The reaction of the Scottish media and political opposition to Audit Scotland’s annual report on the NHS today has been nothing if not predictable. But we thought you might like an instructive and enlightening look at the two very different types of approach they’ve taken to trying to mislead the Scottish people about it.
First up is the non-specific Scottish Labour apparatchik (as far as we’re aware he has no official role in the party since Jim Murphy quit – indeed we don’t know what he does for a living at all any more) Blair McDougall:
This is what we in the writing trade call a “flat-out lie”.
This month we’ve been noting a sudden avalanche of factually-questionable articles in the media attacking the SNP’s record in government. At the weekend and yesterday we also picked apart a highly misleading and disingenuous claim by Andrew Neil on the BBC’s Sunday Politics that there had been no cuts to the Scottish Government budget since the Conservatives came to power in 2010.
At the weekend this site noted that on the BBC’s Sunday Politics, presenter Andrew Neil claimed that the Scottish Government’s budget had not been reduced in real terms in “the last five or six years”, and that therefore Scotland has not faced cuts.
But as we pointed out, the Scottish Government budget HAS been cut, year-on-year, since the Tories took office. The independent Fiscal Affairs Scotland assessed the cumulative reduction at a hefty 10%, or a little over £3bn a year.
Okay, so we’ve tried everything. We’ve read all the papers, we’ve been through all the emails, and we’ve even gone out for a walk, which usually never fails to trigger some cataclysmic political upheaval or animal-sex scandal.
As spectacular and mindboggling as some of the coverage undeniably is – most notably Alex Massie’s barking-mad, lie-filled howlatribe “J.K. Rowling and her heroic attack on the wicked cybernats” (whose title, remarkably, does not appear to be ironic) in ultra-right-wing loonzine CapX – even we’re fed up of reading people going on about us, so to pass the time we’re going to do something else instead.
Cynicus on Response Level Upgrade: “your list omits our latest convert: George Galloway.” Jun 16, 09:32
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “@Southernbystander I note you completely ignore the issue of religion. Yet religion is the most important characteristic of any person,…” Jun 16, 08:20
Captain Caveman on Response Level Upgrade: “Oh do fuck off, you thick fat twat.” Jun 16, 07:21
Aidan on Response Level Upgrade: “Have you actually seen this above? “James”, who has never posted anything that hasn’t been demonstrably and obviously false is…” Jun 16, 06:52
Mark Beggan on Response Level Upgrade: “The march to Fenway park is now part of Bostonian folklore.” Jun 15, 23:34
Cynicus on Response Level Upgrade: ““ Boston has just been colonized” ======= No Scotland, No (Tea) Party?” Jun 15, 23:18
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “You have to understand, Wally Walrus, that not everybody is like you. Not everybody is larded with a thick layer…” Jun 15, 22:47
Mark Beggan on Response Level Upgrade: “Boston has just been colonized. The American ladies just love those kilts.” Jun 15, 22:12
James on Response Level Upgrade: “Wasting your time with these comedians, Dan. Why let the truth get in the way of a couple of shite…” Jun 15, 21:59
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “You get it! The only flaw I can see in the entire scheme, and it’s a flaw of infinitesimal probability,…” Jun 15, 21:10
Southernbystander on Response Level Upgrade: “Especially if nearly all the players were English. It cannot fail as it would unite virtually every Scot on the…” Jun 15, 20:34
Mark Beggan on Response Level Upgrade: “@Hatey You’ve been hanging around with the wrong people.” Jun 15, 19:40
Mark Beggan on Response Level Upgrade: “It’s all unraveling. One step at a time.” Jun 15, 19:22
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “I don’t think you’re getting it, Mark. It may seem counter intuitive, but any Scot determined on Indy should be…” Jun 15, 19:20
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “But she’s already forgotten doing it.” Jun 15, 19:15
Mark Beggan on Response Level Upgrade: “Nicola Sturgeon has changed her pronouns to Him not Me.” Jun 15, 18:53
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “Perhaps not immediate. Let’s get the World Cup over with first.” Jun 15, 18:47
Mark Beggan on Response Level Upgrade: “They tried that with Team GB, went down like a Tranny in woman’s changing room.” Jun 15, 17:23
agentx on Response Level Upgrade: “After the Court decision today there should be an IMMEDIATE BAN ON GAY COUPLES adopting children.” Jun 15, 17:21
Confused on Response Level Upgrade: “Much as I have no interest in the rosbifs winning anything, I know a bit (too much) about english football;…” Jun 15, 17:10
Ebok on Response Level Upgrade: “Service Adviser 19(89)84(7)? SNP left me in 2016 and has done so to ever increasing numbers of its members since…” Jun 15, 16:47
Spartan 117 on Response Level Upgrade: “I also played midfield briefly in my 20s, for whatever relevance that is. I’ve nothing against Fitba’ and wish our…” Jun 15, 15:30
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “The “cup marks” the Picts left on their sacred and symbolic liths were pictorial representations of winning set piece tactics.…” Jun 15, 14:59
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “If you’re saying that Scottish culture consists of cash-strapped Scots scrimping and doing without to richly reward prima donnas, their…” Jun 15, 14:51
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “Good one, Northy. Football is like politics right enough. A zero sum game. One side is victorious, the other is…” Jun 15, 14:35
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “How many years (and how many World Cups) is it since I twigged that your typical self-identifying Indy supporter would…” Jun 15, 14:27
Southernbystander on Response Level Upgrade: “The English stopped believing the England team are just an underachieving heavyweight long, long before 2014, like when the team…” Jun 15, 14:27
Northcode on Response Level Upgrade: “Albert Einstein (yes, really) — played as a youth in Munich Einstein wasn’t a competitive player, but he did play…” Jun 15, 14:17
