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.
Alf Baird on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Yes, Malgrati in his review does not quite get as far as ‘Doun-Hauden’ which would have helped him explain the…” Sep 18, 20:20
Hatey McHateface on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “If you should ever choose to stand for office in Scotland, New Northy, I’ll be paying close attention to your…” Sep 18, 20:04
Northcode on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “When posters invoke antisyzygy, they’re not using it as a literary concept. They’re using it as: – a psychological explanation…” Sep 18, 19:56
Northcode on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Pathologising dissent isn’t just rude — it’s a form of control based on authoritarian logic. It’s the same manoeuvre used…” Sep 18, 19:29
Hatey McHateface on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “@TURABDIN As recently as 30 years ago, you could have gotten away with claiming the allegations of primitivism and moral…” Sep 18, 19:07
Hatey McHateface on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “There’s no oppressive reality in my neck of the woods, Alf. Maybe you just need to move house.” Sep 18, 18:57
factchecker on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: ““why else would certain elements of the oppressed group (the more assimilated etc) reject their own liberation and deny their…” Sep 18, 18:18
TURABDIN on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Maybe a wee oversensitive? Considering the west has been lecturing, and worse, my part of the world for centuries about…” Sep 18, 18:10
Old Bill on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “The Duty of Candour is already activated in the Police Scotland Standards of Professional Behaviour and to avoid this, carelessly,…” Sep 18, 16:50
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Informative exploration of MacDiarmid’s use of the term ‘antisyzygy’. (I don’t necessarily endorse Malgrati’s entire pitch.) ‘ANTISYZYGY’: AN ESCAPE ROUTE…” Sep 18, 15:51
Spartan 117 on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “There’s something stunningly ironic (some would even say offensive, but I’m not easily that way) in a non-Scot lecturing *me*…” Sep 18, 15:47
Alf Baird on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “…and this is why the colonizer (and his group acting collectively btl here) ‘hates theory’ (Memmi) – because it unveils…” Sep 18, 15:07
Alf Baird on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: ““being in denial, stubborn pride maybe, regarding Scotland’s current status is a psychological aberration which the thinkers you quote would…” Sep 18, 15:04
Mark Beggan on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “But all you get is the C word nicely feathered in a word salad. Maybe you could ask him to…” Sep 18, 14:51
TURABDIN on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “@ ALF BAIRD Those who attack you make your case. Scotland did not start out as a unionist colony but…” Sep 18, 14:13
Hatey McHateface on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Naw, Mark. Every time Alf reads one of my posts he starts choking and somebody has to perform the Heimlich…” Sep 18, 13:37
Spartan 117 on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Ah Alf, so it’s somebody else’s fault ye huv tae yaise thon Coloniser’s tung, nae yur ain? An whit “Scots”…” Sep 18, 13:34
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Book review: ‘SUPERHERO COMICS AND SCOTTISH IDENTITY: The Comics Art Of Frank Quitely’ « The authors are academics, interrogating Scottish…” Sep 18, 13:20
Aidan on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “@Alf – repetitive, excessive, and largely meaningless writing focused relentlessly on the same subject, often to the point of becoming…” Sep 18, 13:16
Aidan on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: ““There are several others regularly contributing BTL who post nothing but hate, single-minded psuedoacademic wibble or just plain unintelligible drunken…” Sep 18, 13:07
Hatey McHateface on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “@ Alf Baird says: 18 September, 2026 at 12:34 pm “The main point here is the need for a colonized…” Sep 18, 13:02
Alf Baird on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “The main point here is the need for a colonized people to understand the linguistic and cultural impacts of colonialism,…” Sep 18, 12:34
lothianlad on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “They are mnoe starting to really panic. Their attempt at distancing and evasion wont work. They will be held to…” Sep 18, 12:27
Hatey McHateface on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “@ Spartan 117 says: 18 September, 2026 at 10:34 am I think Alf finds himself in a bind. Although he…” Sep 18, 12:07
Alf Baird on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: ““Is this tae dae wi’ thon Colonialism yur aie haverin’ aboot?” Colonialism is ‘obscured by assimilation’ (Memmi), and the colonized…” Sep 18, 12:06
Hatey McHateface on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: ““a culturally-intertwined political identity (Pettigrew), which creates ‘a manufactured being’ (Memmi)” As always, Alf, you give us much to think…” Sep 18, 11:54
Spartan 117 on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “Ah huv tae sae Alf, how come ye’ve nivver gien ony o’ yer lectchurs or speeches thit ‘uv been watchin’…” Sep 18, 10:34
Spartan 117 on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “There are several others regularly contributing BTL who post nothing but hate, single-minded psuedoacademic wibble or just plain unintelligible drunken…” Sep 18, 10:17
Hatey McHateface on A Thousand Islands In The Sea: “An insightful, forensic dissection of my post and the article I link to from Dave. Whilst I may not agree…” Sep 18, 10:12
