Ian Smart is a liar
So, this again:
But it’s hard to avoid in the circumstances.
The picture above is of Cumbernauld solicitor Ian Smart appearing on last night’s Newsnight Scotland, representing the Labour viewpoint. And we’re using that phrase in both its narrower and broader senses.
Here’s what Mr Smart said 14 minutes into the show, while debating the prospect of independence providing an opportunity for a political realignment of Scotland towards more progressive left-wing values with Alex Bell and Scotsman writer Joyce McMillan:
“This is just nonsense! A Council Tax freeze is not progressive social democracy, a Corporation Tax cut is not progressive social democracy – “
Alert readers won’t, of course, need reminding that a Council Tax freeze was Labour policy at both the 2011 and 2012 Scottish elections, and that Labour cut Corporation Tax twice in its last UK administration – cumulatively by 60% more than the SNP propose to with independence. But it’s the next bit that’s more troubling.
“IAN SMART: – worker representation on boards, on condition that they give up active involvement with a trade union, is something very far from progressive social democracy.
GORDON BREWER: I don’t think that’s what the SNP were saying.
SMART: That’s EXACTLY, that’s EXACTLY what the White Paper says – the price of a worker representative on the board is that they would no longer be able to be active in their trade union.”
Is it, though? Here’s what the relevant section of the White Paper actually does say:
“Our priorities for action
The priorities for action for this Scottish Government in the first term of an independent Scottish parliament will be to:
– work directly with the trade unions, employer associations, employers and the voluntary sector to build a partnership approach to addressing labour market challenges
– create sustainable employment that pays fairly through changes to the minimum wage and a commitment to the living wage
– encourage people into work through a focus on early intervention and policies that support skills, training and opportunity
We will work with the STUC and the business community on mechanisms to formalise the relationship between government, employer associations and employee associations with a particular focus on encouraging wider trade union participation and in recognition of the positive role that can be played by collective bargaining in improving labour market conditions. For example, evidence from the OECD shows that stronger trade unions tend to reduce inequality in labour income and ensure a more equal distribution of earnings.
With independence powers over employment legislation will transfer from Westminster to Scotland. Employment law and regulations cover minimum terms and conditions, maternity and paternity rights, worker representation, the rules around unions and collective bargaining and the minimum wage.
The Scottish Government has adopted a strong social partnership approach, working with the voluntary sector, unions, employer associations and employers directly. With independence we will build on this approach.
We have proposed a Fair Work Commission which, as part of a remit, will deliver the mechanism for uprating the National Minimum Wage.
We will also establish a National Convention on Employment and Labour relations. Bringing together labour market regulation and other employment-related policies in a forum which encourages direct and constructive dialogue across all key stakeholders will be a major advantage. This could, in principle, range from a focus on high-level issues such as labour market reform to sectoral issues such as addressing skills-shortages in key sectors and particular policy initiatives such as the Living Wage.”
Employee representation
Analysis by the TUC shows that in 14 of the 28 EU member states workers have the right to be represented on company boards. These countries have adopted different models in line with their own circumstances and cultures. There are differences for example in how worker representatives are nominated and elected and which companies are covered by the requirement.
Employee representation can help to bolster long-term decision-making and improve industrial relations. There are already examples of good practice here too – First Group has had an employee director since the company was created in 1989.
In an independent Scotland we will consult on the best form of employee representation on company boards.”
(Pages 162-164 of “Scotland’s Future” ePub digital edition.)
Our emphases. We invite readers to identify which of those passages could possibly be in any way construed as excluding a workers’ representative on a company board from participation in trade union activities. (We’ve scoured the rest of the document, which is fully-searchable, for every conceivable term, and found absolutely nothing.)
This is scaremongering in its purest form – not a cynical misrepresentation or quote taken out of context, but a complete and utter fabrication from thin air, playing on fear and whatever may be left of workers’ trust in the Labour Party.
Ian Smart is a liar, and a solicitor. So he’s uniquely well-placed to take action if the first part of that statement is false. We’ll be watching for the letter on our doormat.
I’ve always held the belief that no person who is by profession a solicitor should EVER be allowed near politics.
Of course, the Gidiot is proposing that workers give up rights for shares. Perhaps somewhere in Smart’s mind he thought he could get viewers to conflate the two?
Or or he’s an arse.
Smarts contempt for the viewers matches his contempt for the telling the truth. What a sad, sorry excuse for a human being.
I don’t get it, I really don’t.
I mean its a TV format, its recorded, its accessible and easily retrieved. Do they even think before blurting out the first scare story that jumps into their heads or do they think that people aren’t paying attention and willing to check up on their statements?
They can’t be that arrogant or stupid surely? 😮
I recall someone stating that the Labour Party was the political wing of the Trades Union movement. Apart from being a liar, maybe he can see the end of the Mafia organisation that the Labour Party has become. After all, in a literal sense, the White Paper doesn’t state that there will be a role for the Labour Party in these proposals.
I think he is a liar too but I would never put that in writing or on a website in case he sues…oh wait!
@ Krackerman
Just hope that doesn’t include Nicola Sturgeon.
Really glad you picked up on this, Stu. Nearly fell off my seat when I heard him say that last night and couldn’t get to sleep for the outrage I felt.
do they think that people aren’t paying attention and willing to check up on their statements?
Yes. And as far as the vast majority of viewers are concerned, they’re right.
Well, at least he claims to have read the WP. (Maybe he did, but couldn’t understand it because it’s written in plain English.)
Thank you for analysing this so well.
When I watched the programme and Smart came out with his assertion about workers reps losing union rights, I thought it must be rubbish as it is so far from what the SNP stands for. Sure enough, Smart was only doing his job of “representing the Labour viewpoint”. i.e. making things up.
Smart isn’t so much a stranger to the truth as a stranger to reality. On this planet, at least.
Does anyone else think he’s sneaking out a silent fart in that picture?
I’d actually be embarrassed to have this man on my campaign. But there again, I’d be embarrassed to have most of the Better Together personnel on my campaign.
Smart is not a liar. He is a Scottish Labour Party hack
That is something far more devious, evil and dishonest.
PS
Mind you, who cares what somebody who would gladly have 100 years of Tory rule over responsibility for ones own affairs thinks? He is either a complete sell out or such a supreme masochist he could keep psychologists in clover for a generation.
The ‘1984’ quote is bang on, but bigger picture the Orwell book that comes to mind re this behaviour and these tactics is ‘Animal Farm’ – with SLab as the pigs, and Smart as Squealer, their propagandist who relied on the confusion and ignorance of the other animals.
“Really glad you picked up on this, Stu.”
Cheers for the tip-off 🙂
Given the availability of the white paper in electronic format, I’d have loved it if someone had whipped out their Ipad and ask Smart to find where it says what he was claiming.
@Morag
Ah, the old ‘just get the sound bite out and hope it sticks’ ploy. Hopefully as this referendum carries on people will be getting wise to the tactic.
I live in hope anyway.
Words fail me… at least ones which won’t be moderated out of existence.
Stu
Have you ever been challenged by ‘x’ or proxy of ‘x’ in your ‘x is a liar’ series?
“Have you ever been challenged by ‘x’ or proxy of ‘x’ in your ‘x is a liar’ series?”
I have not.
Lawyers are often a mirror image of their main clients, criminals.
The only difference is the lawyers know, or should know where the line is and how to skirt around it,; just.
I give you another prime example of that race, Jack Straw. The man who pleaded total innocence to any participation in the rendition process of human beings to states doing torture on the behest of the USA, including UK citizens.
This is spite of a letter the exact same sent by him being made public some time ago?
Liars and without a long memory, a dangerous and stupid combination.
I suspect that Ian Smart has a very large difficult internalising his inner conflicts of truth and lies. He probably needs some sort a substantial support.
Great quote that sums up the lies and doublespeak coming out the mouths of careerists and tribalists like Douglas Blinky Alexander, Ian Smart and co. The longer I live the more I appreciate George Orwell.
Given the availability of the white paper in electronic format, I’d have loved it if someone had whipped out their Ipad and ask Smart to find where it says what he was claiming.
Horace, no chance of our media doing that. They see it as their job to provide a friendly platform for SLab people to make these statements not challenge them.
I wonder if The law Society Of Scotland would deem solicitors who go on television and tell lies to be a “fit and proper persons”.
I think this chap isn’t very smart at all. Did he not say that there will be no referendum. The opposite of what he says tends to happen. A wonky seer if there every was one. Bless.
I started a complaint to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission about Smart after his rivers of blood Tweet, but very quickly & easily found something better to do.
Maybe I should dust it off now.
Even by the primitive standards of the ambulance chasing branch of the profession, he counts as pond life.
Was impressed by Joyce McMillan, who got her bit out regardless of Brewer trying to drown her out. More of this please.
Why does not “wings” challenge ,”not so ” Smart to justify his claims in a face to face interview? Naw, he would not do it ! However, even that is something we could capitalise on, if he refused.
You’ll see he’s claiming reference to the “First Bus example” with apparent “approval” justifies the assertion that waiver of the right to take part in union activity would, generally, be required in exchange for board representation:
link to twitter.com.
Out of interest, I’m now checking to see whether there are any Law Society rules that bar one solicitor accusing another of lying even when that is true. I’m sure there will be.
Nice anagram.
MAN IS RAT
“Nice anagram.
MAN IS RAT”
Hey! Rats are nice.
Slightly off topic, I was quite impessed by the way Joyce McMillan dealt with Gordon Brewer’s attempts to talk over her and interrupt the points she was making. She had me thinking ‘gaun yersel hen’ as I watched her.
Incidentally, I woudn’t make sweeping statements about lawyers – isn’t that what Nicola Sturgeon was?
I think what is really sad is that an inclusive measure designed to ensure employee AND trade union representation at corporate level, something you would think the Labour Party would naturally be in favour of, is cynically being used by the likes of Smart as a kind of threat, to the detriment of those who might benefit from it and for the advantage of the Labour Pary. Can’t help but wonder how some of the unions, which fund the Labour Party and support Better Together, would feel about his comments and how they would explain his comments to their members.
Thing is, if they’re willing to come out with blatant less like this on TV, what the hell are they saying in private at union meetings and to other groups of people who won’t have read the white paper and will go on believing such rubbish?
Beginning to see where some of the irrational Salmond hatred is coming from.
For those newer readers of political blogs, brought here by interest in the referendum, Ian Smart is someone who has been around for a while and was best described by his brother. link to ayewecan.blogspot.co.uk
Opspeak.
Darling!
Carmichael
Wallace!
Westminster and the establishment is stuffed with QC’s & lawyers, there must be a lot of crime about the cesspool to need all these carpetbaggers and chancers. turns your stomach.
The establishments propaganda machine (BBC, press etc) pass these con artist off as honest brokers. There is NO positive case for the union, hence all the lies, propaganda and deceit broadcast by the establishment and it’s lachies.
The good old unionists voters don’t believe the establishment can tell lies! Even the ones that aren’t true. Very sad!
Ian Smarts A Liar, Nae shit sherlock, he,s wan edumacated gormless git. & the BBC are the Truth Finders Generals,( nae thumb screws, nae heid clamps, nae Iron Maidens ) ( o she,s deed,or is she only sleepin in anither form ).
REV, Could you get clarification personaly from Smart, as a Lawyer he,s supposed to be truthful is he not.
Now riddle me this…if a newspaper or a magazine etc make a factual error and they have to publish an apology for any misrepresentation, why doesn’t a TV show?
Surely at the next showing, Brewer should announce “On a previous show we portrayed Ian Smart as a knowledgeable individual, we were wrong and apologise to the viewing public.”
Smart and his ilk (nulabour) are closet TORIES. They know full well that tory attitudes don’t wear well in Scotland so what to do? Infiltrate the labour party, stick on a red rosette and pretend to the electorate that they remain the only party loyal to the poor and working class knowing full well that many of their supporters don’t really do politics and the media won’t expose them for what they are, job done. Tony Blair did exactly the same thing.
Excluding the documented lie, I found Ian Smart’s performance on Newsnight Scotland thoroughly underwhelming. The most surprising thing for me was that he was even on TV.
Ian Smart used to be better than this. I did write to him and said so but he now seems to live in some unreality realm and statements have become progressively more unhinged. To an extent the same can be said of McColm, Farquarson and others who appear to live in a bubble inhabited entirely by half-wits.
Ian Smart’s brother Alan (Citizen) Smart Has some interesting thoughts about this
George Orwell, real name Eric Arthur Blair.
Wrote many books on the suffrage of the poor, about 18 in all.
The man really knew his subject to such an extent he actually lived most of it.
He wrote about the poor man and the life he led but the theme changed with his final book 1984 where he warns against it. Sadly in doing so he created a template for the future for those he was warning against.
A man who really knew his subject few of whom remain today.
Prof Smart?
Not worthy of the name.
The sad fact is the BBC know exactly who they are dealing with and what they are doing! No mistake. Evil, disgusting, news/information management in complicity with and encouragement of the state (UK).
Ian “Poles and the Pakis” Smart the man who would prefer 100 years of Tory rule.
Alan Smart, “My brother Ian Smart is not a racist. He is worse than that.”
He is a liar and a racist.
Expect Jack McConnell to step in at any moment and say that Ian Smart is not a liar, but that we are liars for calling him a liar.
OT
Amongst the litany of propaganda examples from the BBC the following one highlighted by NNS is a little more blatant than most:
link to newsnetscotland.com
Doubleplusgood duck-speak, Mr Smart.
Speaking of liars. Great piece on NNS.
link to tinyurl.com
BBC Scotland found guilty of pro-union bias in Scottish Referendum debate.
Spread it far, spread it wide.
Smart’s lies are another fine example of Confunionism.
HOW MANY MORE, Have joined the band of non BBC licence fee payers after NNS, come on dont be shy post up
Somewhat O/T but; Foulkes and McConnell’s festive take on the Bedroom Tax
Share their concern.
I haven’t paid but I expect I will. It’s been due since October and I simply feel a bit sick every time I pick up my cheque book. I can’t be arsed to stop watching my TV though, so I guess a three-month delay in paying is the best I’ll muster.
@Krackerman excuse me? We are not all mad or bad you know. As has been pointed out that there are plenty lawyers on both sides of the fence. Nicola Sturgeon, Kenny MacAskill, Duncan Hamilton. Winnie Ewing, Roseanna Cunningham to name but a few on the Yes side of the debate.
Ballsy article Stuart! However, if you really want to twist his tail send a copy of your evidence of his mendacity to the Crown Office, Scottish Legal Aid Board and the Law Society for Scotland. As a solicitor he is also an officer of the court, and if he is a known liar he cannot/will not be beleived when pleading a client’s case. Accordingly, referring the matter to these bodies will (assuming he wishes to continue practicing as a solicitor) elicit action on his part P.D.Q.
Me. I stopped my direct debit fairly recently and now no longer watch TV as it is being broadcast live. I still watch ‘Pointless’… i’m just a day behind on Catch-up. I honestly don’t miss it. My PC is plugged up to the TV and I get to watch Pointless as I said… I also get to watch all the other catch-up services, I have my Netflix for movies and documentaries… Youtube for FMQ’s and all sorts of other programmes, documentaries, music, stand-up comedy etc.
It is only through giving up the TV for political reasons, that I am now seeing with the huge availability of media on line, that actually watching terrestrial TV doesn’t really add any significant options to what I have access to.
With regards to news… then we all know that the MSM is biased and corrupt anyway, so I get my news from the internet (where I would argue that it is now actually more likely to be truth).
The TV licensing know that they are selling snake oil now too…
http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/topics/technology–devices-and-online-top8/
“With today’s technology, you can watch TV on more devices than ever, whenever it suits you best. This means a TV Licence doesn’t just cover you to watch TV at home on a TV set. You can also watch or record television programmes as they’re being shown on TV, through all of these devices:
Computers, including laptops and tablets
Mobile phones
Games consoles
Digital boxes, e.g. Freeview, Sky, Virgin, BT Vision
DVD/VHS/Blu-ray recorders.
As long as the address where you live is licensed, you’re also covered to watch TV outside your home using any device powered solely by its own internal batteries. This includes your mobile phone, laptop and tablet.
Exception: If you only watch catch-up services online, then you don’t need a licence. For example, you don’t need one to use BBC iPlayer, or ITV player, to catch up on programmes after they have been shown on TV.”
…So there we have it, A clear attempt to try and sell having a Licence as a positive enabling thing, when in fact the truth of the section above, is that anyone with a little competence of using a PC, can permanently and completely legitimately, get rid of their requirement to pay for and subsidise the state propaganda for good.
I have a feeling that politics falls outwith the parameters of truth.
Joyce McMillan, sincere respect, breath of fresh air, we need a lot more like you!
Why on earth is the state broadcaster getting this guy on TV to spout his shite. This guy tried to stir up racial aspects to the independence debate. Surely this would have been enough to put off any serious journalist from asking this lying scum his opinion on anything !!!!!!!!!
Wish they’d invite Derek Bateman on to give his opinion
The article hasn’t been closed down yet?
I assume Mr Smart must agree with it. 🙂
I agree that Joyce McMillan did really well. I’d like to see both her and Lesley Riddoch on a panel debating indy. That would definitely be worth watching. Just throwing ideas out there in case some enterprising producer at STV is reading this.
Being a blatant liar is a part of Labour party policy.
I mean, its not as if he’s a very good lawyer either…
More in the ‘Darling’ mode, i.e. overrated.
As far as anagrams go Juteman, I think I prefer Martians. It’s more in line with the Scottish Labour leadership’s fear of foreigners.
@Xander.
You win! 🙂
Is not Ian Smart a past President of the Law Society of Scotland? And now a proven liar! And a racist bigot. And a Labour party member.
Maybe the likes of Smart agreed to appear because the usual unionist suspects are slowly realizing their predicament? And are running away from the truth?
Can I please live in a nation where the media expose lies and their perpetrators rather than giving them a platform and actively supporting them? Surely there’s some kind of thing to guide them, you know, morality, ethics, conscience, dignity, the law?
Not much to add here Rev as you’ve got it spot on.
Except maybe, Mr Smart isn’t at all very Smart, or maybe he thought he was just being a Smart arse.
It seems we’re reaching the level by BT of passing any old mince as the truth, in the hopes Joe Bloggs and his family swallow it hook line and sinker.
I can’t understand folk like Smart. He obviously isn’t stupid, as he qualified as a lawyer.
If I was caught out in a lie, I would die of embarrassment. The thought of it happening in public is the stuff of nightmares. Yet folk like him just seem to shrug it off. Even his ‘no referendum’ bollocks didn’t seem to bother him.
Do these folk have no sense of self? Do they not worry about being seen as fools? It strikes me that such behaviour seems to fall on the autism spectrum, or something similar.
I can’t be arsed to stop watching my TV
Just watch catch-up. A bonus is you realise just how little is actually worth watching. And you get to stop funding the NoScotland campaign into the bargain.
If he or anyone else in that interview had claimed that the White Paper had stated EXACTLY that henceforth hard-boiled eggs would have to be eaten from the thick end would any of the others present have said that was false?
And why did Brewer sound so fed up? It’s obviously not from having had to read carefully through the White Paper.
If they’re going to speak about it, then it might be worth the licence fee to have someone on who knows what the White Paper actually says.
In the end the Newsnight discussion was fruitless. If there is a No vote then it won’t matter what Alex Bell thinks about the White Paper or the SNP, it won’t matter if Joyce MacMillian has come out as a Yes voter.
It won’t matter if Smart is a liar or a moron. He and many others in the Labour Party(Westminster and Holyrood) want Independence destroyed as an idea and in reality. This is abetted by the Conservatives(Westminster and Holyrood).
The Conservatives will be the ultimate winners and it then won’t matter what Smart thinks.
The Labour Party are on a steep slope to irrelevance. Note Welsh FM pleading with Osborne to give Wales tax raising powers to show that Devolution works, at the same time saying Scotland gets £4billion too much under the current arrangements and so should get less.
The democratic expression of a very large block of voters in Scotland is to be actively suppressed.
So there is a ‘new’ politics in the UK; Hypocrisy Democracy.
So, for example, if the Kurds in Syria or Iraq want Independence then Labour and Conservatives can go through the masturbatory process of supporting it, but here ‘bayoneting’ and suppression is the response.
The problem for them is that this kind of behaviour has a way of backfiring in ways they didn’t foresee.
@ Brian Powell
…. the masturbatory process…
link to planetivy.com
Before the independence debate the likes of Smart would be in contention for a shoe in Labour seat given his background. First stop the house of corruption and then the House of ermine after time served. The more you attack the SNP the better your chance of the golden ticket. Expect more of this shit as they back stab each other in there attempt to join the last gravy train south
One word: Freemasonary
OT. Was listening to “Today in Parliament” on the BBC World Service last night (the service that employs both “Home” and “Scottish” correspondents). I didn’t catch her name, but did anyone else hear a Conservative MP state that “HS2 was vital to England’s economy”, or words to that effect?
P.S. I am visiting my parents, so yah boo sucks to any BBC snoopers.
@Cyril Mitchell.
Eh? 🙂
Do you mean Freemasonry?
Morag, Gone be a wee Devil,dont pat the licence fee, your a inteligent woman, whats that differance in watching , & not paying, Im on my 4 letter, cant wait to be invited to a dist court, I will ask Ian Smart to represent me lol, then revel to the court, his bias statements, thrown rite OOTTA THE DOCK
@ Ronnie Anderson
LOL Ronnie! Didn’t you have an appointment today, if so, hope it went ok
SLAB – the useful idiots!
The only way you can be ‘done’ for watching live TV without a TV licence, is if you admit watching live TV without a licence! You need to admit it, as they have no other method of proving it!
I stopped paying ages ago.
O/T Rev, But I think its more than a bit of a coincidence.
Abraham Lincoln was elected to congress in 1846
JFK was elected to congress in 1946
Abraham Lincoln was elected to president in 1860
JFK was elected to president in 1960
The names Lincoln and Kennedy both contain 7 letters
Both were concerned with civil rights
Both wives lost children whilst living in the whitehouse
Both presidents were shot ona Friday
Both president were shot in the head
Lincolns secretary was called Kennedy
Kennedys secretary was called Lincoln
Both were assassinated by southerners
Both were succeeded by southerners
Andrew Johnson who succeeded Lincoln was born in 1808
Lyndon B Johnson who succeeded kennedy was born in 1908
John Wilkes Booth who killed Lincoln was born in 1839
Lee Harvey Oswald who killed Kennedy was born in 1939
Both assassins were known by their 3 names
Both names are comprised of 15 letters
Lincoln was shot at a theatre named Ford
Kennedy was shot in a car named Lincoln made by Ford
Booth ran from a theatre and was caught in a warehouse
Oswald ran from a warehouse and was caught at a theatre
Both Oswald and Booth were assassinated before their trial.
Mcart says
“They can’t be that arrogant or stupid surely”
They are and they are
that is their downfall
True Juteman, the days of the wee van with the big wire hoop on the roof are long gone. Tvs today are a different techy, no cathode ray tube.Don’t allow entry to your house, and the 5th amendment, if that applies in Scotland.
And don’t knock lawyers without them where would you be when in trouble, or have a grievance?
Is there anyone left in the unionist camp who would not resort to lies and scaremongering?
I have just emailed Ian Smarts office in Cumbernauld with the following letter
Dear Ian Smart
I have just finished watching Newsnight Scotland, In reference to your comment
“The price of a worker representative on the board is that they would no longer be able to be active in their trade union.”
After becoming alarmed at the implications of this for myself in the future, I have spent the afternoon consulting the paper in order to confirm your assertion.
I have not been able to find the piece of information you represented on air and have come to the conclusion that you are a liar.
A follicley challenged, bare faced, politically motivated liar!
Please do not consider pursuing a career is politics as there are enough liars in that profession already, there is no need for you to further swell their ranks of liar’s
Thank you for your time.
Paul Kelly,
Hope he opens it before Xmas 🙂
@Better Together St Kilda –
‘Is there anyone left in the unionist camp who would not resort to lies and scaremongering?’
Well, perhaps no-one in the public eye, but we still Captain Caveman hereabouts, and we know he was working on a positive case for the union. As you know, he’s gained respect for his good humour and ability to take a gentle ribbing now and then, but all frivolity aside, the positive case still hasn’t appeared.
I remain hopeful that, if this elusive argument is ever to emerge, it will be from someone ‘real’, like CC, not these politico/MSM creatures who seem congenitally incapable of ever making their own minds up about anything.
Come on CC – if you see this, please consider giving us your honest take on it all. I’m sure many of us would take it in the spirit with which it is offered, not just aim to split hairs or score points. The longer this debate goes on, the more mystifying any genuine ‘faith’ in the UK becomes – I’d sincerely love to know why it is you haven’t yet switched sides.
@ Ian Brotherhood – aren’t the Better Together brigade supposed to deliver their “vision” by Sunday?
O/T
The bbc have people terrified of not paying tv license. Our aerial broke years ago and we have never looked back but did pay for a good while even then for fear of persecution. If in doubt and you never really watch live tv, take the leap and write to tv license, and you can also stop propping up the no camp into the bargain.
There is loads to watch online, too much in fact! Try Openculture for films etc…and it has links to other sites too. Also Rt news and France24 for a fairly wide and international stance on whats going on.
They are certainly intimidating. I had a very threatening letter saying that my house is now under investigation. For God’s sake, I’m only a wee bit late paying a bill.
O/T
There is an article on RTnews about the uk gov refusing ‘EU food bank subsidy’.
Is this really 2013, anyone?
A letter isn’t intimidating. Your imagination is.
Centrica is a only a private company, and you can deal with them like any other.
If someone knocked on your door and demanded to see your house insurance policy, how would you react?
Google ‘Youtube TV Licence’.
@Better Together St Kilda –
‘…aren’t the Better Together brigade supposed to deliver their “vision” by Sunday?’
It was meant to be today. Someone on a previous thread posted the details, and it was connected to the Edinburgh Agreement. Okay, maybe these ‘declarations’ are primarily rhetorical, but it’s not exactly keeping in the spirit of the thing to ignore a deadline without so much as an acknowledgement let alone an apology.
I expect I’ll pay when I get my next pay packet. Things are a wee bit tight right now because paying for the book to be published kind of crashed Christmas. Hogmanay, though, I’ll probably hold my nose and send them a cheque.
I like to have the TV on in the background even if I’m not really watching it, and I can’t be arsed to change my habits.
@ Morag,
All the letters are designed to do is intimidate you. They have no powers, other than your imagination. They can only enter your house if you invite them in, so do not invite them in. You are only committing an “offense” if you watch programmes as they are being broadcast, not if you happen to have a TV or VCR/DVD. I have not had a License for years and they constantly send letters, with various levels of intimidation. They however are sent to the legal occupier as they do not have my name and therefore there is no offense as only a person can commit an offence. In any case, the key is to refuse to “contract” with them. Do not reply to their letters, you are under no obligation to. Free yourself, you know it makes sense…
What is this “tv licence” that you all speak of ? (Lost count of the letters!)
Ian smart is a disgusting racist liar.
Off this topic but Bradley Manning is a man. born a man will die (probably of a tragic accident in a federal prison) a man. anybody claiming that a man isn’t a man just because he’s had his bits chopped off needs to move to another planet. Wusses is a polite way of describing people moaning about hurt feelings due to calling a spade a spade and not a banana.
Imagine if Alex Salmond came out with such nonsense imagine the hoo-ha! It really is incredible that idiots like this can voice off their poison and yet not be challenged in the main stream media. Very skewed media, and one that should be challenged by all, by not watching shows and not buying papers that refuse to have balance.
Smart used to be on the pro Home Rule wing of SLAB. I can only imagine that the events since 2007 are the cause of his irrational behaviour. Oh well, one thing that can be said in all honesty is next year is going to be a cracker… 😀 😀
Banana slurs darling.
The whole TV license thing is a hardy perennial.
The facts are there for anyone who cares enough to look for them.
Here’s a montage of folk telling them where to go, but it’s quite sad to see the state of some of the TV Licensing ‘officers’ – ordinary punters just trying to do a particularly horrible job. The sooner this ludicrous poll-tax is abolished, the better for all ordinary citizens, but it’s become a sticking-point because the basis of the tax is clear – you are, effectively, co-opted by paying it. It means you ‘approve’ of what the BBC produces – ‘manufacturing consent’, anyone?
That’s why they make such a big deal of it – it’s not the ‘money’. (Any government would pay for it, no matter how much it cost.) It’s the principle – that we pay for it, and cannot, therefore, complain. When we all stop paying? we can raise hell about it, and not before time.
Has anyone heard from Albalha lately?
I haven’t been able to keep across all the posts and comments, so have perhaps missed any recent input.
(Just wondering…if ye’re there Albalha, hope all’s well. Just wanted to ask, if you’ve any more of the Aye Right leaflets looking for a home…could use some.)
it’s clear to see that, Mr Smart, is increasingly irascible, when being interviewed. not a favourable trait to have when trading as a solicitor 🙂
I never thought that Michael Fry would be batting for us…
link to wealthynation.org
Seems like an interesting development.
hes a plank
@Ian
You’ll find the printable version here, together with Stu’s cheap online printer.
link to wingsoverscotland.com
Here’s last night’s Newsnicht, for anyone who hasn’t seen it.
FWIW, I thought Brewer was about as even-handed as I’ve ever seen him. But it’s interesting to note how he cued Smart up (at approx 10 mins) for a statement on a ‘vision’ which Smart then failed to deliver:
(PS What is Smart’s tie all about? Was he, in his day, a Kraftwerk fan?)
@kininvie –
Ye’re a star. Cheers aplenty.
Any agency (whether TV or print) that invites Ian Smart for
his opinion on anything immediately loses any respect I may
have had for them.
@Meself –
Aye, you’re right enough, here’s Kraftwerk doing their thing, wearing ‘Ian Smart’ ties:
Interviewer was asleep and doesn’t know his brief. Gave him far too easy a ride. The fact that there was no correction at the time is damaging. Labour and Bitter Forever strategy is clear. Talk about confused picture, lie if necessary but we must not say how Labour will tackle things.
it will be interesting when they have to put down their vision. I suspect the press will be just as lazy as Gordon brewer was.
The sad (and very disturbing) thing is that there are a huge number of people out there who will see that on TV and believe the lies, because “It’s on national TV, so it must be true, therefore, I don’t need to check up on the facts for myself!”
This seems to be BT’s main strategy, rely on muddying the facts so much that no-one in our extremely overworked society will take the time to do their own research.
Ignorance can be a dangerous thing…
This is great…
A small minority of lawyers use their knowledge for the public good.
But generally speaking, lawyers are the lowest of the law.
Their only purpose is to keep the plebs in their place while enriching themselves in the process.
“Has anyone heard from Albalha lately?”
You read my mind, that just what I was thinking.
Ian Smart can no longer tell the difference between a lie and Well another lie
@ Oneironaut
That’s why we will need a good billboard campaign when the time comes.
Rev, I hope you’re going to have some well earned time off over the festive season, re-charge the batteries ready for the coming year, all the best.
g.p
Albalha collected Aye Right leaflets from me last week. I am the Glasgow source. You only have to ask if you are interested.
2 background things about Smart
1 – when he was president of the Law Society a few years back (a “Buggins’ turn” kind of thing for those whose forte is shuffling papers at committee meetings and toeing the right line) I suspect he had his head on a plate a few times at the hands of the Scottish Govt in the context of reforms to the legal profession
2- his practice relies heavily on legal aid work, and the budget for that is being hammered by the Scottish Govt – the axe has to fall somewhere
Point is – he has his own baggage when it comes to the SNP. It shows.
O/T, on the subject of leaflets, I see what my wife does when they come in, that is after a quick scan, they go straight in the bin. The company I used to work for, rather than send out leaflets about new products, used to send out teasers, so if they were introducing a segmented product, they would send an orange in a box without any indication as to where it had come from. This would stimulate interest and conversation before the launch. Why not issue leaflets with no indication where they’re from or what they’re about, but with questions which stimulate interest, such as, “Would free childcare change your life?” Or “If your children could get good jobs in Scotland would you be able to see your grandchildren kmore often?”. There could then be one of those code square thingummys which when scanned would take you to Yes Scotland or the White Paper Download or the Newsnet Unionist Myths page, etc.
@ Hetty & Morag
I stopped watching TV & stopped buying a licence 4 years ago. They write letters and you can bin/shred them. They turned up at my door, asked to come in, and I refused. They went away with tails between the legs.
TV is not compulsory.
@Krackerman
20 December, 2013 at 1:19 pm
“I’ve always held the belief that no person who is by profession a solicitor should EVER be allowed near politics.”
I’m a huge fan of Nicola Sturgeon (an ex-Drumchapel solicitor) and believe Scottish politics a much poorer platform without her.
Hi John (King) re your post
Albalha sent me said Aye right leaflets and put me in touch with Gavin (also above) about 10 days ago. I also purchased three natty little gifts from Albalha’s micro business (shameless plug) – fridge magnets with pictures of Wellington with cone on head. Dished them out to friends in work to much merriment. Just what is it about that picture that always makes me laugh – is it the pomp and circumstance being pricked by the Glaswegian sense of Mischief?
Regarding the main topic, Perhaps Mr Smart doesn’t want union members remembering that during their last tenure in office Labour offered nothing to the unions. And as far as I’m aware, have no similar proposals for board memberships themselves? Didn’t work Mr Smart – I remembered.
Finally as a low paid worker, I find that the council tax freeze has helped me greatly. It has kept some money in my pocket that I can direct to things close to the Dram’s hearts. Wrong again Mr Smart.
I have not had a TV licence since I returned to Scotland in 2005. Soon after I moved in I started getting letters. I wrote back indicating I did not have a TV and I did not have Broadband and I did not watch live TV. The letters continued to come and I continued to write back. I finally wrote that I considered their letters harassment and would be consulting a solicitor about taking action.
The letter I got back said I had to go to their site on-line. I did so at the local library and told them that as well. That stopped the letters for a while. Then I got Broadband and they started up again. I wrote and said I still didn’t watch live TV and from the little I saw when I was visiting friends (of any channel)did not incline me to bother. I indicated that I would consider further letters harassment. Again I had to go in on-line.
For me the quality of broadcasting is so poor that it is not worth the effort of watching. The once-great BBC reputation has crumbled to dust and blown away.
@ Andrew Morton – I like your thinking re. leaflets. Like Mrs M I am highly resistant to anything which assumes I can be persuaded into anything! Hell, I even told the postcode lottery people to leave me alone and the very next week my street won…
I like how the BBC subtly tries to tar the SG with this failure to deliver…. link to bbc.co.uk
BBC Scotland GMS put on another 2 hour show this morning and surprise surprise, nothing happened in Scottish politics again. The producers and presenters brief must be to waffle for 2 hours about anything except problems that concern Scotland.
They did run with the Lockerbie bombing, but anything presented by Glen Campbell just isn’t serious journalism, because he has been found out to be a liar regarding other stories that he has covered.
They don’t mention food banks, bedroom tax, polls showing Yes vote increasing. Nothing mentioned about the Scottish Parliament.
They are trying to dumb down the debate and pretend that there are no problems worth talking about in Scotland and also no good news stories in Scotland that are worth mentioning.
At the end of the show the presenters reminded us that they were going to their xmas office party day out. All at OUR expense.
Hopefully, if they have any left over food they might think of handing it in to the local food bank.
Well done Orkney. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25474188
caz-m
Thought Morag argued her case well, she certainly discomfited Magnus who kept trying to steer things back to the legal report rather than what is happening on the ground now.
I don’t know why, but when I look at the picture at the top, the words ‘turtle’s head’ spring to mind.
OT
Did a wee personal (slightly) animated Christmas card to try to help make folk aware of the presence of the alternative view (and factual information) available on line.
@ianbrotherhood
As @gavinlessels says I get the Aye Right leaflets via him but I’m always happy to source them and post them on to you if for any reason he can’t.
@johnking
Still breathing just not much on the site hope you and your wife are well.
@dramfineday
Glad the magnets went down well!
@caz-m
The GMS people will be paying for their office do themselves. Clearly you’ve no time for the BBC, that’s a matter of individual opinion, but I think it’s important to point out clear inaccuracies.
And seasons greetings to all below the liners.
Thanks Chic, excellent piece of work that man!
HandandShrimp
Yes Morag did put her case across very well. But kind of proves the point I was trying to make, It takes someone outwith the BBC to get a relevant point put forward.
Albalha
Your havin a fuckin laugh, BBC paying for their own xmas night out. That’s the best laugh I’ve heard all week. You sound as if you have an invite to it.
When you’re there, you could maybe ask them why they didn’t mention on their programme the disgusting rise in food banks in Scotland.
Or are you frightened it might put them off their 6 course meal.
@gavin lessels –
Gavin, any chance you could send me your e-mail address? The leaflets aren’t for me – it’s a neighbour has been asking, and I gave him some of my A5 and business-card versions. Have been quite stingy with them, don’t want to just pass them out willy-nilly to folk who may just bin them. If he’s serious then he can contact you directly.
Cheers.
ian@stevenston4.fsnet.co.uk
O/T
Excellent piece on BBC bias on Newsnet
link to newsnetscotland.com
IAN SMART IS A LIAR ; can’t argue with that
Just a wee reminder, in case anyone had forgotten !
Caz-m
Albaha worked for the BBC, if anyone should know then surely she would ?
O/T UPDATE Wings Over Scotland Car Stickers
I was advised that the print run was done yesterday and the printers plan was to try to ship out on Monday for next day delivery. I’ll keep you all posted when these puppies arrive.
Yours aye
Chic Mc Gregor, nice one, ah wiz hopein fur the soundtrack, jingle bells, you feart of the copyrite laws, lol cheers.
thanks dramfineday
Albalha
hello, Ian seemed to read my mind when I logged on this morning I was just thinking we hadn’t seen you for a while lo and behold he had the same thought,
yes wife and I both well, driving each other crazy and this is only the beginning of my holiday.
O/t
i am looking for a link to a recent poll on Europe that showed English voters likely to vote UK out. Help!
caz-m
I think what Albaha was saying was that the individual presenters involved in today’s GMS have no great admiration for the monolith that is the BBC on Pacific Quay and are likely to be doing their own thing apart from the herd.
Morag’s book gets big coverage in the current issue of Private Eye
This is a right BBC Scotland fan club showing it’s head this morning.
BBC Scotland are a shower of bias, lying bastards. How can you stand by journalists like :-
Brewer
Frazer
Campbell
Taylor
Bradford
Magnasunn
Bird
And all the senior management that infest Pacific Quay.
kendomacaroonbar, yie’v made my Christmas, thanks.
Caz-M
I don’t know who your post is directed at, but you are way off the mark there lad.
kendo
“lad”
Has this Alabama (or what ever you call him) got you under some kind of spell.
Last time I heard such loyalty to BBC Scotland was from a Ruth Davidson speech.
Had to double check the name of the website I was on there. I thought I drifted into Better Together by mistake.
@Caz M
You seem to have some difficulty in understanding the difference between argument and abuse.
Read my posts again. I told you that Albaha was a she, and that having worked at the BBC has superior knowledge of whether their staff fund their own Christmas jollies or not. It was a statement of fact and a fair and reasonable response.
Quite why you assert that our response amounts to a defence of the BBC in general is beyond me. I suggest you get back to the better together forum, I’m sure you’ll find more like minded individuals to natter with. Peace Out.
Slightly OT: In relation to BBC Scotland and licence fees. I wonder if there has been a significant drop in TV licence revenue over the past year? Another FOI request perhaps?
Sneddon, Ronnie
?w=AAA0AaBDjLfqI3Rw_VnPMqg2UHezd_Om-4n1NNH7QsOoRw
Thanks, just arrived at my daughters and noticed the utube doesn’t seem to good, at least on my tablet, hopefully the following gif is better.
No time to do sound track, was planning ‘Tell me Lies’ for the first bit an ‘I Can See Clearly Now’ for the second.
The BBC are crap. UK gov controlled. Corrupt payouts etc.
Labour ‘Radical’
That was the best laugh.
@Richard says
The link is on the NNS website – hope this helps
I would be quite happy to very publicly call some of the Better Together liars ansome specific and demonstrable lie and dare them to take action – and in doing so publicly expose the lie widely
@Dave.
I asked Mr Smart on his blog what his reaction was to being called a liar.
No response.
He must be accepting it’s true.
Jeannie @ 4.02 Thoroughly agree with you about Joyce McMillan and Lesley Riddoch as a debating team duo. If you add oor “bonny fechter” Nicola Sturgeon to the mix, how about those three for a formidable trio in any debate versus ANY of the negative numpties the NO Campaign could muster to face them? No matter who the anti-indy lot produced, Darling, McDoughball (oops, I mean McDougall), Wallace, Moore, Carmichael, either of the Alexanders, Foulkes, Forsyth … anyone! Or, seeing as it’s an all-female team, how about the juicy prospect of Mr. Separashun himself, Ian Davidson, facing them. I’d like to see that wee misogynist anti-Scottish ("Quizmaster" - Ed) trying to bully any of those three!
Ian Smart / Socialist (Apparently ?); the Labour luvvie who has stated –
“Scottish Independence – a more nightmare vision to my mind than any Tory Government”
As Alex Ferguson would say – Pwoud, vewy vewy pwoud scot (Pewk)
kendo
your quite the little stuck-up cheeky bastard aren’t you.
I hope you are not one of those keyboard warriors, that’s when people talk tough behind a computer.
or are you on a promise from this BBC Scotland insider. How the fuck does she know if their xmas knees-up was paid for by themselves or not.
Are you her Knight in shining armour.
I.ll bet my mortgage that staff at the BBC never paid for that night out.
All you BBC Scotland luvvies can go and get fucked.
BBC Scotland staff are the scum of the earth.
kendo
I stay in Govan and we used to think the smell in the air was from the Shieldhall sewage works. But we later found out it was just someone at Pacific Quay opening a window.
“Lefty lawyer”, ain’t he got a cheek?
He’s like Bernard Manning, without the humour..
@ caz-m
At last, some seasonal light relief.