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.
The reliably-wise Stephen Bush of The New Statesman said something perceptive yesterday on the subject of an EU referendum, although it applies much more widely.
It’s a view we’ve held for many years, most often in relation to UK governments ruling with huge majorities won on pretty tiddly pluralities of the vote (often in the mid-30%s), where the bulk of the electorate has no defence against a party it didn’t vote for.
Despite an electoral system that makes such events far rarer, the phenomenon crops up a lot in Scotland too, and both sides are guilty, often on the same subject. Scottish employment figures, for example, alternate with almost metronomic regularity between being higher/lower than those in the rest of the UK, and whichever it is in any given month one side or the other will trumpet it as conclusive and permanent proof that Scotland’s governance is better/worse than that of London.
(Even though Holyrood in fact has almost no power over the economy, so deserves little of either the blame or credit, whichever applies that month.)
The Scottish media has today leapt all over the front-page lead story from yesterday’s Sunday Times, in which “top economist” Douglas McWilliams of right-wing thinktank the Centre for Economics and Business Research made an apocalyptic prediction of a huge deficit turning an independent Scotland into “a Third World country”.
The Express’ customarily restrained coverage is pretty typical.
We wondered if Mr McWilliams used to have a more optimistic view.
The one great pillar of the argument against Scottish independence – greater than not being allowed into the EU, greater than being forced to barter with beads and potatoes because we wouldn’t have a currency, greater than losing Doctor Who or having the Chinese take their pandas back – is the economy.
Scotland is far too wee and too poor to be independent, they say – while indignantly denying that they’re saying it – because we only survive now thanks to a vast bailout every year from the rest of the UK, by which they in fact mean England. (Because it’s sure as heck not coming from Wales or Northern Ireland, which by any measure you care to choose are far poorer than Scotland.)
The name and size of this bailout vary wildly. Sometimes it’s a “deficit”, sometimes it’s a “black hole”, sometimes it’s a “fiscal transfer”, and it can be £8bn, £9bn, £10bn, £15bn, £28bn, £32bn or any other figure up to a hundred and eleventy thousand million bajillion squillion depending on who you’re talking to.
(The last one’s probably either David Coburn or Jackie Baillie.)
And while there are a dozen separate and compelling reasons why that argument is complete rubbish, none of them have any traction with diehard Unionists determined to believe that one of the richest and most blessed nations on Earth couldn’t possibly manage its own affairs like, say, Latvia or Ireland or Kuwait or Slovakia can.
But it turns out there IS a – surprisingly simple – way to get Unionists to categorically deny that England subsidises Scotland. You just have to ask them.
The votes for “God Save The Queen” being driven by Tories, English-born residents and supporters of a particular football club probably won’t come as the biggest shock in the world to anyone.
(Alert viewers will of course have noticed that due to MI5 INTERFERENCE in the poll, there were actually two votes for Hoots Mon, which have been suspiciously rounded down to one. We are conducting an investigation, by which we mean brutal purge.)
Cynicus on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: ““ We’re getting so much correspondence from Police Scotland at the moment that we’re starting to feel like their guiltily-neglected…” Sep 16, 17:07
Arthur Martin on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Many thanks for not taking no for an answer Stuart. It feels to me that your determination and tenacity in…” Sep 16, 17:02
J Robertson on Fear And Favour: “Your relentless determination and forensic annihilation of their clearly nonsense reasons must surely win out in the end. No problem…” Sep 16, 16:47
robertkknight on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Police Scotland and the COPFS are corrupt and as an asset of Thames House, Sturgeon is being protected. What more…” Sep 16, 15:56
Old Bill on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “A trivial point, but I think it is unprofessional for PSoS Legal Services team to be sending anonymous letters “How…” Sep 16, 15:33
holymacmoses on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “I wonder if the problem of a prosecution lies not in the problem of ‘responsibility’ – which as you point…” Sep 16, 15:13
100%Yes on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “I’ll have a guess at why Sturgeon wasn’t charge, it was her looks and personality.” Sep 16, 14:59
Alice Timmons on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “*sigh*..ah, well. Better check out this year’s pension rise. I think I feel a crowd funder coming on. More power…” Sep 16, 14:22
Mark Beggan on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: ““It takes nothing to join the crowd. It takes everything to stand alone.” – Hans Froði Hansen” Sep 16, 14:01
Nicky T Naquetti on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “You are doing God’s work, here – as a Reverend should, of course. These SNP serpents need trampled underfoot.” Sep 16, 13:57
Mark Beggan on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: ““Scandal begins when the police put a stop to it.” “The Policing begins when a scandal puts a stop them…” Sep 16, 13:56
Northcode on Like Responsible Citizens Do: “It is my view that Liberation Scotland’s claim is structurally impossible. They are asking supporters to believe that raising £200,000…” Sep 16, 13:23
Aidan on Like Responsible Citizens Do: “Thanks Northcode – a helpful and clear summary. I might also add that the political will amongst UN members to…” Sep 16, 12:45
lothianlad on Fear And Favour: “keep at them Stuart! They think by continuing to deny your input that you will eventually give up. NO WAY!…” Sep 16, 12:39
Aidan on Fear And Favour: “Just out of interest Alf – when you meet other Scots in person, do you normally call them “oppressed natives”?…” Sep 16, 12:34
Northcode on Like Responsible Citizens Do: “There seems to be a lot of confusion about how the UN’s Non-Self-Governing Territories list actually works, so it might…” Sep 16, 12:32
Aidan on Fear And Favour: “Yes but you don’t provide any facts or figures, what you do provide is: a) generally written in such a…” Sep 16, 12:27
Alf Baird on Fear And Favour: “Colonial powers destroy annexed nations historical records when they take possession, and destroy their own colonial records when they lose…” Sep 16, 12:07
Captain Caveman on Like Responsible Citizens Do: “@BP Yes, you’re right – this clearly is “confusing for you”, so let’s draw a line under it. I note…” Sep 16, 11:59
Alf Baird on Like Responsible Citizens Do: “When colonial mouthpieces tell you that the UN decolonization process and international law route for peoples in self-determination conflict is…” Sep 16, 11:52
Willie on Fear And Favour: “And what of the Standards Commission and the governments appeal to the Inner House to challenge the landmark Lird Sandison…” Sep 16, 11:51
Willie on Fear And Favour: “And what of the SCS and the governments appeal to the Inner House to challenge the landmark Lird Sandison judgement…” Sep 16, 11:49
Willie on Fear And Favour: “And what about all the elected representatives who were wanting seek redress for Standards Commision Miscarriages of Justice. The destruction…” Sep 16, 11:45
Spartan 117 on Fear And Favour: “Standard racist wibble from the appropriately-monikered “Confused”. Anti-Semitic, Anglophobic and even managed to fit the Pakistanis in. For once Hatey…” Sep 16, 11:25
Willie on Fear And Favour: “Just heard the Salmond case has been sisted. Anybody got any details What is going on?” Sep 16, 11:22
Breastplate on Like Responsible Citizens Do: “HH, Yes, of course there is more than one way to advance the case for Scotland’s self determination, I agree…” Sep 16, 11:10
TURABDIN on Fear And Favour: “CAUTION. low flying piggies? Besides, Jaimie was a Scotland hater who allowed his mother to be murdered by that Tudor…” Sep 16, 10:52
