Making the best of it
We were feeling a bit gloomy earlier on today at the realisation that we’d wasted two irreplaceable minutes of our life reading a load of vacuous waffle that Labour MP Douglas Alexander is apparently going to deliver today at what the Daily Record described as a “Better Together rally” somewhere in Glasgow.
(It must be one of those sorts of “rallies” that are kept secret until the last possible moment so that too many people don’t show up – it isn’t mentioned on the “Better Together” website and there’s nothing listed in their “Events” section within 50 miles of Glasgow until a bit of leafleting in a car park in East Kilbride on 22 February.)
So we thought if we could at least get a feature out of it the time wouldn’t be such a total write-off, plus it’s always fun to have a wander through one of Wee Dougie’s barnstorming, rabble-rousing addresses. Let’s go!
“THIS week, we caught a glimpse of ourselves in the mirror.”
Come on, readers, you’re better than that.
“The newly published Scottish Social Attitudes Survey revealed the thinking and attitudes that make up modern Scotland. The headline findings confirmed the importance of the economy in the independence debate and highlighted that support for independence is still below historic levels.”
Which is important, because the referendum is taking place in the past.
“This latest survey follows many votes ahead of the referendum in schools, colleges and university campuses across the nation.
We’ve seen 11,000 school pupils taking part in Aberdeenshire, a campus referendum at Glasgow University and a huge survey of 14 to 17-year-olds by Edinburgh University.
Aberdeenshire kids. Glasgow students. Paisley pupils. The results are the same. Most young Scots simply don’t want separation.”
Why were Edinburgh University doing a survey of pupils in Paisley? But yes, surveys, polls and debates at educational establishments do suggest that young Scots are opposed to independence.
Unless they’re at Abertay Univerity in Dundee, that is.
Or Edinburgh Napier University.
“It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Nationalist strategists have long believed that giving votes to 16-year-olds was a masterstroke that could tip the balance and ensure a separatist victory.
Why did they get it so wrong? Was it just a case of believing their own hype? In fact, I think they’ve misunderstood something deeper about our young people.”
Or, um, someone’s only been feeding you half the news.
“The Scottish Government assumed that today’s young Scots are the “Nationalist Generation”. It turns out that today’s young Scots are the “Network Generation”. Those Scottish Millenials – born in the years just before 2000 – are children of the digital age.”
Buzzwords! Buzzy buzzy buzzwords! Buzz buzz buzz!
“This Network Generation have grown up in a connected world. With Skype, Facebook, Twitter and the internet, the world is at their fingertips via their smart phone. They find the idea of watching TV programmes at a time to suit the broadcaster quaint and old-fashioned.”
I’m not like your grandad! I’m hip and cool and in-touch! Those Arctic Monkfish, eh?
“Control, connection and cooperation are the Network Generation’s watchwords. They believe they can, and should, have it all. Indeed, the science of networks teaches us that the more connected you are, the more powerful you are. Our young people get that. It’s how they live their lives.”
Sounds like they’ve been enjoying all that Glasgow City Council free wifi!
“The Network Generation are secure in, and proud of, their Scottishness. Unlike my generation that grew up in the 80s, they don’t see our sense of identity as under threat.”
We don’t think we follow this one. Why did Douglas Alexander see his sense of identity under threat in the 1980s? What happened? Did he think Argentina was going to win the Falklands War, invade the mainland and make us all speak Spanish?
“Margaret Thatcher is, for them, only another name from history. A 16-year-old voting for the first time on September 18 will have lived three-quarters of their life with a UK Labour government.”
And look what a state the country’s in. Haven’t thought that one through, have you?
“They have only ever known Scotland with a parliament in its capital. The Network Generation have grown up watching Barcelona and Manchester United as much as Rangers or Celtic.”
Um, we’re not convinced that citing Barcelona, the quasi-official football team of the Catalan independence movement, is the smartest call if you’re saying young people hate “separatists”, Dougie. Couldn’t you just have said Real Madrid?
“They’ll support Europe in the Ryder Cup and Scotland in the Commonwealth Games this summer as ardently as they supported Team GB in 2012.”
Kids love golf, right?
“As times change, so do the way each generation see the world. It is rather like the way our generation came to see our grandparents’ views on the Empire and colonies as outdated.”
Not sure why we’ve skipped a whole generation.
“If you’re part of the Network Generation, you don’t have to belong just to one nation. Dual identities come easily to these dual screeners.”
Slick!
“They fear a separate Scotland would be a narrowing, not a broadening, experience. And they see the forced binary choice of Scotland or the UK as last-century, not this-century, thinking.”
Try to keep up with the news, Doug. Nobody has to choose. The Scottish and UK governments both agreed this week that Scots would be able to retain dual citizenship should they choose.
“This Network Generation are much less interested in past grievances than future possibilities. The Network Generation understand that what’s at stake is not just 300 years of shared history…
So they don’t care about past grievances, but they do care about 300 years ago?
“…but a quintessentially modern idea that on these small, rainy islands we can succeed as a multi-ethnic, multicultural, multinational country together.”
Dear God. People have different political views, but if there’s one thing that can surely be agreed across the board it’s that the current direction of the UK is NOT towards more multi-ethnic multiculturalism.
The current government is proposing banning anyone who doesn’t speak adequate English from claiming benefits. They’ve already sent vans round telling immigrants to go home. UKIP is soaring in the polls, and widely expected to come either second or first in the European elections in the spring. The Tories want to have a referendum on leaving the EU (Labour refuse to reject the idea), and opinion polls suggest the British public is desperate to get out.
Scotland, meanwhile, wants to encourage more immigration, but is actively PREVENTED from doing so by UK government policy. Westminster is so terrified of other ethnicities and other cultures that it’s even threatening to put up border controls between Scotland and England to keep immigrants out if Scotland votes Yes.
“Like so many, they may feel there’s nowhere better than Scotland but they understand there’s something bigger. And they want the opportunities which come from being connected to something bigger.”
Yeah, like the rest of Europe, which the UK wants to cut itself off from.
“The polls show consistently that the Network Generation recognise that they and future generations have the most to gain from remaining part of the UK and the most to lose from walking away.”
That seems an almost diametrically inaccurate use of the word “consistently”. Four out of seven studies of young people (see above) found majorities for independence. The latest, from ICM, shows a dramatic increase in backing for a Yes vote among the 16-24 age group, up to a startling 57%. The previous figure was 24%, and has grown by an incredible 137% in four months. That’s a very queer sort of consistency.
“They have grown up in a world of instant connection and communication where the old polarities of the politicians just seem dated. I believe that’s good news for Scotland’s future.
We have heard and will hear a lot about the “historic choice” Scotland faces on September 18. What these young people remind us is that what’s at stake is not our history but our future – and how Scotland succeeds in this changing world. It’s the Network Generation showing us the way.
Their outlook matters because how we engage with difference is one of the most vital questions our nation and our world faces.
In today and tomorrow’s connected, crowded and interconnected world, we can’t escape each other. So we need to learn better ways to live together.”
Good news! We’ve thought of a better way! So why do you want us to vote No to it and stick with the old one, that’s seen catastrophic youth unemployment and a relentless attack on young people, with some benefits already taken away from under-25s and others under threat, from both main parties?
“Whether we treat difference with empathy and respect or view the ‘other’ as outsiders to be regarded with incomprehension or fear really matters.”
Says the party that won’t shut up about how awful foreigners are.
“It matters because, far beyond Scotland, the world is getting ever more interconnected. Driven by networks, communication in the 21st century doesn’t know any borders. Neither does trade.
Neither of those things are even remotely true. Try accessing the internet freely in Beijing or Pyongyang, or importing Irn Bru into Canada, or haggis into the USA. But perhaps more to the point, if trade and communication already ignore borders, why would it matter whether there’s one between Scotland and England or not?
“Neither does terrorism.”
Um, pretty sure terrorism is all about borders. Al-Qaeda didn’t attack Mexico.
“Neither does the atmosphere.”
Perhaps why an independent Scotland is so keen on building up a renewable-energy industry, while the UK government has just handed out more or less unlimited fracking licences to explode pretty much anywhere it thinks might yield the odd seam of gas, even if it makes fire come out of your kitchen taps.
“It’s becoming clearer that all of our main problems can only be tackled, and our opportunities realised, by people broadening rather than narrowing their perspective and then working together, not walking away.”
Hmm, better not risk finding ourselves dragged out of the EU by the English, then?
“It was almost 50 years ago that Robert F Kennedy challenged an audience of students in apartheid South Africa with these words: ‘This world demands the qualities of youth; not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease.’
That challenge endures today. And with their global perspective, I believe Scotland’s Network Generation stand ready to help answer that call.
That’s good news for Scotland, for the UK and for our global community.”
“Waffle blah padding padding padding is that 1000 words yet?”
We think we might be beginning to understand why BT keep their “rallies” such a closely-guarded secret, readers. It’s so nobody can plan their escape route.
Maybe the BT rally will be held in that Tardis John Borrowman brought up from Cardif?
Good to see that Dougie has maintained the patronising qualities he had as accommodation convener at Edinburgh, into his grown-up job…
What an inapposite quote for WinkieBlinkie to choose given Project Fears reliance on timidity, uncertainty and lets not rock the boat general UKOKness.
This world demands the qualities of youth; … a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease.’
That was cringe worthy indeed. Weird that he claims to be addressing the “Network Generation” while sounding like somebody’s Grandad.
Completely out of touch and laughable.
It’s like watching your dad dancing when you’re 14.
Unfortunately for wee Dougie, this Network Generation won’t be much interested in that mince from some-one of his generation.
Now, if he could just get Justin Bieber to say it for him…
That was such a concentrated stream of blackwhite duckspeak, I had to check if Danny had a PPE (Philosophy, Politics Economics degree). He did his at St Anne’s College, Oxford.
Not a shred of substantiation and still no positive case for the Union.
“It must be one of those sorts of “rallies” that are kept secret until the last possible moment so that too many people don’t show up”
Are Better Together technically an occult group?
Any politician who set himself up to tell us what the ‘cool kids’ want is invariably out of touch and wrong.
A wholly patronising speech of soundbites, selective reporting and unionista flim-flam.
Meanwhile, I am still waiting, with bated breath to hear the ‘positive’ case for the union.
Interesting that wee Doogie is going after the rail commuters of the Network Generation.
Shame all his speeches seem to have been written about 1 year ago.
Also, seems to me that when RFK talked of “a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease” he wasn’t thinking about being scared of running and taking responsibility for your own country. Quite the opposite I would say, given the audience.
Cameron B
St Anne’s are you sure? How old is he?
BTW, is this rally actually happening, or is it just a figment of BT’s collective imagination.
How many people do BT consider constitutes a rally? Is it simply a case of any number above one?
BTP
No I’m not sure, but that’s what it says in WikiP.
link to en.wikipedia.org
I know someone who studied there but as he was born in 1967 they would not have been contemporaries.
Just hoping to dig up some dirty.
Hmmm, the UK Government has confirmed that with independence, Scottish citizens will be able to hold dual Scottish-UK nationality and passports. Douglas Alexander is suggesting we would have to choose. Is he just scaremongering or is he saying that it is now Labour party policy to deny us dual nationality?
It’s either a legal option or it’s not. If it’s legal, it can’t be denied us. If it’s not legal, it must be being offered as Tory Party policy. If Douglas says we can’t have it, then he must be saying that it’s Labour policy for us not to have it. Which is it? Maybe he could clear that up for us.
I’m just back from Glasgow and there was something going on in Glasgow Green around the big obelisk, there was a big drum and a flute but not sure if there was a ‘band’. Couldn’t make out the flags they had but no ‘banners’, but there was two police vans parked up in the park and I don’t think the crowd at the obelisk merited that kind of presence so maybe it was them and they were worried about cybernats finding out? As far as I can recall the obelisk commemorates napoleonic era battles when we were obviously Better Together!
my boy is 21, he will be voting yes, im not sure if he is aware of this yet, i shall use facts, emotional or financial blackmail, whatever works. i believe all parents of kids who are going to vote should do the same. its in their interests.
Douglas Alexander is a proto-type of the career politician. He has been droning on in New Labour speak for decades now. It is the most banal, mind numbing, vacuous, and inane stuff imaginable. Alexander even wrecked his own sister’s political career. This is the type of person we are talking about. The term used by Yes is actually the independence generation. However, Alexander, true to form, calls it the “nationalist generation” because he thinks this sounds scary. Alexander and the likes of Murphy only care about their own self preservation and careers.
I see Barrowman has managed to personal insult the FM when declaring his support for the No campaign. Have this lot got anything at all to say that is positive? I also see Kenny Logan is thinking about launching legal action to stop the referendum. Was he paying any attention at all to the signing of the Edinburgh Agreement in October 2012? What is he playing at? If he does do this the support for Yes will surely soar.
Dont know about Dougie but I always prefer to cite figures after a debat not before. Kind of has a currency about it.
“The Network Generation understand that what’s at stake is not just 300 years of shared history…”
then he says …
“What these young people remind us is that what’s at stake is not our history but our future…”
A blatant contradiction immersed in a speech loaded with hyperbole while attempting to contrive synergy with young people.
But I’m not surprised he didn’t proof read it because it’s as cringe worthy as watching a video of yourself dancing solo while drunk at someone else’s wedding.
A Better Together rally is just like an 80’s rave.
I’d like to see an Anas v Douglas duckspeak deathmatch. They would have to talk endlessly until one of them says something comprehensible. It could go on for days, possibly weeks or even months.
Are Better Together using the power of toe curling embarrassment against us now? First Barrowman and now Dougie and the Network Generation kids. From Project Fear to Project Preposterous.
Oops. Wrong Alexander.
Yeah, lets give young people a label, let’s say “The Network Generation”. Great, sounds good to me, now we have a sound bite to target them with.
Never mind that it is totally irrelevant to those young people being targeted, it sounds good. All style and no substance or as I think, Fur Coat an’ Nea Knickers.
“Pit yer lug tae ma gob and listen tae ma clypin’ din! Dinnae miss the gems hidden in this midden. I hae nae shame an’ neither dae the braw Scotties that I here besmirch.”
I watched that interview with Dougie. What a load of mince.
I was a bit, ‘What! Eh!’ when he spouted some drivel about Barcelona and Manchester.
As I pointed out to the wife, ‘Just listen to the interviewer. He won’t push Dougie. He won’t ask him what the new powers will be if we vote ‘No’.’
Then on came Marco Biagi for the SNP and it was…’attack! attack! attack!’
Do the BBC not realise that the game is up? Seriously???
Do the Beeb and the media not realise that all the ‘Yes’ supporters have told everybody to focus on how interviews are being done by the media now; that everyone is watching very closely now!
If it wasn’t working before, and the Yes vote is still going up, then what makes them think that it’s still a brilliant idea to continue with it?
If this is how enlightened the establishment is …then no wonder Britain is in such a mess…
“… the world is getting ever more interconnected. Driven by networks, communication in the 21st century doesn’t know any borders. Neither does trade.”
Does Mr Darling know about this? Or would Gretna’s version of the Berlin Wall be the one place in Europe where a border would be a problem?
O/T Did anyone read the story in the Sunday Herald about the latest departures from the Yes campaign? Are they thinking of bringing in other people? Kevin Pringle would be good.
Has he not noticed what’s actually happening online and on social networks, presumably where the “network generation” are hanging out man.
Of course this is a reassurance speech for the faithful not likely to question what a load of nonsense and contradiction it is.
‘This world demands the qualities of youth; not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease
Which is why we’re asking them to forget ask this imagination nonsense from National Collective and the Yes campaign an vote on terror of a new way of doing things, preferring instead to stick with what they know even if – and I can’t stress this enough – even if it doesn’t work and needs changed.
The courage to do nothing at all, accept your lot and not to hope or aim for change is what the UK and today’s labour party is all about.
Douglas was the archetypal New Labour, buzz word, focus group, Dilbert mission statement generator.
A lot of smooth words that in the end never really meant anything. I don’t think Douglas has caught on to the fact that the young are largely disengaged from politics (was it not only 12% intend to vote in 2015?) precisely because of hollow, meaningless self serving guff like this.
There are few things more enjoyable than watching Wings tear apart anti-independence waffle sentence by sentence. It’s like an extended Limmy Twitter Audit.
Caroline,
Not sure about who it might have been, but I have a suspect feeling it was the Irish Republican march that might have been taking place.
Disingenuous fuddery.
Alexander is one of those complete bawbags who, if you stopped and asked him for directions, would make up some rather than admit he doesn’t know.
‘In today and tomorrow’s connected, crowded and interconnected world, we can’t escape each other.’
Want to bet on that Dougie?
Aw naw, crivvens, jings, &etc. Now as well as being “tooweetoopoortoostupid”, we are living in a place that is too small, too rainy, and too islands-y! Save us, Douglas (just not in the way you saved your sister’s career..)
Extract Herald.
Speaking on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Politics programme, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander warned that the sample size of the 16-24 age group was small, but he said he was not complacent.
Mr Alexander, who was speaking about the youth vote, added: “What that poll suggests to me is that all of us have more work to do in the remaining 235 days.
“There are no grounds for complacency.”
He said: “They (young people) are comfortable with the idea of a layered identity…like many of us are pragmatic in terms of the modern world, where we are interconnected in a way unimaginable a generation ago.”
link to archive.is
Rev – O/T but how did you manage to get the WoS logo into the “window” in BBC Scotland’s new studio. Will it still be there when they start using it, though?
link to bbc.co.uk
Crikey I must pass this onto my 18yr old son, I think he would be very interested in this patronising, utter twaddle. ‘Network generation’?, god give me strength, what a crass and insulting term to use when talking about “these young people”. Er who exactly is this guy referring to? In England, young people staying in Education who were from poorer families were awarded a very small grant called EMA, this backward, dangerous, right wing government removed it immediately they took power. It is still in place in Scotland, it is a brilliant way to support young people to stay in education and further their skills, but I think there is some pressure from the cuttists, ie those in favour of austerity, to scrap it here as well.
It is this kind of patronising one size fits all, every young person loves football lives in facebook, Skype, twitter and they can all afford smart phones and even use the internet, that confirms how our young people are viewed by this lot. I am thankful my kids never had to endure seeing Thatchers face pasted everywhere mr Alexander, and so so glad they have a government here in Scotland, a parliament in their capital, what was that? Oh, the parliament is there at the whim of westminster? Did you tell them how it could be removed and very likely will be if it is a no vote? Didn’t think so.
I hate the crap these people spout about people when they are so disconnected from real life.
Danny Alexander would would also not be contemporaneous.
Reading the section on unemployment, I was dumbfounded and shocked to learn that, people sanctioned at the job centre, even for the slightest little thing, are then classed as working, one job centre sanctioned 2700 people in two months, thus removing them from the unemployement figures.
Imagine how many people are sanctioned at job centres up and down the length and breadth of the UK. Now add these people to the figures that say unemployment is down. It seems the UK’s unemployment is down statement, is just one big fat lie.
Source http://www.munguinsrepublic.blogspot.co.uk
“Reading the section on unemployment, I was dumbfounded and shocked to learn that, people sanctioned at the job centre, even for the slightest little thing, are then classed as working, one job centre sanctioned 2700 people in two months, thus removing them from the unemployement figures.”
Need a proper source for this.
@muttley79
Has been since August.
link to scotsman.com
Q. Which has more puff, cheap filling & a strong after taste of artificial flavours?
A. A speech written by Douglas Alexander
or
B. A steak & kidney pie from Aldi
muttley79 at 3.37
I hope they come up with some more exciting ideas about campaign assists and marketing them.
I want to see bigger and bigger car stickers and window stickers you can see for miles. And I want to be able to buy hundreds of these because we can afford them. Otherwise we will be producing our own. We’ve already been doing some stuff locally. A local print guy can put a big YES symbol onto any garment for instance and somebody else has produced hats and badges.
At the right price demand would be unsatiable
Usually top down crap from a BT drone.
They have not worked out yet the people are sick fed up of the shite fed to them/ drop on them, as they never look downwards.
How come I feel as if I’m watching Babylon 5 and a titantic match between the Vorlons and the “Shadows”? Time for them to all feck of and let us get on with our life, independently.
O/T
Could it be that 5 % migrating from No to Yes could be a shuffle through DK or a direct jump from No to Yes because of Labour for Indy?
Probably a mix of the two but I wonder if LFI are only just starting to hurt the No vote?
As usual everything you need to know is in Star Trek:
“I am attempting to fill a silent moment with non-relevant conversation.”
“Small talk.”
– Data and Picard
The Next Generation: “Starship Mine” in this case.
Thanks JLT, I was never going to find out otherwise, no point in looking online at BBC Scotland anyway…
I’m sorry that they decided to give 16 year olds the vote. I don’t agree with it. It has encouraged the schools to get involved in trying to influence their vote. My son is 16 and the biggest challenge that he and his friends face is the constant propaganda that is happening in their schools. It is shocking. How can they make up their own minds when their SLab/union-loyal teachers are telling them to vote no.
Our children are being manipulated, like they were in Aberdeenshire. Then they are exploited by people like Alexander, in his speech above, for political gain. It is sickening.
Why was Douglas Alexander not asked ‘Why did Labour/Unionist keep the McCrone Report secret for thirty years. Why did Labour/Unionists support an illegal war? Why did Labour/Unionists support Tory Bankers banking fraud and bankrupt Britain?’.
In Aberdeenshire all pupils were allowed to Vote, including 12 years old. The majority of 16+ year olds could have voted Yes. The teachers in some schools were repeating BT myths, including no X-factor etc.
Labour/Unionists should be asked to do an arithmetic and reading tests, before they are allowed any access to public monies.
A quote from RFK’s South Africa’s ‘Ripple of Hope Speech’
RFK’s World Vision:
“I think that we could agree on what kind of a world we would all want to build. It would be a world of independent nations, moving toward international community, each of which protected and respected the basic human freedoms. It would be a world which demanded of each government that it accept its responsibility to insure social justice.”
I wonder what RFK would make of an independent Scotland seeking to improve social justice, work towards a more equal society against a UK government considering abandoning the EU and the convention of human rights.
link to npr.org
re unemployed and sanctions, down here in the NE of England the local trade union for job centre staff has accused the government of having targets for sanctions. It was actually reported on the Look North BBC news programme and was featuring on the NE and Cumbria BBC news pages. Can’t recall if figures were mentioned.
link to bbc.co.uk
I have a query for wee Dougie.
If in the event of a NO win in September, and a YES win to leave the E.U. in 2017, will he and his cohorts be holding another referendum shortly after to gain Scotland’s independence from rUK to ensure Scotland remains in the E.U.?
I watched the interview on Sky with Alex Salmond. Two things struck me. Firstly how the interviewer seemed almost desperate to get Alex to admit some benefit Scotland gets from being a part of the UK. Alex mentioned access to trade in the past but that was now available to all countries in the modern world. I think the sad truth is dawning on the London commentators that indeed they have nothing left to offer.
Secondly their interest in what an iScotland would do with Tony Blair. Alex did not say much to reassure Mr Blair and for that matter Messrs Darling and Brown who were senior cabinet members at the time and shared responsibility.
So, in this hi-tech, inter-networked world without borders we won’t be cut off after independence. Who knew?
Old article here, mostly about Wendy Alexander but wee Dougie gets an honourable mention or two !
link to filetea.me
Did he go on to say “whereas those pesky cybernats know nothing of networking”? He reminds me why I try to avoid public speaking – I’m also Crap.
My Mammy was telling me there’s to be a great programme on the Alexander Brothers on telly tonight. Oh, he isn’t one of them? Who is he again?
Another ailing career seeking resurrection through the indyref like this one?
link to logicsrock.blogspot.co.uk
@ Caroline Corfield
It seems that whistle-blowers at different times, from Malvern to Manchester to NE England are all saying the same thing. Regardless of the English government’s protestations to the contrary, I would say that the Moorov Doctrine certainly applies here.
link to theguardian.com
link to theguardian.com
Is this the network generation that has spawned the dreaded Cybernat, the ones that they want to eliminate from the equation?
Surely not.
What does Alexander say when he gets asked why the Network generation may end up with around £60,000+ debt for university, plus say the post grad costs for teaching cert etc? Dont be so narrow minded children?
Several hundred million a year for Trident on the Clyde with Trident 2 on the way or universal no fee Scottish education, like what all other too small, too poor, too narrow minded countries in Europe do do. Ah the opportunities of this union.
Network generation…I’m sure that’s what The Thick of It had as the title for a project in it…
Life imitating art…Hilarious, if it wasn’t so scary.
@Albalha
Yes, I remember seeing that. I still think he is working for the SNP as well though. I think it might be time to get him working at Yes HQ full time. The Yes campaign seem to be down to the bare bones in terms of original staff (basically Blair Jenkins!). The Sunday Herald hinted today I think that they lacked political experience (even Somerville the former SNP MSP has left). The next 8 months or so will be the most important in Scottish political history. Now is the time to get in real political operators. Pringle and others would fit the bill. I am not sure why Somerville has not gone back, she seems to be highly rated (maybe a personal working thing).
Robert Kennedy spoke about a world of independent nations, moving toward international community, each of which protected and respected the basic human freedoms.”
Douglas Alexander MP was aware of and accepting rendition flights as Secretary of State for Transport.
I have to say that whole ‘Activist Training’ sounds bizarre.
And they say that the cybernats are in a cult.
@revStu
Two pieces in Herald – don’t mention the 2700 figure but do state
“The Scottish Government last month published analysis claiming 35,000 Scots had had their benefits stopped over an eight-month period”
link to heraldscotland.com
“They (Citizen’s Advice Scotland) say a deprived area of Glasgow had seen a 400% rise in sanctions.”
link to heraldscotland.com
liz says:
I have to say that whole ‘Activist Training’ sounds bizarre.
Aye, in Pavlovian fashion they give them a Tunnock’s Teacake if, every time a bell is rung, they say:
Patriotic Scot
Separation
Too wee
Too poor
Too Stupid
Too old
Border guards
Nae Poond
Nae EU
Foreigner
Uncertainty
Unanswered questions
Salmond-Accused
SNP
Hope when the gravy train leaves Edinburgh for the last time without Alexanders ( both of them ) , J Lamont , J Bailey , Davidson and the other Uncle Tom Cobblers and all , they don’t think that they then can try to get into a Independent Scottish Parliament !
Caroline
I have suggested to a couple of journalists that they try to correlate the sanctions to the ‘drop’ in unemployment figures but to no avail thus far.
Mark Carney doesn’t seem too excited about the ‘drop’, which in itself says a lot.
The official DWP position is that there are no sanctions targets…..but woe betide staff that fail to meet them.
Wee Dougie does make a valid point about youngsters and the digital age though.
Bitter Together obviously are relying on out dated practices and tactics. It was Winston Churchill who once said “a lie gets halfway round the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on”, now that may have been true in the early to mid 20th century.
However in the early 21st century a more apt statement would be, “a lie barely gets out of the starting blocks before the truth and social media applies a very swift kick to its testicles”.
Long may they continue with their lies it is the best that can happen for the YES campaign.
O/T
I note that one of those hairy-arsed Scots has just won a world championship and that one of the spectators had the temerity to produce a saltire flag in his honour—-this completely unaceptable behaviour must be nipped in the bud or who knows what it might lead to in our glorious United Kingdom!!!
“THIS week, we caught a glimpse of ourselves in the mirror.”
Like kids never go near them, they’re so busy connecting.
Haw Rev, stop that buzz buzz buzzin about you hud me reaching fur the Fly spray.
Among yer ither talent,s,did you ever workin the mortury
deft at that dysection wie a scalpal,ah thought you were
enjoying yourself,like being in touch with the yourger generation,must have been that games experiance comeing to the fore.
blah waffle blah blah, wuld a blast o Mace stop that,the cunard wuld probibly pick it up an lead Alexander,s Marchin Band.
“Network Generation” – didn’t Peter Mannion coin that phrase in the Thick of it? in a speech to some web-savvy schoolkids?? Pretty sure he did, will need to find the link…
“a lie barely gets out of the starting blocks before the truth and social media applies a very swift kick to its testicles”.
Very true, they are shittin themselves, no wonder Blair Mcdougall is known in BT circles as Captain Crusty.
Here’s an idea. How about we listen to the young people themselves rather than listening to some out-of-touch politician tell us what they ‘allegedly’ think.
Most of the young people I know are just disengaged from politics. Hopefully this is beginning to change.
link to nationalcollective.com
And, totally O/T, but why are Better Together advertising on the Scottish Government’s website?
If you follow the link below and click on the ‘view reports for individual GP practices’ link you will see the Better Together link.
link to scotland.gov.uk
Something funny going on there.
Watching these guys trying to put the fear of separashun up young Scots, the last Olympic Games in London come to mind and the teamGB football squad that had exactly zero Scottish players picked, to represent the union.
Bettertogether tend to not deal with reality in this union but one did say that Hampden park got a new bus shelter and car park which to be fair, is true.
Was it Stewart Pearce that decided the 2014 TeamGB Olympic football should have no Scottish athletes at the Olympic Games and how did this manegerial genius get on again?
Next Olympics Games in Brazil, Captain Pearce won’t have to worry about NOT picking Scots athletes or will he?
The Network Generation can look forward to forced state labour schemes for under 25s under any future Labour Government, or face starvation if they refuse to participate – or £30-40,000 students debts if they go to college or uni, thus turning them into indentured serfs for a good part of their working lives.
The Network Generation will also be forced to live with their parents as independent living will be unaffordable due to unemployment/poverty wages, student debts and high rents and house prices. Lets hope, then, there is something called the Network Parent Generation willing to share their internet connection, as well as their homes, with their poverty stricken offspring.
References –
More Poverty, More Homelessness, More Deaths: Labour Set Out A Vision For Workfare Britain
20 Jan 2014
link to johnnyvoid.wordpress.com
Large increase in 20 to 34-year-olds living with parents since 1996
21 Jan 2014
link to ons.gov.uk
@scaredy cat
Nothing sinister there, other than BT stealing the strapline & logo from NHS Scotland, who’d been using it for some time before.
There was a bit of a stramash at the start of the campaign, when BT announced their chosen title, as it was already in use by NHS Scotland; it all just died away.
SNAP!
Thanks guys. I see it now. A very subtle difference.
Re DWP sanctions maybe this will help.
link to corporatewatch.org
As a tech savvy young Scot who doesn’t follow football, I’m glad I can use the Internet to find unbiased information about my country’s future.
so I gather that the Economist sent a journalist to cover some BT meeting in Glasgow today. would that be the meeting being discussed on this thread?
Did we find out where this event was held?
I should have asked. The guy said it was ‘the other side of the city’ – we were in East end. I had assumed at the time it was just some canvassers like us, and jokingly expressed shock that there were people out canvassing for BT (I thought it was canvassing he was covering). Maybe it was a completely different BT activity from the one Rev Campbell talking about.
I suppose we can live without knowing the precise details, but they’re important because BT use imagined events to hype non-existent activity.
What constitutes an ‘event’ anyway? I was at a party last night where, at one point (in the kitchen, naturally) we got to discussing the White Paper. Turned out that only one of us was a No, and he took a proper beasting from the rest of us (a great laugh, during which, to his great credit, the lad was up for it and gave as good as he got)- can I reclassify that discussion as an ‘event’ and add it to the list of stuff the Yes campaign has done this month?
Nah.
So, come on Dougie – where did you deliver this rousing speech, and how many folk were lucky enough to witness it?
@wee folding bike: “I am attempting to fill a silent moment with non-relevant conversation.”
“Small talk.”
– Data and Picard
To continue the Star Trek theme, Douglas Alexander and his ilk of champagne socialists remind me of nothing so much as the neural parasites from “Conspiracy”:
link to youtube.com
“You don’t understand. We mean you no harm. We seek peaceful co-existence!” In other words, all the platitudes and waffle about things been good and lovely and cosy are pretty obvious lies if you open your eyes instead of just listen to the words.
I went to the better together rally but when I got there they were all out to play so their mummy said.
The ICM poll couldn’t have been better timed. It’s rather burst Wee Dougie’s balloon.
I’m 31 and therefore at the back end of the network generation. All that speech was missing were references to Bebo and Myspace. Painful. It put me in mind of that sketch from Chewin’ the Fat, the fly-on-the-wall documentary following the ups and downs of a failing comic.
Was he trying to sell us ‘Netty on the internet’?
where’s the evidence of school kids in Paisley rejecting, Independence.
@ scardy cat 5.15, affirmative action taken re that BT,E mail on it,s way.
Saw these on Twitter from a BT activist in Glasgow. Maybe his response to DougieA and his Network Generation insight:
Andrew Skinner (@Askinner2011) tweeted at 7:29 PM on Sun, Jan 26, 2014:
@MijBmal @UK_Together 6 yes leaflets have went through my door but 0 BT leaflets, more boots on the ground needed rather than cold calling
(link to twitter.com)
Andrew Skinner (@Askinner2011) tweeted at 7:31 PM on Sun, Jan 26, 2014:
@MijBmal @UK_Together ‘blether together’ idea needs to be scrapped, real public engagement is paramount and more material is needed NOW
(link to twitter.com)
I eventually managed to find the current statistics for Jobcentre sanctions here: link to gov.uk
I did think that they’d be on the ONS website but was surprised to find them buried in the DWP one. Does that make them more or less trustworthy? #justasking
They’ll hit the 300 subscribers mark from the kids on their YouTube network any day now, maybe they need sponsored videos there like they spent our tax on with Facebook recommend ads
“A Better Together rally is just like an 80?s rave.”
PMSL that’s effing hysterical,
“Are Better Together using the power of toe curling embarrassment against us now?
I got a vision of Alex Salmond in deep and serious discussions with the EU or something and Duggie peering round the door saying ONLY ME ala Harry Enfield
“The courage to do nothing at all, accept your lot and not to hope or aim for change is what the UK and today’s labour party is all about.”
That is so nicked.
I reckon the BT rally was probably held in a care home lounge just after Sunday lunch, to allow the staff a few hours peace and quiet.
I don’t think Dougie would have got too many questions at the end – maybe “Could you put the telly back on, son?”
” they don’t think that they then can try to get into a Independent Scottish Parliament !”
Dont kid yourself, of course they’ll get into Holyrood
“O/T but how did you manage to get the WoS logo into the “window” in BBC Scotland’s new studio. ”
Oh cumon, if that doesn’t qualify as “alert reader” status what does?
“My Mammy was telling me there’s to be a great programme on the Alexander Brothers on telly tonight. Oh, he isn’t one of them? Who is he again?”
Which one is it?
the one that looks like Jabba the hutt
or the other one that looks like an extra out of Paul McCartney frog chorus?
“we all stand together”, queue Blair MacDougal bom bom
Just realised who my mammy was talking about when she mentioned puddock jaws,
Oh dear I just hope oberst Murphy does’nt sent the storm troopers round to get me
Oh what the hell you DO look like Lurch Jim there I’ve said it,
maybe my porridge will be cool enough to eat now.
Its really quite sad to see people like Douglas Alexander, Kezia Dugdale and Jim Murphy all so keen to hammer nails into the next generations chance of a bright future.
Given their progress through their student world into a rosy cosy life of a Labour politician and all the ‘rewards’ that entails, its truly sad how quick some forget the help they were afforded in the past.