In the last 24 hours the Scottish and UK media has circled the wagons around the BBC’s James Cook, a good and balanced reporter who perhaps didn’t have his best day on Saturday. Predictable condemnation has poured in on “cybernats” alleged to have rained “vicious abuse” on the journalist in a co-ordinated fascist bullying attack etc etc, though as ever, actual quoted examples are in short supply.
(We’re aware of exactly two abusive tweets – one nutter identified by the Huffington Post calling the entire BBC “the scum of the Earth”), and one we ourselves saw and chided, which was then deleted by the normally-sensible user and which we honestly don’t remember the content of, beyond that it was unpleasant and excessive. It should go without saying that we deplore and condemn such abuse, while defending the right to civil, legitimate criticism of a public servant where justified.)
As alert readers will already know, this site’s core long-term aim is to eventually render itself redundant, by showing people how to read between the lines, spot what isn’t being said and understand the various tricks that newspapers use in order to get the public to believe things that aren’t true without ever doing anything so crass (and more to the point, legally-actionable) as directly lying.
Today’s papers provide an especially clear-cut example.
Barely 18 months after this, here’s East Lothian Labour councillor Norman Hampshire (centre) and pals campaigning today with the aid of their new best friend.
As the story collapses and investigations begin into a cut-and-dried case of unlawful civil service interference in politics (and possibly worse), may they reap what they sow. If the current polls come true, never will a party’s fall have been more abject or more complete, nor its fate more richly deserved.
This is quite something. It took 15 hours into “MemoGate” before anyone got a Scottish Government representative on air – even though they’d found time to get quotes from Willie Rennie, who isn’t the leader of a Westminster party and whose party isn’t even involved in the story. When they did, here’s what happened.
Readers can form their own opinions about the interview. But at the very end of the piece the BBC’s James Cook says “this memo does exist”. It may do, but we’re not sure what his current grounds for that statement are.
To the best of our knowledge nobody is claiming to have seen it personally except the Telegraph. The Foreign Office have denied all knowledge of any memo, the Scotland Office apparently refuses to comment, and we have no idea who allegedly wrote it.
Cook has already made, then rowed back on, some rather questionable statements in the last 24 hours. Viewers may feel it might be better if he just stuck to the facts.
That clip (from just past midnight on the BBC News channel) isn’t a bad starting-point summary of last night’s extraordinary story, except by our count the Telegraph’s piece was fourth-hand rather than third-hand.
(First-hand would have been Nicola Sturgeon. Second-hand would have been the ambassador. Third-hand would have been the consul-general. The civil servant – who doubted the story him/herself – is fourth-hand.)
This is also a pretty good primer. Now let’s get to the fun stuff.
Sheesh. We pop out for a couple of hours to feed the Wings Emergency Kitten and we get back to find that it’s the UK press that’s barfed up hairballs all over its front pages.
And the contradictory cross-vortex coverlines aren’t even the mad bit.
In over 20 years of living in Bath, spanning five general elections, we’ve never seen a political billboard in town before. There’s been no point. In vote-share terms the city is the 4th-safest Lib Dem seat in the UK (and the 2nd-safest in England), and it has been since the party won it from the Conservatives in 1992.
But we’ve got a billboard now, featuring two men whose parties haven’t got an earthly hope of winning here (one of them because it’s not standing). What’s that all about?
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “@ Dan 4.20pm For the benefit of the minimally self aware or those who read with their lips moving like…” Dec 27, 16:47
Captain Caveman on A matter of class: “Nah. I don’t care what yours or anyone else’s views are – some things just aren’t done, and that’s one…” Dec 27, 16:43
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “@ Northcode 4.14pm In the unlikely event of the English deciding they wanted to dissolve the union I doubt they’d…” Dec 27, 16:34
Dan on A matter of class: “Ach, awa an dinae talk pish, ya pair o tag team fannies. My point was that folk, whether related* or…” Dec 27, 16:20
Northcode on A matter of class: ““…ethno-nationalist bigots don’t get to set the referendum franchise and decide on who is and isn’t pure enough to qualify…” Dec 27, 16:14
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “James, rather than clog up BTL discourse here with your cack-tsunami of ill thought out ramblings, wouldn’t you better advised…” Dec 27, 15:24
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “@Capt. Caveman 2.49pm Blood and soil bigot types just can’t help themselves bud. He’s not the first and doubtless won’t…” Dec 27, 15:10
Captain Caveman on A matter of class: “@Dan Bringing someone’s kid into it is lower than a snake’s belly. I mean, I know you’re a miserable, bitter…” Dec 27, 14:49
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “@Alf 6.45 pm Like gender ideology, so-called ‘civic nationalism’ ideology is also “Delusional nonsense” of the ‘snake oil’ variety, and…” Dec 27, 14:47
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “If you were educated you would know there is no Scottish government or parliament in Scotland, because there would be…” Dec 27, 14:24
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “@ Dan 11.13am In the unlikely event you’ve ever been able to convince a woman to let you near enough…” Dec 27, 14:22
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “TURABDIN, Indeed a matter optics, He speaks of England as it it were all of Britain, but that Britain has…” Dec 27, 14:07
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “The thing is Turabdin, it’s not that he’s wrong exactly it’s just that the progress his own country country has…” Dec 27, 13:55
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “The parliament of Great Britain lasted between the years from / for Scotland and England 1707 – 1800. That is…” Dec 27, 13:43
TURABDIN on A matter of class: “A MATTER OF OPTICS, a Spectator message from the former Polish ambassador «to London», https://archive.ph/bG0Qa Should have gone to spec…” Dec 27, 13:26
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “The irony that both the sets of politician in Scotland and England disclaim king James as nothing but a pretend…” Dec 27, 13:25
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “Colin Alexander, If you go into the Irish parliaments old records you will find the Anglo- Irish treaty 1800. That…” Dec 27, 13:00
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “Colin Alexander. The UK constitution is that of the parliament of England and Ireland, not Scotland. 1: because there is…” Dec 27, 12:26
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “Nice neat Dicey theory, Except the Monarch of England was the Monarch of England passed by the laws of parliament…” Dec 27, 12:04
factchecker on A matter of class: “James says the UK Parliament says ”We did not ask the Scots to join, because in all probability they would…” Dec 27, 11:56
Alf Baird on A matter of class: “….and consequently, (as we see in Peggie v NHS Fife and in so many other instances) all institutions in a…” Dec 27, 11:56
Northcode on A matter of class: “” It is certainly not something that the international community would either welcome in a newly independent Scotland or accept…” Dec 27, 11:45
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “Scotland is a Colony by deceit, not Due to it actually being a Colony, but because the propaganda knew Scottish…” Dec 27, 11:33
Colin Alexander on A matter of class: “ChatGpt: “Dicey’s claim of unlimited parliamentary sovereignty rests on long-standing judicial obedience to Acts of Parliament, not on any explicit…” Dec 27, 11:28
Northcode on A matter of class: ““Civic nationalism DOES represent the silent majority” If it’s silent how can it possibly be known if civic nationalism forms…” Dec 27, 11:23
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “Due to the many records wrote down to make a Union puzzle theory fit the narrative that they wished to…” Dec 27, 11:17
Dan on A matter of class: “Franchise Fanny says: “Just like the troons and their allies in the TWAW debate you’ve actually convinced yourselves somehow that…” Dec 27, 11:13
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “The people in Scotland need to pay more attention to research and records of what has passed behind closed doors…” Dec 27, 11:06
Aidan on A matter of class: “Indeed Andy and as far as I am aware there isn’t a single example of a country anywhere in the…” Dec 27, 10:49
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “Westminster parliament in England is fully aware that their actions in Scotland over Centuries wobble on a axis and pivotal…” Dec 27, 10:45
