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.)
100%Yes on The Pit Of Vipers: “Keir Starmer has resigned and his last wish is to grant Swinney a section 30 order.” Apr 21, 16:21
Lorncal on The Pit Of Vipers: “I didn’t say she was not, 100%. I said that she did not kick it off, others did. The opportunity…” Apr 21, 16:20
Young Lochinvar on The Pit Of Vipers: “Fat Slag Wilma Flintstone @2.26 “paaaaal”” Apr 21, 15:29
TURABDIN on The Pit Of Vipers: “TUCKER CARLSON one of the US rights many paper messiahs opined re my country of birth, «Iraq is a crappy…” Apr 21, 14:26
Captain Caveman on The Pit Of Vipers: ““Werthers Original”” Apr 21, 14:26
Young Lochinvar on The Pit Of Vipers: “Fat Slag Wilma Flintstone @ 1.56 “maaaaaate”..” Apr 21, 14:06
wullie on The Pit Of Vipers: “Marcus Tullius Cicero “A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within.…” Apr 21, 14:05
Young Lochinvar on The Pit Of Vipers: “Geri I wonder how much longer the US superpower (empire) has got before it’s slid down to the has-beens league…” Apr 21, 13:57
Captain Caveman on The Pit Of Vipers: “Ah, Rambo “adding value” to the BTL chat with yet more fantasy as ever, I see (much like his non…” Apr 21, 13:56
Young Lochinvar on The Pit Of Vipers: “AI dun @ 12.46 Stop clutching your pearls so tightly “old boy”, you’ll hurt yerself.” Apr 21, 13:37
Young Lochinvar on The Pit Of Vipers: “Fat Slag Wilma Flintstone @ 6.54 “Maaaaate” Spellcheck that.” Apr 21, 13:31
Young Lochinvar on The Pit Of Vipers: “Fearghas I thought we were talking about a mythical Tower of Babel timeline? Not a modern language imposition. Anyway apparently…” Apr 21, 13:26
Aidan on The Pit Of Vipers: “Why don’t all the normal people on Wings BTL piss off so that Geri and co can rant a rave…” Apr 21, 12:46
Marie on The Pit Of Vipers: “Thanks for this. I read Elkins “Britain’s Gulag” many years ago. Her research into the barbarity of British troops in…” Apr 21, 12:46
Ian McCubbin on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “I am sith those who say vote Alliance to Liberate Scotland. Like the English party manifestos I think the English…” Apr 21, 11:45
Geri on The Pit Of Vipers: “Typical Yoon. Always with the lies & drama. Truth is never a strong point. I’ve never been banned or silenced…” Apr 21, 11:42
Geri on The Pit Of Vipers: “Surprise, surprise that the new greater map includes all the oil & gas all over the region. The USA, who…” Apr 21, 11:35
Captain Caveman on The Pit Of Vipers: ““Years of working” 😀 😀 😀 Like AS IF pal.” Apr 21, 11:31
Captain Caveman on The Pit Of Vipers: “Well, if it’s any business of yours, “Geri”, I’m here for the interesting (and at times highly revelatory) blog pieces…” Apr 21, 11:27
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Pit Of Vipers: “Some sort of historical version of “devolution”? — « At times of war, the enemy city could be conquered and destroyed…” Apr 21, 11:01
Alf Baird on The Pit Of Vipers: “It always comes back to English ‘liberal imperialism’, where Churchill’s infamous Auxilliaries and Black & Tans who honed their ‘legalized…” Apr 21, 10:30
Geri on The Pit Of Vipers: “Begs the question of why yer still here eh? Only a complete loon hangs about a forum when they don’t…” Apr 21, 09:41
TURABDIN on The Pit Of Vipers: “NEVER offer a propaganda opportunity. https://archive.is/Cb73q” Apr 21, 09:13
Captain Caveman on The Pit Of Vipers: “It’s “take the piss out OF”, Rambo. Mind you, posting at a “mere” 10:30pm and reasonably succinct…? It’s almost “normal”…” Apr 21, 06:54
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Pit Of Vipers: “Young Lochinvar @ 20 April 9.41 pm: “Bottom line, a multiplicity of different languages are a barrier”. ——————— National borders…” Apr 20, 23:57
Geri on The Pit Of Vipers: “Defender of the faith LOL! A divorced adulterer… Possibly even murder in there too, definitely stealing & coveting too. They…” Apr 20, 23:54
Young Lochinvar on The Pit Of Vipers: “A murrain on their parties, their houses, their incomes and their legacies.. They persecute an innocent and think it justice!…” Apr 20, 23:37
Geri on The Pit Of Vipers: “Aye, he’s king. Only by consent of the Scottish people. He could possibly remain Head of State in an Independent…” Apr 20, 23:36
Young Lochinvar on The Pit Of Vipers: “Did they seriously say “defender of the faith”? That’s a church of England thing. Sums up how we got into…” Apr 20, 23:21
Angus on The Pit Of Vipers: “Colin Alexander, do you think the Scottish independence referendum was a good thing or a bad thing? Do you have…” Apr 20, 23:03
