Wings Over Scotland

What does it say of the mainstream media in Scotland at least, that someone so massivley incompetent can ‘slide’ into a media spot at a branch office?

It says its over – and as noted, its going down fast.

I feel the same way about the Record as the people in Liverpool feel about the Sun.

Very good Rev,

The tone of the Record’s drivel is jaw-droppingly insulting to our nations intelligence.

The very last sentence from the editorial is also a beautiful example of irony.

A remarkable editorial and way, way too long. I was gnawing my leg off with boredom half down. At least it didn’t have a picture of a gallows 🙂

The 2007 victory was a remarkable achievement. It was the very definition of swimming against the media tide.

I would imagine Foote will be Leonard’s man instead of the Mail chap.

“But we would not tell you which way to vote…”

OFFS! 😀 LOLMAGGEDON

No. No I mainly won’t forget Mr Foote’s contributions to Scotland’s current predicament. He certainly did his bit. Yes and what a contribution it was.

Probably not one you’d want to be remembered for.

Let’s hope that Mr Foote gets his wish and gets a job with ‘Scottish Labour’ -he might be as ‘successful’ there as he was at the Record !
(Admittedly , there is not so far to fall , though )

‘The Ryder Cup is in the bag’

The lack of ambition is palpable.

‘Here’s a little trinket to distract you while Westminster loots your resources’.

Looks like the paper version of the DR will reach zero in 4-5 years. Someone will pull the plug before then.

Every democracy needs a free press to act as a mirror to society and to hold power to account. It is hard to imagine right now how iScotland will actually be able to create such a free press. We have very little to build from.

Anyone know what the situation is currently in other Nordic countries?

I suppose a Foote in the mouth is a bit better than a — Err! Perhaps not!

Incredible as it is to say this, but since 2014, I firmly believe the UK nationalist parties based in Scotland all actually WANT Scotland’s economy and people to fail.

It is a policy which has served all their parties well up until now. Their collective aim, aided and abetted by the media, is to destroy all confidence and pride in ‘brand Scotland’.

A cowed and frightened people are more likely to stick to the status quo, on the premise that, ‘If its bad now, how much worse off will we be if we are independent?’

It was a policy of scaremongering which worked in 2014.

But you can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.

The UK nationalism lies and scaremongering will catch up with them all during indyref2.

My cats have had a serious bowl problem of late, they appeared to be constipated.

I changed their food.

I changed where I fed them to see if that made a difference.

I kept them inside thinking that they were perhaps stressed by the local psycho tomcat.

Nothing worked, so I took them to the vet.
He examined them and couldn’t find anything physically wrong with them.

“How are you toileting them?” asked the vet.
“In a litter tray” I answered.
“What sort of litter are you using?”
“The Daily Record,” came the reply.
“Ah!” exclaimed the vet.
“There’s your problem. Cats are scrupulously clean creatures and no self respecting cat will shit on a Daily Record. Remove it and you’ll find that the cats will start pooing again, just like normal.”

I took the vet’s advice, removed the Daily Record and I have happy cats again.

Both are dropping bombs like it’s going out of fashion and everybody in my house is happy again, despite the smell.

The moral of this tail (no typo) is don’t line your cat’s litter tray with the Daily Record because cats don’t shite on shite!

Cuilean says:

the UK nationalist parties based in Scotland all actually WANT Scotland’s economy and people to fail

Agree completely. Strategic importance, the oil, the fish, a few key components they need. The rest they want to damage to discourage Indy.

‘If its bad now, how much worse off will we be if we are independent?’

It was a policy of scaremongering which worked in 2014.

That was what swung it. That, topped in the closing days with the Vow.

YES in IndyRef2 need to turn the tables completely. Take the initiative and make sure Brexit UK is seen as the scary risky option. And, Indy is seen as a solution and way forward.

Considering how that 2007 election went, for Labour and the Record, it is hard to believe that John “the seer” McTernan was not involved in sculpting that editorial !!

The giveaway that it is not the work of JM-T is the last bit, which is eerily correct…

…”but we would not tell you which way to vote, you’d only tell us where to get off” …..

McTernan would never have got such a stunningly accurate prediction right..

McTernan is also famous for the time he clapped eyes on RMS Titanic just before it left dock, and predicted..”i can tell by looking at it, that ship is NOT unsinkable, if it hits an iceberg it will tear the hull open and sink”

People laughed at Mr McTernan as the cinema staff led him away….but Big John knew what may ahead for Jack and Rose….!!

OT but relevant to the wider picture …

link to rightsinfo.org

@Petra,

Astonishingly there are articles in the media from leading Conservative figures , claiming that the Good Friday Agreement should be torn up as it is not working.

Exactly how or why they think they can get away with that with impunity amazes me.

I am of what some might label the extreme and ‘heretical’ opinion that Scotland may never become independent through the British ballot box alone. There seem to be just too many Scots tone deaf to the inspirational themes of independence. The banal strains of utilitarian ‘cost of everything value of nothing’ Britishness satisfy their taste. They are unlikely to develop an ear for a different tune.
Mr Torrance huxtering the dead horse notion of UK federalism in today’s Herald is symptomatic.
These people will, eventually, destroy Scotland, in both idea and substance. It may be their intention. Scotland isn’t England and that’s the core of the problem. If we want to succeed we need to ‘anglomorph’.
If you don’t believe that, ‘they’ will destroy you with lies, damned lies and propaganda.
We have a massive psychological as well as political problem in this country. I’m not sure the SNP, now a respectable establishment party of government, has the stomach to put the fear of God into that particular constituency and endure any consequences.
British unionism is a thorn in our Scottish side. The situation must be reversed. We need to develop sharp spines; just like the thistle.

“Do you seriously believe Westminster will hand over oil revenues and still subsidise Scotland with the Barnet formula?”

Asks the editorial.

The Record obviously haven’t a clue about what Independence means.

@Ottomanboi says: 19 February, 2018 at 11:51 am:

“I’m not sure the SNP, now a respectable establishment party of government, has the stomach to put the fear of God into that particular constituency and endure any consequences.”

So you conclude it must all be that BAAAAD SNP party that we must blame then, Ottomanboi?

O/T

Fraser Nelson of the Spectator telling us on Radio 2 that Scotland’s Free uni education system is failing because it is not attracting people from poorer backgrounds into Uni education and that the fee-paying English system is better.

WTAF!!

Perhaps he w has resigned because he is refusing to pen any more of the shite he’s been instructed to do. It’s not the editor that is the major problem with these publications – it’s policy of their owners.

Good full page piece by Mhairi Black putting a big boot into Labour in today’s Record BTW

He has gone the way of all other Labour Stalwarts. I’m alright ‘Jack’!

(ie Me first, Labour Second, next Britain then the EU and finally Scotland the region ! / Wouldn’t say the Lords is out of the question either)

@HandandShrimp
I believe the former DM guy Alan Roden is now on Kezie Dugdale’s staff rather than Labour Party.

In Scotland’s history Foote will join the long list of tractors.

Robert,
I actually think London is the highest funded part of the UK. It all comes down to the lies about tax v spend.
Everyone is brainwashed into thinking tax comes before spending, yet as prof Murphy has talked about and many progressive economists will attest to, taxation is only possible with spending.
Spending precedes taxes. Nowhere is that more stark than in the city of London. Of course tax revenues are high because that sector received a £1trillion bailout after 2007. (See national debt pre and post financial crisis)
Saying London provides is a bit like saying that a lotto winner is self-made.

As we saw through the bank of England’s QE programme, it is no more difficult for the central bank to up its balance sheet than it is to change the scoreboard at murrayfield.
What is far more valuable than central bank IOUs is energy and resources.

I think the Scottish printed media, more than the media anywhere else, illustrate the old saw that ‘people don’t own the media to inform the public; they own it to try and influence the public’.

In Scotland, the emphasis is clearly on TRY as their efforts are no longer as effective as they once were. Roughly half the population or more have seen through the deceit and misinformation and are now ‘out of tune’ with the media owners yet no effort is made to represent the varying views among members of the public. This willingness to lose sales and income, year after year, is probably the strongest possible evidence that the media is not serving the interests of Scots, regardless of their political orientation.

The picture is similar for the BBC. Until Scotland is independent or completely assimilated into Greater England this will not change, though even with the latter I would expect the media to continue serving the interests of the Establishment rather than the mass of the population.

Only with independence are we likely to develop a media akin to that operating in Norway or Finland.

With regard to who is Establishment and who is not, just remember how many ‘socialists’ and Lib/Dem MPs quite happily end up in the House of Lords. If you think they still represent you, think again.

It’s the family members I feel sorry for, if only they had told the tuith.

@Proud Cybernat – Fraser Nelson is a liar. He’s been shown evidence on several occasions that UCAS is not the only route to Uni.

Poorer children in Scotland tend to cope better either going into Uni via college or getting a degree at college.

He knows this but continues to lie.

The fact so many BritNat journalists feel the only way to preserve the union is by cheating, fear-mongering and lying, shows the paucity of their case

Well silly me i did acutely read this , eh difficult to actually put a badge on it , was it a rant ? , was it good sensible advise ? , eh probably none of those .

While reading this load of junk my main observations were Lie- Nope – not true – labour didn’t do that ,Its a pity there wasnt a tick box next to every line of this rubbish , and as for Jack ,you know the one while in office managed to return some of the block grant to Westminster while piling on the debt with the only game in town PFI contracts .

This from supposedly intelligent people , god help us if these folk still have access to any kind of comment in the media , I doubt if so many people have ever been so misled by so few .A totally parallel universe these people inhabit .

i wonder if it was stus article on the drop in dr sales which was the final nail in foote’s coffin? i dont believe in such coincedences… it cant have helped

I can’t stop re-reading that bat shit loony 2007 Record article! To think it was penned just over 10 years ago!

How Scotland has changed since 2007. Such a short time! So many seismic political events:

1. The 2007 SNP win at Holyrood.
2. The 2011 SNP win at Holyrood.
3. The 2014 Indyref.
4. The 2015 SNP win at Westminster.
5. The 2016 SNP win at Holyrood.
6. The 2016 Brexit Referendum.
7. The 2017 SNP win at Westminster.

The 2007 article begins with a direct order to its readers, ‘Do not vote for Alex Salmond today’.

And in concluding it blatantly lies ‘But we would not tell you which way to vote’. Just how stupid did they think we were? Just how Stupid do they still think we are?

Off the scale stupidity but SLAB’s entitlement and arrogance oozes out of every 2007 MSM sentence and continues to the present day.

How meet has been SLAB’s demise since 2007.

Little did Foote know he was penning SLAB’s swan song.

Dear God! How this party, crammed with Steerpikes, fooled us all for so long.

Yet BBC Scotland’s sole aim is to return Scotland to this 2007 pitiful level of political awareness.

Go back to sleep, Snow White! Keep dreaming, Cinderella! Ignore that man behind the curtain, Dorothy & Toto!

Well, Scotland is awake. Wide awake, to our MSM charlatans & snake oil sellers.

Robert Burns wrote

Thus bold, independent, unconquer’d, and free,
Her bright course of glory for ever shall run:
For brave Caledonia immortal must be;
I’ll prove it from Euclid as clear as the sun:
Rectangle-triangle, the figure we’ll chuse:
The upright is Chance, and old Time is the base;
But brave Caledonia’s the hypothenuse;
Then, ergo, she’ll match them, and match them always.

Our Chance and our Time will always be there for us to seize. None of this, ‘once in a generation’ uk nationalists’ piffle.

Proud Cybernat says:
19 February, 2018 at 12:19 pm
O/T

“”Fraser Nelson of the Spectator telling us on Radio 2 that Scotland’s Free uni education system is failing because it is not attracting people from poorer backgrounds into Uni education and that the fee-paying English system is better.

WTAF!!””

……….

UCAS published their annual report on University admissions about a week to 10 days ago. Throughout the report they repeatedly made the point that pretty well one third of applicants to Scottish Universities do not go through UCAS.

What the report also showed, although newspapers somehow failed to mention was that the gap between applications from more advantaged students and the less advantaged was closing.

UCAS converted all the UK applications to a common measure of disadvantaged/advantaged and looked at the situation over the past 12 years for each of the 4 parts of the UK. What they found when this was done was that, for Scotland, the percentage of applicants from disadvantaged areas had increased from 9.6% in 2006 to 17.2% or so in 2018. Around 80-85% increase. In Wales and NI it is around 40% or less.

The ratio of applications from The most advantaged areas to the most disadvantaged areas in 2006 was 4.5 to 1. So the most advantaged areas were 4.5 times more likely to apply to uni compared to the least. In 2018 that ratio is now 2.6 to 1 and this narrowing of the ratio is due to the increase in applications from the most disadvantaged areas.

Fraser Nelson could not be more wrong.

Foote; the ugly, bloated face of British nationalism.

“Alastair says:

19 February, 2018 at 1:56 pm

After a 27 year career at the DR rising to Editor in Chief, I doubt Murray will lose much sleep over all the angst and genuine upset we see in this thread.”

I wonder how long it will be before he gets his knighthood for “services to Scottish journalism”.

In other words, services to the London Establishment, to you and me.

Slow news day but the English are affected by worries over education fees.

Archived this from aunties web site but the comparison graphs are missing. 🙁

Scotland was not included on graphs but got in near the end of the piece. 🙂

link to archive.is

Meanwhile North of the wall:

“The rocks will melt with the sun before tuition fees are introduced in Scotland”.

Alex Salmond

Cuilean:

“the uk nationalist parties based in Scotland all actually WANT Scotland’s economy and people to fail”

Yes absolutely, this is the colonists strategy.

A people with no confidence and who can be sold (via record, bbc, STV et al) that they are economically dependent on the colonists (England), will seek to hand their security and fortunes onto another.

Clyde shipyards is the classic example – you see how red and blue tories are two sides of the same coin!

Add some placemen and women (davidson, darling, brown, mcconnell and dugdale) into the mix who turn patriotism on its head to say “we are shite they are great”, lets stay with them – hey presto you have the uk!

Very logical to support the status quo if you are not prepared, or if it has not dawned on you to probe or question ask, “why do you want to look after us”?

Scotland used to be part of the pack preying on other, e.g. India, Canada and South Africa, etc, now we are the preyed upon and some don’t even realise it!

Things seem a bit slow today so it may be a chance to post something to make folks think.

On The Subject of Per Capita GDP, (and Why it is more important than just GDP).
First we need a definition of just what is GDP and what is Per Capita GDP.
These definitions are, respectively:

GDP, (Gross Domestic Product):-

“Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced in a given period (quarterly or yearly) of time. Nominal GDP estimates are commonly used to determine the economic performance of a whole country or region, and to make international comparisons.”

Per Capita GDP:-(GDP per person):-

“Per capita GDP is used as a measure of any given area region or country’s standard of living.

Per Capita GDP is thus a measure of average income per person in a country:”

Thus a list that only compares the total GDP of countries would obviously tend to have the biggest countries topping the list. So the USA would top the list and be followed by China.

Until the proposed BRUKEXIT the United Kingdom’s two kingdoms that between then contain four countries would have come in at sixth.

However simple GDP only measures the overall size of the countries economy and not how rich the whole country is because if a country has a big economy, but has lots of people to share the wealth between, then each person is poorer on average.

Per Capita GDP or GDP per person shows the wealth of a whole nation or indeed any particular area. but be careful that what is being compared are actually comparable. Obviously comparing the country of Scotland with the financial, “City of London”, is a bit of a kid-on.

A small country with not very many people in it may be much more productive, or have lots more natural resources, and manufacturing and service ways to create wealth, and so rank much higher up the list of Per Capita GDP.

Thus it is the Per Capita GDP the Scottish government have quoted as part of the past referendum debate. Scotland, with its relatively small population, would actually rank 14th in the world according to a table produced by the OECD – (The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development), but even the OECD figures do not even come close to the real measure of the Scottish true Per Capita GDP and the reason for that discrepancy is not too hard to find.

The United Kingdom Westminster Establishment are past masters of, “Creative Accounting”, that, if done by a professional Accountant would see the accountant serving a very long prison term. There are far too many of such Westminster operated Creative Accountancy schemes to provide a detailed list here but I can mention just a few to illustrate the point.

First is the way that the, “United Kingdom”, legally a two partner United Kingdom formed by a Treaty of Union between the two equally sovereign kingdoms of the Kingdom of Scotland and the, three country, kingdom of England. The resultant United Kingdom is thus legally a bipartite United Kingdom of equals but has always operated as the continued parliament of the country of England but that actual parliament was legally permanently ended on the last day of April 1707 and no one has been elected as a member of a parliament of either the country or the Kingdom of England ever since.

Thus only England, now that the United Kingdom is divided up as individual countries under devolution, is legislated for as being the United Kingdom under only English law. Only the country of England is funded directly as The United Kingdom and thus the powers devolved by Westminster are illegally the sovereign powers of the country of England even although there is no legal transfer of the people of Scotland’s legal sovereignty to the Westminster Parliament and such a transfer is specifically legally subject to Article 19 of the Treaty of Union that lays down both legal systems must remain independent in perpetuity.

So there is the first scam by which Westminster gathers the entire revenues of the United Kingdom and uses Block Grants that Westminster calculates to fund the devolved administrations and claims that they subsidise everyone else with English taxpayers money that is actually United Kingdom taxpayer’s money. i.e. we get a portion of our own generated revenues back. But it doesn’t stop there.
The next creative accountancy scam is the way that Westminster chooses to account the entire United Kingdom’s exports not by the country that produces it but by which port, airport or Chunnel that it leaves the United Kingdom from, and Westminster takes great care that these routes almost exclusively are from England and that applies even to such as, “Scotch”, Whisky that, (By the EU Laws), can only be produced in Scotland. It isn’t difficult for Westminster to discourage Scots, Welsh and N.I. exporting ports and airports while encouraging ever more English development.

Not to mention that the Chunnel may soon be subjected to import/export charges on the French side of the Channel. I’ll mention two more – Against all the market rules of supply and demand where the supplier of a scarce commodity can demand the best price for its goods Westminster operates the Electricity Grid Connection Scheme. By this they not only charge the suppliers of electricity more per kilowatt they add into the National Grid by the further distance they are from the most demanding consumers of the energy in and around London but they actually also subsidise those generators in and around London.

Then there is the Crown Estate incomes and the two crowns may rest upon the one person’s head but as Queen of Scots her Majesty is not legally sovereign under Scots law and thus those Crown Estate incomes belong to the people of Scotland and not to the crown of England.

Note that every oil, gas and other infrastructure installation around the Scottish coastline legally belongs to the legally sovereign people of Scotland and every drop of oil & gas revenue within the Scottish territorial waters and the Scottish continental shelf goes to the Treasury and is accounted as, not from Scotland, but from, “United Kingdom Extraregio Territory”.

Now do you see the big picture>

@Robert Peffers 3:41pm

One of your best, Robert.

That relates to Robert’s earlier post!

Instead of looking back over a litany of failure (both political and journalistic), I’m going to try to look forward. Because we could all benefit from decent journalism, which does need an outlet, and arguably still one in cold print.

If the decline of the DR is at least in part because of its Labourite owner’s (Trinity Mirror Group) unfortunate association with the inept and lacklustre NorthBritLab outpost, all too well reflected in the article quoted by Stu before it’s well-deserved fall from grace (correction:) power, since it was never graceful, ever, surely the inevitable conclusion to draw is that the paper would do better for its readership if it were to begin to reflect the realities of life in Scotland instead of continuing to pander to clearly-failed Labour fantasies?

It is the ever-widening disconnect between the fictions of the so-called newspapers (of all mainstream political stripes) and the realities observed by people that is surely accelerating their demise.

So despite everything, not least that dastardly Vow, let’s try not to be too mean-spirited, and simply ask: what hope for the Daily Record under new management? Will the piper still be playing the owner’s tired old dirges, as DMH appears to expect, or will there be something from a new and better songbook?

“On Brexit, do the Tories think they can simply ignore Scotland?”

link to prospectmagazine.co.uk

I don’t think they have taken their eye off Scotland, I think they are just pretending to. It’s part of wide BritNat policy to pretend there is no Scotland. Behind closed doors I believe they think a lot about Scotland.

Some say the unexpected election last year was specifically called to put a spoke in the SG’s wheel. There is merit in that theory.

I am certain maintaining their Union is more important that how they deliver Brexit.

One possibility is that they are prevaricating over the Brexit deal because they know if they announce something too hard, IndyRef2 will descend upon them! They may be trying to engineer the timing.

With all the very worrying propaganda by the tories saying the good Friday agreement has failed, the most genuinely sensible thing would be for England to secede from the union. Just think they would no longer have to ‘subsidise’ us.!
Of course not one politician has suggested that.

BREAKING:

Pete Wishart
?
Verified account

@PeteWishart
5h5 hours ago
More
I will not be standing to be the Depute Leader of the SNP. A short statement.

Pete Wishart

“After listening very carefully to the response to my agenda I have decided that I do not believe that I have sufficient support within the party and I will not now be standing for the post of Depute Leader”

link to petewishart.wordpress.com

His “agenda” sunk like a lead balloon!

Y’know, on my darker days I sometimes think that other countries around the world are never going to take advantage of Westminster’s extraordinarily generous subsidy handouts. It’s to the credit of Scots that we’ve recognised their largesse and benefited accordingly. It’s not our fault if Jonny Foreigner cannot and will not see the milk and honey that will accrue to them if they link in to Westminster.

@RJS
I totally agree with you. The Record has been getting better, and if it could make itself balanced, and more factual, it could do well, and it would be good for Scotland. Same goes for Scotsman and of course Herald. And all it needs is good journalism and editors that concentrate on news and old-fashioned reporting, not just repeating party releases.

Re Pete Wishart

I’m not a member of the SNP so I have no influence on who will become deputy leader. What does stand out though is the quality of the elected members that the SNP have comapred with the other parties.

Just of the top of my head in addition to the above whom I both respect I can think of the likes of Jeane Freeman, Dr Phillipa Whitford, Johanna Cherry, Tommy Shepherd, Ivan McKee, Humza Yousef etc. ect. and many more.

Compare with the “quality” put forward for the SLab leadership contest. Just imagine the standard of candidate that the Tories or Lib Dems could provide as a new leader, it doesn’t bear thinking about looking at their current leaders

Talk about a gulf! The quality of choice between elected members of the SNP and the other parties is wider than the Atlantic.

Foote’s successor, at least has a sense of humour.

“Dick said: “It is an incredible honour to be asked to lead the finest group of journalists in the country.”

“There is no bigger job in the Scottish media and while the industry faces challenges we have an outstanding team which will ensure a bright future.”

link to pressgazette.co.uk

I haven’t bought a DR since 1981. No glimpse of one since then has ever persuaded me to change my mind.
I think we could borrow some of Murray’s lines from above though (with a bit of artistic licence).

‘It’s about who will run Scotland best’
‘When you vote today, think about the kind of country you want to leave for your children.’
‘Do you want (Teresa May) to gamble with their future?’
‘We cannot afford to be seduced by (her) half truths and false promises.’
‘Vote for Scotland’s future.’

Well said Murray!

Thepnr @ 17:16,

You are so right there.

And the sooner we get those good folk among them free from mouldering down in the Westminster Mausoleum and back up here with the rest of us, the better.

(Just imagine a world without WM elections ever again!)

Well we have a Dick in charge of the North British Branch, a Dick in charge of the Daily Record, and a Wullie in charge of the Lib Dems.
Any chance that The Red Tries have a Boaby lurking behind the photocopier?
The Record is a sleazy wee bums and tits, Ranjurs and Sellick, Sopranos-glorifying gangster rag.

A lurid little bum wipe of a rag.
PFI contracts, McConnell giving back over £1 billion because he couldn’t find anything to spend it on..
What an astoundingly evil little editorial on oh so many levels.
He’ll do well as that other Dick, ‘The Scarf’ Leonard’s lap dog.
They are slowly dying off by degrees.
I hope all those Corbynistas who were mug enough to donate to this lot of Never Weres are happy that there money is beibg so wisely spent, financing failures.

What a lying useless only fit for cat litter tray rag. What person with a modicum of intelligence would buy this a”””wipe.

The Vow was a most disgusting piece of treachery. Whether he wrote or not, Foote published it, and for that he is condemned, a House Scot.And what has he gained? Career failure and a few shillings in compensation no doubt.I do hope he joins SLAB, that will notch up another career failure for him.

o/t it’s on the BBC website so it’s gospel honest and no laughing at the back please .

The electoral commission has opened a investigation into LIB -DEM spending during the last election campaign ,I guess the outcome will be published by 6 .00 PM it’s 5.57 right now .

one of the worst interviews yet from bbc scotchland. Mhairi Stuart interviews an ex fire chief from central Scotland (obviously didn’t get the main job) Complains about the 20% proposed wage rise with catches!!!– och no 20% you just get for nothing. Complains over whats happening since 2002/3 — Scottish snp government is at fault– big fire in a car park in England proves the point!! Dear old Mhairi keeps him going. No questions of substance , everything is bad. Apparently the fire union should dictate what’s needed.
What a set-up. Don’t listen if you have heart or blood pressure issues. Reeks labour party. Incidentally no one from the snp to comment. Were they asked?

I love the exhortation not to cast judgement on Labour for Tony Blair because Gordon Brown is galloping in on his white charger to save us.

That worked out well.

galamcennalath says:
19 February, 2018 at 4:21 pm

One possibility is that they are prevaricating over the Brexit deal because they know if they announce something too hard, IndyRef2 will descend upon them! They may be trying to engineer the timing.
———————–

I think you may be right, if negotiations finish at the end of sept, i can see westminster stringing out the commons vote until feb2019.

the window to run indyref2 before the uk officially leaves on 29th march is narrowing

O/T
Ch4 news going big on drug deaths in Scotland – Dundee in particular

I’m glad Foote has legged it!

The date of the next Indy ref may not be as important as some of us seem to think. Scotland has also been holding talks with the EU, we have no Idea what is going on, EU will not discuss Brexit with the Scottish Gov. but may well be holding talks on a hypothetical Independent Scotland some time after Brexit.

Re, Jockanese wind talker and all

So leaving the EU without a deal then? It could be any day, it’s fckd up to say the very least. Has May and her pals been emboldened by having wee talks with dodgy governments around the globe? Put nothing past them. UK, and especially Scotland, going, going, gone! Sold to the man at the back, oops, the men at the back! Humans rights? Eh? What on earth do you mean, no such thing, never heard of such nonsense!

Oh you could laugh if it wasn’t all so freaking serious!

Ps I signed a petition yesterday to stop a new fabby doo doo open cast coal mine getting the go ahead, in er, Durham, England. The Chinese gov are doing a grand job of cutting their carbon footprint, reducing coal, but shifting it around the globe. Not saying this is their doing, but this kind of thing could well be a trend, lovely jubbly eh.

galamcennalath @ 16:21,

I’m not sure if the hardline Brexiteers do give a damn about us. We are the troublemakers of the EU troublemakers.

The more mainstream types do probably have more care. For access to the free resources if nothing else.

schrodingers cat @ 18:55,

I don’t buy this “window” argument, at least in the very narrow sense you appear to mean it. UKGov do not have a free hand, as I think you forget. The EU27 will have to have a clear deal to formally validate in around Sep of this year, and they are not in the least amenable to some kind of UKGov prevarication, much as Mayhem & Co might wish it.

On the contrary, the EU27 seem to be increasingly fed up with all the UK confusion. May’s new attempt to implicitly threaten them with a withdrawal of funds or security co-operation is backfiring. I forsee a hardening of the EU27 line, not a softening.

Besides, there just has to be a point at which we start to impose our own timetable instead of always bending to someone else’s. We up here on the sidelines can’t just drift on hoping that things will align in our favour by some kind of happy accident.

We need to be far more assertive than that, if we are ever to progress and win the necessary 5-10% over to our side. Who will believe in us if we look too much like self-doubters who don’t have sufficient nerve to ever make a move?

Thankfully, there seem to be a substantial number of SNP members and yessers who do understand that.

Murray Foote has done more for The Daily Record in effing off than he ever done as editor,

probably asked by boss of Trinity mirror,

“how are you going to reverse the catastrophic decline in DR readership”

jokingly Murray says “well over 50% of Scots hate me so me leaving could only help”

Trinity, ” resignation accepted “.

I think most folk reading wings know that “The Herald” is the longest running national newspaper in the world and was started in 1783 as a weekly.

What might not be so well known is that from 1837 to 1964, the then “Glasgow Herald” was owned by George Outram & Co. and was the first daily newspaper in Scotland from 1858 after changing from a twice weekly.

George Outram an Edinburgh advocate was the newspapers editor from 1837 and remained so for 19 years, ultimately becoming a proprietor. The kicker though is that he was also a Scottish Nationalist:

Outram was an early Scottish nationalist, a member of the National Association for the Vindication of Scottish Rights.

“Any man calling himself a Scotsman should enrol in the National Association,” said The Herald.

link to en.wikipedia.org

Changed days for the Herald indeed!

Hamish100 says:@6.09

The highly vicious anti SNP rant on BBC Radio Scotland Newsdrive this afternoon was by one Geoffrey Williams who must have been trying to impress his potential anti terrorist clients

link to 3ciglobalsolutions.co.uk

OT – defence
link to ukdefencejournal.org.uk

Basically speaking, with another article, Germany’s military in a shocking state of disrepari with a shortage of spares.

@Graf Midgehunter could maybe confirm if this is true.

Food for thought when it comes to iScotland’s military, and showing advance purchase of spares is a major item, or buy loads of stuff and it’s useless in a couple of years. UK’s not perfect, but not bad when it comes to inventory. Mmm, not AS bad.

Norway or Canada type deal for Brexit?

Maybe neither. In-Out In-Out and shake it all about?

But there is also a lingering hope that once May finally comes clean about the trade-offs inherent to both approaches, and their inferiority to EU membership, that it might prompt a public rethink.

Such a rethink is unlikely, but the recent barrage of pre-emptive forgiveness from Emmanuel Macron, Donald Tusk, Jean-Claude Juncker and others suggests a repentant prodigal son would be welcomed home. Two years wasted is better than ten.

link to prospectmagazine.co.uk

I know that Murray Foote voted YES in the Independence Referendum

I am delighted the Daily Record is dying. It deserves to die.

And, in case you’re reading this, Neil MacKay, I do regret the loss of jobs – but it wasn’t independence supporters who caused it, it was your very own industry. Please don’t ever insult independence supporters by lecturing us on ethics, we’re tired of the ethics of your rotten industry.

‘…it is young people who shall face the full brunt of Brexit, and who strongly backed “remain”. Unfortunately, children and young people’s issues were largely excluded from the referendum debates. These focused on the more “important” issues of trade, the economy and immigration…

The EU has positively influenced family law in furthering children’s human rights protections, particularly in the context of the right of the child to have an opportunity to express their views, the requirement for a balance between the depth of an individualised assessment into the child’s best interests and the speed of proceedings and the right of the child to maintain regular and direct contact with their parents. Reliance on the Hague Conventions may result in a watering down of protection for children…
There is an urgent need for the UK Government to address these issues to ensure there is no “gap” in the application of these Conventions upon Brexit resulting in no protections whatsoever…
In summary, this case study demonstrates that children’s human rights are being increasingly embedded into EU legislation and policy. This is helping to ensure that children’s human rights are protected, respected and fulfilled across the EU in line with the Charter of Fundamental Rights. This research highlights that there is a significant number of children born to families in Scotland who are at risk of losing significant protections of their rights in relation to cross-border family law’

link to togetherscotland.org.uk

‘There are currently 3.7 million children living in poverty in the UK. That’s over a quarter of all children. 1.7 million of these children are living in severe poverty. In the UK 63% of children living in poverty are in a family where someone works…

Families living in poverty can have as little as £13 per day per person to buy everything they need such as food, heating, toys, clothes, electricity and transport’

link to barnardos.org.uk

Looking at big issues through a children’s rights lens doesn’t really uphold anything about ‘better together’ in UKOK.

Graeme McCormick at 10.21

Doesn’t surprise me at all. I suspect there is more to his resignation than meets the eye. I very much doubt if he was responsible for the VOW on the front Page of the Record which has been the only tabloid to give any space to the SNP – over the last three years it has given a page once a week and for some time twice a week to Nicola Sturgeon, Joan McAlpine and Mhairi Black.

I think a lot of the ranting here about the Record have no idea about it recently. It has put the boot into small Dick Leonard on several occasions recently and there have been several editorials praising Nicola Sturgeon in the last few weeks.

In fact the Record has been the least bad newspaper in Scotland towards the SNP (the Sun sits on the fence) and the worst are probably the P&J, the Mail and the Express with the Herald and Scotsman both disgracing themselves also.

Foote might have been actually given the boot.

@Dave McEwan Hill

Well Foote himself has claimed to be responsible for the Vow, his own article couldn’t be clearer.

Dave McEwan Hill @ 22:56,

I caught that hint earlier on. Together with your pessimism that anything will change as long as Trinity Mirror remain in charge? A hardening BritNat posture, even?

Maybe the London owners would prefer to drive their Scottish papers into the ground rather than align them more truthfully with public opinion here?

After all, from their selfish point of view, what’s to lose..?

Well is the DR now pro independence for Scotland? Clegg turned over a new leaf? Is he pro Irish ? Thought not. The Vow was set out to destroy independence. It succeeded in 2014. No futile revenge but no forgiveness either.

@Dave McEwan Hill

“But he didn’t choose the editorial position of the Record.”

Foote was the editor, the editorial position was his decision. No?

He did more than that, he claims to have asked an ex colleague to ask Gordon Brown to persuade Cameron and also claims that he personally persuaded Milliband to sign up to the Vow.

He did have a choice, he could have left it alone and if there was pressure that he disagreed with he like anyone else could have walked away.

We make our own choices do we not, just taking orders is never an excuse.

I have no axe to grind with Murray Foote and definitely don’t take part in any blame games. I’m just stating the facts.

If he is an Independence supporter then that pleases me. At the same time since he has influence the likes of you and I could only dream of in the run up to the vote for Independence I would like to see him come out and say so.

Just as he has done in showing how proud he appears to be in getting the Vow on to the front page of Scotland’s biggest selling newspaper two days before the vote.

If he can take the credit then I’m sure he can handle the flak.

@yesindyref2 says: 19 February, 2018 at 11:03 pm:

In reply to Dave McEwan Hill :-

“I agree. The vendetta against the Record for the Vow is counter-productive, we’re looking for Independence, not some imaginary futile revenge.”

You speak only for yourself. You can cut out that, “We”, stuff. I believe the majority of Wingers, and many have said as much, would be only too glad to see that particular Record Broken.

Anyway it isn’t any form of revenge.

It is quite simply the same as in any war between two different countries. I war, even if you believe the guys in the opposite trenches are much the same as yourself and it is the respective governments who wanted war, not the troops in the front line.

You aim your gun with the intention of killing your enemy – the stark reason being that you either kill him or he will kill you and they sure as hell will kill you on their government’s orders.

Dave McEwan Hill,

“Perhaps he w has resigned because he is refusing to pen any more of the shite he’s been instructed to do.”

You are the most gullible of all independence supporters, in my humble opinion.

After decades as an SNP activitist, surely you should know better than to give the benefit of doubt to the likes of Foote?

Rev. Stuart Campbell,

“Rival hacks dutifully issued a series of glowing tweets about what a smashing guy Foote was and how much he’d improved the paper during his 27-year tenure there in various positions, most recently editor-in-chief, group editor and deputy editor.”

Rock,

“The Record and its readers must never be allowed to forget the Vow as long as the Record exists.”

Robert Peffers,

“I believe the majority of Wingers, and many have said as much, would be only too glad to see that particular Record Broken.”

What is the world coming to?

Robert Peffers endorsing my point of view, without reading it of course as he claims he doesn’t read my posts.

It’s difficult not to be bitter about the Record re the Vow. It really is and whilst I appreciate the sentiment of ‘getting over ourselves’, that doesn’t mean we should not criticise and remember what an appalling lie they printed on that front page and all to ensure we remained shackled to this foolish neighbour intent on total self destruction ‘cos immigrants’.

It’ll take a wee bit more than a couple of editorials and a few columns from the FM for that utter betrayal to be forgotten. We’re allowed to still be scunnered by those who actively played a part in distorting and corrupting our genuine and authentic reasons for gaining our independence and if they had not played their part and had remained ‘even’ then perhaps parts of the electorate would have voted yes with clear and honest information published without such obvious one sidedness by every single paper in Scotland, the Record being the biggest cheerleader wrt to ‘the Vow’.

Foote? Couldn’t give a monkey’s whether he voted Yes or not and if indeed he did vote Yes…to betray his own principles is one thing, to betray ordinary folks by lying to their faces and still not admit how wrong they were especially given the reality of UKexit and what the fate for Scotland is in light of this…is unforgivable.

Oh dear, here’s the thing:

Would you rather mope, fruitlessly stuck in righteous indignation at past misdemeanours, or see an additional ally come over?

And how much better would it not be if it was a paper that did what it did back in 2014? Would that not have significant pull with a lot of other former “no”s?

I sometimes wonder if we can possibly win with so many existing supporters determined to bear so many old grudges.

This very visible absence of charity really makes us look very unattractive to the convinceable visitor, don’t you see?

The real question remains, as I said earlier, what will be the policy of papers such as the DR in the critical months to come?

Maybe the owners will stupidly dig in and won’t allow the paper to move with the people, but if that’s what happens, then’s the time to justifiably criticise, surely?

Papers and pundits from the NO side campaigned for the ‘short term’, they couldn’t see beyond their own ‘personal’ gains or losses. From our side it was the ‘long term’ we were focused on…and they scuppered that because not one of them from the Foote’s tae the Cameron’s gave a single fuck for the Scots who saw the writing on the wall, how soon did it happen?

Smith commission? Where was the Record’s sticking up for Scotland when it was plain tae the dugs in the street that we had been played?

Shower of selfish bastards the lot of them and I’ll bet the sink on it that all of them are able ‘to leave the country’ when the shit hits the farm…eh? Spivs and shysters one and all.

Sold out a nation they did.

Robert J. Sutherland,

“Would you rather mope, fruitlessly stuck in righteous indignation at past misdemeanours, or see an additional ally come over?”

Would you want to stand shoulder to shoulder with proven liars like Dugdale and Foote?

They can vote Yes if they want, but I would not want them anywhere near the Yes campaign.

They have no shame, no credibility and no honour, whichever side they might opportunistically side with.

Last time, the official Yes campaign distanced itself from the genuinely pro-independence WOS for using some strong language to expose a lying Tory scum.

Would you want WOS to be distanced from while the likes of Dugdale and Foote form part of a Yes campaign?