We’re on about Day 79 of NoScottishPoliticsNewsGate (today’s big “EXCLUSIVE!” in the Herald is something we told you about last Friday, and was also an “exclusive” in yesterday’s Scottish Sun), so we found ourselves getting diverted by something else in the papers this morning.
The Scottish Daily Mail had a piece on the cost of train journeys from Scotland, and living in Bath you don’t need to tell us how scandalously expensive British railways are compared to almost any other country in the Northern Hemisphere.
But the Mail is the Mail, and it couldn’t help distorting even an open-goal of a story like that until it had almost no relation to reality. And it’s a very useful illustration, should anybody need yet another one, of how this country’s newspapers vastly mislead their readers without actually technically lying.
At a time of unprecedented political chaos and uncertainty, just about the only thing you can still count on is that for any given situation, senior Labour figures will issue proclamations both firmly in favour of it and stoutly opposed to it, usually the same day.
So the stories below, which are respectively from today’s Scotsman and today’s Times, won’t come as much of a shock to anyone.
But against the odds, we think we’ve made some sense of it.
The front page lead of today’s Scottish Daily Mail:
As alert readers of this site will know, the Mail has a particular fondness for presenting statistics bereft of any context so that people have no idea how big or small they really are. So is 1,600 passengers a week receiving compensation for delays a lot or a little? Let’s find out.
All political discourse is plagued with genuine imbeciles, of course. But what’s far more depressing is when educated and normally perceptive people merely act like imbeciles for money, such as the case of Alex Massie in the Sunday Times today.
Because for the last two years, commentators who ought to know better have insisted in presenting Scotland’s choice as between Brexit or Brexit plus independence, and solemnly concluding that the uncertainties and risks of the latter being piled on top of those of the former prove that independence is no solution.
And we don’t care to have our intelligence insulted in that way.
Alf Baird on Faces In Sand: ““..dismantle a political and economic union that he claims doesn’t exist” The problem surely lies with those such as yersel…” Oct 25, 22:36
sarah on Faces In Sand: “Dan, thanks for the info on trees. I brought the chestnut tree up from Kent as a sprout 25 years…” Oct 25, 21:56
Lorncal on Faces In Sand: “I absolutely agree, Northcode, that we need to make a powerful case for independence across the board, but, after an…” Oct 25, 20:52
Dan on Faces In Sand: “@ Sarah They are not my Hazel or Sweet Chestnut trees. They are just planted locally along a roadside. I’m…” Oct 25, 20:31
sam on Faces In Sand: “That there was colonialism of Northern Ireland was an idea widely considered by many groups and individuals during what is…” Oct 25, 20:12
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: “Wheesht, Xaracen! Dinna tell the Picts we Scots stole most of the country from. Got to say, it does seem…” Oct 25, 19:44
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: “My benchmark 30 seconds of internet research reveals the budget of BBC Scotland TV to be £42 million PA. The…” Oct 25, 19:36
Insider on Faces In Sand: “sarah @7:13 This is solely due to the vicious, heartless colonialism that we Scots suffer under. But never fear…in Alf’s…” Oct 25, 19:33
Xaracen on Faces In Sand: ““Ex Injuria Jus Non Oritur” -Illegitimacy cannot create legitimacy. A wrongful act cannot become a lawful one through time alone.…” Oct 25, 19:21
sarah on Faces In Sand: “Dan, how come your hazel nuts actually contain nuts? I gathered some off the ground a few days ago and…” Oct 25, 19:13
Dan on Faces In Sand: “Link to Barrheadboy article (and comments) posted today which shines some light on influencing aspects that are factors in shaping…” Oct 25, 18:32
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: “Maybe 1606 and 1707 are times, not dates? Then it makes sense.” Oct 25, 18:27
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: “Mental impairment is a badge of honour these days. It brings loads of societal advantages too, not to mention free…” Oct 25, 18:23
Captain Caveman on Faces In Sand: “Well, this “sassenach yoon” cage is indeed freely rattling, I will readily concede. Rattling with wry, incredulous laughter. 😀” Oct 25, 18:22
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: “Quite difficult to see how any sane, rational person can be opposed to rewilding per se. So I guess Confused’s…” Oct 25, 18:00
Spartan 117 on Faces In Sand: “You do know all the estates up here are owned either by Arabs (their 737s arrive at Inverness regularly, one…” Oct 25, 17:49
Dan on Faces In Sand: “Not stuck indoors for me today. Yesterday was mostly indoors though sitting out the gales and rain after spending the…” Oct 25, 17:45
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: “““authoritarian logic” as you call it by implication emanates from oppressive state entities and its mouthpieces (i.e. you Northcode), not…” Oct 25, 17:44
Spartan 117 on Faces In Sand: “I see I’m not the only one who raised an eyebrow at The Nutty Professor’s bizarre posts above. Well said…” Oct 25, 17:44
sam on Faces In Sand: “Northcode says of Alf Baird: He then implies that Scots who disagree with his “Scotland is colonised” argument are mentally…” Oct 25, 17:26
Dan on Faces In Sand: “So Northcode, were does the likes of Plato and his Allegory of the Cave fit in with your junk and…” Oct 25, 17:24
Confused on Faces In Sand: “this weather, eh? – thank god for the aga, warms the whole house, cooks your dinner and dries out your…” Oct 25, 16:38
Alf Baird on Faces In Sand: “On the contrary, “authoritarian logic” as you call it by implication emanates from oppressive state entities and its mouthpieces (i.e.…” Oct 25, 16:11
sarah on Faces In Sand: “Since we’re all stuck indoors, there’s some crowdfunders to donate to, and youtube from SSRG conference to listen to. 1.…” Oct 25, 14:46
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: ““This isn’t metaphor – it’s literal pathologisation” Good post, Northy. Alf’s attitude is straight out of the Bolshevik handbook as…” Oct 25, 14:43
Northcode on Faces In Sand: “Alf Baird is claiming exclusive access to “reality”. He writes: “The unveiled reality enabling the colonized mind to recover…” This…” Oct 25, 14:17
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: ““Scotland requires authentic statesmen more than parish pump politicians” You say that, TURABDIN, yet the decades come and the decades…” Oct 25, 14:14
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: ““It’s the sheer indefatigability and lack of self-awareness that shocks you” It’s of fascinating academic interest, certainly. I’m of the…” Oct 25, 14:01
TURABDIN on Faces In Sand: “MODERN COLONIALISM IN ACTION https://venezuelanalysis.com/opinion/venezuela-from-revolution-to-recolonization/ USA, the country that supported Saddam Hussein in a proxy war against its neighbour then…” Oct 25, 13:51
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: ““reminds me of the evil Nanny from the Omen with that glaikit satanic glare she has” Ah, the wondrous wittering…” Oct 25, 13:39
