There’s a truly abominable piece of hatemongering in today’s Times. A grotesequely dishonest Nat-bashing smear job based on stupendously misrepresented fragments of quotes, it’s penned by Patrick Harkness, someone who the paper identifies as “a past co-chairman of the RSE [Royal Society of Edinburgh] Young Academy of Scotland”.
For some reason it’s chosen to leave a few lines off his CV.
Alert readers will of course be aware that a recurring theme on this site is looking for the alleged abusive behaviour by supporters of independence which gets regularly reported in outraged terms by newspapers but is mysteriously almost never supported by any actual evidence of the supposed abuse.
In every case the papers and/or alleged recipients of all these dreadful separatist haranguings screamed “VILE ABUSE!”, swooning at the horror of it all, then suddenly turned deaf and dumb when asked to provide any examples.
So we were quite surprised yesterday when a previous complainant – brutal stickering victim and lonely Scottish Labour MP Ian Murray – actually came up with the proof.
Five minutes and 51 seconds, to be precise, is how long David Mundell, Secretary of State for Scotland, spent frantically quacking out meaningless noise on this morning’s Sunday Politics Scotland in order to avoid answering a simple Yes/No question until the interview ran out of airtime.
We could quibble with presenter Gordon Brewer making the assertion that a Section 30 order would in fact be necessary for a second referendum (something which has never been established in law or conceded by the Scottish Government, with strong and genuine legal opinion on both sides of the argument), and with him letting Mundell get away with the blatant falsehood that an overwhelming majority of Scots don’t want another referendum – in fact, 50% want one within the next two years.
But sometimes you have to let some smaller things slide to avoid distraction and stay focused on your main point, and in our view this was one of those occasions.
Should we check out that link and find out whether the then-FM really DID “claim that the Scottish NHS would be privatised if Scots voted No”, readers? Let’s do!
These are the comments of UK defence secretary Michael Fallon in a short interview with today’s Herald. We don’t know about you, folks, but to us it feels like Christmas.
We think our favourite line is “There are other voices in Scotland now, not least Ruth Davidson’s”, but there are a lot to choose from.
This is Conservative MP Dominic Raab, a member of the Brexit Select Committee, speaking on the BBC News Channel’s “Hard Talk” programme at 00.45 this morning. Perhaps imagining that nobody would be watching at such an ungodly hour, it seems he felt able to be unusually candid.
We left the last bit on in order to demonstrate that he was still talking about Scotland as well as Ireland. (He went on to recite the usual boilerplate about all leaving together as the UK etc etc, you can watch the whole show for yourself on iPlayer.)
But let’s just get that key early exchange down in writing for the record.
Readers familiar with our standing advice to newspaper customers that the headline is nearly always a lie might like to consider today’s Press & Journal.
The word “pyre” comes from the Greek word “pyra”, meaning “fire”. Surprisingly, it’s NOT the same root as “Pyrrhic”, as in “Pyrrhic victory”, meaning one that’s achieved by metaphorically burning your own city down. (Which in fact is named after the Greek general Pyrrhus of Epirus.)
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “You see what happens, When I do not post, the Scottish unionist theory believers flood the site in droves on…” Dec 28, 10:10
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “@ Alf Baird 9.41 pm Always so many questions on this and that, all of which avoid the most important…” Dec 28, 10:07
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “@ Northcode Three innocuous posts… all sent to moderation. I’m beginning to wonder if Ellis is a WoS alter-ego. Or…” Dec 28, 10:02
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “@ Anthem 1.03am Do tell us which part is crap. The result is a matter of public record: yoon parties…” Dec 28, 09:58
Aidan on A matter of class: “If someone puts their pronouns in their bio they get cut out of your will do they Dan? Are you…” Dec 28, 08:41
Anthem on A matter of class: “I’m also very familiar with the area. And you’re talking crap.” Dec 28, 01:03
Mark Beggan on A matter of class: “Q. What do you call a socialist without a home? A. The Green party.” Dec 27, 23:54
Mark Beggan on A matter of class: “Job 14:5 Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed…” Dec 27, 22:25
Mark Beggan on A matter of class: ““We can evaluate socialism by it’s bitter fruits”” Dec 27, 22:13
Northcode on A matter of class: “Three innocuous posts… all sent to moderation. I’m beginning to wonder if Ellis is a WoS alter-ego. Or maybe I’m…” Dec 27, 22:13
Mark Beggan on A matter of class: “As a youth Alfie came across the fat slug of a word “colonised” and hungarily sank his woke teeth into…” Dec 27, 22:02
Alf Baird on A matter of class: “Always so many questions on this and that, all of which avoid the most important matter; that is, for the…” Dec 27, 21:41
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “I see Reform gained 28.9% of 1st preference votes in the Buckhaven, Methil and Wemyss by election back in November.…” Dec 27, 21:14
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “Tell us Alf, how do you know how many of the 50,000 incomers support Reform? How many of them are…” Dec 27, 21:00
Alf Baird on A matter of class: ““Reform Scotland membership now at twenty one thousand and rising.” Surprising its not a lot more considering at least 50,000…” Dec 27, 20:05
Mark Beggan on A matter of class: “Reform Scotland membership now at twenty one thousand and rising. How’s the colonized discussion going?” Dec 27, 19:30
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “….whilst conveniently completely overlooking that what the majority of Scots think is highly influenced by the UK MSM and what…” Dec 27, 19:25
Dan on A matter of class: “@ AiDan says: at 6.25 pm Above the belt? And jist what “rules” are we playing with here. Your rules…” Dec 27, 19:20
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “@ Northcode 6.15 pm An outright lie easily disproved… your rhetoric is truly abysmal. The figures aren’t hard to find…” Dec 27, 19:19
agentx on A matter of class: “How many people on here felt colonised as they ate their Christmas dinner and went for a walk on Boxing…” Dec 27, 19:03
Dan on A matter of class: “Captain Caveman says: at 4:43 pm “Nah. I don’t care what yours or anyone else’s views are…” Yawn, then why…” Dec 27, 18:59
Aidan on A matter of class: ““These arseholes will pick up on and try to make hay out of the slightest thing” Bringing someone’s daughter up…” Dec 27, 18:25
Dan on A matter of class: “And newby AiDan enters the chat… Get your programmers to read a bit further back, and you will see plenty…” Dec 27, 18:23
Northcode on A matter of class: ““Alert readers might be interested to know that the number of Scots claiming French as their mother tongue is the…” Dec 27, 18:15
Dan on A matter of class: “Keep ripping into this shite Northcode. 2 min vid on Bloomberg of Jim Rogers stating how Scotland’s oil props up…” Dec 27, 18:11
Aidan on A matter of class: ““But no CC, FF is bonkers, and just continues on with his relentless efforts (with obvious support from unionists like…” Dec 27, 18:05
Dan on A matter of class: “Aye Alf, it’s so obvious what is going on. These arseholes will pick up on and try to make hay…” Dec 27, 17:53
Northcode on A matter of class: ““Britain doesn’t need to become great again – it already is” What utter nonsense from Piotr Wilczek… whoever he is.…” Dec 27, 17:50
Northcode on A matter of class: ““It always triggers the moonhowlers when I point out that the most influential voice in Scottish political blogging thinks their…” Dec 27, 17:49
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “@ Alf 5.16pm Au contraire (that’s French that is…) Alf, I feel sure enough of my identity not to have…” Dec 27, 17:46
