its the Labour Party which introduced it in the first place and is now complicit in its implementation and saying they won’t repeal it anyway. And their criticism of the Scottish Government?
You’d think she’d be pleased the government have a plan to do away with it.
Over to Gordon:
But that’s a political argument. When are we going to hear some actual political arguments instead? I demand that the SNP tell me who the Scots would vote for to run an independent Scotland and what their policies would be. But without any political arguments. Or with them. Whichever they’re not doing, until they do something else. Look, we all know the SNP are a protest party and independence is ridiculous, do I have to keep pretending to take them seriously? Because I don’t think I’m fooling anyone. And why has no one mentioned the elephant in the room? If Scotland – hah! – was ‘independent’ – sneer – I’d be out of a job! What the hell sort of state would Scotland be in then? It wouldn’t, would it Nicola – hah! – Sturgeon?
Game changer, game changer, I’ll give Brewer an effing game changer. How about a balanced media.
I need help,
At the end of scotland tonight one of the five things tomorrow was that Dame Ann Begg is chair at a conference on Raising Awareness of Planned Benefit Cuts !?
She abstained on monday, didn’t she ?
Please somebody tell me I’ve got something wrong here
Brewer is like this all the time – he has trouble with keeping things in their categories and lets one bleed into the other frequently.
Much comment is made of Brewer’s motivation, intent, style – but I think a major part of the problem is that he just isn’t that sharp, particularly around categories and concepts.
Tonight at the start of the panel interview/’debate’, he asks Jenkins what the ‘game changer’ is (we already know he’s looking for a policy or something like) – Jenkins says the game changer is actually the engagement of the electorate in their own good and varied time and explains why. Brewer accepts this as Jenkins view but still holds to his belief that the game changer must be a new policy so asks (again) what it is – Jenkin’s ‘game changer’ isn’t an argument (policy, promise, something new) Brewer tells him. Brewer believes the ‘game changer’ is some new policy/info/framing and can’t cognitively deal with the idea that someone mightn’t see it this way and so his ‘autistic’ representation of others mental state distorts many of the mental models he builds. That’s why he’s like a dog with a bone all the time – despite the fact everyone looking on can see it’s not a bone he’s got. IMO.
Patrick Harvie seems nice as pie, but why he chose not to expose Patricia Ferguson on Labour’s bedroom tax hypocrisy is beyond me – maybe he’s just too nice, maybe it’s just better for the Greens to leave that to SNP vs Labour.
In general though, I hope we all got the memo – we need a game changer. I expect that’ll be the latest thing the Yes campaign will be lacking, a game changer – I’m sure some of the news cycle will be devoted the the YeSnp campaign’s failure to provide the media with the ‘game-changer’. lol
For the day of the Devolution Referendum, my wife and I were in Emgland visiting family.
We were able to express our preference in this vote by something called a “postal vote”
I wonder if Caron Lindsay, who appears to be one of the many LibDems spokespeople with special responsibility for making ridiculous pronouncements, has heard of this facility?
Especially for an event that is so important to her, that she doesn’t even know the dates of it!
Independence. That’s the game changer. That’s what’s got Gordon so rattled. He’s still playing the old game.
We were able to express our preference in this vote by something called a “postal vote”
Yes, using the Royal Mail. Which – as the name clearly states – belongs to England. So how can Scots use it for an independence referendum? Just another thing the SNP haven’t thought through.
I think Patrick Harvie lets Labour off time and time again because he would prefer to work with thm over the SNP.
In the past he has obviously hoped to position himself as a Kingmaker. At that time he obvioysly favoured Labour, hoping to replace the LibDems as their partners in Holyrood. I think he was crushed when 2011 didn’t deliver him that power
Whatever Elaine Murray and the rest of the Labour mob are on its not speed! Between today and yesterday’s Iraq debate, they have difficulty articulating a single coherent thought. The paucity of talent on the whole rag bag is frightening. And does not bode well for the future of democracy in an independent Scotland.
But then we always have Brewer and the BBC willing to act as opposition.
Any chance you could provide us with a higher resolution version of that cartoon? I like it, but reading it (even after clicking for the bigger version) was a bit sore on the eyes.
“Any chance you could provide us with a higher resolution version of that cartoon? I like it, but reading it (even after clicking for the bigger version) was a bit sore on the eyes.”
Fixed.
Erchie,
In defence of Mr Harvie he was instrumental in the cooperative agreement with the SNP after the 2007 election. He used to be a Labour member but left like many because the party abandoned the values he held. Its not the Green parties place to intervene on behalf of the SNP and vice versa, thats what Lib Dems are for.
two points,be prepared for Brewers deliberate misunderstanding when interviewing NS (re asking any other Independent Country etc ) being spun ,so that it will put you off your cornflakes .
Second point, it would appear when you click on Newsnet.com you are being directed to the BT squad -sorry if this has already been posted
@Erchie
Yes, I agree. Patrick Harvie is like many other lefties that can’t bring themselves to believe the reality of how divorced Labour’s words are from their actions.
@pmcrek
I don’t think his or any other party’s members job is to support the SNP, a party I am also not a member of. I just think he still has an instinctive tribal attachment to Labour, and if he had to work with another party he would choose Labour given his druthers.
Ot may be for a romantic, nostalgic memory of Labour that motivates him, but whatever it s, it’s the vibe he gives off.
It’s what stopped me voting Green again
Erchie,
Fair enough, tbh I still have a nostalgic memory of Labour myself…
The 6:30 Distorting Scotland managed to find an English business woman who was dubious about independence, 3 what looked like VOAPs who were against and several people in Perth who were anti or had reservations. Coming from Perth myself I refuse to believe that did not involve extreme John West Journalism.
The only ‘vox pop’ pro support was 3 unemployed guys in a pub in The Raploch drinking beer which would not endear folk to their unemployed status and whose opinion could be discounted as either beer-talk or umbridge at their personal circumstance.
Even the Better Together graphic was shown covering part of the Yes graphic.
OTOH they did pit the retired once boss of Tunnocks, who IMO seemed unduly concerned about English retaliation (not buying his biscuits, putting a tax on his biscuits etc) which I felt was slightly racist in an anti-English sense, and a switched on pro indy young businesswomen who voiced rather more plausible concerns about the consequences of remaining in the UK. (We won’t see her again).
And of course we had the obligatory 10 min slot for Labour in the form of the lamentable Johann being allowed to do what she considers a virtual Slab PPB.
So it wasn’t all bad (if you don’t take intent into account).
I’m going to stick up for the Padster here – I don’t think he’s under any illusion that Labour resemble a lefty party in any way, shape or form, and from what I know, he gets on very well with many folk in the SNP (although I don’t think it’s any secret Alex Salmond isn’t his favourite SNP member!) Patrick had his own arguments to make, and it kind of defeats the purpose of having a non-SNP person on the programme to show that they’re not the only voice in this debate if we’re going to then expect that person to be a sort of proxy SNP spokesperson.
I don’t think Patricia Ferguson needed any help digging a hole for herself. Her visceral hatred of independence means she is incapable of discussing the issue without coming across like the kind of drooling, knuckle-dragging Loonionist we come across on the internet calling Alex Salmond a fat Nazi dictator etc!
Besides, Gordon Brewer had already put Patrick on the spot with his “so, are you signing up to all this oil stuff Mr Environment, eh? Eh? EH????!??! ANSWER ME PATRICK OR I WILL ELIMINATE YOU LIKE I ELIMINATED NICOLA STURGEON!!!!!” kind of act.
Erchie and pmcreck
in days gone by when I used to dip into Labour Hame I noticed PH was always on their twitter feed. It was like he was trying to impress them – not terribly attractive and his childish, petulant tweets put me off him. He’s a Labour man. Not to be trusted.
Chic – the thing that really stood out for me was the completely different tone Jackie Bird used for interviewing Nicola Sturgeon and Bammy Lammy. She started off civil enough with Nicola, but it wasn’t long before her inherent unionism came to the fore and she was on the aggressive. In contrast, Lamont was treated with kid gloves, with Bird asking her questions in a soft voice and any “probing” questions were asked with the answer already half provided.
In short, it was a bit like this…
link to youtu.be
If PH had more political nous he would be making capital out of Scotland’s stand on renewable’s over nuclear.
If he had more ethical back-bone he would be challenging his English counterpart Caroline Lucas with the extraordinary degree of English NIMBYISM which is tolerate regarding ON-shore windpower as per the following graphic:
link to i51.photobucket.com
@Doug Daniel
You like ‘the Padster’, fair enough! Everybody likes the Padster! I didn’t want him to hold Ferguson & Labour up because he’s an SNP lackey, I wanted him to to it because he’s also against their hypocrisy, but he didn’t. I don’t want him as a proxy for the SNP, but the point had been made that Yes might deliver a more socially equitable society, Ferguson used (of all things) the bedroom tax and a conflation of SNP with Yes to make out that we don’t need indy – if only the SNP would use the powers they had. With Labour’s hypocrisy a matter of record now, Harvie had that point and Ferguson, Labour and BT, over a barrel there and then.
I know Brewer set up Harvie to distance himself form the SNP with oil stuff, but be honest – most times you see ‘the Padster’ (it does have a ring), he doesn’t miss an opportunity to distance himself and the Greens for the SNP. I might have hoped on the day the date was given and we had a panel debate specifically on indy, that for once the Padster might take the easy, voters-have-all-options-after-indy approach and left it at just that.
Doug
Missed Nicola, was she on AFTER the weather? Maybe I inadvertently catnapped.
P.S. clearly from comments I must have missed part of the programme by switching off after the weather. Never saw Harvey either, assumed reference to him firther back was on another programme.
Chic – Nicola was pretty much first on the programme! As for Harvie, aye, he was just on Newsnicht tonight.
mrbfaethedee – “most times you see ‘the Padster’ (it does have a ring), he doesn’t miss an opportunity to distance himself and the Greens for the SNP.”
It does have a good ring to it, doesn’t it? It came to me after hearing Isabel Fraser calling him Paddy on the Sunday Politics.
But the thing we all have to remember is that it’s his prerogative to distance himself and the Greens from the SNP. They’ve suffered from the polarisation in Scottish politics between the SNP and Labour, so the last thing he needs is people thinking “ach well, the Greens aren’t any different from the SNP anyway, so I might as well just vote SNP.”
You’re right, he could easy have picked Ferguson up on the bedroom tax point, but she speaks so much pish that it must be difficult to strike a balance between spending all your time refuting her rubbish, and saying your own piece. To be honest, I thought his butting-in when Blair McDoofus was spinning a yarn was good enough. Let’s not forget, Patrick asked probably the best question in the post-announcement debate this afternoon!
link to youtu.be
@Doug Daniel
I agree with what you are saying with exception that I consider the question put by Margo MacDonald at 16.40 on the video to be far better than Harvey’s.
When are we going to realise that the way forward is a parliament > 50% independents?
Otherwise it’s another FredWestminster
-Aidan B
Yes, he was a (retired) MORI pollster. He went completely off the rails during the interview about the “biased” independence question. His proposal appeared to be:
“Should Scotland be an independent country, or not?”
So on the day the referendum date is announced, the BBC are broadcasting a prime time interview with an out-of-date ex-pundit who is pouring doubt on the validity of the agreed question, proposed by the Electoral Commission, and his alternative is a question which can’t be answered yes or no unambiguously.
This is just really, really low quality broadcasting. Rambling uninformed guests opining irrelevantly on the most important political decision for 300 years.
The BBC is a pathetic failure.
Good joke to start the day, very funny. Normally do not watch Reporting Scotland, enjoyed last nights extended coverage of the Referendum Date, speaking to both sides activists, politicians and business would like more of the same.
Duck and cover. BBC impartiality begins in earnest now.
Maybe all the Nos need is a good party, a wee dance and some hope & optimism too. They always look so dour and resigned.
link to pbs.twimg.com
Brian
I see that Hamish is getting desperate in the background!
“I see that Hamish is getting desperate in the background! :)”
I was actually going to use that pic for an “And Finally…” earlier this week, but decided I didn’t want anyone mistaking that lion for our brave wee Hamish, who would never resort to such begging.
OT, but while I remember, this video has been doing the rounds for a while now but if you haven’t seen it before then its well worth a look.
Its about the different ways Norway and Ireland approach their oil resources.
@Doug Daniel
Oh…that clip was brilliant. If only Newsnight were that entertaining!
@seasickdave
Really interesting wee film – I don’t really ever think of Ireland as a country with oil and gas. There’s a lesson for us all in that film. I think everybody should put this onto Facebook.
For those who don’t know, here’s BetterTogether’s latest wheeze:
“in what we believe is a world first for a political campaign, we will be sending 300000 Scots a mobile opinion poll by text message.
It is the first in a series of incredible new campaigning tools that we will be rolling out in the coming months.”
In reality, what they’re doing is sending 300,000 people a spam text message. They even admit as much on their own site, where they tell us that they are using numbers they’ve gotten, not from their own data gathering, but from lists of numbers they’ve purchased from other companies:
link to bettertogether.net
Classy stuff. It’s nice they think they’ve invented spam, mind…
@ Seasick Dave says:
Thank you for the link. It has a very poignant message and something all the people of Scotland need to be clearly aware of and understand how their nation and society has been truly ripped off over the past 40 years. Not for their instant riches to themselves but for the future investment of their children and grandchildren. This is a big part of the positive message that needs to projected in the run up to the referendum. How any Scot can vote no to achieve the status quo is beyond belief.
I was somewhat surprised to get an e-mail from NO Scotland – is that a prediction(?) – this a.m.
They are running a poll here:
link to noscotland.net
scroll down a wee bit.
It is currently running at 82.74% for a Yes vote!
C’mon guys, fill your boots!
@douglas clark
That’s interesting…..they seem to think the date of the referendum is October 18th 2014.
I never tire of this clip of the Plaid economist who absolutely nailed Paxman on Newsnight . We need a similar attack dog in Scotland.
Impartiality will be totally jettisoned in order to promote the Bitter Together campaign. Your cartoon sums up the bias from a broadcaster funded by our licence fees.
@douglas clark
Wish I could get a hold of that wee cartoon figure to the right of the page with union jack knickers under his kilt. I’d like to circulate it to see what people’s gut reaction to it is. I know what mine was – visceral.
@Doug Daniel
I don’t think Patricia Ferguson needed any help digging a hole for herself. Her visceral hatred of independence means she is incapable of discussing the issue without coming across like the kind of drooling, knuckle-dragging Loonionist we come across on the internet calling Alex Salmond a fat Nazi dictator etc!
Yes, I have noticed that Ferguson is implacably opposed to independence! One of the most striking things about the referendum campaign so far as been the degree to which Scottish Labour are going ballistic. You just need to have heard the speeches from Lamont, Sarwar, Davidson etc this year. Also, the interventions from James Kelly, Kezia Dugdale and Neil Findlay were mental yesterday. Kelly was more interested in goading Salmond about retirement than making a case for the Union :D, Dugdale was complaining about the White Paper not being published now!, Findlay asked the same question twice, and got the same answer! Findlay has set himself up as the Labour rebel and lefty but he is sounds a diehard Unionist. Patricia Ferguson goes apeshit whenever she mentions independence, it sounds as if she has just found out someone has been torturing her cat…
@ douglas clark says:
The present poll is about the percentage the yes vote will be on 18/09/2014.
OT: link to bloomberg.com
Interesting agressive last paragraph
“Scotland would pay a price for kicking Trident out,” Crawford said. “If Scotland gets awkward on Trident I am sure England can find ways of being awkward. Financially and operationally the cost of trying to make independence work in the face of hostility would be horrendous.”
Douglas Clark said:
They are running a poll here:
link to noscotland.net
scroll down a wee bit.
It is currently running at 82.74% for a Yes vote!
This keeps happening, and it’s odd. I know the cybernats descend on these polls in their ravening hordes, but that shouldn’t be enough to produce >80% figures for Yes time and time again. Where are the Cyberbrits? Surely if No was such a popular choice it wouldn’t be that hard to send the link off on its travels and get a decent sort of response for their own side?
I haven’t seen this happen elsewhere. Recently a 9/11 conspiracy theory site set up one of these “9/11 was an inside job” online polls, which was immediately over-run by sceptics. However the interesting thing is that that didn’t last. Their “yes” vote then rallied strongly and took a lead. Either the site admins were fiddling the figures, or they managed to reach enough of their own little clique to make a big difference. Despite 9/11 trutherism being a very minority sport.
Why do the Cyberbrits repeatedly, consistently, every time, fail to mobilise their own support even in polls they set up themselves?
Come on guys, get onto that
link to bettertogether.net and vote.
Re. The Bitter Together spam message I thought it was interesting to see on their webshite that they say “The company that our agency got your mobile number from are reputable and are compliant with every rule and every regulation”. Pity the same can’t be said of Bitter Together
@ creag an tuirc says:
“Countries have to differentiate between their positions, interests and needs, Charles Crawford, a former U.K. ambassador, said in a telephone interview. Both Scotland and the rest of the U.K. need defense and have common interests.”
Yup, who the f**k is Charles Crawford (Ex British Diplomat) Nobody knows him, it seems he’s been dug out of some ‘smokey london gentleman’s club’ full of brandy and full of s**t. Answer from Scotland… GTF.
@douglas clark
at10.37
Vote cast.
Yes now at 82.86%
Come on guys it is a one click vote!
Thanks for the heads up on the ‘NO” poll. Ive duly cast my vote1
RE Better together spam texting what we’d assume is a general 300,000 sample cross section of the population…
The likelihood is that people getting the text who are prompted into giving the topic some thought will go look at both YesScotland and Better Together unless they are definitely pro-union and not for turning. That means about 30% of respondents will be inclined to consider better together only, with 70% prompted to have a look at Yes Scotland.
Good news for YesScotland.
I suspect this happens each time better together do a ‘blitz’. Some evidence to suggest that interest in YesScotland shoots up in response.
I believe it’s called the law of unintended consequences.
I was somewhat surprised to get an e-mail from NO Scotland – is that a prediction(?) – this a.m.
They are running a poll here:
link to noscotland.net
scroll down a wee bit.
It is currently running at 82.74% for a Yes vote!
C’mon guys, fill your boots!
@ douglas clark
Thanks just did! It seems their own side arent even motivated enough to ensure a convincing vote in favour of their beloved UK.. No wonder when i heard a snipped from the Lamentable one on real radio tea-time news trying and failing to align SNP supporters with her own feelings of wanting this constitutional wrangle over to concentrate on jobs and the economy. I thought i had heard it all from slab but this was a belter.
I heard myself saying aloud that she certainly doesnt speak for this SNP voter and that she couldnt be further from the truth. In fact, I cant wait to get the chance to vote YES and see the back of her cringing self and her cruel sad joke of a party along with the disgusting pravda Unionist msm. The sheer brass neck of Lamont to mention the very economy that her party had a huge hand in crashing defies belief. I really do hope come a YES vote that her and her type take the high road out of Scotland like so many thousands of decent Scots have had to do due to the ineptness and voluntary redundancy of Unionism where Westminster trumps the people of Scotland every single time. Dont kid a kidder Lamont, Go take a flying jump.
@Doug Daniel
Yes, I’m not saying it isn’t understandable that the Greens want to be able to distinguish themselves for very good reasons. It’s just that it must be frustrating to have as an ‘ally’ one of the most effective public facing politicians around, who just happens to be in a party so teeny that maintaining their distinct identity is something they can’t afford to ignore.
I didn’t see the debate, so thanks for the clip – it’s to Harvie’s further credit that he reprised the same themes on the newsnicht panel debate; good to keep alive in the media the idea of the open minded sections of the public still there to be convinced.
Just wanted to add in addition to my post above that in hearing this Real Radio news clip yesterday, it seems that from Lamonts’ depressing unconvincing tone, even she is not believing the bizzare crap shes spouting. They really are deluded fools, No wonder their own poll is showing them taking a hammering! Very poor stuff from the Naysers. Wish we could have a whip round to get rid.
@ Morag re the poll – That, in my view, is the million dollar question. Where is this silent majority they keep talking of?
.
morag,
What is a tad astonishing is the number of votes cast. It is running at an overall total of over 5,500. I assume that the mail shot went out at about 09:00 this morning as the earliest comment is at around 09:32.
Has anyone every heard of the No Scotland folk before? I thought they were ‘better together’ or summat.
@douglas clar
@morag
Well, if they can’t even get the date of the referendum right on their own site…….or are we voting for a completely different referendum that they know about and we don’t that isn’t happening till the end of October?
@Morag
I mean, imagine getting the date wrong
@douglas clark
That poll has been running for ages. There’s another one at
link to hard-copy.co.uk
It’s a bit distorted as the No vote mysteriously gained ca.300 all of a sudden a few days ago. It had been running at around 83%-17%.
I do wonder about the motivation of the naysayers – seems they can’t even be bothered clicking a button on a website, not even their own!
@Morag
I mean, imagine getting the date wrong
Did you ever?
Regarding these online polls on independence that always seem to go one way, it does make you wonder why they do it. All they’re left with are bad results and ip addresses.
@Douglas Clark
Thanks for the link. Every chance to vote on independence is duly accepted. Voting Yes every time, and it never fails to feel good doing so
@EdinScot
Their silent majority are too busy “out on the streets and on doorsteps”
Aye Right!
@ The Man in the Jar
Exactly, thats why the rhetoric is being whipped up. Fear is in their eyes. Its us that can mobilise as last years rally demonstrated. They couldnt even allow Salmond 30 seconds simply mentioning the date of the referendum.
Me thinks they are pissing off more and more people the more they scaremonger and the longer it goes on, the movement is only going to go in one direction. They are the gift that keeps on giving.
The cartoon pic is not funny because it is seriously true. Can’t remember the name of teh female SLAB member, but at FMQ’s yesterday, she bleated (on the point of hysteria I thought!) that what times would the polling stations be open to on voting day. In other words …it will be dark at night.
FFS !!!!
It will still be light at 9.30pm on the 18th of September. Seriously …is this the best that Scottish Labour have got? A party full of thickoes, halfwits, bitter to the core, churlish party. Why the F*** would you seriously vote for this mob. If one of them was a captain in the trenches, and told us to cross No Man’s Land to face machine guns …I would shoot them just for 1. their plain stupidity, and 2. to put them out of their permanent misery.
Game changer? I wish Blair Jenkins had said, we’ll just make sure every Scottish voter reads the comments threads on the Telegraph stories about the referendum for a week, and we’ll have a shoo-in 80%.
JLT, is it possible that was a speech prepared in the expectation that the referendum would be on 18th October, rather than September, and she didn’t think to shut up when it wasn’t the date she expected?
The ‘noscotland’ poll now UP to 83.22%.
Quiet majority? Aye, and then some.
@Morag
@JLT
I think you’re on to something there. It was a really bizarre contribution by Elaine Murray and she even looked a bit confused herself. Interesting that the date on the No Campaign poll is the same date…Oct. 18th. Coincidence or did they really think that was going to be the date….perhaps that’s why Patricia Ferguson was whining about not being told the date in advance of the announcement?
I think that was the date the Sun took a punt on last year and headlined it as a leak. It’s a Saturday, bear in mind.
Remember all the bile thrown at Salmond at the time for being in Murdoch’s pocket and leaking the date to one of his papers?
If anyone likes multiple voting in meaningless polls here’s the link
link to better.factory73.com Have fun!
i just voted and then wondered- are they harvesting emails?
David McCann,
“are they harvesting emails?”
That’s a good question. I have no real idea why I got their e-mail this morning. It’s not as if I am exactly their target audience.
____________________________________
Albert Herring,
Thanks for the info. Do you know anything else about the no Scotland folk?
For instance, are they ‘official’ or what their status is?
@douglas clark
Not really, just that they’re destined for a thoroughly deserved place in the Comedy Hall of Fame. They’re apparently staffed by the love-children of Frank Spencer and Father Dougal McGuire.
oops sorry no, that’s Better Together!
Albert Herring,
I didn’t even know it existed until this morning.
I see they have corrected the date.
There is no obvious ‘voice’ behind that site. I am just a bit suspicious, is all.