Equal partners 392
Posted on
February 11, 2017 by
Chris Cairns
The centrifuge 487
Posted on
February 10, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Sometimes the word “spin” just isn’t enough to get the reality across.
Ladies and gentlemen, we give you: the Scottish media.
A division of principles 347
Posted on
February 09, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Below is part of a segment from Monday’s edition of Good Morning Scotland (from 2h 35m at the link beneath the clip), which featured an interview with Professor Allyson Pollock, an extremely experienced academic in the field of healthcare on both sides of the border who so far as we know has no dog in the Scottish constitutional fight.
(Good Morning Scotland, BBC Radio Scotland, 6 February 2017)
.
We thought it was worth the infinite pain of transcription to get it down in writing.
A matter of disclosure 372
Posted on
February 08, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
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.
The phantom unmasked 171
Posted on
February 07, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
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.
Case studies are almost endless – Labour MSP Cara Hilton, sort-of comedian Susan Calman, historian and hairdressing disaster model Neil Oliver, Scottish Labour shadow cabinet member ordinary mother Claire Lally, nurse/actress Suzanne Duncan/Hunter, popular Olympian cyclist Chris Hoy, currently-resting pop singer David Bowie, tanktop enthusiast and Weetabix impersonator David Torrance, we could go on.
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.
The silent trumpet 123
Posted on
February 07, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
We weren’t sure we’d woken up properly when we read this morning’s Times.
“Much-trumpeted”? That’s, um, not quite how we remember things.
Truth With Ruth 415
Posted on
February 05, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson a couple of hours ago:
Just a few teeny tiny issues with that one.
A very long time in politics 116
Posted on
February 05, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
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.
Truth With Torrance 126
Posted on
February 05, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
An exchange from Twitter this morning:
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!
What fake news looks like 332
Posted on
February 03, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
The most overused political insult du jour is for people to accuse each other of dealing in “fake news” and “alternative facts”. Normally, of course, they’re referring to dodgy memes on social media or the latest mad yelping from Donald Trump or his minions.
But in Scotland, our fake news is in the real newspapers.
Pretty much every day of every week of every year.
Bringing it on 374
Posted on
February 02, 2017 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
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.
