Supporters of Scottish independence have known for years that the civic “nationalism” espoused by the Yes movement bears no relation to the so-called “blood and soil” varieties found in many other countries. Every racist or ethnic-nationalist organisation in Britain – the BNP, the EDL/SDL, the National Front and so on – was stridently No.
The BBC lunchtime weather forecast of 15 October 1987 is now fondly looked back on as a moment of shared national doh-what-are-we-like? comedy, in the same vein as a Morecambe and Wise Christmas show or something.
Eternally angry Conservative MSP Adam Tomkins has been even shoutier than usual this week, purple-faced with rage about the fact that the SNP has decided to spend some of its own money (not taxpayer cash) asking people for their opinions.
It’s a curious argument from a member of a party that’s been rejected in successive elections in Scotland in 1964, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1974 again, 1979, 1983, 1987, 1992, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2015 and 2016, but keeps turning up and barking orders anyway. You’d think the first 50 years might qualify as a hint.
Fear and lies work. Over many decades (and really for centuries) the Unionist parties and the media have succeeded in persuading a large percentage of Scots that they’re beggars, scroungers, vagrants and “subsidy junkies” dependent on the ever-generous charity of England to keep them from starvation.
And in terms of the facts, that hasn’t always been an easy sell.
More or less since the morning of 19 September 2014, the Unionist parties in Scotland have kept up an unceasing chorus of “You lost! Accept it!” directed at the entire Yes movement, but primarily the SNP (despite the SNP having never to date disputed the result or called for a re-run of the referendum).
Readers may not be entirely astonished to discover this morning that at least as far as Scottish Labour are concerned, that principle only applies to other people.
Because we’re pretty sure there’s already a name for when political parties set out an “alternative programme of government”.
Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz gave an interesting interview to Good Morning Scotland just after 8am today, in which he expressed a number of careful, measured and qualified views on a variety of subjects including currency.
But obviously Scottish people are much too stupid to understand stuff like that, so the BBC quickly dumbed it down for them.
The problem is that there’s a difference between simplifying and falsifying.
The Scottish Mail On Sunday felt obliged this weekend to devote newsprint in what’s technically an actual newspaper to a piece of snark that might just be a new all-time low in the highly competitive barrel-scraping field of “SNP BAD”:
Half a page was given up to a bunch of sour complaints that the First Minister had built in FIVE MINUTES on her itinerary on a school visit (aimed at encouraging girls to take up traditionally male careers) for people to get selfies with her.
Dismayingly often, the thing that irritates us the most about the Unionist press lying to its readers isn’t the fact that they’re doing it, but the fact that they do it so insultingly badly. As an illustrative case in point, here’s the Sunday Times’ reliably dull-witted Scottish columnist Gillian Bowditch today:
Now, let’s be generous and ignore the honkingly stupid first paragraph, which paints a couple of exceptional bad years as a permanent status, and focus on the second one.
Hatey McHateface on The Love Of Big Brother: “I would have thought the mega data centres, the ports, the huge pylons and the undersea cables pose far less…” Oct 4, 22:27
Hatey McHateface on The Love Of Big Brother: ““it has been Unionists who have acquiesced, not independistas” Naw. If anybody has acquiesced, it’s been the majority. If anybody…” Oct 4, 22:19
Lorncal on The Love Of Big Brother: “Can we be the only people who have actively acquiesced in our own cultural and historical obliteration, Alf, because that…” Oct 4, 22:03
Lorncal on The Love Of Big Brother: “Of course there is still a Treaty, Northcode, and (domestic) Acts cannot overturn or submerge primary legislation – which the…” Oct 4, 21:39
Hatey McHateface on The Love Of Big Brother: “I have long believed that the costs to the NHS of treating the diseases and conditions associated with tobacco abuse,…” Oct 4, 21:38
Insider on The Love Of Big Brother: “Alf @8.19pm Whit ??? The Burmese Imperial Police are giving the rev the runaround ? Have you told him yet…” Oct 4, 21:35
Hatey McHateface on The Love Of Big Brother: “So the Burmese Imperial Police “explains the runaround the Rev is getting”? Only in yer heid, Alf. I asked you…” Oct 4, 21:24
Southernbystander on The Love Of Big Brother: “Yes but I put ‘right’ in inverted commas for a reason – you don’t need such a right as no-one…” Oct 4, 21:11
Alf Baird on The Love Of Big Brother: “Join the dots, Hatey: ‘Imperial Police’? Explains the runaround the Rev is getting, and a few other things.” Oct 4, 20:48
Hatey McHateface on The Love Of Big Brother: ““What do you do with that attitude?” Thank them for their services towards solving the social care crisis. Reward them…” Oct 4, 20:32
Hatey McHateface on The Love Of Big Brother: “Aye, Alf, and now the Burmese and Chinese excel at oppressively ruling over indigenous peoples and cultures all by themselves.…” Oct 4, 20:19
Southernbystander on The Love Of Big Brother: “The thing is though it does seem that people’s diet and lifestyles can be pretty woeful and Scotland has an…” Oct 4, 20:06
Alf Baird on The Love Of Big Brother: “Since we are talking of Orwell, he also wrote that: “The most effective way to destroy people is to deny…” Oct 4, 19:55
Hatey McHateface on The Love Of Big Brother: “Any idea what the shenanigans to the east are doing to the climate? I read a report claiming that $200…” Oct 4, 19:41
sarah on The Love Of Big Brother: “O/T: Rev, sorry to spoil your Bath weather report but it has been incredibly warm here in Wester Ross today…” Oct 4, 19:08
Hatey McHateface on The Love Of Big Brother: “Fourth of October 2026. Another date historians of the future (assuming they survive) will be writing about long after we…” Oct 4, 18:25
Lorncal on The Love Of Big Brother: “Even if we are not in a Union, James, we have acquiesced for centuries. Acquiescence can, itself, be used to…” Oct 4, 18:09
Northcode on The Love Of Big Brother: “Correction: “Crowdjustice automatically refunds donations if the stated target isn’t reached.” Should read: “Crowdjustice automatically refunds donations if the stated…” Oct 4, 18:08
Hatey McHateface on The Love Of Big Brother: ““It is factual to say Scotland has a food affordability problem” Only to the extent that every other country in…” Oct 4, 18:00
Lorncal on The Love Of Big Brother: “The one thing that is never, ever mentioned when drugs use is being discussed is personal responsibility and the drive…” Oct 4, 17:49
Northcode on The Love Of Big Brother: “Either donations made to Craig Murray’s fundraiser before the US intervention were refunded or they went to his lawyers (unlikely).…” Oct 4, 17:22
Lee Floyd on In The Eyes Of The Law: “English, but strangely still committed to Fair Play. So I contributed. Good luck.” Oct 4, 17:17
sam on The Love Of Big Brother: ““The fairest conclusion is that the policy responds to a real problem but remains unproven as a mechanism. It is…” Oct 4, 17:02
sarah on The Love Of Big Brother: “Salvo’s facebook post today explains why they suggest that donations to their crowdfunder be made direct to Salvoscot Ltd’s bank…” Oct 4, 16:24
James Che on The Love Of Big Brother: “It is of great importance wether there are two Countries parliaments in a union, in the parliament of Great Britain…” Oct 4, 16:12
Hatey Mchateface on The Love Of Big Brother: “Yeah, thanks for clarifying that, x. Is it possible to just send our money directly to Ir@n instead? Hack off…” Oct 4, 16:05
James Che on The Love Of Big Brother: “Northcode. Whereas the parliament of England was never dissolved but simply transferred under Westminsters triennial act which ended in 1708,…” Oct 4, 16:02
James Che on The Love Of Big Brother: “Northcode, There is one thing for sure I do like debating both sides of the coin. If the treaty of…” Oct 4, 15:46
Northcode on The Love Of Big Brother: “Thanks for that clarification. It’s always better to get the real story. So although Murray’s funds weren’t seized US policy…” Oct 4, 15:45
agentx on The Love Of Big Brother: “Craig Murray’s CrowdJustice fundraising campaign was taken down rather than literally seized by the government. The removal occurred because the…” Oct 4, 15:28
