Yesterday afternoon, Scottish Labour tweeted some comments from Kezia Dugdale’s keynote speech to the party conference that might be the most self-evidently idiotic thing ever said by a Scottish politician.
Now, whether you support independence or not it’s a plain, measurable, empirical fact that it IS all of those things. Saying it’s not “an alternative”, in particular, is roughly on a par with asserting that the Earth doesn’t revolve around the Sun.
We were about to go on a rant about the jaw-dropping stupidity of the claim when it struck us that it might be a bit more interesting to see how the speech, and indeed the conference, had gone down with its intended audience – Scottish Labour delegates.
We were very pleased to hear Gary Robertson challenge Kezia Dugdale on the curious matter of Scottish Labour’s membership and income figures on today’s Good Morning Scotland. Dugdale flapped and dodged and waffled for as long as she could before diverting the topic onto federalism, and eventually managed to wriggle away from the subject without any sort of proper answer (through no fault of Robertson’s).
Almost a year ago we ran a short piece mocking a Scotsman headline which claimed that “THOUSANDS” of people had signed a Tory anti-referendum petition, when the actual number was a strictly-accurate-but-pathetic TWO thousand.
We didn’t think that could ever be beaten for technically-true hyperbolic exaggeration, but we’d reckoned without the bold boundary-pushing ingenuity of the Daily Express.
Hundreds of thousands? How many hundreds, exactly?
We don’t normally run rumours on Wings, but this one was too good to pass up. We offer it to you on the clear basis that it IS just gossip, but it’s from a source we trust.
Our source says that “he’s selling himself – to any influential figures who’ll listen – as a PR chief for Better Together 2. In my personal opinion I don’t think they will be silly enough to let him back in, frankly, but he seems to be indestructable.”
They also gave us a quote from what they described as “a well-placed insider”:
“McTernan is itching for a comeback.
He’s sniffing around both in London and among Scottish contacts to see if he can carve out a senior role in the inevitable indyref2 campaign, which everyone’s having to pretend isn’t inevitable at all.
Given his track record there’s a fair degree of concern, to say the least. But he still holds sway with some senior figures in London especially. He is disliked by many in Scottish Labour but seems to have charmed some of the Tories. Given the number of lives he’s had few will be surprised if he manages to worm his way in to the upper echelons of Better Together 2.”
Today seems a good day to bring up the latest snippet of data from our poll.
Less than a third of Scots of all parties and persuasions think BBC Scotland provides “balanced” political coverage. Even among Unionists, twice as many feel it’s biased in their favour as the frankly unhinged group who think it’s pro-independence.
Remarkably, more Tory voters think the Beeb is biased in favour of independence than think it leans towards the Union, which is quite some feat of self-delusion. Among Labour and Lib Dem voters it’s three-to-one the other way, and more than 17-to-1 among SNP supporters.
Meanwhile, 5% of respondents claimed to have “never heard of” the state broadcaster, which just goes to prove what Panelbase regularly tell us about how you can get 5% to 10% of people to vote for ANY answer you put in a poll, up to and including “Would you like us to come round right now and shoot you in the face?”
The process of simply buying the Xbox One took me either three days or eight weeks, depending on how you look at it, due to a combination of how retail works these days and the gibbering random madness that is GAME's pricing and corporate structure. But I'm not even going to get into that here.
It reveals that the party’s income from donations plunged from £600,000 in 2015 to £100,000 last year, which in the article is blamed on Jeremy Corbyn’s UK leadership (even though Dugdale opposed him in the leadership election).
But there were a few comments in the piece that we thought needed scrutiny.
Of all the people who wanted to retain the UK’s nuclear weapons, just over HALF of them (56%) were prepared to have them kept in Scotland. 15% did a total U-turn when confronted with the thought of having them in the same place they’ve been for the last 30-odd years, and nearly a third suddenly weren’t so sure nukes were a great idea when they were reminded they’re kept about half an hour from Glasgow.
It’s an interesting stat to keep in mind when the subject is debated.
Northcode on The Idiot Rodeo: “I made a typo. “It’s comedy is most darkly lit…”: should read: “Its comedy is most darkly lit…” Although, I…” Dec 17, 23:29
Northcode on The Idiot Rodeo: ““Oh, what bitterness cleaves to envy’s sting!” – Dante Alighieri The Union is a monstrous joke, and very far from…” Dec 17, 22:34
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Idiot Rodeo: “Excerpt from Paul Henderson Scott’s book entitled: ANDREW FLETCHER AND THE TREATY OF UNION « A whole succession of events…” Dec 17, 22:26
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Idiot Rodeo: “Maybe relevant to draw attention to the book: ‘SCOTLAND’S RUINE’ : LOCKHART OF CARNWATH’S MEMOIRS OF THE UNION (Edited by…” Dec 17, 22:18
DaveL on The Idiot Rodeo: “Both of you will still be unionist morons, so no change there then. That’s not an assumption either, that’s a…” Dec 17, 21:48
Lorncal on The Idiot Rodeo: “Every law that passes in the Westminster parliament must be passed by a majority of Scottish MPs to become Scottish…” Dec 17, 21:13
Alf Baird on The Idiot Rodeo: ““Aidan bigging up Auld Reekie and the trams!” Aye, anither ‘new Scot’ that disna ken hee haw aboot Auld Reekie…” Dec 17, 20:48
Dan on The Idiot Rodeo: “FFS, just noticed Aidan bigging up Auld Reekie and the trams! Jeezo, yet another ill thought out transport clusterfuck reckoned…” Dec 17, 20:24
Hatey McHateface on The Idiot Rodeo: “Why? What’s he done wrong?” Dec 17, 20:13
Hatey McHateface on The Idiot Rodeo: “It’s a secret. Sorry.” Dec 17, 20:07
Hatey McHateface on The Idiot Rodeo: “FFS Beggan. Round and round the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran.” Dec 17, 20:05
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Idiot Rodeo: “SECRET RECEIPTS that influenced UNION WITH IRELAND | David Olusoga 3 mins video www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzW0GeoO3Ig” Dec 17, 20:01
Hatey McHateface on The Idiot Rodeo: “Looks like it falls to me to once again validate your miserable existence, Northy. Weel done. Guid dug. Here’s a…” Dec 17, 19:59
agentx on The Idiot Rodeo: “If and that is a big “IF”, everything that James Cheyne says is correct, what do people assume, and that…” Dec 17, 19:54
Hatey McHateface on The Idiot Rodeo: “Wow, Alf and Northy, together leading us into the Promised Land. A union that doesn’t exist, a colonial oppression the…” Dec 17, 19:52
Hatey McHateface on The Idiot Rodeo: “Sounds like a nice little earner, sarah. Just mak siccar you declare your profit to the Inland Revenue. They’re an…” Dec 17, 19:39
sarah on The Idiot Rodeo: ““Scum” is the perfect term, Marie!” Dec 17, 19:19
Alf Baird on The Idiot Rodeo: “” proof positive that Scotland is an illegally annexed province of England” Aye Northcode, mebbe the Rev an aw Scots…” Dec 17, 19:06
Marie on The Idiot Rodeo: “@Dan 17.15 How about “scum”? Scum usually rises to the top.” Dec 17, 18:46
Captain Caveman on The Idiot Rodeo: “Ignoramo|, certainly.” Dec 17, 17:46
Dan on The Idiot Rodeo: “I think it is well past the time that we addressed the matter of referring to those in positions of…” Dec 17, 17:16
Alf Baird on The Idiot Rodeo: “Aye, thon Union’s aye a muckle fankle, its aw a massive colonial hoax, James. As Professor Black confirms, England’s pairlament…” Dec 17, 16:37
William G Walker on The Idiot Rodeo: “I hope Mark Beggan doesn’t include Iain Macwhirter in the “fear coming from MSM” about Sandie Peggie as Mr Macwhirter…” Dec 17, 16:03
James Cheyne on The Idiot Rodeo: “Lornical. But what is Scottish government and law ? If separated from the parliament of Englands treaty with Scotland in…” Dec 17, 15:24
James Cheyne on The Idiot Rodeo: “The security and evidence of a treaty between Scotland and England still would require trials by jury in Scotland, and…” Dec 17, 14:57
James Cheyne on The Idiot Rodeo: “The propaganda confusion over the treaty of union between Scotland and England does not enhance the devolved parliament or the…” Dec 17, 14:30
James Cheyne on The Idiot Rodeo: “Sarah. Much appreciated by myself, and I am sure it is by Alf and North code,” Dec 17, 14:16
James Cheyne on The Idiot Rodeo: “Difficult sometime to understand, But the parliament of great Britain came under dissolution by the united kingdoms of the Great…” Dec 17, 14:08
