Little-seen recluse launches blog
Posted on
June 25, 2013 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
A new voice in the referendum debate – ladies and gents, Professor John Curtice!
Thank goodness. We hadn’t seen him on TV in hours, we thought he’d died.
one can live in hope
Has the Prof morphed into his Worldly form from this?
link to upload.wikimedia.org
Is he indeed an alien or just a foreigner?
I thought that he had died.
Time Team won’t be the same without him.
Dont have a TV so the sark went right over my head but I went and had a look. On the “why women” post there is a comment from some woman?man georgie kent? who has opted for Yes for a new to me reason that when she has to choose between two uncertainties she chooses the one that gives her the greatest leeway. That seems seriously good thinking. Its choosing to save in an ISA rather than a pension plan, renting when you first move to a new place, walking on the other side of the street.
That is one that I can use to persuade folk.
Looking at that photo does actually make me ask whether you’re sure he hasn’t died?
I HAVE NO IDEA WHO YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT
Looks like Prof Curtice has been doing some DIY electrical repairs. Badly.
Just had a quick scan of his bog only to discover its full of shite. Who knew?
Hail Alba.
“Just had a quick scan of his bog only to discover its full of shite.”
To be fair, that’s true of most people.
I don’t like any web site that won’t let you navigate away from its page using the back button on the browser. Not going there again.
I thought it was Professor Heinz Wolff. Do all professors look the same?
I’m glad to learn that Prof. Curtice is alive and well. He is, after all, the only authority in the world capable of commenting on Scottish opinion. Where would the BBC be without him?
Q327(C)
Is John Curtice:
a. A psephologist
b. A professor
c. A pseudonomas
d. Overemployed
e. Just having a giraffe
f. None of the above
g. All of the above
h. I am unable to answer this question
i. I am able, but unwilling to answer this question
j. I am able and willing to answer this question but cannot do so at this present moment in time.
k. Can you repeat the question?
Interesting article in the Prof’s blog. Worth a read.
“So the Yes side may be closer to victory than might appear at first sight.”
Gosh, has wee Duggy been sniffing at the Prof already? He ought to be careful and remember the BBC remit – NO POSTIVE NEWS FOR THE SCOTTISH GOVERMENT OR YES CAMPAIGN WHATSOEVER (cheque in the post).
Is David Torrance his apprentice? If it’s not one of them it’s the other that’s rolled out
whatscotlandthinks.org
Quite a claim to say you know what the whole northern Shire “thinks”. On positive side maybe good to see PRISM data being put to good use.
It looks like he has been polling himself off.
ianbrotherhood says:
25 June, 2013 at 4:24 pm
Nothing wrong with pseudomani. They have had a bad press.
Morag, could you possibly let me know what page you are having an issue with and we will lookg into it.
Thanks
Fed up hearing him on tele.
What happened to James Mitchell?
Shock horror! The good Prof didn’t mention the Scottish social studies survey 23% support for Independence.
O/T Came across this video it’s really interesting looking back at how things turned to crap .
Well if you visit the article “What Scotland Thinks”
And go to the 4th paragraph and click the first link in Firefox opening it in a new tab (press ctrl key and click the link), “on why women are less likely to support independence, and Jan Elchhorn on his research” the link goes to “ww3.xxxxxxxx.com” which goes to a porn site … doh!
I’m not sure that’s the right sample of women they were polling.
Memphisto, could you let me know what the text of the link says? We are looking into this but can not find what you are looking for.
Is it on this page? link to blog.whatscotlandthinks.org
Thanks
Chris
Chris, it seems to be a bit intermittent and it could be my browser. When returning to the home page after reading an article, the back button on the browser that should return to this page wasn’t working. It has worked intermittently on a re-try though.
@chris
yes that one, 4th paragraph
Memphisto, that links to: http://www.scotcen.org.uk/media/1102775/gender%20and%20indep%20paper%20final%20260413.pdf And appears to be working in all versions of Firefox we have tried. You may have a virus or malware installed on your PC
Thanks
Chris
@chris
its actually this one, 4th paragraph
sorry read it too quickly as im at work…wrong article
link to blog.whatscotlandthinks.org
“why women are less likely to support independence“
@Memphisto, ahh, got it now. The link is xxxxxxx, I think someone forgot to update.
Thanks so much for the feedback
Chris
Well that was a bit weird…..I just read one of his articles, and I had his voice resounding in my head while doing so…….Just goes to show how often he is on telly…I would probably recognise his voice better than I would some of my old friends who I haven’t seen for a while.
Thanks for the link, thought the blog is pretty interesting and balanced. I have never understood why there is so much ire directed to the prof, he just interprets the polls. Don’t hate the player, hate the game?
“I have never understood why there is so much ire directed to the prof, he just interprets the polls.”
Aye. I think sometimes his leanings do show through, but by and large it’s pretty fair comment.
“This isnae even mah final form!”
They don’t let Prof Kemp on the BBC to often ,he has quite positive views on Scotland and the future of oil.
Nice that he had a wash for his new blog.
For what it’s worth, I reckon that the prof’s ‘polls site’ might prove quite popular amongst the punters out there and will benefit from his never aff the telly profile…
To that end all I would ask is that we give it a chance, engage in our usual fact based manner and leave the insults at the front door as they won’t serve to convert any don’t knows to the cause…
By piling in with insults we’ll drag the thing down and give the unionists all the ammunition they need…
I notice too that Mr Curtice is also engaging in the comments section over there so plenty of opportunity to question his thinking and engage him in debate… (fair play)
An example here –
link to blog.whatscotlandthinks.org
Finally SS… gie him laldy
There’s a tete a tete I’d actually pay to see lol…
The reason why Pannelbase show the race much closer is because they weigh using people who say they would be likely to vote in a Holyrood election (84%).
Taking it through overall opinion, Yes stays exactly the same (30%) but No falls (37%) and Undecided falls (17%). 16% of people say they would be unlikely to vote in a Scottish Election, and all of that figure is from the Nos and Don’t Knows.
Interestingly, despite the fact that 84% of people are above 8 on the scale saying how likely they would be to vote, the turnout for a Scottish Election is normally around 50%, and a UK Election around 60%.
Also interestingly, when yes and don’t know are added together they come to the same figure who would vote yes if Scotland would be better off, according to the two polls which have asked that question. (the SNP’s this year and another pollster’s in 2011).
@Gaavster-
Curtice may, for all we know, be the most scrupulously fair-minded person who ever walked the earth, but he’s tarnished from over-exposure via the terminally damaged BBC.
(It’s a sad truism that anyone who appears to be ‘favoured’ by the BBC is, nowadays, automatically suspect.)
That – and he fact that he’s always dealing with relatively blunt instruments (polls and presenters) – puts him in a difficult spot. No doubt he’s a font of knowledge on all manner of demographic/political/sociological subtleties, but those are seldom broadcast, except in the wee hours as talking heads change shifts while awaiting confirmation of results.
The guy clearly enjoys his job, and he’s appropriately boffinesque. But that doesn’t mean he deserves any more respect than HE seems to give to the whole notion of Scottish independence. My gut feeling, watching him in full flow, is that he’d get every bit as animated if he was taking note of his students in the lab, methodically dropping buttered slices of toast.
Does he come across as an avuncular, amiable, slightly eccentric nerd who can be trusted?
Yes.
Does that mean his monopolisation of Scottish MSM psephology is harmless?
Certainly not.
@Ianbrotherhood
I agree with what your saying Ian and I’m not defending his utterances in the past, irrespective of how (in)accurate they have been or his monopoly of the airwaves as the lord of all polls
I might call into question the effectiveness of his negativity towards independence and all things nationalist in general though, as if it was his intention to get everyone to back SLAB at the last holyrood election by saying how far ahead they were in the run up then it backfired spectacularly…
Maybe he’s doing us a favour
All I’m saying is here’s our chance to challenge him directly and done factually, without calling him a bawheid, might work to our advantage…
if I had a quid for everytime Professor John Curtice has been wheeled out, to point out some politicial tactical mibee’s I’d be a rich man, Mr Curtice always has the look of a man who’s been dragged through a hedge backwards.