Not stopped: Hama time
Earlier today we highlighted some rather ugly tweets (and retweets) from the No campaign’s latest “grassroots” star, Yvonne Hama of Airdrie, who’s apparently a big fan of the BNP’s Nick Griffin and the idea of hanging Catholics from trees.
Within hours of the revelations her Twitter accounts had all been deleted and her blog on the “Better Together” website and Facebook page removed, with a BT spokesman telling The Drum magazine that “views like this are completely unacceptable”.
So we imagine there were red faces all round when this happened just hours later.
Yvonne Hama is the woman who appears three times in 22 seconds in the above clip, with scraped-back hair and wearing a white shirt with blue butterflies on it (the same one, we think, that she wore when speaking alongside No campaign chairman Alistair Darling in Coatbridge at the weekend).
(Also featured several times is “ordinary mum” and Scottish Labour shadow cabinet member Clare Lally, along with an awful lot of recycled footage from BT’s first-ever campaign film over two years ago. We can’t be sure how many of the people filmed are Labour activists, but the No camp is clearly short of fresh faces. We don’t know what they’re spending all their millionaire Tory donors’ money on, but it’s plainly not videos.)
It’s difficult to imagine that – with the furore over Hama’s comments having first blown up last night – “Better Together” didn’t have time to hastily edit her out of the broadcast and patch in a few more seconds of the 2012 clip, or just leave it a few seconds short.
So the only supportable conclusion that can be drawn from the available evidence is that they didn’t care, and were happy to be represented by someone they themselves had described the very same day as “completely unacceptable” – someone they’d obviously never bothered to vet, as Hama’s offending Twitter account had fewer than 60 tweets on it, and could have been checked out in two minutes.
When you’re desperate, it seems anyone who’ll parrot your message will do.
The grassroots campaign that just keeps giving 🙂
They are desperate for West of Scotland women to remain with Labour and back no. Given all the polling evidence this is not a surprise, but surely they don’t need to scrape the barrel quite as much? You’d think they’d be able to rustle up some academic woman with a family or business woman from that part of Scotland who plans to vote no, or would that involve too much effort?
Can’t say I am surprised though. It isn’t the sort of campaign many want to be involved with. Even for those who intend to vote no, it must be hard to feel passionate about the negative message being propagated by the BT astroturfers.
couldn’t believe it when i seen her on it , what were/are they thinking , truly gobsmacked
I shouted at the TV when I saw that Lally character.
You’d think they’d be able to rustle up some academic woman with a family or business woman from that part of Scotland who plans to vote no, or would that involve too much effort?
Well there is always that Historian woman whatshername, erm Jill Stephenson, there again maybe she is just not Glaswegian enough for Better Thanks/ NO Together/ Project Feart/ whatever to use Professor. 😛
Also starring ‘ordinary mom’ Clare Lally…
Well done Rev, you didn’t let this one slip, you hit them where it hurts. Alas no major tabloid will even contemplate carrying this story.
It seems as though the deeper you delve into the trough of offensive behaviour, towards anything anti-empire, the more likely you are to be welcomed with open arms into the Better Together camp.
It certainly seems to be a very small pool they are fishing in.
It just shows how amateurish and incompetent the NO mob really are.
The soo proper blue rinse brigade will be very very proud Yvonne knows her place. She will be guest of honour at the conservative women’s meetings, where she might even meet JABA another wannabe tolly. Aye the best of both worlds. Suppose it’s better than working!
Now look here, this thoughtful young lady puts her football team ahead of her children. What is so wrong with that? When the day comes when her kids cant go onto university as it is too expensive, they can go to ibrox and cheer on the bears, what could be more rewarding? Vote no, put rangers first.
” We don’t know what they’re spending all their millionaire Tory donors’ money on, but it’s clearly not videos.)”
I wonder if there any accounting irregularities going on. The MPs certainly know how to line their pockets with expenses.
They are talking to their supporters, two faces for very creepy projectfear campaigning. They have the BBC and all other uk media but UKOK needs anyone they can get now in Scotland.
Hama actors?
Is Yvonne getting £35 pound a day?
No hiding place on the internet.
I mean wow, just wow.
I wonder if all those shipyard workers are still in their jobs?
There’s that nice No Thanks pensioner too. She’s busy.
link to wingsoverscotland.com
Hasn’t Darling just been quoted as saying something like “This is not the time for waves of emotion” or something similar? So what was that advert? It certainly didn’t have any facts, figures or proposals for combating foodbanks. Just the hint that being independent would somehow make a trip down the motorway too difficult.
Last guy: “I’m voting No for the future”. Just me who finds that ridiculously funny?
The blond lass in the blue and white stripped top in the video looks like the labour party activist they interviewed earlier today going round the doors in Glasgow. Might be wrong but if these are the only people bitter together can get I have great difficulty in believing the polls.
Damnit!
I’ve just another wee *ahem* accident.
I just had a wee keek on Twitter and wouldn’t you believe it but some nasty vile cybernat has posted a series of tweets to all the TV channel news accounts asking why the appearance of this lovely racist supporter in the BT advert has NOT been mentioned in any of their news bulletins. 😉
I tell you what. If I ever find out who this evil nasty cybernat is I’ll kill them … I will … I really will! 😛
Ian – yes, it was the infamous Clare Lally. Just your average mother…in the shadow cabinet.
Isn’t it just possible that ‘Scottish’ Labour (and BT generally) is so woefully out of touch and ignorant of what’s actually going on in what used to be Labour’s Scottish heartlands, that they really do think MS M is representative of working class people here ?
After all, they’ve managed to convince themselves that the pro-Independence movement is all ‘nats’, and Salmond controls the entire campaign.
Astroshambles.
Their dishonesty in every aspect of their campaign is beyond belief. If I was Cameron, Darling, McDougal and Shorthouse would be given their jotters. Their campaign is worse than inept even with the backing all the UK media, what a shambles.
The British establishment has shown beyond all doubt that maybe not all that wee, they are undeniably too poor and most definitely too STUPID.
It’ll need more than few tweets L-A.
I’ve just sent off a few emails to various newsdesks in Scotland – Record, Sun, Herald … with one to BBC Scotland – just in case one of the Yes-supporting duty editors has caught the backshift, and is able to do something before the resident unionists arrive in the morning.
They put some hapless intern on to dredging through thousands of Natalie McGarry’s tweets to find something a bit questionable if taken out of context. But they didn’t even bother to check up on someone they were going to headline themselves.
It speaks to a culture of impunity. They know the MSM will publish anything they pass on, but they’re not worried that any dirt from their side will see the light of day.
Its struck men that Better Together, don’t need to try to hard, nor even spend large amounts of cash trying to win. All BT need is more votes for them, on the 19th of September, and how will they get these votes even though their campaign has been shambolic.
BT will rig the vote its as simple as that, there’s far to much at stake, for Westminster to let this go to a fair vote.All they have to do is swap out the balloting boxes at some stage, with identical cards with the X in the no box.
Not to many X’s for no, or it would start to look suspicious, just enough to give them a seemingly comfortable majority, job done, hopes dashed, Scotland crushed.
Sorry to go O/T Gary Robertson needs a clip in the ear for butting in on AS this morning just after 8 ! Many in the country, not on hear of course , wants to know about the currency and GR kept butting in and you could here AS taking a deep breath everytime , trying to hold himself back to be polite . I was goding AS to say to Gary S T F U ! Absolute disgrace treating listeners this way ! Noticed a good array of YES signs on the A96 yesterday !
I haven’t seen the whole broadcast yet, but surely this short clip must have been edited down further for comic effect, no?
Yvonne: ‘Saying “No” is definitely a positive. We get to keep the pound.’
Old Woman: ‘No thanks.’
Oh Oh dinnae say that Eric. I think whoever has hijacked my Twitter account 😉 might just get a few ideas there now. 😛
here ! Doh !
Hama Time! Ha ha, brilliant Rev. Definitely time for Bitter Thegither to Get Down!!
Has it been mentioned on Wings that Jim Murphy said to a heckler in Shawlands that “your arse is bigger than your argument” I played it back several times to check. Imagine if Salmond or Sturgeon or any SNP person had said that to a member of the public, imagine the media outcry.
link to newsnetscotland.com
Thinking of what one poster said a few posts ago.
The stakes are high, how can we make sure that the vote will not be interfered with?
Im voting No for the future, is a cracker. TeamGB one and half trillion quid in debt, UKOK borrow/deficit over £10 bn a month and he thinks his buds in the south are going to keep him in a Govan shipbuilding job paid for with what?
Nana Smith says:
18 August, 2014 at 8:08 pm
link to newsnetscotland.com
Do you think Darling is stoking her arse?
on behalf of The Westminster Government the Dirty Tricks Campaign welcome fools and idiots to embrace their creed of power without responsibility.
‘You have
You couldn’t make this up. 1. BT remove her post from their website. 2. BT then issue a statement which says “Yvonne is not a politician. However, views like this are completely unacceptable.” 3. They then go on to use her in a Referendum broadcast! Hopefully Kevin McKenna will pick this up in the MSM.
coming up next on Jeremy Kyle, lie detector test “i never had an affair wi an alien”
@Morag
They put some hapless intern on to dredging through thousands of Natalie McGarry’s tweets to find something a bit questionable if taken out of context. But they didn’t even bother to check up on someone they were going to headline themselves.
It speaks to a culture of impunity. They know the MSM will publish anything they pass on, but they’re not worried that any dirt from their side will see the light of day.
This is it. They think they can do what they want and get away with it.
Not so very ‘ordinary mum’, Clare Lally, announces, “For me & my family, I’m voting ‘No'”. Come now, Ms Lally, would it not be ‘closer to the truth’ for you to come clean publicly and admit, “For me and my current, and future, career, in the Scottish Labour Party, I’m voting ‘No’ “. Why do I find this ubiquitous Scottish Labour person such an affront to my intelligence? I think because she epitomizes Scottish Labour’s engrained sense of ‘entitlement’ regarding voter loyalty. They think they can feed the public any old rubbish and we will swallow it as there is no alternative. That might have been the case once, but not any more. Let them know they are no longer entitled to anyone in Scotland’s unquestioning vote; they must earn it.
Following tonight’s broadcast Bitter Together has announced it is refusing any more donations because it can’t cope with the huge amount of offers from grass-roots supporters.
Pure astroturd!
Regarding the money , votenOB aren’t going to give money to the Labour types in Better Together to spend . Those oiks would just waste it… they’re right!
It would be very entertaining to see a proper VNB ad with aristos , land owners , hedgies and the Kensington/Chelsea set explaining why we should leave things as they are.
@Dan Huil
You would have thought they would have had the decency to suggest that people could still donate to any of the other No supporting organisations.
Hail Victory!
Here’s a better quality image of the far-right Better Together poster girl pictured with Darling and MP Tom Clarke. I believe it was Tom Clarke who enjoyed sharing a platform recently with George Galloway in Coatbridge. George was warning of the dangers of sectarianism in an independent Scotland if memory serves me right –
link to archive.today
Tom Clarke and George Galloway –
link to new.livestream.com
Just watched the dreadful Michael Crick’s piece on Alex Slamond at Arbroath today on Channel 4 news. It was absolutely appalling! He was so rude, nasty snide comments, constantly interrupting. Crick also spoke to several bowlers (they were filming at a bowling green) who were equally negative, they did speak to some positive folk too, but the whole tone was dismissive and completely disrespectful. The link is here if anyone can bear to watch it. link to blogs.channel4.com
There seems to be no pretense now, it’s an all out attack on Alex Salmond, my respect keeps growing for him as he answers all questions with humour and patience.
Funnily enough though there was nothing about Ms Hama’s views or her appearance in the Better Together ad!
Its like watching ‘Cell Block H’ Same actors having to return again and again lol
Got to admit, Rev, I howled with laughter when I saw the ‘blunder’ appear on our TV, not just once, but around 3 or 4 times. Seems the BT mob couldn’t get enough of her!
Either that, or they really can’t find folk to appear in their clips, and therefore have to rotate the same folk again, and again, and again…
@Morag
can you visit OT please?
Thepnr says:
Their campaign is worse than inept even with the backing all the UK media, what a shambles.
LOL mate …is that not the truth of it! How on earth, with all the backing of the media and the zillionaires behind them, are this lot not trouncing Yes into oblivion. The only answer I can come up with, is that their were so zealous in their attempt to put the fear into us, that it didn’t just misfire …it blew right up in their faces.
Talk about opening a Pandora’s Box…
Whats this?
link to youtube.com
Oh its Hama house of Horror! 🙂
Was the wee woman at 17s not at the Jim Murphy shoutathon last week? Being a wee bit rude to some camera peeps I seem to remember.
I’m voting naw cuz I think it will help ma career prospects in the Labour party…
Love the title, good work Rev.
Has nobody realised that it is possible that the “no ” camp AGREE with her, but want to be seen as diss approving . Strangers that they are to the truth.
I heard it on the radio then watched it.
It made no sense the first time and was no better with pictures.
I cannot believe that someone thought that was a professional campaign broadcast. Even BT/No Thanks supporters must have been embarrassed by it.
Every day is like Christmas Day with the F*** Ups the Better Together, No Thanks uKOK team make on a daily basis. Does the left hand BNP supporter not know what the right hand BNP supporter is doing at Project Fear Towers?
Good to see some familiar faces in the clip too. Thought Clare wouldn’t have been on the glassy lens side of a camera for a while though.. No, let’s parade the “Ordinary Mum” again. Why not throw in a “BNP Supporting” uKOK supporter. Oh, to hell, lets shove in some Ship Builders whilst there is some sort of industry left on the Clyde (remember, Ship Building jobs are safe in the UK)
Douglas Alexander. A face you could never tire of punching.
And the same old lies.Currency, EU, mahoosive cuts to schoolsnhospitals.
Front and centre next to the odious shitebag is the same girl who features in every NothanksVoterNobordersUcock publicity photo. She must be loaded by now. £8 an hour adds up when you work 24 hours a day.
They know that they can get away with it therefore they don’t care.
You would have thought the BBC would have updated their article, even if only to tellit was another Hama blow to Salmond.
Oh, right enough….
@ I know where to deliver a WBB the Hama hoose,she dizna like the boys who deliver the Yes papers they sometimes wear they’re republican t shirts, she’s on ma list.
MC Hama & DJ Darling presents N.O.B. – “Why Build Another Wall? (Acieed Remix)”
Or perhaps just a Hama Blow Job
sorry
@ ronnie anderson. Does her doorbell go # Rama Lama Ding Dong? #
O/T sorry But
Wind Energy Smashes UK Electricity Share Record
Wind turbines met 22 per cent of power demand on Sunday 17 Aug 2014, while coal contributed just 13 per cent. Yesterday’s high winds may have been frustrating for anyone out and about, but they also helped set a new record for wind power on the grid.
According to RenewableUK, Britain’s fleet of onshore and offshore wind turbines met 22 per cent of electricity demand during Sunday 17 Aug 2014, setting a new record, comfortably outperforming coal, which met just 13 per cent of demand.
Nearly 5.8MW of wind power was generated, which is equal to the power demand of 15 million homes, the trade association said.
August 2014 already looks set to be a particularly strong month for the UK wind energy industry, with reports confirming wind turbines also met 21 per cent of demand last week as the UK felt the tail end of Hurricane Bertha.
“We’re seeing very high levels of generation from wind throughout August 2014 so far, proving yet again that onshore and offshore wind has become an absolutely fundamental component in this country’s energy mix,” said RenewableUK’s director of external affairs, Jennifer Webber. “It also shows that wind is a dependable and reliable source of power in every month of year – including high summer.”
The latest figures also confirmed that solar power provided three per cent of power on the grid yesterday, while hydroelectric plants produced one per cent.
Constraint Payments – (A Temporary Measure)
Critics pointed out that the National Grid is forced to pay wind turbines millions of pounds to switch off on windy days in order to balance out demand. Last week, it paid wind developers £2.8m and £1.1m to other generators in balancing payments at the time high winds coincided with a period of low demand.
Constraint payments are necessary but will be much reduced following upgrades to the national electricity network, such as the Western Link – a £1bn subsea cable that will bring renewable energy from SCOTLAND to the rest of the UK
Yesterday’s record is the latest in a string of strong performances across Europe for the renewables industry over the past 12 months. Recent data has suggested that Germany and Spain have also delivered record levels of clean energy output in the past six to 12 months, as surveys across Europe have also demonstrated high levels of public support for renewable energy.
Afternote
Never mind oil, Scotland is the leading renewable clean energy producer in Europe. The UK electricity grid is dependent upon Scotland’s clean electricity and this dependency is expected to increase to around 50% by the year 2020.
A, “Yes” vote in the referendum will ensure Scotland benefits directly from the income generated by electricity production. A, “No” vote will result in the UK National Grid claiming production as a national asset, (to be controlled by Westminster). A yes vote is the only sensible way forward.
link to businessgreen.com…gy-share-record
@ Nana Smith do you want to collaberate with me in writeing a song If I had ah Ham Hama I would Hama in the Morning ad Hama in the evening all over this land ( ah think she,s acheived her aim in being know allover this land ) it would be a hit on Yew Choob.
Culture of impunity…Hama time…Can’t touch this! (surely) 😀
If I had a Hama, I’d Hama in the mornin
I’d Hama in the evenin all over this land
@Ronnie
SNAP!
the only uplifting factor in this is that the morons they are targeting are just the people who will not get off their arses to vote.
Ah’m votin’ naw cuz ah’ve been telt by ma bosses at party HQ about foolin’ and scarin’ ma fellow Scots intae believin’ they’re too poor, wee and stoopit tae handle aw that wealth oot there in the sea.
They might hae said summin aboot poolin’ and sharin’ an aw. Ah didnae ken whit they were talkin’ aboot, and if ye ask me neither dae they. But ah’ll vote naw anyways cuz ah trust them wi’ ma life, ken.
What about the guy who’s looked into the energy and shopping costs, does he have a crystal ball? Its like they just rinse and repeat and expect people to believe.
Its Hammer time!
link to youtube.com
you cant touch this!
I missed, thankfully, the great TRUTHFUL Better Together broadcast earlier tonight. Was this by any chance their theme tune for the broadcast? 😛
link to tinyurl.com
Soon there will be more ordinary mum’s in the panda enclosure than in the entire BT/NT/NOB campaign team. But nae bigots at the zoo.
Well its a good sign.Because if this is the presentable face of better together.Good Lord we have nothing to worry about in the general population.At my own work there is one person who goes from desk to desk in a desperate rage.She moans about everything that Salmond or the SNP say or do.I sit and listen and bite my tongue.Today it was the election info in with the electoral commission guide.How dare Salmond say I didn’t vote for the Westminster government she said.Well if you personalise everything when the man was talking about Scotland not you.Then its I hope these no voters get out and vote I would hate to think Yes one by us not turning out!She doesn’t stop to think that there might be more yes voters than no that would be impossible for such an arrogant upstart. I pulled her up last week for basically doing a demolition job on Salmond.I said the election wasn’t about Salmond and as an aside I voted for him and I think he’s great.Stony silence followed.But there is a good point to the story.The woman next tomke said I an thinking of voting yes after what you said!
O/t did anything come of that electoral commission deceleration that campaign funds cant be used to pay canvassers such as those who were coming from down south for £25 plus accommodation?
Lesley-Anne @9.25
I– I– I think I em– fancyMagsCurran there I said it,
does that make me a bad person? 🙁
Just you hold that thought JK. Oh no on second thought DITCH … DITCH … DITCH! 😛
The wee woman was at the JM street thing in Shawlands last Friday. I handed her some YES stickers (upside down) which she took. Then chucked them at me. Yes, she was one of about a dozen supporters in among 50 or so YES peeps.
But-but- shestheonethatIwant ooh ooh ooh
What can I say JK she’ll drag you DOWN … DOWN … DOWN! 😛
John, I knew her when she was just an ordinary mum, before her boy became a furriner, before they learnt her to speak good.
And believe me, you really don’t want to do that; better together with John Travolta am thinking
But, she’s ELECTRIFYING ooh ooh ooh
and John, she might get her claws into you, or worse, a claw hama
That is just absolutely SHOCKING JK! 😛
I thought that was Waynetta Slob from Harry Enfield at first glimpse. Perhaps they’re wishing it was!!
@ Tackety Beets, 7:57pm
RE Gary Robertson butting in during AS interview. I noticed the same happening on Channel 4 news this evening. The interviewer (don’t know his name, only caught the news by accident – avoiding a lot of tv right now)asked questions and every time AS started to answer, he butted in again and talked over him incessantly.
They have all taken classes at the Jackie Bird school of insolence. Desperation.
but ohhh these suuummmmer niiiights 🙂
Betty Boop @9.50
his name is Crick rhymes with p***
@ Lesley-Anne, 9:25pm
Didn’t see the BT broadcast this evening either; took evasive action when we saw it starting. I think that is how I ended up seeing the incredibly impolite Channel 4 interviewer with AS in Arbroath.
WHAT Summer Nights JK it’s bloody p*****g down here! 😛
It seems the HAMA bead company in Denmark have already foreseen the end of the UK. Look at its list of European dealers: no UK, just … England.
link to hama.dk
@ John King, 9:53pm
Are we on to poetry now, JK? 🙂
Crick is a totally ignorant Muppet BB. He thinks he is a fantastic interviewer, personally I would NEVER give him the time of day!
Dreadful amateurish video – hope they’ve bought lots of airtime 🙂
@JohnKing
Naw!
It just means you need to go to either ‘Spec Savers’ or ‘Respect Savers’. 🙂
there are a few more words that happily 🙂 rhyme with Crick.
Salmond says he ought to have explained the currency issue better. The Scotsman billboard I past this morning read: ‘Salmond Says I got Currency Wrong.’ Hoo haar!
Whatever you do JK THINK them but under NO circumstances should you ever PRINT them remember this is a FAMILY friendly site. 😛
Crick is a pain in the kneck. 🙂
@Ronnie Anderson
Will ponder on it but in the meantime here’s one for the ringmaster.
Send in the clown.
Is’nt it rich
Darling you fool
Deluding yourself with this nonsense
Think you’re so cool
When you’re just a clown
Sure this is bliss
Watching you blink
Furiously pointing and sneering
Proves you’re on the brink of a nervous breakdown
Send in the clown
Oh what a farce
labour are feart
They’re losing the voters who kept them in clover
For all of those years
They are the clowns
We don’t want those clowns
‘I’m voting no for the future.’
The No Campaign in a nutshell.
I love that Grouse.
‘Salmond Says I got Currency Wrong.’ Hoo haar!
What he MEANT to say was that what Better Together THINK is his plan A is actually his plan B because what they think is his plan B is actually his plan A! 😛
@ Lesley Annes ave goat a S Wing to the uninitiated in joinery its cawed a Claw Hama.
Betty Boop
That impolite Channel 4 news interviewer would be Michael Crick
link to blogs.channel4.com
Yes he was very impolite , seems to think its clever by not allowing the Frist Minister to complete an answer
Some of the old deary’s of the bowling club were quite ignorant of the debate, coming out with the tired old line that there is so much uncertainty and questions haven’t been answered
Think I’ll *ahem* claw my way around that one ronnie. 😛
@Lesley Anne ave olso goat a Lump Hama.
FAMILY friendly site. 😛
haven’t met MY family haveya?
link to youtube.com
Whens the Clangers gonna join in the BT party Hama,s on the bell ring her bell ring her bell want ma Hama
Advised by Quebec Libre, the SNP, and Salmond in particular, appear to have followed their counsel to the letter refusing to be sucked into a Unionist agenda.
Quebec Libre they lost their battle by a hair’s bridth because they ran after every negative remark dangled before them by the opposition, like a worm on a hook, and got tangled up in nets of their own making.
Our administration has exercised a policy of restating plans again and again almost in bullet line prose avoiding lengthy explanation that might allow ridicule to follow hot on the heels of condemnation.
Salmond won’t be drawn into detail, hence when badgered by Darling he reiterates the currency is ours to share. That leaves some asking, ‘what do you mean by share?’
I can only hope the strategy is working. It seems to be.
Now you’re really bring a lump to my throat with that one ronnie. 😛
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with your family JK. They look entirely normal to me. 😛
@Nana Smith that did’nt take you long brilliant, kin ah sell the balloons,Down By the Riverside.
@John King does Irene know your portraying her as Morticia,ooh aah.
@Lesley-Anne says: 18 August, 2014 at 7:47 pm:
“Damnit! I’ve just another wee *ahem* accident. I just had a wee keek on Twitter and wouldn’t you believe it but some nasty vile cybernat has posted a series of tweets to all the TV channel news accounts asking why the appearance of this lovely racist supporter in the BT advert has NOT been mentioned in any of their news bulletins.
Careful there Lesley-Anne. It won’t be the first time someone drawing attention to a total nonentity on TV has resulted in them becoming an often starred, no talent, totally thick, high paid, ‘Celeb.
The very though of such an event makes my blood run cold.
When you see stuff like this from BT you’ve got to wonder if there really is a mole on the inside.
Wait… That wasn’t the actual broadcast they put on TV, was it? Someone tell me that’s been butchered in an iPhone editing app for comic affect?!
Oops! thanks for that Robert. I keep forgetting about the “wanna be’s” who keep popping up! 😛
“@John King does Irene know your portraying her as Morticia,ooh aah.”
Coulda been worse Ronnie I could have suggested she was cousin IT.
onywiy whits wrang wi Morticia?
@ Hi Caroline
STV have just shown a very similar bit to the Crick item on Channel 4 that I shared earlier and it wasn’t nearly as bad. We’ll see how the FM is treated on Scotland tonight as he’ll be on in a minute.
Still no mention of Ms Hamas, but it’s no wonder BT don’t do due diligence as they have the MSM to cover up for them.
ahm aff tae bed ahm kna-, oh a better watch ma langauge or Lesley-Anne’ll have me. night all. 🙂
Sorry I’m O/T here folks.
So, if I understand Hammond or who ever is the numpty in charge at the M.O.D. there is no where else in the WHOLE of the U.K. that can handle the nuke Trident subs and their W.M.D.’s. Is that correct Buuba?
I guess I have never read this in the This is the West Country.co.uk online site then!
link to tinyurl.com
sledge
@ Nana Smith says: 18 August, 2014 at 8:08 pm:
link to newsnetscotland.com
Err! Nana Smith, I’m reading that above Link, “embarrassment-for-better-together-after-darling-shares-platform-with-bigoted-tweet-campaigner”, and I’m puzzled as to which one of the two person’s on the platform is causing Better Together such ascute embarrassment?
Cindie, let’s not confuse her with Hamas now, them and the OO in the same country is several steps too far
@Ronnie Anderson
Glad you liked it. Lots more like this.
WHIT?
What you saying JK?
I’m no gonna come up tae your place and gie you a slap on the wrist you know. 😛
Have a good night 😀
@Robert Peffers
Well Robert I would be embarrassed sharing a platform with any of them!
Oh goody, Dan Snow and Ian Hyslop sharing a table on HIGNFY. Tin hats on chaps, lurvebombs coming…
Re Broadcasting – just listening to Bernard Ponsonby interviewing Alex Salmond (Arbroath again) for Scotland Tonight and what a difference in attitude. Ponsonby is allowing AS to answer fully with very little interruption. Very good humoured chat.
Let’s give Ponsonby a chance if he carries on in such a sensible manner. 🙂
@ronnie anderson says:
Whens the Clangers gonna join in the BT party
The Soup Dragon is a YES …
Grouse Beater at 10.19
AS deliberately sounded unsure and less than confident on the currency issue to draw Better Together into a trap. They are in it now and there is no way out of it.
@Heraldnomore – oops! 😀
@Betty Boop, agreed, re Ponsonby, that was a very reasonable interview, much better than the dreadful Channel 4 thing earlier
Better Together a collection of bigots, fakes and liars.
Hahaha
Sarah Smith
Currency, uncertainty, currency, uncertainty, currency and currency. Sounds like the record is stuck.
Why can’t these half wits get it into their thick skulls that currency is NOT THE issue. It is a sideline of little importance.
@joe kane says: 18 August, 2014 at 8:26 pm:
“Here’s a better quality image of the far-right Better Together poster girl pictured with Darling and MP Tom Clarke.”
Where do they get them, Joe? I followed that first link you gave and one of the numpties tweeted that Scotland couldn’t feed her population as we didn’t have enough arrable land. I nearly wet myself laughing. The only country in the United Kingdom that is a net EXPORTER of food and drink is Scotland.
Fact: Scotland is a net exporter of food, fuel and power. The UK are net importers of all three.
OT I know but;
The Inefficient UK National (Electricity Supply) Grid
The electrical grid is viewed by the public as a natural and strategic asset. As such it is, in the view of many, totally unsuited to the pressures of market forces. But if a market is to operate then application of variable transmission costs make sense.
Electricity transmission loss in transfer forms a small part of overall electricity loss. The real problem with the grid is capacity crunch. The lack of a transmission cable from the islands to the Scottish mainland brings with it reduced amounts of electricity transfer from the North of Scotland. Supply of electricity to the grid is therefore rationed and this brings with it increased transmission costs. In England there is a lot of demand, but not much generation. The installation of an electrical supply cable link from the islands to the Scottish mainland, (regardless of the outcome of the referendum) is crucial to the future of the National Grid.
The option of expanding Coal, Gas and Nuclear power stations, (using lease lend contracting) funded, designed, built and operated, using foreign finance and workforces may appear to be attractive and cost effective over renewables but fossil-fuels and nuclear have been indulged for far too long on cleaning up their long-term residual mess and when the cost of this is factored in renewable energy is by far the more cost effective.
A recently published, (heavily biased) OFGEM report is very positive about the use of renewable energy, but not at this time. Entirely due to a lack of forward planning by Westminster governments, short term measures are considered necessary, in England. The Con/Dem government is determined to expand nuclear production, (although the preferred options would breech EU financial rules). The Department of Energy and Climate Change, (DECC) is undecided and a government funded and staffed, (blinker wearing) policy think tank strongly believes in market forces, but only so far as nuclear is good and renewables are bad. So the future of UK renewable energy looks bleak.
Scotland is rich in renewable energy production and does not need to commit to the Westminster governments dogma. But a, “No” vote will bring with it the introduction in the next parliament of a, “National UK Energy Production Policy Unit” which will direct the development of ALL energy production within the UK, (including Scotland). All that has been achieved in Scotland will be set aside in favour of the pursuit of nuclear power expansion. But there is remedy available, vote, “Yes” in the referendum so that Scotland will be able to continue the good works in place and planned. We do not need to follow a lead to destruction.
Golly gosh Thepnr that’s one question I have never ever thought about … what currency will we use in an independent Scotland. She is certainly exceptionally clever that Sarah Smith person. I’ll bet she must have spent weeks, no MONTH’S working on that one! 😛
@JLT says: 18 August, 2014 at 8:37 pm:
Their campaign is worse than inept even with the backing all the UK media, what a shambles.
“The only answer I can come up with, is that their were so zealous in their attempt to put the fear into us, that it didn’t just misfire …it blew right up in their faces.”
Which beggars a further question, JLT. Could it be that while the YESSERS didn’t get frightened, but had a good laugh, the NATSAYERS have frighened the shit out of themselves?
The PNR: Currency, uncertainty, currency, uncertainty, currency and currency. Sounds like the record is stuck.
Listen carefully and you hear BBC sticking to negatives, encouraging negativity, avoiding discussion on democratic structures Scotland needs to prosper, what empowerment really means to people, and how can we create a society where people have the best opportunity to develop to the fullest potential?
Scotland 2014 is superficial and shallow.
It holds everything down to business and businessmen.
Above all, it lacks all passion.
Thanks for that Boris. Any chance of expanding that into a blog or citing something along the same lines that can be linked to?
O/t but I was reading this article on BBC and the 5th paragraph down got my attention
link to bbc.co.uk
Do they normally point out if a body giving an opinion is formed by someone who is on another board? Because if so, surely every time they talk about a Youguv poll they should be mentioning it is run by a Tory MP? Or the many other examples Rev has given of why you shouldn’t listen to some body or other?
Tomorrow’s Scotsman headline:
‘Blow for Salmond as cybernats attack ordinary mum Yvonne Hama who is a big fan of the BNP’s Nick Griffin and the idea of hanging Catholics from trees’
Was at the Scotland’s Future Event in Arbroath tonight.
I have heard most of the information delivered there but I think would have been very informative for people who don’t go online and just watch the TV and read the papers.
Questions were varied and answers were from members of the cabinet that they related to.
Currency was brought up but not the usual What Will we Use, I think it was more along the lines of can they stop us? Anyway AS answered that saying we will keep the £ and went on to say he wanted a currency union and he is certain we will get it. Main reason is he knows George Osborne very well and there is no way he would want to gift every man woman and child in Scotland £1000 per year, as that would be the consequences of us not getting a currency union, we would then not take the share of the debt.
Loud applause for that answer.
A.S. also said with regards PlanB, there is no way any Union leader or any other person entering negotiations would discuss what their PlanB was and so no one should expect him to do so, again loud applause.
I think, as has been evidenced by recent polls, that the hammering on about Plan B is backfiring big time for the Unionists.
Also covered was Health, I think a lot of people in there had no idea what is happening down South and how that would affect Scotland.
A Neil and A.S. were very passionate about it and I think it brought home the risks of a No vote and the NHS to a lot of people there tonight.
The Unionists are losing this, people don’t believe their scare stories on currency and even if the Unionists do cut of their noses then people don’t really care, it certainly did not seem to be something that worried anyone in that hall tonight.
NHS on the other hand is a big thing and that is going to be the final nail in the Unionists coffin, they have no answer except trying to say it’s not true. People don’t believe anything they say now so that is not working.
Exciting times ahead 🙂
If you feel like a full on proper belly-laugh, nip over to the WOS Twitter feed and check out the picture of Jim Murphy.
A total belter. It looks like he’s ‘performing’ a Banksy cartoon.
‘How many balloons can you find in this picture?’
Sarah Smith is as thick as two short planks. A speak your weight machine has more political insight.
Now perhaps we’re facing up to those in the electorate who are voting NO cause they hate Alic Sammin. Apparently he must have said this tonight in one of his interviews.
f I was guaranteed independence for ending my career id do it tomorrow”
I wonder if we can encourage the “I hate Alic Sammin” brigade to vote YES cause that is one sure way of getting rid of Alic Sammin! 😛
Who scripted that mess of a broadcast? “I’m voting No for the future”? No TO the future, more like.
cant wait for tomorrow to see whats next
as someone said before its like christmas every day
got my stocking up and the mince pie is out
whats santa bringing us in the morning
LA you just reminded me of something else that AS said tonight.
He said if the equivalent of the Brahan Seer was in the audience and he told AS that Independence could be brought about by him standing down, he would have no hesitation. He went on to say if the seer said Independence would happen only if the SNP were disbanded, he would also do that.
I think it brought home to a lot of people that AS and the SNP are not what this is about, it is the people of Scotland that are important, again huge applause from all quarters.
‘Hama, hama, hama chameleon.’
Okay, I’ll get my coat.
That’s excellent Hood and as you say it certainly brings home to anyone and everyone that this referendum has absolutely NOTHING to do with either Alex Salmond OR the S.N.P.!
Yvonne ‘ball pein’ Hama?
@Grouse Beater –
Very good. Liked that.
‘…you come and go…you come and go-oh-oh-oh…’
I hate crowds and get very nervous so it is hard for me to recall all that was said but another thing that has come back to me was a question asked.
It was along the lines of is there any significance to the date of Independence being March 2016.
AS said there were two reasons for that, one being the time it would take for negotiations and 18 months is a reasonable time for that. The second however was that there would be elections in Spring 2016 so the first government of an Independent Scotland would be who the people voted for.
Again that brought things into perspective for a lot of the ” I hate AlicSammin” people.
I never cease to be amused by the odious collection of bedfellows in the No camp.
Here we have Yvonne Hama, staunch unionist, tweeting vile BNP, anti-catholic messages from Plains, by Airdrie.
Meanwhile in neighbouring Coatbridge, George Galloway (Irish Republican) spouts sectarianism & exhorts the local populace to preserve the union lest there be some imaginary pogrom against Catholics in an independent Scotland.
A psychiatrist could have a field day with these two.
“US Banks make plans to move to Ireland as fears grow over UK EU exit”
link to 78.110.165.228
Usual keech on Scotland Tonight from Colin ‘draw’ McKay. Polls, polls, polls, just like an official BT campaigner.
MSM polls will be used to justify a rigged vote.
I laughed when Chanel 4 asked those in the line up who would be voting YES. Did they expect a reply? My bowling club ,as many do,forbid discussions on matters of politics and religion ,so a lack of response was no surprise,
To answer the question on currency ,we WILL be using the pound sterling.Perhaps you did not hear that here first.The pension you get will be paid in pound sterling.Why? Because your worth it.Sorry because you bloody well paid for it .
Scotland would be successful without North Sea Oil.WithOil we will be no bad!?!?
@Betty Boop says: 18 August, 2014 at 9:50 pm:
“RE Gary Robertson butting in during AS interview.”
I think I must have learned my debating/interview skills in a far harder school than Salmond and co. Faced with a person who asks the question and then butts in when I’m making reply I would apologise profusely saying something like, “Oh! Sorry Garry, I’m so sorry, how bad mannered of me, I didn’t mean to interrupt your clever, probing question, I had thought you had finished asking it”.
When he asks the next question you then sit still and silent until he makes a, (probably confused), attempt to get the now farcical interview going again. It is his job to do so, after all. Then you again apologise profusely saying something like, Oh! Sorry again Garry, I thought you hadn’t finished asking your question there – could you please repeat it again as I’m becoming confused at the way you talk across my answers?
You thus have twice punted the ba well into the interviewer/debaters court and he is not about to risk it again, for if he does he knows he has every chance of being left with even more egg on his face. In other words you have taken control of how the debate/interview is flowing and he is now on the defencive.
@Famous15, that’s interesting – re the bowling club, though there was one person who almost put their hand up, everyone else just looked taken a back. Thanks for sharing your report @Hood, it sounds like it was a great experience
C’mon Stuart.
“We don’t know what they’re spending all their millionaire Tory donors’ money on, but it’s clearly not videos.” stop beating about the bush. We all know what has happened to the money, it went to one of the most corrupt political organisations in Europe. Just watch who goes on expensive holidays next year.
Although, the conversations they will, no doubt, have with some of Mr Taylors compatriots will be interesting when they realise there is no payback for the money invested.
@Hood
Great reports from the front line. Many thanks.
@Betty Boop says: 18 August, 2014 at 9:55 pm:
Didn’t see the BT broadcast this evening either; took evasive action when we saw it starting. I think that is how I ended up seeing the incredibly impolite Channel 4 interviewer with AS in Arbroath.
I’ve not watched much TV, (I have no licence), but go to my pal’s house as we both are political animals. So just about everything I do see is politics. I have to say that Channel 4 is far and away the most openly anti-Scottish and most insulting of all the Channels.
I’ve tried to find any reference to this story on the BBC Scotland page but can’t find a thing about it. So i contacted them via the “Possible Story” link on their Contact page.. Not very hopeful full though.. Here’s what i sent:
“Noticed a Story the BBC might want to cover in Relation to the Referendum. In light of you guys constantly being accused of bias it might be a good story to cover, also considering you showed a Party Political Broadcast from the Better Together campaign relating to this story.
I’ve tried to see if you’ve covered the story but so far I haven’t managed to find any reference to it at about midnight on the 18th August 2014.
You might want to get up to speed here with the story:
link to newsnetscotland.com
Hopefully you will show the same Party Political Broadcast after the news another night – the News where you’ll have clearly covered the story in all it’s unadulterated BNP, Anti-Catholic glory. All in the interests of transparency and unbiased reporting that BBC Scotland is so proud of and never tires of saying.
Or maybe the BBC are happy for the Broadcast to continue given the message it sends out.
As ever I look forward to your stock reply.”
One last thing from me about tonight. I had only gone because a friend, who was originally a No but had become a Don’t Know to being a soft Yes, had asked me to go.
As we were driving home he said he had loved it and really hoped we get it, so safe to say he will be voting Yes 🙂
@ RP 11.50 PM Thanks Robert , good point . I’ll tell Alec in the morning ! Maybe I’m biased but I generally like Gary ex Furry Mouth ( MFR) but he was verging on being rude on this occasion . Your resolve would have been good fun and entertaining . I was particularly disgusted with GR as on this occasion as it is in the interest the listeners to hear AS on the currency issue . Maybe I’m just getting scunnered with the Media an their nonsense ! As long as I see some more YES sticker en-route to work in the morning ,I’ll rise above it again !
Please stop saying she is from Airdrie. According to Ronnie she is from Plains, although if I had to guess I would have said she was from Greengairs (think Larkhall but without the charm).
Currency is a total red herring and BT don’t seem to realise it. No one can stop us keeping our pound, and that doesn’t necessarily mean Sterlingisation – it could equally be a Scots pound as we have now, pegged 1-1 with Sterling. The only option Westminster have any say in at all is a CU. Otherwise all other options are for an independent Scotland to decide and are none of their business. Our plan B isn’t their business.
The issue about sharing and CU isn’t about currency so much as about the BoE which is a shared asset and to whom a third of UK debt is owed. What BT are saying is we have no right or ownership of that institution. The ovoid implication & result of that is we also have no debt.
They’ve screwed themselves with currency. It was a high stakes gamble.If it doesn’t work to prevent independence it’ll be a very costly one for them.
Just watched a re-run of 2014 (Sarah Smith) – touched on Hama issue, with Gordon Young (The Drum, PR mag not the Glasgow housing estate) and Big Kev of The Observer … Both a bit coy on the subject, saying BT did the right thing in distancing themselves etc … Mention of BNP connection but nothing re ‘Tims hanging from trees’, probably didn’t want to lower the tone too much, me thinks … So media probably won’t do a ‘Lally’-type scoop, even though she was beamed into our living rooms tonight, telling us how we should vote … And not a Xmas tree in sight (thankfully!).
Glad to hear the reaffirmation of media bias. I was slightly worried the promo we run on Kirrie AYE TV (Yes shop window loop) for on line pro indy sites, which has a dig at the MSM by way of giving reasons to folk for making the effort to go on line, was perhaps a bit too strong.
But, no, I think it’s about right.
link to youtube.com
@cath
Well said, my view exactly.
I’m sure these are not the only people they can find for their adverts. It is more likely that they feature because of cronyism and favouritism in SLAB. Yes, they are THAT dumb. Think Lamont, Hood, Baillie and all the other mediocrats who rose out of primordial ooze to the dizzy heights of gravy train 1st class.
@Chic McGregor
That was great, well done. Would live to see that on a digital billboard near you soon.
If I was the hama'(s)family I would stay away from the house for a while, Israeli army blew up the houses of 2 of the palestinians who killed the Israeli settlers leading to the slaughter of children in revenge.
Imagine what will happen when they find out there is a hama'(s)group hiding in Airdrie…lol
……………………………………
IDF commander…..”Hama'(s) are in Airdrie, can we take their house out in an air strike Mr Netanyahu ?
Netanyahu……But will Mr Cameron not object to an air strike in a UK town ?
IF commander……..Its fine sir, Airdrie is such a dump nobody will notice a bit more debris and, well.. it is in Scotland !
Netanyahu……….Bomb’s away!!!!!!!!!
No offence to Airdrie btw.
@Chic McGregor – excellent, will definitely be sharing that
That is great Chic.
Gordon Young from The Drum was classic spinmeister..somehow totally convinced me (ha) that because BT had acted quickly and distanced themselves the had “got away with it!” Aye, sure they did, just until the broadcast with the racist bigot in it appeared !
BT, even when they try to fix a failure, they manage to fail a little bit more..gotta love them huh?
The impartiality of the paper reviews,oh dear.
@Thepnr
Well I was rather disappointed and a bit surprised when the guys on the Spirit of Independence, who are touring Scotland, said it was the first window ‘TV’ display they had seen.
We run a whole lot of pro-indy stuff in the loop.
I said to Chris Law that I would upload a lot of it to youtube and that way others could download it and set it up in their Yes shops.
Especially now, when a lot of serviceable desktops and monitors have been made redundant or under used by laptops and tablets, it is a no brainer that they be used in Yes shop windows for the remainder of the campaign.
Even a shop with no leccy could use an old laptop (if the battery isn’t knacked), and it shouldn’t take more than a couple of days to set up, including download time.
For some strange, and probably sad, social reason, folk are willing to stop and watch a ‘telly’ even if it is only displaying a poster or leaflet which is already physically there in the window display.
It also gives the option of being displayed in the evening, when folk are more inclined to not being in a rush to get fro A to B.
And we also use it for publicising local news and events.
Also, on the desk inside the shop we have another monitor and that can be used to display AV stuff (e.g. speeches by Sheridan, Sillars et al) for folk who come in.
Obviously audio required stuff isn’t suited to window display since passers by cannot hear the output, but a lot of the stuff is posters and the like on our ‘Virtual Wall’ and there is quite a lot of AV (like Ken’s great Wings ad) which works and a couple of others we have added subtitles to.
Could be a boost for the campaign if most of the 200 plus Yes shops started doing this.
OMG, just flicking through tv looking for a laugh, came across Russell howard’s good news, from 25/4/13.
Going on about thatcher’s death, asking folks in the streets of Scotland what they thought of her, the auld Scots wife was a classic.
Reporter. Do you think she did ANY good ?
Auld Wife. “Not a bit, ahd pit ah stake through her heart and garlic roon her neck tae make sure she niver came back” !
great job Stu.
And a cracking job too Chic. i am the first to like that one…..I’ll no be the last.
BT are the gift that keeps on giving.
We cannot lose this.
@Hood
about your AS meeting tonight. I have always had a thought in my head that he may not stand or lead the SNP at the 2016 elections for an Indy Scotland.
He would have completed his life’s work and we should expect no more of him.
It would be up the people of Scotland to determine their destiny from then onwards.
They’re such an unappealing bunch.
O/T I know but
Another Example of Westminster Incompetence
The e-Borders programme, launched by Labour in 2005 was a £1bn attempt to reform border controls. In 2007 Raytheon, (a US defence corporation) won a nine-year contract to introduce and operate the programme.
Three years into the contract period, Theresa May, Home Secretary terminated the contract with the US defence corporation, after claiming it was failing. She further stated the government had lost confidence in Raytheon’s ability to deliver the programme after it fell a year behind schedule.
Raytheon threatened to sue ministers for £500m, blaming the UK Border Agency for the failings, before the two sides entered into binding arbitration to reach a settlement.
The UK government was ordered to pay damages; £50m in damages for ending the contract. £126m for assets the company delivered prior to being sacked, such as IT systems. £10m to settle complaints relating to changes to the original contract. £38m in interest payments. Total £224million.
In a statement to the New York Stock Exchange, Raytheon said: “The arbitration tribunal found that the Home Office had unlawfully terminated [the company] for default in 2010 and therefore had repudiated the e-borders contract. “The Tribunal denied all Home Office claims for damages and clawback of previous payments. The Tribunal’s ruling confirms that [Raytheon] delivered substantial capabilities to the UK Home Office under the e-borders program.”
link to bbc.co.uk
Dr JM Mackintosh,
I have wondered that myself but to know AS thoughts would take someone capable of thinking 40 steps ahead.
We will just have to wait and see 🙂
Jerry Seinfelds mom white settler pension no, gtf!
@geeo 12.22 Plains i’sent in Airdrie its outside call the bombers of they might hit ma hoose.
Great news from the BBC this morning when they reported the “largest oil find in decades”,
in AUSTRALIA!
Cindie says
“@Famous15, that’s interesting – re the bowling club, though there was one person who almost put their hand up,”
One person did put his hand up, it was the younger guy on the far right and he shyly put up a finger (no not that one) behind the back of the person next to him,
But on another interveiw (BBC I think) one of the people in the channel 4 interveiw who said nothing when asked how they would vote ,said to another interveiwer “I could be pushed to vote yes”, when asked what it would take, she replied “not a lot” with a very stern face!
And that was a blue rinse matron, sorry if your reading this missus,
If we can persuade that type of voter (sorry missus) we’re going to WIN!
Better Together the anti catholic campaign.
What next for BT? Will they compare Alex Salmond to the Pope?
Sorry but had to have a wee laugh at the Shipbuilder gaffer voting NO for the future, then at the weekend we just learnt that one yard is closing and the 900 workers will be out of work
o/t
ConDem Govt and BT(bigots together) are now in the process of using computer hacker Gary McKinnon and his mother by using the European Arrest Warrant threat to stop them visiting his sick father in Scotland.?
This Warrant only Protects his liberty in England and Wales.
Absurdly, despite the fact that ALL HOMELAND SECURITY AND BORDERS ARE CONTROLLED FROM WESTMINSTER (Belfast), this insane logic shows again that we pay tax but do not get the tax rebates for Homeland Security and Borders Control that – “DO NOT APPLY TO SCOTLAND”.?
Conspiracy Theorists could assume that a DEAL has been done to assure the McKinnon`s providing they promote this treachery versus the people of Scotland BEFORE the IndyRef.?
Robert Peffers
Which beggars a further question, JLT. Could it be that while the YESSERS didn’t get frightened, but had a good laugh, the NATSAYERS have frighened the shit out of themselves?
Robert, since I got home at the weekend after 2 weeks away on holiday, I have had 2 friends on Facebook (both ‘No’ers’) now asking me to clarify questions on what the Yes Camp are saying. It’s literally like, ‘Wait a minute …where the f*** have you two been for the last 3 years? Nothing! Nada! Not a peep! And the minute we enter the last month with the polls now at parity …now, you want to engage and have a discussion …eh …naw!’
They are both hardcore ‘No’ers’, so I’m not getting into it with them. I don’t have the time, nor the patience now. I even sent both the ‘Wee Blue Book’ and it was still ,‘hmmm, seems to be stretching the truth in parts’.
But you’re right …the folk (and not just at the top now) are panicking. What was considered in the bag is not in the bag, and now for these folk, they have sat on the fence too long, and it’s now too late to engage. They have no resources like the Yes Camp and Wings have, and it’s too late for them to join up with some BT street crew. Arrogance and negligence have destroyed the BT campaign.
Gary McKinnon and Mum’s visit will be sanctioned and guaranteed under Scots Law. An Act of Mercy.
Alex Salmond is like Jesus, only he hasn’t risen from the dead. Only risen over the brain dead.
Joke
Should Boot’s be given the The Boot?
New research shows that Alliance Boots, the high street chemist and pharmaceutical giant, has avoided more than £1 billion in tax since it went private six years ago through taking on excessive debts, profit shifting and corporate restructuring. This report, Alliance Boots & The Tax Gap, published by War on Want, Unite the Union and Change to Win, exposes the full scale of Boots’ tax avoidance for the first time.
At a time when Alliance Boots is trying to sell additional services to the NHS, the lost tax revenue from Alliance Boots has tangible effects on the British public. Using the tax Alliance Boots avoided, the government could have funded:
1. More than two years of total prescription charges for all of England.
2. The starting salary of more than 78,000 NHS nurses for a year– roughly 120 additional nurses each constituency.
3. Over 185,000 hip replacements.
4. More than 5 million ambulance call outs.
link to waronwant.org
What a bunch. These tax avoidance loopholes should be denied to companies operating in the UK. Boots is only one of a huge number of tax dodging enterprises. Many of them provide financial support to the Tory party. Vote, “Yes” in the referendum so that Scotland will be enabled through independence to ensure tax collection is applicable to all.
Polly Toynbee in the Guardian lists all the right reasons why Scotland should regain self-governance, applauds them all as reasonable and sound, even says we shall share the pound sterling, and then goes into reverse to state all social democrats are better sticking together.
The colonial mindset is truly set in concrete.
Toynbee wants Scotland to retain the role of sacrificial ‘province’ so we can come to the aid of England in these dark times, and any other when they make the call.
Polly certainly doesn’t get it. John Harris does.
A Revelation.
Without any Legislation being processed through the House of Commons or the House of Lords and with ZERO “Royal Assent” being Granted, the Scottish Parliament can overrule all the courts of rUK and supercede the new Supreme Court of England – to extradite Gary McKinnon to America from Scotland – if he comes to visit his 70 year old father who lives in Glasgow who has suffered a Stroke.???
As one of those who supported the McKinnon`s versus Gary`s Extradition, I am appalled that this family and their legal team (in England) who exploited every legal loophole on the Statute Book, are now using Legal LIES to frighten their fellow Scots to AID an unelected ConDem Govt and ” Bigots Together “versus Independence.
Obliquely, Gary in London can vote in the IndyRef as his stroke-ridden father`s “PROXY” NOMINATION.?
In England, the McKinnons exploit the Legal Aid System to the tune of tens of millions while North of the Border his father exploits ” Free Personal Care “.
Any sympathy I felt for the McKinnon`s – ENDS NOW.
Ludicrously, if the Scottish Parliament actually OWNS these new Extradition Powers – we can Extradite Gary to Scotland.?
Can any “Winger” with a knowledge of Constitutional Law please enlighten us because I must have fallen asleep when Scotland got these new powers.
No mention yet on BBC Scotland of Alex Neil, Scottish Government Health Secretary making a statement in the Scottish Parliament today, about the future of the Scottish NHS.
link to milngavieherald.co.uk
He said: ” All across the UK, Labour politicians have been warning of the threat to the NHS from Tory privatisation, and the very real prospect of charges being introduced – and they are absolutely right to do so.
“Yet now, with less than a month until the referendum, Labour in Scotland are suddenly claiming that the future of our NHS funding is best left at the mercy of these very same Tories.”
Just another example of what BBC Scotland think’s you shouldn’t hear, in case it swayed you to vote YES.
The London Luvies. . Quelle surpris! Scotland is after a bigger prize. Democratic freedom.
Memo to Westminster
Undernourished, cold people get sick.
A very telling statement from Gary Robertson on GMS this morning at about 7.15 – We were talking TO the First Minister yesterday morning, and we’ll be hearing FROM Alistair Darling this morning.So expect Darling to get an easy time of it.
Memo to Polly
Westminster is running without a Mandate. Running scared. Scary.
Thoughts of a tory financier.
link to conservativehome.com
And the other side of right of centre thinking.
link to lewrockwell.com
John H. says:
“A very telling statement from Gary Robertson on GMS this morning at about 7.15 – We were talking TO the First Minister”
I think talking AT the First minister might have been even more telling and appropriate!
Darling on GMS right now.
Tortuous.
@ goldenayr, thanks for laughs from Jaber the Tory. ATOS is pretty local, big profits too
“We must also remember how David Cameron, by applying the Conservatives’ principles of localism and bottom-up governance, has owned devolution and delivered a decisive punch to Salmond’s fantasies.
heedtracker
Nae probs,anytime.
Methinks Stu is going to have a field day with Darling’s rant on GMS.
Seems like Cameron is only “appealing” to those with no vote and dodgy morals.
link to newsletter.co.uk
Better Together or Bigots Together?
No Thanks or No Surrender?
The No campaign have been infiltrated by extreme Loyalist groups.
Darling on postal votes again. BT strategy will be to push for an early return to harvest the fear and before more people swing to YES. Desperate. Need clear info on timelines to voters to avoid imposed haste.
Oh, and apperently BoE doesn’t have that much money. He would know he wasted it all.
Gary McKinnon`s father did not get his Stroke yesterday, it happened months ago.
The timing from Gary`s Mother has been timed to perfection within the final four weeks to the IndyRef – purely to assist the BT ( Bigots Together )Campaign and frighten voters.
This is a purely cynical political exercise and an attempt at ” VOTE RIGGING ” by the McKinnons.
Question – Why have they waited so long to broach this subject when, via the old man`s Residency Rules, they can exploit the System to vote in Scotland.?
The Home Office, London (Met) Police and the Courts have had Gary Electronically Tagged for the past ten years and Police(Scotland) must investigate to STOP VOTE RIGGING.
It is not as if the McKinnons are virgins at exploiting Legal Systems – for their gain.
B of E doesnt have much money, but it does have a lot of debt. It holds about a third of the national debt, £370 odd Bn as bonds, which as an asset is divisible to us pro rata.
He was starting to lose it a bit there, methinks Gary was being a bit more less gentle with his questioning
@Hood
A further thought – we may need a President some day in the not too distant future.
Now there is a good Plan B.
Who is the most unpopular politician in Britain? Cameron or Darling. Who is the most popular politician in Scotland? Alex Salmond.
Listened to Darling’s rant this morning on GMS. I think Gary Robertson should have pushed a bit more.
Darling claiming that the pound is backed by the Bank of England, which apparently, according to Darling, hasn’t got much money! Darling went on to say that the bank of England is backed by the economic clout of the UK.
But the question that is never asked is this. Who or what backs up the ‘UK’? I would hazard a guess and say the collective resources from all revenues and resources, including that of Scotland. But if Scotland accounts for 10% GDP and has vast oil wealth, then what’s left of the UK will no longer have much clout to back up the Bank of England (quid pro quo, as they say in intellectual circles).
So Darling (and others) stating that ‘its the strength of the UK’ that backs the pound are only stating part of the picture and trying to make out that an independent Scotland would be poorer. When in fact it will be the other way around. The London treasury will be poorer and will need the backing of the strength of Scotland
O/T
Sky News paper reviewers, last night looking at a picture of Alex Salmond with the ruins of Arbroath Abbey in the background, sniggered and laughed at the thought of the Scots voting for Independence and said the ruins of the Abbey were like Alex Salmond’s campaign, in ruins.
Man, all these Sky News presenters and guest reviewers are in for a big shock on 19th September.
1997: Brown sets Bank of England free
“The Chancellor, Gordon Brown, has given the Bank of England independence from political control.”
link to news.bbc.co.uk
Does this mean that George Osborne and Milliband, have no say over whether we have a currency union or not.
The public face of better thegither are recruited straight from the orange order, at the last two parades the were aggressively recruiting people – women and young people promising careers wealth and prestige. They are utterly shameless.
Deeply dishonest Polly Toynbee/Vote No Graun as per
They take everything from Scotland, give back to us what they decide is appropriate but
“Though tribally anti-Tory, there’s no great sign that Scotland is more than a little to the left of Britain. Inequality is as wide, poverty as deep, and it would take an enormous shift in income distribution to match Norway. That means huge predistribution of pay and redistribution of tax and benefits.
What has Scotland done with its powers so far? Neither Labour nor the SNP used any of the 3p extra they could raise in income tax: easier to do it next year with new rules, but no party dares talk of raising tax. Instead, Salmond promises a beggar-my-neighbour cut in corporation tax in a deadly race to the bottom, letting business pay even less.”
OK lets put up tax by 3p, Barnet gets cut, jobs gone but why let real world stuff get in the way of Rule Britannia. We all end worse off but teamGB Treasury takes everything. Naw thanks
@Ken500 says: 19 August, 2014 at 7:19 am:
“Joke”
Aye! Joke is it?
Tell that tae Darling.
:-))
Edward, I was surprised how much Gary Robertson DID push AD.
I was even more surprised by his comments about the BoE not having much money and everything depending on the perceived ‘strength’ of the UK. Technically it may be true, but I suspect it will have confused a lot of listeners.
Mind you it does explain why they are so desperate to hang on to the oil assets.
O/T Exaro journalists are doing a great job of uncovering westminster corruption and child molesters. The sooner we dump westminster the better.
link to exaronews.com
link to exaronews.com
I’ve been watching an old video of the ancient comedy series Fawlty Towers. The Coatbridge picture makes me think of Manuel, the Spanish/Catalonian waiter: “a Hama sandwich”.
Apologies for this totally pointless post.
Well, GMS BBC Scotland didn’t interview Alex Neil this morning abut the future of the Scottish NHS.
The top issue in Scotland at the moment and BBC Scotland decided we didn’t need to hear about it.
Instead, they got the Scottish Republicans into the studio to talk about the Queen and about how grateful we should all be for National Lottery funding.
Ah well, there’s always tomorrow.
@Edward
I’m coming to the view that a lot of those who say there are so many unanswered questions are just using that to deflect the question about how they are going to vote. We know, thanks to YouGov, that there are these shy Yeses. If you don’t want to admit in public, in front of your friends that you are Yes, what do you say?
Just imagine it, all these people secretly going to vote Yes thinking they are the only one of their friends who is . . . Waking up on the 19th and comparing notes. ‘What did we do?’
Rob Murray, Deputy Director of Operations (Grassroots) at Better Together, has deleted his tweet and Vine gif regarding last night’s Better Together Referendum Campaign Broadcast.
Here’s a web archive version which didn’t manage to capture Rob’s Vine gif but has recorded the thread comments for posterity –
link to archive.today
biecs
I’m sorry, but Gary Robertson’s thing about the BoE not having much money is just dross. The BoE has as much money as it wants to create. It’s the central bank FFS.
@Muscleguy
I think/hope you are right. They may be traditional Labour voters who are strongly inclined to vote Yes, probably because they do understand that they are more likely to achieve traditional Labour values. However, public admission might be interpreted as SNP backing, which they don’t want to display. Thus, they keep their thoughts to themselves and will vote Yes.
RadIndy news conference at 11am. I suspect their latest grand canvas has uncovered the truth.
O/T I know, but have a look at this story on BBC Scotland Web Page..
link to bbc.co.uk
I do love this bit “The science of campaigning will be examined on Tuesday in a BBC Scotland documentary.”
I think they should be examining the science and fundamentals of News Reporting instead. Maybe then, we’d get a news provider that covered, eh, well, balance news stories.. (am I being too optimistic there..)
Brian Fleming
I listened to the GMS programme this morning and I am certain that it was Alistair Darling who stated that the BoE did not have much money and that from a former chancellor, mind you!
Colin Church
“Darling on postal votes again. BT strategy will be to push for an early return to harvest the fear and before more people swing to YES.”
Excellent point Colin. We must remind postal voters that there is no mad rush to fill in their voting form.
Qoute:
“You will receive your postal vote pack between 27 August 2014 and 10 September 2014. You should complete and return your postal vote as soon as you can so that it can be processed. Your postal vote must be received by the Returning Officer by 10pm on Thursday 18 September 2014.”
@BrianW, this bits is also funny and patronising-
“Anybody who sat down and tried to work out the pros and cons of independence would need an Excel spreadsheet, a lot of time and a great deal of patience.
“Some people might fondly imagine they’re rational calculators. They’re kidding themselves.”
I’m just putting this out there and at a wild guess, tonights BettertogetherBBC academic involved is probably not a Yes vote and probably not that keen on Scotland running Scotland because 70+ years of Labour in Scotland right to reign over us has been really really ace.
Just a thought outside the nine dots.
Darling should be asked what currency the food banks use.
@galamcennalath says: 19 August, 2014 at 8:13 am:
“I think talking AT the First minister might have been even more telling and appropriate!”
Nah! Gary was quite obviously talking ACROSS The First Minister.
I expect “Wingers” to think.
Unlike Bigots Together.
Question – What are the consequencies facing the McKinnon`s after Scotland becomes Independent.?
London Legal Aid – STOPS.
Everything they currently enjoy (FREE) comes under threat because they become foreign nationals in England.
Will the Home Office protect him at that point.?
This false plea for liberty from the Home Office (?) to visit his stroke-riven father, who had his Stroke – MONTHS AGO – is only another self-serving ploy by the McKinnons to avoid paying for their own lives and expenses.
ABSURDLY,Gary requires Permission from the Home Office – NOT HOLYROOD
He requires permission from Security Services – NOT HOLYROOD.
He needs permission from courts in England – NOT HOLYROOD.
He needs ” Royal Assent ” to travel – NOT BY HOLYROOD.
I apologise to all wingers for banging on about this but “they” have found a new way to RIG the votes in IndyRef.
@ gillie says: 19 August, 2014 at 8:28 am:
“Better Together or Bigots Together? No Thanks or No Surrender? The No campaign have been infiltrated by extreme Loyalist groups.”
Nah! There was no infiltration – BT, (Bigots Together), Welcomed both the OO and UKIP in with wide open arms and kisses.
@caz-m, I got my Scottish Independence Referendum Postal Voter’s Official Poll Card yesterday explaining that the 3rd of September is the day they will send out the postal “voting pack”.
You can also cancel your postal vote by that date. If you lose or spoil your ballot paper, they’ll issue you a new one up 5pm 18th Sept 2014.
Security measures in place are cross checking signatures and dates of birth and the Counting Officer will cross check your details against those you provided on your postal vote application.
UKOK campers says they have over a million postal voters so thats a lot of cross checking or in other words, just a rule from the Electoral Commission currently run by an ex BBC man, who probably isnt that keen on any changes to the BBC 4th estate power in teamGB and they are not even remotely capable of implementing said rules, unless they have like 10,000 Counting officers.
@Brian.
Aye, they play on the lack of education they help to create, and they maintain it with outright lies.
I am sure Mr Darling said this morning that it would be great if Scotland had power/control over the Work Programme – did I hear that correctly?
Vote Rigging –
How many “Proxy Vote Nominees ” in the IndyRef have been registered south of the border and how many are registered in Ulster.?
BTW I wrote to the Scottish Govt some weeks ago about the Ballot Box Tracking System and have yet to get a reply.
@heedtracker 9.26am.
The article is just full of gems eh. I’m glad to see you took their advise and used a spread sheet to calculate:
“70+ years of Labour in Scotland right to reign over us has been really really ace.”
Excel: The Handy Referendum Calculation Tool that everyone can depend on.. (unless your Labour and trying to work out if the NHS is Screwed – as Mr Burnham has pointed out – Or Alistair, Darling using the same spread sheet, and saying all is rosey..) %-/
The first batch of Q&A sessions from the Troon Yes event are now up on YouTube
link to youtube.com
There are a lot more bite-sized edited sessions to be added in the coming days. They will include the main speakers and their presentations.
Watch this space 🙂
@Alan Mackintosh says: 19 August, 2014 at 8:40 am:
“B of E doesnt have much money, but it does have a lot of debt. It holds about a third of the national debt, £370 odd Bn as bonds …”
Which is exactly what The FM, (ex-bank economist), bases his claim that there will be a currency union upon. If, post independence, the de facto Parliament of England refused a Currency Union then the following would happen : –
A – The Scottish Government would continue to use Scotland’s own currency, The Pound, and as the BofE already holds an English banknote as guarantee for every Scottish printed banknote in circulation in their vaults, they automatically have become the lenders of last resort.
B – If the English government show any reluctance they haven’t a legal leg to stand upon for those BofE held notes are Promissory Notes that belong to the Scottish Banks who printed the Scottish banknotes and they can demand what it says on the front, “The BofE promises to pay the bearer on demand … …”.
C – As Scotland also owns a negotiable share of the Nationalised BofE the SG can then demand their fair share of that company’s assets. The way these things work is that legal disputes freeze the company’s assets until the courts resolve the dispute and Westminster owns the BofE.
D – The SG then threaten to withdraw the guarantee notes from the BofE and demand their share of the value of share in the BofE plus a compensatory share of the interests due.
The result is the BofE/Westminster government would not be able to pay without going bust or much deeper into debt and it is the UK that owns the BofE. Job Done. We get a Currency Union.
Found that story re hama on the BBC
link to bbc.co.uk
I never seen that yesterday – was it just staring me in the face and my Anti-uKOK Glasses prevented my brain for seeing the story.. I’ll never know..
This I don’t like a.s. Is just another ploy by the no side and I am afraid by keeping referring to it you are helping to highlight it for them. I bet there are far many more people like a.s. Than don’t so we should be highlighting that ,don’t fall for their lies ,their made up polls and all their other mind games rise above their bile and lies vote yes
@Edward says: 19 August, 2014 at 8:44 am:
“Darling claiming that the pound is backed by the Bank of England, which apparently, according to Darling, hasn’t got much money! Darling went on to say that the bank of England is backed by the economic clout of the UK.”
As I’ve just pointed out in another post, Darling is just beginning to wake up to the truth that he has been far too stupid to understand – Until Now.
Here it is in as simple terms as I can manage :-
In 1946 the private, “Governor & Company of the Bank of England”, was nationalised by the Westminster Government. Then, in 1997, Gordon Brown made The Bank of England independent but still a totally public owned asset. Now, since the 1706/7, Treaty of
Union, the Scottish Banks can legally print their own banknotes but for every note printed have to purchase and deposit a BofE banknote as a guarantee for it in the BofE vaults.
So here’s the result that Darling is just beginning to find out and understand. When Scotland becomes independent she has an English Banknote to the value of every Scottish printed banknote, held in an interest earning account, in the BofE vaults that an independent Scotland can reclaim by presenting those BofE held promissory notes at the BofE head office in Threadneedle Street.
In other words it means that, whether Alistair and Westminster likes it or not, The BofE is automatically the, “ Lenders of last resort., by being the holders of those guarantees. Worse yet for Westminster is that, under the terms of the Treaty of Union , Scotland owns a share in the BofE and nowhere in that treaty is there a single word that says the Kingdom Scotland is other than an equally sovereign partner and thus any claims of shares based upon the present population ratios is balderdash and Scotland could thus tie up the entire assets of the BofE in the courts by disputing her share of the BofE assets.
Wee Eck really does have them by the short and curlies.
THERE WILL BE A CURRENCY UNION.
@John King 5:55am – I saw that piece too, it was on STV, I was surprised that it was quite balanced. As soon as the woman said she could be pushed to a yes quite easily I thought someone should get her a Wee Blue Book quickly! But you’re right, if folk like her are leaning to yes it is very, very exciting!
@Brian Fleming says: 19 August, 2014 at 9:14 am:
“I’m sorry, but Gary Robertson’s thing about the BoE not having much money is just dross. The BoE has as much money as it wants to create. It’s the central bank FFS.”
Aw! Get real. The BofE can indeed print as many banknotes as they wish but all that does is increase the number of banknotes in circulation. It cannot add a penny to the value of their holdings or, in other words, “THEY CAN DEVALUE THE POUND.”
Quantitative Easing, anyone? Sheessh!
@Robert Peffers
Very enlightening posts. Thank you.
@Rober Peffers, noo calm doon Robert, some people take time to digest financial information, the penny in our pockets no worth the metal content,they redused the copper content a long time ago.So your spot on, remember George Nigel Lawson & George Soros made millions.
BBC now picking up on the fact that Ms Hama has been appearing in no campaign broadcasts:
link to bbc.co.uk
Train fares to rise in England in Jan by 3.5% screwing the people time after time. I wonder what the wage increase’s will be in 2015.
Further to Juan P’s post above, the BBC CONTINUE within the updated article to use only the Rowling and Lally incidents as their examples of online abuse. No mention of the abuse suffered by the Weirs or any other pro-independence individual.
BT’s launch video first-ever campaign film over two years ago.
This video is private.
If the owner of this video has granted you access, please log in.
wot thy hidden it for.
Or the vile abuse of Margo McDonald or the death threats to Jim Sillars if he came to Fife.
I’m SURE that last comment should have been, “Ah’m votin’ fer no future.”
And how can a NO vote be positive? No is a bloody negative, for pete’s sake! Don’t these people stop to think, even for a second? Well, obviously they don’t else they’d vote YES. But you know what I mean.
That’s an excellent summary Robert Peffers. I’m pinching that!
When did Waynetta move to Airdrie?