Have pity on us, readers
Posted on
June 05, 2013 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Please don’t make us transcribe this nine-minute trainwreck of an interview with Margaret Curran on the subject of Labour’s welfare and spending plans, from this afternoon’s edition of BBC2’s Daily Politics. We don’t know if we could take it.
Click the image to listen, if you have a high pain threshold.
Just the look on her face there is bad enough!
It’s a blt like listening to a old couple bickering, with neither of them knowing what they are talking about.
Hi Rev,
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I’m at work and cant listen… can you transcribe this? š
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Also, I have Tinnitus (which as you knowĀ the most common cause is noise-induced hearing loss) and in my case is caused by listening to total bollox from Labour politicians.
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If you fail to transcribe I may end up in hospital and suffer an exagerrated wait in A&E while the nurses figure out the best way to kill me with a hospital infection…
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Now I would hate to expect ‘something for nothing’ off our NHS…
It’s an NHSĀ scandal so it isĀ (copyright E Bradford & J Bailey).
I thought I had a high pain threshhold……..I don’t.
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She is becoming the sacrificial lamb?
I wondered where Zelda from Terrahawks had been hiding all these years…
Rev,
I don’t think you need to tell us anything that Margaret has to say. Just flashing her picture up is enough to vote Yes, and a warning as to never, ever vote Labour!
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This woman has nothing to say, that makes me want to stop from whatever, inane drivel and p1sh that I am doing, just so I can listen to her for 5 measly seconds….
Both Margaret and Johann are useless at unscripted interviews. It is beyond painful to watch and consequently I can’t take more than a few moments at a time. I actually start to feel sorry for them (and I don’t want to go there).
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Actually Ed Milliband isn’t a whole lot better. I watched the “these strikes are wrong” fiascoĀ with the horrid fascination that one watches a car crash. You want it to stop but you sit there glued to spot in disbelief.
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If I went to clients of my company, and gave the same wishie washie shpeel and unable to come out with the answers to the question, I would get sacked.
Her and Lammont are identical, do they never do their homework, this is a train wreck and shows the labour party are full of p!sh
And I thought that,Ā in a modern democracy, people achieved high office through merit and merit alone. Quite a few Labour politicians appear to seriously challenge that belief. I don’t know how on earth Curran, Lamont and Miliband et al et al et al made it so high, but it certainly wasn’t based on intelect, charisma, orĀ vocal ability. Like a number of dumb businessmen (and football managers), they just got lucky, I guess.
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Since there are no policy differences, Labour, the Tories and the LibDems are to form a new party to defend this great island from the twin threats of UKIP in England and the nationalists in the Celtic Fringe.
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It is to be called the United Kingdom UNionists Together party, or UKUNT for short.Ā
Announcing the new party David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg said that in future when right-wing policy is being collectively made on the hoof, or there is another expenses scandal at Westminster the electorate will automatically think to themselves, “UKUNT”.Ā
“When we come in in 2015”. Newsflash – the way it’s going now, Nick Clegg has a better chance than you.
Dear me, that was indeed painful to listen to!
Thank you for making it audio only, though, Rev, as I was eating my dinner while listening, and I’m not sure I’d have been able to keep it down if there was visual accompaniment!
“Thank you for making it audio only, though, Rev, as I was eating my dinner while listening, and Iām not sure Iād have been able to keep it down if there was visual accompaniment!”
Tonight I might publish the X-rated stills. Be afraid.
Ahhhh g’wan, g’wan, g’wan, g’wan………… etc
Andrew Neil pulled the rug from under her there….cue tumbleweed!
How can anyone vote for that? Unless it’s by a postal ballot, of course…
I stopped listening to Curran when she repeated the mantra “independence will mean no more devolution” as a bit of a weird Labour logic mind-twister (polite) . Not going to torture my brain with this but I can imagine which is probably worse.
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I stopped listening to Curran when she repeated the mantra āindependence will mean no more devolutionā
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Dear Lord, please tell me she didn’t say this.
This is an excellent birthday present Stu, thanks.
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Anyone who didn’t manage to listen to the whole thing – you’ve just got to listen at about 6:40 when her brain shuts down briefly before starting up again.
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Never mind a car crash, this is a multiple car pile up!
Whenever Magrit starts talking (especially when you can’t see her per the clip), I can’t see anything else but Dorothy Paul standing with a mop and a pail – only problem is that it is not remotely funny.
After eight minutes of drivel, all I can remember is that Ā£100million is a lot of money, and that she doesn’t know anything her party would do in government. Eight minutes of my life wasted.
The scariest thing to consider is that Moaning Margaret Curran and Weapons-Junket Jim Murphy will both see themselves as front runners as LeadersĀ for any future Scottish Labour Party (Newco 2014). We must ensure that not only is the Westminster model broken, but also the self serving Labour attitude they embody is also killed off for good.
Decided against watching this but will guess at content:
Curran: “screech, sckwok, shreek, squok, screech”
BBC: “well said”
Curran: “thanks hen”
What amazes me is the prevailing myth (MSM induced, of course)Ā that all the best “Scottish” Labourites go to Westminster rather than Holyrood.
Curran is living proof that is another unionist lie. She sits in Holyrood for a few years achieving little, eventually at the second attempt is elected to Westminster in 2010, and soon thereafter becomes ShadowĀ Secretary of State for Scotland, replacing the nonentity McKechin.
The truth is that unionist “Scottish” Labour have negligible political talent ANYWHERE.
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ScottyC1314…..its a pleasure to say that your mistaken…its a rare thing….its a Unionist politican getting a right showing up…self inflicted mostly but well worth a listen.
Max,
T shirts ?
So….What EXACTLY DID she say…? Cuz I didn’t hear anything…Lot’s of talking but not saying anything…
I relented and listened….most enjoyable. Shame Scottish Labour aren’t put under that level of pressure on a day to day basis by the Scottish media. Only the media stands in the way of the inevitable further erosion of the labour vote.
Happy birthday Doug.
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What better present that Maggie Curren.
Hi Rev like you i had the (Miss) fortune to see this live, i knew she wasn’t much but even for an Nationalist this was embarrassing to watch, when it went it through my mind that people were told that this was the Shadow Sect of State for Scotland.
It also became clear that what Johan Lamont has been saying on welfare is the script that they have sent up from Labour’s London HQ’s, which of course also means that they had decided on these things months ago.
I imagine that Curran is used to talking people into submission. I guess it displays more about her colleagues and peers (small P) than it does about her credentials as an intellectual politician.
At the end of day, what this demonstrates most is that the Labour Party is only interested in power for power’s sake. Gone are the big ideas, the strongly held beliefs, the cutting edge agendas. They look at the present occupiers of government and, like jealous, surly children, they sulk and talk nonsense in the hope that they will be believed.Ā
Is it any wonder that UKIP are riding high in the polls in England, when you have such poverty in terms of electoral alternatives? It’s about time someone broke cover from within the so called Left (if there are any genuine Left thinking politicos left) and started talking solid alternatives. Mr Farage talked in the Mail on Sunday of a “Managed Decline” when talking about the present Government and their attitude to the UK. The ways things are going it’s going to be a freefall plummet to a very hard landing.Ā
To quote a song, We’ve gotta get outta this place”…and that’s a possible anthem for the Yes campaign.
Oor Mags is one of the best things to happen to the Yes campaign. If these types of interviews were seen more often then she would surely put people off a no vote.
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She has no idea …Lang may her lum reek.
Thick just does not come close –
How did she get a University degree? Made only more puzzling by the fact that her running buddy Rosa Kleb got the same. Glasgow University face palm.
Also nice to see that Brillo is clearly not privy to the light touch Pacific Quay approach to SLAB.
Humiliating – if it had been a fight the referee would have stopped it.
I wish Andrew Neil had asked her if she’d found out who Denis Healey was byĀ now.
She’s like an eloquent Johan Lamont š
Sadly Margaret Curran is a typical all mouth and no substance productĀ of Labour these days.
Worse still for their membership is the fact that the Labour party appear to have a never ending stream of politicians like her who are utterly loyal to the party line and talk 13 to the dozen and who are chronically useless.
If she is the best that Labour can put forward then heaven help them when the real debates start before the referendum.
I listened and need a lie down now.
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Painful in the extreme. I though blood sports were banned.
if Mags thinks we have a failed economy why does she want us to stay in the union – so she & her equally useless pals can be in power again. And they did such a great job last time too.
Transcribing this is better than watching some American reality show about a large pawnbroker’s shop with my housemate.
LABOUR WILL HAVE PRIORITIES. Be sure. They just can’t tell you what they are because they don’t exist yet. It’s a bit like the job interview candidate who answers every question with “I’d use Google to figure out how to do that.”
Brilliant! Loved it.
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One concern though, did she have a wee swally prior to going on?
Why oh why did I listen
This sounds better
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā OOR MAGGIE
Oor Maggie came charging fae oot o’ the east
Ā A wee wifie wha thinks she’s a big fighting beast
Ā Wi a voice like a foghorn, and charms sadly lacking
Ā Wee Milly must rate her, for he’s gien her his backing
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Ā Noo she’s got a red case, that’lll aye come in handy
Ā Tae carry aroon her beano and dandy
Ā Alang wi the forms tae mak oot her claims
Ā There’s a big hoose tae be kept,Ā and a couple o’ weans
Ā So she canny miss oot on ought that is gawn
Ā For some day she micht be back at the pawn
Ā She shadows oor Mike, an arderous task
Ā When oot robbing, Dick Turpin, at least wore a mask
Ā But he’d better watch oot wi Mags on his case
The new bools in her mooth she micht spit in his face
Ā But she’ll stand up for Scotland, I’m kidding on noo
Ā There’s mare chance o’ me thinking a bull is a coo
I’d kill to have that transcribed, but since I won’t do it myself, I can hardly expect Stu to do it.
Rev, that was one total train wreck of an interview! Brilliant!!
Ā All Andy did was to ask a direct question – she then imploded!
Andy say’s whatās cut next?
She pause and can’tĀ answer because Ā Cameron hasnāt told her yet.
For those unable/unwilling to watch, myself included, I thought I might try my hand at transcribing the interview via maths, the video lasts for 9 minutes, so:
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Formula (i) Time
For a Labour representative the time alloted to speak y, out of the total T, in an interview is:
y = 0.9 * T
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Formula (ii) Content
The content of any given Labour representatives points is denoted by the following:
z = 0.6 * y
x = 0.4 * y
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Where z = attacking SNP and x = lying.
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Therefore for T = 9 minutes:
Curran spoke for 8.1 minutes, 4.9 minutes of which were spent attacking the SNP and 3.2 minutes spent lying.
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The true power of this method though is, it can be applied to every interview given so we dont have to watch any.
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Z Magret no rerr? I like Max’s UKUNT and I insist we call the neighbours Former United Kingdom FUK, with Welcome to FUK at the border , and on School atlases
Talk aboot jibbering monkey
Heres the pic for the definition in the dictionary
Hold the horses! I HAVE transcribed it. The SNP don’t get a mention; Scotland doesn’t get a mention, it’s purely Westminster policies. She bashes the Coalition for, for example, cutting child tax benefits for higher-income households, while insisting Labour was right to refuse to oppose the cuts (or something like this).
The point is: Labour can’t possibly be expected to commit to any policy until the runup to the election; all they can do is give out ‘signals’ and criticise the Coalition for failing to choose the opposite of whatever they chose to do.
This is the pattern:
1 – The Coalition made a decision, therefore they didn’t do whatever was ruled out by that choice.
2 – The economy is a mess.
3 – Therefore the Coalition’s decisions made the economy a mess.
And Labour will make different decisions to the Coalition (or, they’ll make the same decisions but for different reasons), and therefore this will fix everything. Perfectly clear!
Luigi…
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I donāt know how on earth Curran, Lamont and Miliband et al et al et al made it so high, but it certainly wasnāt based on intelect, charisma, orĀ vocal ability
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Or maybe it was! Speaks volumes about the rest of them!
You’re going to have to transcribe it Stu, damned rural broadband speeds.Ā Besides we can file it away and read it on dark nights in the future independent Scotland to remind us of the dark days from whence we came; to remind of us that lucky escape – or just to have right good laugh.
Actually I did manage to listen to it and now I need to get these contact lenses out very quickly.Ā Whatan aspiration for a party to have, far less a nation.Ā No wonder young master stairheid opted for a life abroad, a foreigner indeed, apron strings well and truly cut.
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I was lucky enough to have watched it live, it was almost hypnotic as the interview progressed. You keep thinking surely at sometime she is going to realise what a airse she is making of herself but happily NO she just keeps on going and going.
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And if you watch Andrew Neil’s face he know’s fine well whats happening and just keeps on prodding her with a comment every now and again and the silly cow walks right back into it.
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Now thats what you get if you vote NO.
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Alba Gu snooker loopy!.
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Transcribe? you’d have to translate it into English first.
Why? What’s wrong with Scots?
I could understand “what we are saying” as she said it loads of times but beyond that not a word. I suspect she did too.
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What an advert for SLAB.
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I am only just catching up on “in the loop” and “in the thick of it,” on DVD.
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Stair Heid qualifies to be a bit part in “in the thick of it”.
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She hasn’t a clue, hasn’t mastered her brief and has not a clue how to answer or even respond to Andrew Neil’s style.
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I wonder if she was set up by some spin doctor guru who wants her out of his way?
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Adulterated mince she was.
This is what having nothing truthful to say sounds like.
It’s noisey and wordy but contains no substance.
Imagine you were grilled for nine minutes, knowing you had no answers to the questions being asked.
I’d like to say I feel sorry for her but the future of our country is at stake.
For how long can this SLab lot maintain the cognitive dissonance without breakdown?
Although there are plenty of men in contention for Bletherskite of the Year – I consider Ms Curran to be well ahead especially after this latest demonstration of …. talk as fast as you can and just perhaps nobody will notice the total absence of critical thinking, logic or evenĀ the merestĀ suggestion ofĀ political grasp.Ā Apparently she has a degree in History from the University of Glasgow – but I remain in the dark as to where she acquired the degree to which her verbalĀ velocity gives the Large Hadron Collider a run for its money.
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Tried.
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Lasted 1 min 14 secs.
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It’s like having a mosquito in your room at night, constantly droning about, never knowing when it’s going to suddenly dive-bomb your lugs. Torture. I’m waiting for the full video – at least then you can see where the bastard is.
Margrit is an insult to future doughnut shop workers everywhere.
@ Semus
Careful! I just used the term “fUK” on an anti-independence Facebook page and was promptly told they’d taken a screengrab of it to demonstrate the nastiness of us “Nats”. this despite my pointing out that if the term is good enough for Macedonia then it’s surely good enough for Engerland et al. Still, i guess it is a lot worse than posting death threats against Nationalist politicians.
Thing is it just might get printed by the MSM. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Brillianly funny – the transcript would be priceless.
Maybe you could run it thru a free transcription app like http://www.voicebase.com.
I haven’t tried this but it might do the bulk of the work.
As soon as you hear a Labour politician resort to “What we are saying” you know they have no answer to the question asked. Ā I seem to hear that non sentence more and more often.
Gordon
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Laugh…definitely laugh. AnyoneĀ so pathetic not only deserves to be mocked they are begging to be mocked. Ā
crikey ….what a diasaster…..great for the Yes campaign
I shan’t listen – I might end up getting sectioned.
Oh dear heck… you were right, jeez, it truly is indeed painful.Ā Bldy heck.
How can this person be a spokesperson for anything else other than a population of trolls… which is what she is after all.
Oh dear heck… this is hell…
In Scots, english or in glaswegian she doesn’t msake anysense at all.
So we now have narrowed down the amnesia years for M Curran, a curious medical case, where Alzheimer’s strikes when you are young and diminishesĀ with advancing years.
She remembers “very well” the details of 1996, when Gordon Brown promised to follow Tory spending plans as part of the Labour bribe to middle England in order to secure power for Blair.Ā But she knows nothing of Healey or of Labour deceit and lies to Scotland in the 1970s.
Only other case of recovery from Alzheimer’s was another person who found it hard to face up to the truth: Ernest Saunders.
Magrit is the Westminster version of Johan.
Manna from heaven in our march across the Unionist desert towards our Independent promised land.
Nether of them should be out on their own, never mind anywhere near a half way intelligent political commentator.
It was a cruel dismemberment, but nice to listen to.
@Gordon
O/T youĀ“re in esteemed company with fUK. One gentleman had his letter published in the Guardian suggesting this very name a while back:
”Ā The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) provides us with theĀ clue. England, Wales and Northern Ireland would be known as the FUK.
Christopher GordonWinchester, Hampshire”
link to guardian.co.uk
Evil bastion of cybernats that the Guardian and that gentleman from Hampshire are. Erm…
a curious medical case, where Alzheimerās strikes when you are young and diminishesĀ with advancing years.
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The medical term is Saunders Syndrome, I believe. link to en.wikipedia.org
It’s interesting that so many of the SLAB people use the phrase ‘What we are saying is….’ so regularly. Why aren’t they able to say ‘we believe….’ instead?
It just looks like they are regurgitating words that have been agreed as a safe party line, albeit with no real substance or meaning.
WHY DOES ANYONE VOTE FOR THIS WOMAN
WHY DOES ANYONE VOTE FOR THIS WOMAN
Just what I was thinking:
What is more ridiculous, theĀ uselessĀ politician or the voters who continue to support her?
Dumb and dumber?
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During the recent focus on Nigel Farage, even his fiercest critics conceded that the man does have some attributes.Ā
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What are Margaret Curran’s?
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Can we establish even one?
ThisĀ woman is one of the reasons some people think Scotland cannot run her own affairs – they should look to Nicola Sturgeon and Eillidh Whitford and others within the SNP rather than the Labour party as examples of Scottish politicians and they just might change their mind.
The things I do for Scotland…….transcription here:
AN: let me come to Margaret Curran first. Ahā¦.by restricting the winter fuel allowance ā¦ ahā¦ to only the non-rich pensioners you save about Ā£100M. Whatās that as a percentage of overall government spending?
MC: Well itās a very small percentage of overall govern ā¦..
AN: How small?
MC: Wellā¦. miniscule in terms of the grand scale of things..
AN: Right. Itās 0.01 percentā¦
MC: But can I tell you Ā£100M is still a lot of money and I think if youāve got an aā¦
AN: What would you do with it?
MC If youāve got an attitude to government spending that says every pound matters, every ten pounds, every million pounds matters then I think thatā¦..
AN: Sure, so what would you do with Ā£100M?
MC: Well what we do is try and create growth back in the economy againā¦
AN: What, with Ā£100M?
MC: Well youā¦ it would contribute a lot of things in terms of helping and how you could challengeā¦.
AN: Hold on, Margaret Curran. This economy is a Ā£1.5T economy. Ā£100M makes zero difference to growth whatever you do with it.
MC: No, no, it can make a difference, you knowā¦
AN: Tell me what you could doā¦
MC: You could spend on housing, for example.. that could, you know, produce house it could do all sorts of thingsā¦
AN: How much would that contribute to growth?ā¦all right, spending Ā£100M on housing, how much would that contribute to growth?
MC: Well if you were in one of those houses I think it would make a difference to you just in thatā¦
AN: Excuse me.. thatās a social welfare argument.. that itās good ā¦.. that youāve built a house for another person ā¦. Thatās fineā¦. And I donāt argue with that ā¦. How much growth would Ā£100M create?
MC: I donāt accept the premise that Ā£100M because itās such a small part of, you knowā¦obviously a very, very large budget is insignificant and also I think is about the indication you ā¦ you signal that every single pound matters. Now what Labour is absolutely categorically clear about is we will be very strict guardians of public expenditure. Public expenditure really matters to peopleā¦
AN: This is the new line isnāt it?
MC: No itās not a new lineā¦ Iāve always believed that all my political lifeā¦.
AN: You never said that when you were last on this programmeā¦
MC: I was never askedā¦.
AN: Well let me ask you thisā¦
MC: Believe me I believe that.. I think you have to be realistic ā¦
AN: Is itā¦ is it your policy then.. is it implicit now in Ed Ballsās speech that if you win the election in 2015 youāll stick to the existing current, current spending plans?
MC: No, no, thatās not our indication. No. What we have said is that weāll be very strict with public expenditure. We have recognised that given where we are with the failing economy, given this governmentās abject failure to get the economy going , weāre one of the least successful economies, weāve got the IMF telling the.. the government to turn course, but given where we are we need to be honest and sayā¦.
AN: OKā¦
MC: ā¦.if we get into government in 2015ā¦
AN: Right..
MC: ā¦. weāll be in a very difficult environmentā¦
AN: I understand that, so will you increase current spending?
MC: Well weāre not gonnae.. er. publish our budgetsā¦ weāre not going to write our budgetā¦ why would we write our budget now when we donāt know absolutely what will happen but weāreā¦
AN: But Gordon Brown did in 1996. He said he would stick to Tory spending plansā¦
MC: Well he did and yes and I remember that wellā¦ he did say that in 1996..
AN: Why canāt you do that now?
MC: Because itās not appropriate for these circumstancesā¦
AN: Why?
MC: ā¦ and what we wonāt doā¦
AN: What was different between 1997 and now?
MC: Well cause weāve got a Tory government thatā¦thatā¦ is creating such difficulty and we live in a different environment andā¦
AN: But surely that would mean itās more likely that you would have to stick to current spending plans or even spend lessā¦I mean Mr Brown inherited a rising economy in 1997..
MC: Butā¦.
AN: So youā¦ let me just get this rightā¦.You cannot tell us whether you will stick, increase, stick to or cut current Tory spending plansā¦.
MC: What we are saying theres things the government could do just now that could actually alter the economic climateā¦ For example we could follow the IMFās recommendation and put Ā£10BN into investment and the economy could show some signs of recoveryā¦
AN: So that would add Ā£10BN to spending?
MC: Well we wonāt know until ā¦..
AN: ā¦ So youāre going to be very strict on spending?
MC: Hang onā¦ hang onā¦.We wonāt know until we actually publish our budgets at the time of the next electionā¦ to know exactly what.. how money will be spent and what the exact priorities are but weāre making a very important point this week and that is that we.. Labour will take a different approach to public expenditure and we will re-prioritise within public expenditure. Thatās the differenceā¦.
AN: Well you canā¦ you say that but actually youāre taking a different approach to what you said only two weeks ago, neverā¦ well youāre now going to go along with the cuts you attacked when the government cut child benefit for better off taxpayers.. Youāre now going toā¦You now think that you wonāt reverse thatā¦
MC: ā¦. Thatās whyā¦ā¦Well Ed Miliband hasnāt made the speech. I respect Nick Robinsonā¦ I know that heās reported thatā¦.
AN: So are you for or against it then?
MC: Well weāll wait and see what Ed Miliband has to say tomorrow.
AN: on your own?
MC: Wā¦.Well your highlight said itās the challenge between universal benefitsā¦
AN: So do you think that better-off taxpayers should get child benefit or not?
MC: Wā¦ If I had an absolute choiceā¦ If there was loā¦.if money was not an optionā¦.I meanā¦..
AN: option?
MC: We would prefer universal child benefits, child benefit to be universalā¦
AN: Moneyās always an op.. a problem. Itās never a.. a freeā¦
MC: Ah but we are in a very particularā¦ a very difficult set of circumstances just now..
AN: Would youā¦.Would you keep child benefit for better off taxpayers?
MC: Well what we are saying, and Ed will make his own speech tomorrow and I donāt have foresight of that speechā¦.
AN: Iām not asking you Ed Milibandās opinionā¦ Iām asking for your opinion.
MC: What Iām saying to you is we are now in a very difficult financial situation and it is very ā¦.
AN: Why wonāt you answer my question?
MC: ā¦very different and what we are saying is what were universal benefits before like the winter fuel allowance that we do need to look again at that and it is what you prioritise and where you are spending will be prioritisedā¦
AN: Whenā¦..
MC: ā¦..that will govern what Labour says we will keepā¦ what will change.
AN: Alright letāsā¦ thatās just the rhetoricā¦
MC: No itās notā¦.
AN: letās just try and get some hard facts. When the government took away child benefit from better-off taxpayers you, your party said it was ill thought-through, unfair and showed that the Coalition was out of touch with hard-working families. Is that still the case?
MC: I do think that was unfair and I do think they hadnāt thought it throughā¦.
AN: So youāre against it?
MC: Theyāve got themselves into a complete mess but what we are saying is that when you come into governmentā¦ when we come in in 2015 we wonāt be able to do all that we wanted to do and things that the government have done thatā¦ what will be our priorities then and beginning to tackle thatā¦ā¦
AN: So theā¦ Iāmā¦ Iām sorry but is taking child benefit away from better off families ill thought through and unfair or not?
MC: I thought it was unfairā¦.
AN: But youāre still going to support it?
MC: I think thereās a difference when you say when a government does things and that was wrong, unfair and ill-thought throughā¦ if youāre coming to governmentā¦..
AN: But youāre going to support it!
MC: ā¦ hang onā¦just a wee secondā¦. If you come into government three or four years later you then decide what your prioritiesā¦Weāll have lots to re-instate the government has done. Will child benefit for the wealthiest people be our top priority? Iām not sure about that.
AN: Why didnāt you say that at the time?
MC: Because that was then andā¦..
AN: It was only 18 months ago!
MC: Whā¦when we come into government we will have to makeā¦ erm.. make up for a lot of what this governmentās done. We will have to make priorities about that. We wonāt be able to come and say everything thatās gone weāll change overnight what the previous government has done and weāll have priorities about how weāll tackleā¦.
AN: So youāre getting rid of the winter fuel allowance, youāre going along with the Tory plans to take child benefit away from better off families, both two big dents in the universal welfare stateā¦.. whatās next to go?
MC: Wellā¦..What we are saying is weā¦..
AN: Whatās next to go?
MC: Wā¦.Noā¦noā¦
AN: Tell me whatās next to go.
MC: Noā¦What we need to do is look and see in terms of public expenditure what are Labourās priorities. We think that thereās better ways that you could use public moneyā¦..
AN: So whatās next to go?
MC: Wā¦ we willā¦..we will give our plans at the time of the budget. Weāve been very clearā¦Ed Balls has made it really clear Andrew we are not gonnae do that just nowā¦
AN: Are your times what? The time of the Labour budget?
MC: ā¦ at the time when weā¦ at the time when we publish our budget plans. What we are saying is that the government has got us into such a situation of economic failure we think thereās things that they could do just nowā¦ We think there are but nonetheless when we come back in 2015 we need to be honest with people and say we canāt do everything Labour would want to do because public expenditure will be in a very different situationā¦.
AN: Alrightā¦..
MC: ā¦situation but weāre signalling now that there are things that we really have to get tough about and thatās what weāre doing.
AN: OK.
Great Site Rev Dude,Ā This is my first post and I hope first of many.
I think it’s wonderful they let her do another interview, mind you it’s not like they can hide her away until it’s over as they have no one else, super.
I have to sayĀ re FUK, it would be nice after a yes vote if all who voted no, that don’t want to stay in an independent Scotland… well, they can always go tay FUK.
Soz Rev I couldn’t help myself there…. Smiley coupon thingy.
“We think”! Ā Doesn’t the woman have an opinion of her own? She is just an empty vessel promoted beyond her ability and trying to talk clever, ken.
I quite enjoyed that but just wish interviewers would grill unionists like that when it came to the independence debate.
On a side note. The wife has managed to convince an acquaintance of the benefits of independence. Not bad considering she is Lithuanian. What is better, this acquaintance has a vote ( we don’t).
Got the lads to lash me into a chair before they pressed play. Ā 6 mins in I bit through the 2 x 4″ plank in my mouth when I heard “when we come back into Govt in 2015” – fuck me, that would take some semblance of ability, just some. Labour are gone; they are the baseball that has been hit by the “electorate bat” out of the stadium, there is no way back.
Curran was so inept there is a picture of her in the Oxford English Dictionary next to the meaning of the word.
Glasgow, Scotland & the World deserves better.
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Thanks for the transcript John Jamieson, it was truly painful. In fact, I couldn’t even finish reading it through. I think you deserve a wee lie down now.
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MC: No, no, thatās not our indication. No. What we have said is that weāll be very strict with public expenditure. We have recognised that given where we are with the failing economy, given this governmentās abject failure to get the economy going , weāre one of the least successful economies, weāve got the IMF telling the.. the government to turn course, but given where we are we need to be honest and sayā¦………………………………………we are most certainly not better together. Vote YES,’cause the austerity is only going to get worse.
John – Thanks for transcribing the interview.
Rev, you can come out from behind the sofa now, it’s all clear.
THIS IS FLIPPING WONDERFUL!!! I get the whole thing where you want to look away, when you know what is coming next. Never before has Magrit Curn given me such a laugh…:D
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She is morphing into Marty Feldman isn’t she..Ā
For all we feel certain here about winning the vote, I hear a depressing number of people saying they’ll vote no, often in a stubborn knee-jerk way without any reasons given. It’s still an uphill battle. Especially with the very biased media against us.
If it’s a No vote, I reckon we will be the laughing stock of the world, the comediennesĀ will have a field day for many years to come.
Don’t mean to offend anyone, but anyone thinking of voting No is just plain ignorant of the facts.
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There is NO positive case for the Union – (however, I am willing to listen to anyone who can prove me wrong)
How many times did she say “What we need to do ….” but then say we will be backing Tory cuts all the way.Ā Vote for Labour and nothing will change.Ā
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Maybe it’s time for a Clause Four moment – like writing it back into the Labour Party Constitution and fighting for the unemployed, the disabled and the poor.
Aye, as mentioned above, a slightly more eloquent version of Johann Lammont.
Can labour really win anything with the standard of leadership it has?