How things are done in the sewer
Many readers spotted a particularly repellent article in the Daily Express this week, penned by its clueless and poisonous hack Siobhan McFadyen.
McFadyen, who rather uncharacteristically failed to insert any violent language into a headline about the First Minister, instead leapt eagerly onto an artificial furore around the actions of Gregg Brain, the Australian father battling his family’s deportation from the Highlands by the Home Office, at last week’s SNP conference.
(Their case is so outrageous that even the Daily Mail and David Coburn have joined the fight to have the family be allowed to stay.)
We got an email from Gregg Brain about how the story had come into being, and (with his permission) we thought you might like to see the exchange which took place between him and Siobhan McFadyen, with the purposes of illustrating how the press distorts, perverts and selectively omits quotes in order to mislead.
Before we start that, though, here he is on his experience of the Express:
“There’s been a dreadful article in the Express, which has selectively quoted me to present the EXACT OPPOSITE of what I said to them, despite asking three times to be quoted in full.
For the record: I was trying to make a statement that the compulsory registration of immigrants could be a step on a path down which I hope humanity never travels again. I was trying to demonstrate solidarity with EU citizens in the UK, largely Polish, who share a very uncertain future. I was most certainly not trying in any way to equate our experiences with the suffering that occurred in Europe in the 1930s and ’40s.
I apologise unreservedly to the Jewish community of the UK and elsewhere who no doubt have been very distressed by this manipulation of the story. I have reached out to Marie van der Zyl at the Board of Deputies for British Jews, and hope she will allow me to try and mend this.
I had no idea who I was dealing with. Having coming relatively recently from the other side of the planet, and not being a fan of the English press generally, I’d never even heard of the Express. I naively actually thought I was being approached with an opportunity to correct the record, at least at first.
I feel really sick about this. In some ways, it hurts worse than our battle with the Home Office. That, at least, didn’t involve any malice – it was just bureaucratic indifference and contempt, even though on a huge scale and with awful consequences. This, however, is something very different.
As a very young child, I can recall my family celebrating the [Jewish] Feast of Booths at this time of year with friends, decorating our back garden rotary clothes drier with dead palm leaves to make a ‘tent’. To go from that, to this portrayal … I have no words.”
Below is the full conversation between Gregg Brain and Siobhan McFadyen. The words that we’ve highlighted in red are the only ones of Mr Brain’s that she quoted. She actually gave almost three times as much space to some highly intemperate attacks on him and the SNP from UKIP MEP and golliwog fan Bill Etheridge, which carries a certain amount of irony.
We have not edited these messages in any way. We therefore apologise in advance for Ms McFadyen’s grammar and punctuation.
SIOBHAN McFADYEN: HI there I am a reporter for The Express website in London, I am writing a piece about Mr Brain’s speech to the SNP conference last week. There has been a lot of criticism online for his decision to wear an F badge and how this has drawn comparisons with the holocaust. Does he have a response to this? If you’d like to discuss please call me on 0208 612 7955. The SNP is not commenting but we do intend to run a story. Thanks, Siobhan
GREGG BRAIN: My response is as follows:
The ‘F’ badge I wore has unfortunately been the subject of criticism by some who seem not to have recognised it. It was not a reference to the Holocaust in any fashion; it was in fact a reference to one of the other policies of the Third Reich.
The badge was a facsimile of an Auslander Arbeiten (“Foreign Worker”) registration badge, familiar to any Poles who were allowed the ‘privilege’ of working for the Third Reich for longer hours, and at half pay – and eventually, as forced labour. It had nothing to do with Jews, who were persecuted via a very different programme.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zivilarbeiter
This registration of foreign workers was exactly on point given Amber Rudd’s proposal at the Conservative Party National Conference days earlier, and this was the point I was making.
Given that history with predominantly Polish workers, and that now the largest EU cohort in the UK is from Poland, this gesture of “solidarnosc” seemed entirely appropriate.
It would be appreciated if you would confirm receipt, and let me know when / if it will be published. Thanks in advance.
SMF: HI Gregg thanks for getting in touch. So can I just clarify that you are saying the badge was in fact a reference to the Nazis?
I am speaking to the lawyer and the editor and will come back to you. I just want to be clear that you are comparing your case in the UK to being “forced to work” and the Nazi crimes against the Polish nation? I think it was about 6m people that were murdered.
GB: No, I’m very specifically NOT comparing our experience to forced work programs or the suffering which occurred in that era. That seems to have been done by others. I’m saying that registration of immigrants (or any minority) could be a step on a path that I hope that humanity never travels again.
I also wanted to be seen to be standing with EU citizens in the UK, who are people and families, not commodities or bargaining leverage. I hope that The Express will have the courage to print what I’ve said in full, rather than quoting out of context.
SMF: Mr Brain you are using a symbol of Nazi occupation to illustrate a point about immigration in the United Kingdom which is a democratic country. I am just trying to clarify this point. The SNP have repeatedly referenced the Nazis in recent weeks and this backs up this rhetoric. The SNP is also creating lists of EU nationals and has admitted as such.
I just want to be clear about what it is you are saying. People are calling for you to make an apology and you don’t seem to be doing that. So I just want to give you an opportunity to clarify. The polish badge system was introduced during the occupation of Poland, it also applied to Jews. Also can you clarify that the badge reference was your idea?
GB: Just so I can clarify a point – are you going to publish my comment in full?
SMF: I am trying to give you a right of reply. I want to clearly state your point.
GB: That’s not a ‘yes’. Without that, and with what you’ve printed and corresponded so far, you’ll understand my reticence.
SMF: People are upset by the reference because not everyone presumably agrees with your use of Nazi symbolism. But if you don’t want to apologise that’s also fine. I would just like to offer you the opportunity to apologise. The UK Government has clearly stated it wants to protect the immigration status of all EU nationals.
Could you confirm that you came up with the idea for the badge. And could you confirm who invited you to the SNP conference to speak.
I am happy to write a balanced story Mr Brain, I am trying to work with you on this.
GB: I’ve approached Marie Van Der Zyl through the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Given her comments, I hope she’ll speak to me. And that’s still not a ‘yes’.
SMF: I am not sure what the Yes is you’re relating to? You can use your opportunity for a right of reply absolutely. You made a public speech therefore it is in the public interest.
GB: I asked earlier if you would guarantee that you would publish my response in full, rather than quoting selectively.
SMF: Here are my questions please answer them for the purposes of the story. You have confirmed that you are using a symbol of Nazi occupation to illustrate your immigration case.
1) would you like to apologise to those who are offended? 2) was the idea for the badge yours? 3) who invited you to speak at the conference. And also are you a member of the SNP?
Mr Brain I will publish your response of course but you have to give me an official statement not made up of links to wikipedia and answer the questions I’ve asked.
can you send me an email as well – siobhan.mcfadyen @express.co.uk
if you can do that asap I will put it on there. I’ve asked specific questions and I am more than happy for you to respond to specific questions and add your view point. you are absolutely entitled to do that
GB: So, once again, If I send a (short) statement, you will publish it in full?
SMF: I will speak to the editor and ask him to ensure it remains however the right of reply is specifically to questions.
GB: So, not a ‘yes’. And I hope you would know that ‘right of reply’ is a lot broader than simply answering the questions you’ve put.
SMF: Send me an email with your response. I don’t know what you’re talking about with a yes. If you can respond I can write a story. Or I can simply take portions of this statement and send it to the editor. i am trying to work with you here.
The response needs context Mr Brain. So please send me an email and then I can forward this to the editor.
SMF: Hi there do you have a response yet?
SMF: Ok I will just use the quotes that you sent earlier if that’s preferable to you. thanks for your time
Informed readers will of course have noticed a number of flatly false assertions being made by Siobhan McFadyen in that exchange, including “The SNP is also creating lists of EU nationals and has admitted as such” and “The UK Government has clearly stated it wants to protect the immigration status of all EU nationals”.
But in terms of her journalistic integrity, manners and decency, and how accurately the final story represented both Gregg Brain’s motivations for wearing the badge and his comments in explanation of them, we’ll leave you to make up your own minds.
That woman should be sacked – what a malevolent piece of work.
Is there no recourse to the toothless Press association?
The Guardian are going after Murdoch , mentioning another Leveson – I think they are chasing the wrong enemy. But then ,they too would be chasing their own tales /tails.
Very enlightening. Gregg Brain and WOS are the true investigative journalists here. McFadyen and the Express are not fit for the gutter, unless the gutter is full of dog shit, and even then…
That’s incredible. GB must have thought “but i never said or wrote that. Where did you get that from?” a lot
It’s a pity that any semblance to journalism has been lost on this woman. She clearly has no moral standards and to that extent, one actually feels some sorrow and pity for her. Hers must be a terribly twisted life.
Rev wrote (move your cursor over the Express image folks):
“Those links at the top tell you a lot about the Express audience”
Jeeez, thanks a bunch, i was just about to look into the 5th one along when up popped your remark. Talk about a major guilt trip!
Pure riddy, man!
🙂
Had he known what he was dealing with he’d have been better replying with “No Comment” .
This woman is a real piece of work!
Agent Provocateur ??
This woman is of course deranged but not as daft as we thought.
Clearly working as some form of agent for the UK State. Be very wary of any contact with this lowlife form of journalism that has taken over the entire British State Press.
Remember if working for the state she will be protected at every turn and cannot be removed from her position – no matter the her distasteful actions or the reasoning.
Does she sound like a protector of rights in general or the Jewish faith – seriously.
See her track record – classic trolling at its very best.
Even children know what happens when initial bullying is not checked –
She is very dangerous – but remember most of all
SHE IS BEING PROTECTED BY THE STATE.
Levinson really sorted things didn’t it ??
What kind of journalism can be expected from her, propaganda actually of the worst kind.
This seems to what the right wing want, they need to tarnish the SNP and anything connected to them. Also terrible for the family who have been through enough.
The Express is only too happy to print things like this, it is what they do. Fortunately fewer trust or even read the muck that comes from them.
I have no fear of upsetting anyone so I will go further than Greg. This IS becoming a fascist country thanks to Westminster. No qualms ,no hesitation.
Evidence ? All around. Lists of foreign Nationals at work,school and centres of learning. The evidence of our own eyes and ears on programmes like Question Time and the treatment of the Polish Lady.
The reply to Brian Spanner that suggested anaesthetising the Nats. Not far removed from gassing really. Is it ?
The politicians have ,complicit with the media unleashed a monster which they cannot control. Mcfadyen is a limb of that creature.
They try to blame the SNP, but I would have to be blind deaf and dumb to believe that nonsense. English blood and soil Nationalism is in the ascendancy, and there is nothing joyous or civic about it. It is ugly and abusive. Nobody condemns it,but rather they nurture it with headlines exhorting it to further extremes.
I hate them all.
So Mr Brain is actually trying to help her for the hard of thinking type journalist she has shown herself to be by referencing Wikipedia on why and what reason he wore the badge but this is not good enough as it doesn’t suit her anti SNP agenda. Integrity? She has none. Twisted and corrupt as fuck.
Siobhan MacFadyen; poison pen writer.
You have to wonder why anyone talks to the UK press freak show at all now.
“The reply to Brian Spanner that suggested anaesthetising the Nats. Not far removed from gassing really. Is it ?”
I suspect it actually meant “euthanised”, but Yoons are stupid.
Having listened to Gregg Brain’s emotional speech, I find it hard to imagine what it must be like for him to be further attacked by The Express and the repellent “journalist” that spun this story.
I find her e-mails a complete disgrace. They show no hint of humanity or compassion. It strikes me as an attempt to make someone feel extremely vulnerable for something they did not do and thereby bully them into making it appear even worse.
How does she sleep at night with such a twisted, inhumane personality. A dark black soul. Using victims of the home office brutality to falsely accuse a political party. She is awful. Meanwhile she accuses the innocent and ignores the actual guilty party. Herself and the unionist haters.
Mr Cohen will defend an odious lying Express journalist’s right to be an obnoxious, manipulating slug, and to write whatever garbage she thinks fit in the pursuit of removing a legitimately elected government.
And he will say she should not be removed from her job by her boss because of her complete lack of honesty and integrity.
And Mr Cohen will raise a glass of whisky to her good health.
That UKIP idiot was right about one thing, Hitler was a good public speaker, what he said was completely abhorrent to anyone with any understanding of the world.
He built his support on hatred and fear of the unknown, a bit like the likes of BF and Farage are doing today.
From a NMA song.
“Top-dog fascist gets the boys in the corner
Plants poison where there was just confusion
Walks away scot-free and laughing
Rides on the tide as the cancer grows”
AS well as reporting the Express hack to IPSO
link to ipso.co.uk
the Brains should sue for defamation which help to reduce their debts and I am sure a pro Indy lawyer would help prepare their case on a pro bono basis.
As a relative newcomer to UK, Gregg Brain will not have been aware of the extent of MSM duplicity. Never ever talk to the gutter press.
Luckily, WoS has a far greater readership. This article is very enlightening and will be spreading far and wide.
I see the snake Siobahn MacFadyen has kindly left her phone number to call her and discuss her article.
Why don’t we all call her and ask her how she manages to write an article saying the exact opposite of what was reported to her?
Or how often she’s been reported to IPSOS this year?
Or how much does she get paid per ‘SNP BAAAD’ article?
If she gets annoyed just say, ‘Look, I’m just trying to work with you on this’.
A despicable shit of a reporter.
Who would buy the rubbish that is the ‘Express’. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so tragic. The ‘journalists’ determined to ruin their own industry. The captions along the top are almost pornograpic. Old habits die hard for Desmond. The migrant from Ukrainian descent who demonises migrants. Some people gave short memories. Wasting £1.3Million on UKIP, so multimillionaires can tax evade.
What a repellent, nasty piece of work that woman is. Not to mention the rag she works for. That string of messages is just out and out bullying by someone in an incredibly powerful position, with the megaphone of the media. I’d have no hesitation whatsoever in likening her and her rag to Nazi progapandists, because that’s what they are – deeply nasty, evil propagandists for a state, against people for the sole “crime” of being an immigrant or disagreeing with the government line.
SMcF has been given carte blanche to write whatever nonsense she wants.
That was apparent when IPOS rejected the complaints against her ‘Nicola Sturgeon, and violence’ during the indy ref.
The UK is becoming a very scary place.
Yesterday it seemed that the ‘Turing’ bill was filibustered out just to prevent the SNP getting on the statute book.
This excuse for a human being employed by and taking the coin of a propaganda rag for self gratification. That pretty well sums up the pile of shit that this union supports. They are what they are and are happy with that situation.
Now where my mind boggles is how the well educated, well spoken, proud snobby yoons think they are the bees knees. They are hypocrites without a spine or morals compass. They are the scum of the earth, and they are very proud of it.
One of the first tasks of a independent Scottish Parliament must be the Exile and Expulsion Act, to rid the land of such odious creatures. The next has to be the Hadrian’s Restoration Project to help keep them out.
‘IPSO’
Questions to McDudyin:
What’s wrong? Does sticking to the facts not sell papers?
Are British concentration camps not worth a column or two?
Is British acts of torture and false imprisonment too boring?
Why not help expose the English establishments long held fondness for paedophilia and historic child abuse cases?
Are the English Nazis in war-time London a myth?
Is the BBC’ connections with paedophiles a bit inconvenient?
We could play this game all day long McDudyin and there would only ever be one winner….us! You smouldering sack of shit!
Someone really needs to take that stinking skank to task.
Oh how i want someone to sue the malicious arse right off her.
I tried to complain about a outright lying article in the Sexpress a few weeks back.
I pushed it as far as I was allowed but still they denied the piece was “inaccurate”.
IPSO = fecking useless, toothless. They don’t listen.
I had to give it a shot to prove to my self what I knew to be true…people don’t have ANY recourse to balance or fair play any longer.
The papers are losing readers so their response is to become even more inaccurate and generate more lurid headlines. At some point they’ll go over a line…who knows when that’ll be?
I would never speak to any of these reporters without marigolds, disinfectant and a 20 foot long pole! 😀
What? what’s the problem, she seems to have put her finger on the story in the usual first class way all the Unionist newspapers do, the problem here is Mr Brain was unwittingly in the middle of it before he could catch on he was the next poor sap to be used in the usual way by what laughingly passes for “Journalism” in Scotchistan the northern state of that big land of the “Engs” in the south
By now Mr Brain who seems like an altogether nice man will have felt that sinking into the quicksand without a lifeline feeling unable to climb out and hopefully realise the most important thing about being someone of note in Scotland
Never talk to the press, any of them, at any time, never, don’t even look at them, don’t smile at them, give them nothing
unless you’re accompanied by someone you can trust who’ll deal with them appropriately
And there are differing views on how that should be done
My own view is simple, check for cctv and if none….
Well
To paraphrase:
“Gregg, I want muck on the SNP. ANY muck at all. Just say what I want you to say, FFS!”
Hey Sobbin’ McFudyin – open yer eyes, hen. Have a look around you, engage your brain (that’s YOUR brain and NOT Gregg), and try and figure out who the REAL enemy is around you.
Hint: it’s no’ the SNP.
“Shove aff” is flipping disgusting. Mr Brain was obviously trying to clarify things and pin her down to a reply that she would publish the truth, and she wasn’t even pretending that she wasn’t going to run with the Nazi story.
What a disgusting excuse for a journalist.
As a relative newcomer to UK, Gregg Brain will not have been aware of the extent of MSM duplicity. Never ever talk to the gutter press.”
Its all gutter press. There’s never been a darker era of great British press “freedom.” And all kicked off when Snatcher Thatcher gave up the British media to Murdoch. After that, its free for all for any super rich money crazed tory reprobate. Or just watch beeb dudes like Nic Robinson and Andrew Neil’s tory bootboy act.
It should be illegal to misrepresent someone so maliciously. If it is, mr brain should pursue this to the max (and I’m sure crowdfunding would be available if needed).
Wikipedia sums it up: “Political allegiance: with the exception of the 2001 general election, when it backed the Labour Party, the newspaper has declared its support for the Conservative Party at every general election since World War II until 2015 where they began supporting UKIP”. To which you may add – and finances big time.
What a nasty piece of work. Gutter press really is the correct term for these people. Worst tabloid press in the world, no wonder people voted for Brexit with the venom and poison they’re fed every day just for the sake of making money. Pathetic.
There is unlikely to be a market for this type of gutter-press in the Untied Kingdom. It is time.
I could be reading it wrong but there’s one part there where she tries to imply that he has to ‘work with her’ if she’s to write a ‘balanced piece’.
So, in short, if you won’t give her exactly what she wants (in this case, this seemed to be helping to smear the SNP and/or an apology), she will run a hatchet job full of falsehoods on you.
Gregg Brain was probably damned whatever he did because I doubt she’d have been any more ‘balanced’, whatever he said.
Had a wee twitter run I’m with her myself…
First ever twitter war…. Broken my Twitter cherry…..
She is a muppet
Siobhan McFadyen’s job at the Express is secure, for one simple reason: she has all the sewer-rat qualities of a pseudo-journalist.
See Effie Deans is communicating on twitter with McFadyen. Is Effie Deans linked with Scotland in Union like History Woman is?
She is one,intimidating, calculating,manipulative creature.
Would’ nt fancy that as a mother.
Enough to give anyone hang ups,especially on issues of trust.
…I couldn’t finish reading it. I was sickened by the distortion of facts.
That OUR “Scottish” media turns a blind eye to this type of journalism is another clear indicator that journalism is dead in Scotland. This level of misrepresentation does not even earn a mention by the Herald, Daily Record etc
My only concern about the controversial “F” badge is:
Where can I buy one?
[…] Wings Over Scotland How things are done in the sewer Many readers spotted a particularly repellent article in the Daily Express this week, […]
Absolutely, atrocious journalistic-licence, from the new belle-of-the-ball.
Compare it to, the very fine ‘Long Letter’ by Jeremy Stein, in yesterday’s (21st) National.
A wee tip from me who testified as an expert witness in front of a televised US Panel of US Senators in the case of a fatal dust explosion;
On ANY matters that could even remotely be considered political, criminal, sexual or indeed any matter that could be scandalized, NEVER, EVER talk to anyone in the press, print media, radio or TV. No one!
Sure, if the cat’s gone missing or there’s a pothole outside your house the size of Loch Ness, send the editor of your local rag a nervous email.
Otherwise ignore the bastards. Period.
Any questions?
Just watching Unchain the Unicorn on Independence Live just now, these Pesky Nats just won’t go away will they? I know it’s O/T but it’s as relevant as the muppet who writes junk on the Express that tries to wind up everyone , it’s probably a government propaganda unit at work and the name is pure fiction, anyway who buys this rag up here now, It is probably just printed so that the BBC can quote it in its review of the papers just to be fair and impartial as they usually are .
In iScotland I hope there will be legislation and a ‘policing authority’ with teeth to ensure that the media play their rightful and necessary role in the functioning of democracy.
Sadly, in the UK much of the media has become an anti-democratic force. Like so many other aspect of the rotten UKnotOK system, it has gone to Hell.
UKnotOK is beyond mending in so many ways.
Yes, the moral is, never ever speak to some media outlets. Simply have nothing to do with their toxicity.
A whiff of black rats… er…arts.
Does McFadyen really exist? Her “report” resonates like a clanging of spanners. Methinks, there is more than one perpetrator of such vile and malicious twisting and turning; a wee team of folks intent on spreading misinformation and propaganda.
Too quick with retorts and thinly veiled accusations, surely already prepared.
UK newspapers seem to be the enemy of ordinary people, conducting a dirty war against the public interest.
There is a genuine disconnect in that woman’s head between what is acceptable for journalists and the rest of the population. She apparently sent litigious communication to Common space about what she felt was misrepresentation. The absolute cheek to then pursue and misrepresent someone in the way shown.
The Express is turning into another Daily Mail directed at the same readership. Quite a feat.
Siobhan McFadyen is being used as on-line Clickbait.
Don’t feed these Press Barons or their servants.
I feel sorry for the Brain family.The Express are gunning for them because they hate anyone who doesn’t hate the SNP.However,they have plenty friends in Scotland who aren’t filled with hatred for others.They now know what the gutter press are like and will ignore them.
One word – scum. And I’m not talking about the Brains.
Everybody get to your local store/superstore and cover or hide this pathetic rag.
Came to Edinburgh from Glasgow today for the gathering of like minded folks, numbers weren’t great but I wasn’t surprised really because I had only seen one mention of it on here when someone commented on it a couple of weeks ago.
Surely we have to up our game a smidgen?
It seems we get closer to “V for Vendetta” every day.
IPSO (?) is a toothless, pointless regulator that’s actually run by the people it’s supposed to regulate. Close it down now and replace it with something with power. Of course this won’t happen. The Corporate Media does exactly what the 1% expect it to do (the owners are after all among the 1%).
I wouldn’t worry too much about this. Only half-wits read the
Express, and for the most part only liars write for it.
Keep up the good work in continuing to expose this arsehole though Rev.
Being a Unionist isn’t about what they believe it’s about what they are
They don’t want to be different and no reasoned argument will achieve a difference
They don’t and wont embrace the idea of equality and fairness for all
They don’t want co-operation they want control
The concept of a global federation of countries working together simply fills them with horror even though they must know one day it will happen and the EU is a step towards a world council of all countries just like Gene Rodenberry foresaw fifty years ago and that’s why Star Trek was so successful, well that and the cool space ships
The future’s here and we’re in it and these Unionist types are still swinging their clubs and grunting NAW
Scotland, the little country full of folk who invented half the stuff the world needs and uses every single day but the UK like to take the credit for and then treats the population of that country like serfs and peasants to be tolerated and lie to them about their own viability as a people
How many times have we heard football managers talk about a fantastic young rising star who the world shows interest in but that football manager says things like “we’ve told him he must stay here to get more experience” ” “This is the best place for him to pursue his goals and learn”
When what they’re actually saying is “No way we’re letting this kid go he’s an earner for us”
That’s Scotland, an earner, always has been
As is usual with these things the headline writer will take part of the flak. Meanwhile the thrust of the article, without reading it, will be about the outrage at a deliberate misrepresentation fostered by the newspaper with a possibility that there was some genuine misunderstanding that the reporter decided to exploit.
Note how she is either ignorant of the fact that far more than just 6 million were victims of the concentration camps. There were others although obviously socialists, blacks, foregners, gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally and physically disabled and political dissidents must be ignored at all costs because it seems the “Jews” are about the only minority not being targeted by some sections of the press.
‘Nicola Sturgeon embroiled in holocaust jibe row amid SNP Nazi scandal’
Who is going to take a story with this headline seriously?
Obviously Siobhan McFadyen has a certain readership in mind & I am not one of them.
The above headline just makes me laugh!
The best thing Gregg Brain could have done was just not to read the article.
Just reading a bit of that, it really appears to be a clear case of bullying tactic from the Express.
Like an interrogation in fact, in which the interrogator puts words into the victims mouth, and extracts a false confession. Nasty piece of work posing as a journalist in the oh so ok yookay.
Gutter press has the money men and women, behind it, lots of dosh. Despicable bottom feeders.
I often wonder how much time people like Siobhan McFadyen spend posting on the The Scotsman & The Herald.
I don’t believe for one minute all these Britnat trolls on The Scotsman & The Herald are just ordinary people expressing their views!
I can’t help but feel many in Europe would see the dissolution of the UK a good outcome from Brexit!
Fair enough.
“German support grows for Scotland to stay in European Union”
link to commonspace.scot
Until Scotland rids itself of Westminster’s slop, that place will always produce another McFadyen to take over from the last:
link to wp.me
All these ‘Britnat Trolls’ who get paid to write for the gutter press rags decide in advance what they want the story to be and then they just twist the facts to suit the plot.
I feel a bit sorry for the half-wits who are being targetted by Siobhan McFadyen obviously she is taking advantage of people who are unable to differentiate fact from fiction.
‘Strange. Yesterday Jim Gallagher’s wiki entry claimed Oxford professorships & others Today ALL CLAIMS to academic credentials are GONE ‘
Just read the above on Twitter!
Absolutely livid – I was in the hall when Greg addressed the SNP conference, and found his speech incredibly moving. I cannot express my true disdain for Miss McFadyen properly without falling foul of your rules on the use of language.
One point I will pick up on though is her claim that the SNP is compiling a list of EU nationals – this stems from letters sent to EU nationals from SNP MPs to their constituents. The list utilised was the voters roll and with a little clever manipulation it can reveal EU nationals registered to vote here – no secret lists at all.
The latest step in the dance is the idea that May can’t multitask and will not sign on to a binding referendum until after Brexit has completed. A seriously insulting offer if it comes to pass as it relies on gullibility. The EU will be in a position where they might give a bit more leeway to the UK if Scotland is in than out. If Brexit is complete Scotland would no longer have a chance at continuing or inheriting the UK’s membership. The only ones postponing the referendum are the unionists.
Journalists keep a low profile on anti Jewish stuff
Those guys have the ultimate weapon, I’ve seen the Ten Commandments they don’t want their offices filled up with plagues of stuff
Shows how cowardly “Journalists” are eh just pick on the little guy , but God, can’t shut down his/her Twitter account shit scared of him/her
I think it would be rather chilling to compare an item by item checklist of events and perceptions in the current UK and those events which occurred in Germany with the rise of Nazism.
It isn’t a drill. It isn’t a parody.
I would find it acutely alarming if the moderate people in the U.K. are currently saying the very same things that the moderate people of Germany were saying in the 1930’s. Is our wide eyed disbelief at what we see and hear unfolding in front of us the same as theirs? Are we witnessing the same mechanisms at work?
You can easily make glib comparisons between the BBC and Goebbels, but there is a wider matrix of uncomfortable parallels forming up here, 2016 UK vs 1930 FDR, many of which are moving from curious into downright sinister.
You feel like the UK needs its own Mikhail Gorbachev, someone to recognise the insanity must stop or else reach the only dreadful conclusion it can.
Col says:
22 October, 2016 at 1:49 pm
“Came to Edinburgh from Glasgow today for the gathering of like minded folks, numbers weren’t great but I wasn’t surprised really because I had only seen one mention of it on here when someone commented on it a couple of weeks ago.
Surely we have to up our game a smidgen?”
Seems to me that the organisers of these events feel that word of mouth around the pro indy sites is sufficient to draw some kind of a crowd. It isn’t. If you were holding a concert or something you wouldn’t just leave it to word of mouth, you’d advertise and publicise it as widely as possible. Back in the 80’s illegal raves couldn’t be advertised, word still got around but nowhere near as much as if they had been publicised widely.
Speaking of publicising the truth the billboard crowdfund campaign is steaming along nicely but not there yet. If you’ve ever felt like kicking the bbc right where it hurts this your chance.
link to gofundme.com
Ruby,
Yep, Eric Joyce has done a fine job there. Well done, Eric.
Orri says:
I would like to believe that if Scotland shows a democratic preference to stay in the EU through Indy, then the EU will ‘look after its own’ ie us. To me, it seems one way to achieve this is to tie Scotland’s transition to the continuing member state into the wider U.K. Brexit deal.
For any of this to occur, IndyRef2 will have occurred with a Yes result.
A scenario like this must terrify WM!
I find it disgraceful how that rag’s editor and such an unscrupulous writer can twist and misuse in such a way the words of a man when he is going through enough already due to the current situation of his family.
Kicking somebody when is already lying on the floor wounded is the description that springs to mind for such a coward behaviour. By the look of it everything is fair game for this unscrupulous rag’s editor and talentless writer as long as it can be used to have a go at the SNP or Ms Sturgeon. How very mature and professional.
Is this sort of disgraceful behaviour a taste of the sort of ethics that we can all expect from the Unionist MSM writers in post Brexit Britain?
Is this the sort of ‘British Values’ that the unionist politicians are defending and promoting to convince Scotland that the best for us is to remain in the UK?
Well, good luck with that chaps!
Sickening.
Done my bit already clipper 🙂
Hmm as i see she has left her phone number to talk about the article
Think i will give it a call and see what she has to say
SMF should be referred to exactly as she is, which is pure and unadulterated evil. That is e-v-i-l, evil. Nothing more, nothing less.
@Gregg Brain
Thank you for sharing this with readers of Wings. This is an article that exposes the shallowness of UK jornalism. That your correspondence can be so cynically exploited in search of an SNP Bad story clearly shows the extent to which the “truth is manipulated in Scotland.
I’m truly ashamed of how you and your family have been treated here in the UK. First by an uncaring selfish government and now by an even worse media that help keep such a government in power by spreading hate.
For hate is what it is. I believe the great majority in Scotland welcome your family to our country whether they are supporters of Independence or not.
Thanks again for revealing how the lying media operate. I hope many more eyes have been opened to their ways.
Please do not call the journalist’s phone number, if she receives any calls it will be used against you/’us’. The phone number should not be published.
O/T slightly.
JKR letting rip on twitter about how nasty Scottish nationalism is.
Is she a member of SIU?
”J.K. Rowling ? @jk_rowling
@BBCJamesCook “Staunch opponent” implies I was pro-union no matter what, which was never the case. Many no voters will think again now.”
Said at the time when she put that up that I didn’t trust her
S. McC is a hack willing to prostitute her trade for a shilling. Like others of her kind, I hope she enjoys wallowing in the cespit of nonentity.
Been wondering over the last few weeks whether we should be suspending Godwin Law for the foreseeable future. I don’t think we can ignore the rising tide of fachist and fachist lite bs both here, as well as the US. It’s got mainstream now….
Thwack hit for six right out the ground into the car park through the bosses rollers wind screen vile lol
Something tells me Mr Brain can look after himself quite well ,i wonder if he ever fancied being a politician.
Little miss angry will be goose stepping up and down furiously in the Express ministry of truth corrections corridors,Achtung the separatists set the wingers on us again.
Clipper 2.50pm
Theres a limited number of people who are into marches and rallies.Theres a limit to the number of marches and rallies they want to attend.
Offer the Brains a fundraiser to pay legal costs if they want to take this cretin on? Remember people power and the Orkney four?! 🙂
How can any apparently flesh and bone Human be as malicious and as poisonous as Siobhan MacFadyen? Just yer average Yoon now I suppose!
The lesson is clear once again though and that is never ever talk to any piece of excrement that works for the Britnatzi Press and Media without a legal rep at your side and several other witnesses present with recording equipment.
Hitler, wittingly or not, and the DAP (German Worker’s Party) that became the NS-DAP, was a creation of the British secret service and German Freemasonry. The NS-DAP were Britain’s weapon against Soviet Russia, in the long tradition of use of German soldiers as mercenaries going back at least as far as the American war of independence. Blame for the horrific slaughter that occurred in Europe, in both world wars, lies squarely with the British establishment, still at it, still playing the same games today. Reading this excerpt from Conjuring Hitler might cause many here to re-think everything they thought they knew about 20th century history, and redouble our already unstoppable efforts to free ourselves from this boundlessly evil British establishment.
link to guidopreparata.net
You might also want to consider the situation in Ukraine today, as part of that long ‘game’.
The British government harboured Stepan Bandera, to propagandize, to organise, as a provocateur, to commit terrorist acts against the Soviet Union, to continue the west’s wayward proxy the Nazis, war, which became the Cold War, Bandera -who personally murdered, always horrifically, many thousands, a convicted serial-killer even before ww2 began, the SIS kept him in considerable comfort and style, at UK tax-payers expense, printing presses, radio transmitters, toadies at his unreformed Nazi group’s disposal, hot and cold running young boys to sodomize, in the British-occupied zone of Berlin through the 1940s -Atlee’s comradely Labour, whilst imposing prescription charges in the new NHS for statistically insignificant savings, on the still traumatised, rationed home population. The Tories later had the sense to dump him (Bandera) on the Yanks, who promptly judiciously, out of genuine revulsion, bumped him off.
All your lives you’ve been used abominably, lied to on an inconceivable scale.
liz says:
JK Rowling in the Telegraph on 11th June 2014 gave some very prophetic words ….
“Whatever the outcome of the referendum on 18th September, it will be a historic moment for Scotland. I just hope with all my heart that we never have cause to look back and feel that we made a historically bad mistake.”
… now, JKR and every other NO voter have indeed much “cause” to “look back” and realise they did in fact make a catastrophically “bad mistake”.
I hope she’s agrees! Any and every genuine convert is welcome. Every NO voter deserves a second chance and they will soon be given it. 🙂
Remember how the press we’re going not to tidy up their act!
Or was that just lies? Unless other journalists and papers criticise or bring to account their so called competitors or colleagues one can only assume that theyou are also like minded.
best thing we can do to help the brains is win our independence
that way we can legislate these tabloids out of our country
Thepnr
Spot on- agree 100%
The worst of it is there is nowhere to go. IPSO just defend the express and argue black is white. I’ve elevated my complaint on the “widespread outbreaks of violence” claim by mcfadyen on the grounds of accuracy but it will go nowhere. They are a law unto themselves.
It has ever been thus. I remember the Express from 55 years ago and the unconfirmed nonsense that they came out with then. Pure fiction, like the Rupert Bear cartoon they used to run. One Saturday night, a guy from Newton Mearns created a little scuffle at a scout dance in Clarkston. He was a teddy boy, but was quietly given the bum’s rush out of the hall and never seen again. Can’t remember the exact headline, but it was something about teds creating a riot in Scout Hall in Clarkston. Sold a few more copies, I suppose. Whenever you see a headline in the Express, just think of it as another Rupert Bear story.
Who buys the Express?
This morning I watched one of the loudest mouthed local yoons buy two papers – the Express AND the Mail.
Mind you she had to bend over (temptingly) to get them as the local shop staff now always puts them on the bottom shelf out of sight from behind the counter.
What an absoluteley disgusting, aggresive bully that creature is. The lowest of the low.
Best take nothing to do with any of the media. If Mr Brain would like to sue for defamation I’m good for a few quid. Did it for Orkney and happy to do it again. She seems to like threatening folk with legal action, let’s see how she likes it when she is being sued. IPSO’s is feckin useless, waste of time and effort even complaining to them.
By the by, I agree with Roboscot, please don’t phone this creature. It will only give her more ammunition against us cybernats. We all see how she twists things, so just leave her to stew in her own juice. They hate being ignored you know.
Poor Siobhan, that exchange shows her up for exactly the sort of duplicitous sneaks that dragged the News of the World to its death. All her comments are leading and oozing with poison. So desperate is she to do her SNPBaaaaad story she can’t actually hear anything other than the sound of her own prejudices.
Mind you, would anybody read the headline with a row of tit and pussy stories nailed directly above it. The Express really is porn lite for the aged middle classes.
I would not trust an exchange with a journalist further than I could chuck Eric Pickles.
This kind of propaganda and indeed censure has led to so much hate and so much killing – we only have to go back to what happened to Jo Cox.
It’s important to remember that this alleged “journalist” succeeded in getting the Wings Twitter account closed down for around 24 hours. Later, the Rev.’s personal account was suspended, again for no reason. So when people say she is dangerous, and has friends in high places, it looks as if they are right.
Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the Aberfan disaster. John Humphrys, he of the BBCUKOK R4 Today programme, was apparently the first journalist on the scene in 1966. It continues to haunt him and he has stated that the scandal of Aberfan demonstrates that authority should always be challenged.
The same John Humphrys, presenting BBCUKOK Today, as noted on here, was treated to German MEP Manfred Weber’s perfectly reasoned (in perfect English) and rational account of the way the other European nations view the Mayfly’s petulant posturing, and her government’s churlish intention to continue interfering in European affairs for as long as it can, despite Brexit. Mr Humphrys sounded taken aback as Herr Weber told it like it is.
The demonising of the SNP and the case for Scottish independence, as evidenced by the behaviour of the Sexpress, the Spectator, Question Time and virtually the whole MSM, demonstrates that very, very few of those who call themselves journalists have understood the lesson that John Humphrys deduced from the Aberfan tragedy. The disgusting manipulation of Gregg Brain’s attempted warning demonstrates how important that warning is.
Siobhan McFadyen – an extreme right wing reporter in an extreme right wing State. Welcome to the future. And it has all happened right in front of our eyes.
Here’s how. Seeing the result of the EU Referendum, the Tory Party have made a deliberate and calculated decision to step into the political space occupied by UKIP. To do that, the Tories had to become like UKIP. At the Tory Party Conference, the ‘immigrant speeches’ by Theresa May and Amber Rudd demonstrated to the whole UK that the switch had been made from Tory thinking to UKIP thinking. The reason is obvious – to secure , for themselves, the support of the right-drifting electorate. Votes means power, and the Tories are planning to be in power in the UK for the foreseeable future.
Even if it means becoming UKIP-like, with it’s xenophobia and racism, and all the rest, which we have come to know so well under the leadership of Nigel Farage. The UK is now on the road to becoming a full-on British Nationalist Dictatorship, albeit with a few democratic trimmings, like elections, for the sake of appearances and to fool ‘all those who can be fooled all the time’.
We now understand the sudden ‘conversion’ of Theresa May from Remain to Leave. It also explains why, without due process and no election, she ‘became’ Prime Minister. No other Cabinet member fitted the bill.
Note that the Tory cabinet, at the time of Brexit, June 23rd, was divided 24 for Remain and only 6 for Leave. We now have a Government, 80% of whose Cabinet, 24 members, have completely changed their mind almost overnight, from Remain to Leave.
Their ‘power-grab’ from UKIP, is also timely because of the virtual collapse of the Labour party as a united force in opposition. The Tories see a clear road ahead with no occasional transfer of power to Labour.
But there is a midge in the ointment. Scotland.
The UK is already divided, make no mistake about it.
Scotland wants to be the best it can be.
England, by contrast, has decided to be the worst it can be.
In the next Independence Referendum, the choice facing the Scottish electorate will be the same as before. But the consequences of that choice have changed dramatically.
The Independence Movement in Scotland has to make sure the people of Scotland understand what that change means.
Rarely, if ever, in the history of Scotland, will the word ‘Freedom’ have greater meaning than in IndyRef2.
Gregg Brain should be seeking legal advice on this.
I for one would happily pay into a crowdfunder for his legal expenses.
The gloves are off and IndyRef2 is already being fought by the Establishment and their tame journalists/propagandists.
As posted on previous thread (by Thepnr I think?), all MSM lies should be challenged loudly and head on.
Gregg if you’re reading this Scotland has your back and the backs of your family.
Say the word, start the proceedings and advertise the crowdfund.
IT IS HIGH TIME MCFADYEN & HER EMPLOYER WERE TAKEN TO TASK.
manandboy@5.14pm.
What a great comment! These thoughts have been going round my head too. So scary!
Haven’t read all the posts yet so if this is already posted, my apologies.
link to justgiving.com
@manandboy
Spot on.
Scotland needs to decide just exactly where it is heading. Into a dark place along with England or into a bright future within the EU.
OT
link to welt.de
I had no idea Iceland was joining the EU. Searching BBC website for Iceland does not show this up. I’ve now made it a habit to surf through every foreign newspaper I can think of to find out what’s happening in the world!
clipper@2.50
I was at the Indy March in Edinburgh and so were a few Wingers.
The magnificent YesBikers roared in and it was great! What do you expect? It’s never going to be like the Catalonians but I know lots of Wings “lurkers” that were there too.
Tourists saw us and took photos home. I’ve been playing the long game all my life and I expect lots of Wingers have too.
Don’t lose heart. People notice these things.
This really has become a struggle for the soul of Scotland. .
Slab are in perpetual denial that Blairism isn’t the answer to everything whilst operating on the level of a incompetent village council. The Tories have allowed UKIP back into the fold from whence they came. We have the most right wing authoritarian government in living memory and yet we cannot get beyond the ‘he said, she said’ on Twitter. We seem consumed by who is more of a Nazi.
I was willing to give some high profile Yoons a chance after Brexit but they cannot seem to get beyond a few nasty comments containing the words England or English. They seems consumed by the idea that Scottish Independence = Nationalism = Anti English = SNP.
Surprisingly, many are those that who use words for a living, yet their arguments are reductive and puerile. More than likely ego could never allow them to change sides for that would mean they were wrong the first time. So they cling to the idea of all Nationalism is bad.
Here’s the problem as I see it
If I said to any of my family or friends “What do you think of that Siobhan McFadyen and what she did to the Gregg Brain” they’d say whos’s Siobhan McFadyen who’s Gregg Brain ?
We need to get the message out, The BBC wont report this the newspapers won’t report it either and she’ll get away with it because she’ll be protected by the state
Apathy is the enemy we have to make people aware we’re living in a evil fascist state portraying itself to the world as a democracy,
Scottish independence is not about the currency, pensions, alien invasions, nuclear weapons, organ donations, of whether our weans living south of Berwick will be foreigners, it’s bigger than that.
The billboard campaign is doing well and I’m sure will reach it’s target but it can do so much more, it’s possibly the best outlet we have to encourage people to come to sites like wings etc and learn the truth because the truth is our ally, the truth is our friend, please donate and expose the British establishment for what it is to as many as we can.
We need to create a sharp line of distinction between what we stand for and the British state so no one is in any doubt
Graeme
clipper at 250pm,
I wholly agree with you regards publicising events. It is absolutely necessary to do more than just say ‘oh, it’s on twitter’ or ‘oh it’s on facebook’. To some people those kinds of things are useful, but to many others, they are not. The whole idea is to get borderline no’s to look at the facts, but those kinds of people may not be reading sits such as this, indeed they might not even know where to start.
As you say, their is a complaceny about social media, it simply DOES NOT reach everyone. I get immensely frustrated by this side of things.
It is about getting people to attend, and for that to happen, they need to know about it. I only found out about today in Edinburgh by chance – and I’ve been posting here since near the beginning, and am a member of the SNP. The same thing happened a few weeks ago, when the SNP in Edinburgh south did the same thing, stalls, food, music, speakers, but b*gger all publicity.
It really needs sorted. Simply asserting that people SHOULD be on social media just does not help. In fact, it alienates people, who choose not to.
Some might think agent provocateur, I wouldn’t know. Some might think they live in a free society. Well they’re just not paying attention.
link to medialens.org
@CameronB Brodie
That is undeniable. I’m glad they get short shrift on here, no doubt we don’t catch them all. They will expose themselves though.
All in good time.
Sorry for the unnecessary …., I was distracted.
Thepnr
Some might say “the times they are a changing”.
Always has done, always will. What counts is making those changes work for you rather than against. Of course, you need to be in charge of responding to those changes and it doesn’t look as if Whitehall want’s to deal with the Scot’s “Right to Development”. So I suppose we’ll just do what we are told then.
The “dark side” is strong in this one.
She’s also wrong regarding her reference to Nazi occupation. The foreign worker badges were, of course, worn by foreign workers in Germany; nothing to do with Nazi occupied lands, Gregg Brain’s comparison was exactly on point
I just want to say to Gregg Brain, if he’s reading, that the Scotland I reside in is proud of you. You and your family are a massive asset to the inclusive international country that we all want.
Your speech to the delegates at the SNP conference was one of the finest, heartfelt, emotional & honest I’ve ever heard.
Thank you for choosing us to be your new neighbours & friends. I wish you and your family all the best.
Shell be rummaging bins next…
So now we have clarification that she is not a writer of poison and bile for money where this appear only in the text but we can see this is her modus Operandi.
She presented on two occasions the idea that she could not understand the simply question will she be quoting in full providing a right of reply (playing dumb, when she was in reality attempting to garner references to manipulated for yet more attacks)
Worse that the The Sun at least it attack on a football Celeb this week was a oppion piece, where as this that proports to be journalist has more in kin with anti-propaganda singling out individuals or groups to demonise.
Strangly that has a familiar ring
Robert Louis at 6.19….. plus one. Last minute stuff, made it and enjoyed it. However tons more folks could have been there given the right comms.
Anyway, I took a few snaps, bought some stuff, Ms Babington (high quality stuff looks as good in reality as it does on the web) gave me a hug, Ronnie Anderson didn’t (thank god), Ken provided me with 4 pack of the IScot mags and I furnished our Paula (Rose) with a ginger dug badge (curtsey of my old chum Lindsay) to add to the collection on the Paula’s tit for tat.
I met some very (very) interesting people and was energised by the event……….which leaves the stark question, if these are the people that have I come to interface with at most assemblies, how do WE get the folks that voted NO to come to our events, if even “full on” oiks like me struggle to find out stuff is happening?
The comms channels are too narrow.
PS. Hat tip to our less able warriors (and their supporters) who came on the march and stayed in, what would have been less than comfortable surrounds (cool, damp and lacking conveniences) for them.
PPS. Where are the Scooters for independence (truthfully I saw 2)? I was a mod (once) you bikers get all the style and plaudits, but my (Italian (classy, gorgeously styled)) TV 175 was well better than your oily Enfields! LOL.
@Bob Sinclair
Well said, speaks for many I’d guess.
Thanks for lifting the lid on that exchange. There must still be a decent sub editor at the Express for McFadyen’s semi-literate pish to get published.
Any connections between this vile woman and the individual behind the cairn at Gretna. Just wondering…
I think in law the enquirer is asking a leading questions.
The likes of The Express spread their poison through their headlines.
Most people don’t buy them but they still see the headlines in the shops.
The poison slips into the mind unconciously.
And look at the banner above the EXPRESS headline.
There’s the Zeitgeist of Great Britain & its gutter press today folks; four out of the five images are of women apparently engaged in various degrees of sexual titillation.
That’s what our print news media thinks you are really interested in reading about. It wants you to click on links so you’ll dribble down your t-shirt as you wank furiously over pictures of semi naked women in exchange for your money.
Wake the fuck up folks.
Siobhan McWormtongue’s distortion of truth is needed because real power will always reside with the people. If the titillation, lies and “dumbing down” were to cease, the people might begin to engage their critical faculties.
Yes, the Daily Express is certainly a sewer, so it is no surprise they would employ Mcfadyen. Yet characterising Siobhan’s behaviour as rodent-like would be unfair and inaccurate, for there are some things you just can’t get a rat to do.
CameronB—–@6.48pm
How many New Labour MPs are on the CIA Payroll?
McBadyin.
Fixed that!
Peace Always
RE: lack of publicity and dependence on Facebook/Twitter.
A few weeks ago, I saw mention on Twitter about a Fife cavalcade for independence. I’ve seen ONE graphic about it –
link to imgur.com
I uploaded that to the WWW as it only appeared to be visible on Twitter and/or Facebook. I’ve seen no more info about it, only that assembly is at Fluthers car park in Cupar at 10am.
What’s the route?
Is it ending back in Cupar?
I read that the Yes Bikers had been invited. Do they know?
What’s the finishing time?
Are any stops en route planned?
I was pushing this event at the Holyrood rally yesterday but the only info I could offer was the start time and location.
The Daily Express has not changed in over 40 years with reporters still twisting the truth. It is the reason i stopped buying this toxic paper over 40 years ago. Is Siobhan McFadyen the lost sister of Katy Hopkins both toxic both need a brain transplant.
@ Glamaig at 5.47
You had no idea that Iceland is joining the EU because it isn’t.
The article you linked to refers to September 2009; when I visited Iceland last year and had lots of political conversations, I was told that the then government had been keen to push it, but that public enthusiasm was/became so low that they have officially abandoned the idea.
link to archive.is
What a vile, depressing, lying cu88, writing for a depressing, vile, lying newspaper. The circulation in Scotland is probably no more that 3 or 4 daft oldies tbh.