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.
We weren’t going to take Professor Adam Tomkins’ hysterical “NATMAGEDDON!” article for this week’s Spectator seriously enough to pull it apart line by line.
But once we’d wiped the tears from our eyes we thought we’d better do our job.
Alf Baird on Vibecoding A Better World: ““if you have to explain a joke” A colonized people are invariably made the butt of colonialist jokes for colonialism…” Nov 1, 17:43
Captain Caveman on Vibecoding A Better World: “@Alf Whoosh. “Izzy Skint” was a well known Dandy comic character from the 1970s. So yeah, my background reading as…” Nov 1, 16:22
100%Yes on Vibecoding A Better World: “Your comment might have got an applause on The National but to insults us on Wings with this bull shame…” Nov 1, 16:09
Alf Baird on Vibecoding A Better World: “Plundered colonies are always “skint” and under-developed; in Scotland’s case external wealth extraction amounts to £150+ billion a year, resulting…” Nov 1, 16:09
robertkknight on Vibecoding A Better World: “I think Izzie is going door-to-door for the Scotto. More chance of winning that than of the SNP adopting a…” Nov 1, 16:03
GM on Vibecoding A Better World: “I agree with the sentiment MaryB but I am not so sure about your analysis of what is happening in…” Nov 1, 15:29
Izzie on Vibecoding A Better World: “Out leafleting today. It’s time to choose … CHOOSE SCOTLAND” Nov 1, 14:17
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “An interesting read. Somebody should tell Professor Baird how the writer dismisses “international law”.” Nov 1, 14:06
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “How is Scotland’s Mammie these days? It must be quite embarrassing for all those former worshippers of the ground Sturgeon…” Nov 1, 14:01
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: ““The students are revolting” There was me thinking the immigrants are revolting, asserting their new-found credo that just because their…” Nov 1, 13:37
Northcode on Vibecoding A Better World: “Yes, Hatey. Unlike the flawed reasoning inherent in the views of Salvo, Liberation Scotland, Alf Baird and others, your logic…” Nov 1, 12:22
sarah on Vibecoding A Better World: “The UK government still refers to the Treaty of Union as the basis of the current arrangement.” Nov 1, 11:17
Izzie on Vibecoding A Better World: “Nicola did well on BBC TV with Laura Kuenssberg. Sensible and focused. Sorely missed in Scottish politics IMHO” Nov 1, 10:57
MaryB on Vibecoding A Better World: “Sarah 31.10 The current UK government’s austerity policies have made sure that most people are too worried about job security,…” Nov 1, 10:33
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “The surest route to the breakup of the UK would be for some supra-national entity to tell Scotland, England, Wales…” Nov 1, 10:29
Northcode on Vibecoding A Better World: “The “union” is a historical act, not a current constitutional relationship. The Treaty of Union (1707) was a founding event…” Nov 1, 10:03
Spartan 117 on Vibecoding A Better World: “https://waronomics.substack.com/p/the-long-war-of-the-21st-century An interesting and sobering summary of the current state of the world.” Nov 1, 09:59
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “Chas, If you scroll right to the top of the page, there’s a “Contact” option on the top line. You…” Nov 1, 09:50
Chas on Vibecoding A Better World: “Stu. Mrs Chas bought me a new phone. I did not need or want one, but there you go. I…” Nov 1, 09:28
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “Careful there, sarah. You’re perilously close to discovering a very unpalatable truth for yourself. You’ll be asking yourself “Do the…” Nov 1, 08:54
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “Woo hoo, Alf, so now you’re free.You and your decolonised mind. Absolutely nothing holding you back, the world’s your oyster,…” Nov 1, 08:48
MrD on Vibecoding A Better World: “I did, Hatey. I asked Bing to give me a link to Gemini so I could ask it how I…” Nov 1, 08:43
Alf Baird on Vibecoding A Better World: ““the “non-existent” union” exists only in the assimilated colonized mind, Hatey, it does not exist in the decolonized mind.” Oct 31, 23:17
sarah on Vibecoding A Better World: ““Does the SNP really want independence?” asks Kevin McKenna. He says they don’t. I wish the Herald had a far…” Oct 31, 21:11
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Vibecoding A Better World: “THE NEWS WHERE YOU ARE James Robertson (4 June 2014) www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhL57cjN8xY” Oct 31, 19:31
Hatey McHateface on Vibecoding A Better World: “I’ve been critical of you in the past, Alf, for writing about the “non-existent” union when it very obviously does…” Oct 31, 18:15
