The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland


Labour rejects mature debate

Posted on March 12, 2012 by

Okay, so it's not the most shocking headline we've ever run. But it's dismaying to see how openly Scottish Labour recoils from the very idea. Over on LabourHame today, Tom Harris runs yet another another one-eyed piece we won't dignify with a link, about how SNP supporters are nasty and arrogant while Labour's are paragons of humble virtue to a man. It only took him a few minutes to delete our comment in response:

"The fact is the nationalists might win. I hope they don’t, but they might. We might win. We might not, but we might." [Tom Harris]

Speaking as an evil cybernat, I agree completely with this statement. But when moaning on about how SNP supporters apparently have a monopoly on certainty, as usual you ignore the beam in your own eye. You don't have to look very far to see that attitude on the Labour side – in fact, only as far as your nearest rival for LabourHame's most prolific contributer, Mr Ian Smart, who asserts at every opportunity that (a) there won't be a referendum at all, and (b) if there is, the Yes vote will be 28%.

You're a pretty clever guy, Tom. Imagine what a force you could be in the campaign if you abandoned the puerile, transparently-hypocritical sniping that makes you so easy to mock and dismiss as a troll, and actually tried engaging in a vaguely mature debate.

Sadly, despite our (actually entirely genuine) plea, Tom has very much nailed his colours – we're not really sure which ones those are – to the "puerile, transparently hypocritical sniping" mast. We think that's a terrible shame, for reasons we've covered previously in some detail, but on Labour's head be it.

2 to “Labour rejects mature debate”

  1. Janos says:

    Ech, when people are wrong, they have nothing but immaturity and irrationality as their defence.  Abandoning that will leave them with nothing, and people don't like that, so all they can do is bleat on with their crap.  Sad fact of human psychology really =/.

    Reply
  2. nancy says:

    best thing to do with tom harris is to ignore him – that would really annoy him nothing worse than realising your an irrelevance.

    Reply


Comment - please read this page for comment rules. HTML tags like <i> and <b> are permitted. Use paragraph breaks in long comments. DO NOT SIGN YOUR COMMENTS, either with a name or a slogan. If your comment does not appear immediately, DO NOT REPOST IT. Ignore these rules and I WILL KILL YOU WITH HAMMERS.


  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a (mainly) Scottish political media digest and monitor, which also offers its own commentary. (More)

    Stats: 6,764 Posts, 1,218,803 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

  • Recent Comments

    • PhilM on What Anas Actually Said: “The ‘forlorn shoehorn’…May 30, 00:04
    • Rob on What Anas Actually Said: “I have a question for the massiv, Do many folk support the SNP view that massive inward immigration is the…May 29, 23:06
    • AntonDecadent on What Anas Actually Said: “The main outrage here isn’t what was said in the Reform ad but that they were allowed to say it…May 29, 22:46
    • AntonDecadent on What Anas Actually Said: “The granting of lifelong anonymity means that those convicted could redeem themselves with a position in politics with which to…May 29, 22:45
    • Andrew Kidd on What Anas Actually Said: “In the same speech he also said that Muslims loved the Koran more than their own families. If that is…May 29, 22:27
    • Young Lochinvar on Tell Them You’re Frightened: “Correct. Very sad, but correct. A plague on their houses..May 29, 21:43
    • McDuff on Tell Them You’re Frightened: “What makes me sick is that all those SNP MP/MSPs got voted in on the basis that they would be…May 29, 21:18
    • Red on What Anas Actually Said: “When Reform get into the Scottish Parliament, can we finally get a public inquiry into the grooming gangs in Glasgow,…May 29, 21:10
    • Lorn on What Anas Actually Said: “Perhaps, Red, but I suspect it was more about Islam than it was about being Pakistani. You could have Pakistani…May 29, 21:01
    • Sally Hughes on What Anas Actually Said: “For the leader of a mainstream Political Party (sub-branch), which is supposed to be moderate, to commit such an own…May 29, 20:54
    • willie on What Anas Actually Said: “Sad fact of life is that the Pakistani come Muslim community very much see themselves as a community apart. That…May 29, 20:51
    • Scot Finlayson on What Anas Actually Said: “Massie will write 500 or 1000 words on any subject his editor tells him, it`s generally the same 500 or…May 29, 20:48
    • Marie on Tell Them You’re Frightened: “Holyrood gets pocket money. Westminster is the parent, and as parent, has final say on everything.May 29, 20:34
    • Axel Heyst on What Anas Actually Said: “Eh? Have you looked at a map, rather than old colonial divides and rivers? I’m a Cocos Malay, which asian…May 29, 20:07
    • Stuart MacKay on What Anas Actually Said: “If only he were called Anastovich Sarwarov. Can you imagine the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments.May 29, 19:51
    • Red on What Anas Actually Said: ““Disappointed in Massie. On the right, but, usually, intelligent.” Lorn, Alex Massie is a Tory. The Tories are spineless cowards…May 29, 19:43
    • Alf Baird on What Anas Actually Said: “Though obscured in a colonial society, cultural imperialism is based on the racist superiority of one group over others (Edward…May 29, 19:28
    • Mia on Tell Them You’re Frightened: “I am wearing my cynic hat on right now. There is less than a year until the next Holyrood election.…May 29, 19:14
    • agent x on What Anas Actually Said: “West Asia (also called Western Asia or Southwest Asia) is the westernmost region of Asia. As defined by most academics,…May 29, 19:10
    • agent x on What Anas Actually Said: “South Asia is a subregion of Asia located between the Himalayas to the north and the Indian Ocean to the…May 29, 18:55
    • James on Tell Them You’re Frightened: “What’s sixth form? Are you foreign?May 29, 18:19
    • katielass42 on Tell Them You’re Frightened: “‘Change’… yes, we heard all that from labour – and look what we got. Until each party explains PRECISELY what…May 29, 18:10
    • twathater on What Anas Actually Said: “So thrope you only want certain truths to be highlighted or talked about, let’s all just ignore the BLATANT baiting…May 29, 18:00
    • Tartan Tory on What Anas Actually Said: “Hmmmm. Perhaps I should consider it then! That said, seeing some of their new crop of PPC’s, they may need…May 29, 17:49
    • agent x on What Anas Actually Said: ““Of those three, one is a current government minister, one is currently the leader of the main opposition party and…May 29, 17:46
    • Mark Beggan on What Anas Actually Said: “He won the competition that many time his mother was allowed to keep the trophy.May 29, 17:36
    • SusanAHF on What Anas Actually Said: “I agree AntonDMay 29, 17:16
    • Anton Decadent on What Anas Actually Said: “Glasgow Southside Central councillor Soriya Siddique stated that in Scottish councils there are too many “male, pale and stale” staff.…May 29, 16:50
    • Tommo on What Anas Actually Said: “I heard that the midwife slapped his mother..May 29, 16:46
    • Anton Decadent on What Anas Actually Said: “All they had to do previously was employ the smear tactic with career ending words aimed at those they targeted…May 29, 16:40
  • A tall tale



↑ Top