The last few days have not been proud ones for the Scottish media. Following the Daily Record’s humiliation at the hands of the independent press standards body over the Smith Commission, we don’t see this letter from the chair of the Scottish Prison Officers Association in today’s Scotsman (and the article in question doesn’t appear to have been corrected), so it looks like we’re going to have to print it here.
Robert James McNeill is the vice chairman of the East Lothian Constituency Labour Party and chair of the Tranent Local Labour Party. He’s also a member of the Scottish Labour Party Policy Forum, which develops the Scottish Labour manifesto.
The excellent Jon Ronson has had a couple of articles published recently promoting his imminent book about the phenomenon of “internet shaming”, most recently one in yesterday’s Guardian. He talks fascinatingly with and about people who’ve had their lives ruined because they said things that weren’t illegal, but merely deemed in some way unacceptable by a self-elected mob, often led by the professionally-offended.
Some of the victims are sympathetic and others less so, according to one’s personal tastes and prejudices. But the overall picture painted is one of a world in which it’s becoming harder and harder to express opinions beyond the crushingly bland.
We saw countless examples during the independence referendum, in which comments which were often very mildly rude at worst – calling someone a “minion”, say – were inflated by press and/or social media hysteria into shock-horror scandals. (Indeed, on a few occasions this site was itself the subject of the monsterings.)
Such witch-hunts were of course done in the furtherance of a political agenda – in those cases, in the service of a No vote. But it’s interesting to see a wider version of the tactic being deployed against the SNP in the context of a UK general election.
Alert readers should by now have spotted our story about the findings of the Independent Press Standards Organisation with regard to the Daily Record’s “The Vow Delivered” front page from last November. The paper was found by IPSO to have been guilty of “significantly misrepresent[ing] the fiscal consequences of the Smith Commission’s recommendations”, and ordered to publish a correction.
IPSO also noted in its judgement that the Record had amended the online version of the article accordingly. But that’s only partly true.
The Independent Press Standards Organisation has delivered its verdict on the Daily Record’s coverage of the Smith Commission recommendations on 27 November 2014, after we lodged a complaint with the watchdog body.
We were going to bring you a report on the Scottish Conservatives conference in Edinburgh today (half the length of last year’s, and bereft of its glamorous sprinkling of Cabinet ministers), but we watched all of it and absolutely nothing happened.
They won the referendum and tax is bad. The end. See you next year!
This is the Minister for Care and Support, Lib Dem MP Norman Lamb, on last night’s Question Time, letting Scotland know its status as an equal and valued partner in the UK, a partner whose democratically-elected MPs have the same right to have their voice heard on behalf of their constituents as those from anywhere else.
We got fooled like big old chumps earlier this afternoon. Scottish Labour apparatchik and former “Better Together” director Blair McDougall posted a series of tweets about whether the party who wins the most seats in a Westminster election gets to form the government, which sounded exactly like the ones Scottish Labour have been posting for the last few weeks before they were exposed as being nonsense.
The big comedy reveal was that they turned out to have been said by Alex Salmond in 2007, talking about the Holyrood election of that year which the SNP won.
It was a bona fide zinger. So what point did the cunning prank prove?
aLurker on The Other Kind Of Winning: “Oh FFS. “Scots give verdict on unilateral declaration of independence” https://www.thenational.scot/news/26455863.scots-give-verdict-unilateral-declaration-independence/” Aug 12, 14:29
Hatey McHateface on The Other Kind Of Winning: ““rather unlikely the Brits could do anything about it” They might immediately stop paying benefits and pensions. I’m entirely in…” Aug 12, 14:23
Chas on The Party Of The Dead: “I will ask you yet again Alf, who forms an honest, competent Government if Independence was achieved any time soon.…” Aug 12, 13:54
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: “Just as well no understanding of statistics is needed to design a ferry, eh, Alf?” Aug 12, 13:48
aLurker on The Other Kind Of Winning: “I am having some difficulty reconciling the donut chart graphic which shows, among other things, that the ‘Don’t know’ cohort…” Aug 12, 13:45
Potace on The Other Kind Of Winning: “Said it before and will say it again. The National only exists, and only ever existed, to leverage and exploit…” Aug 12, 13:44
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: “Quite smart, Confused. I note you have no intention of cutting the trucking routes heading north. The ones shifting the…” Aug 12, 13:39
TURABDIN on The Other Kind Of Winning: “Were a collective/ junta/ faction consisting of Scotland’s brightest, one would hope for the brightest, were to do a well…” Aug 12, 13:38
Rob on The Other Kind Of Winning: “That poll shows that 3/4 of the population oppose or don’t have have an opinion one way or the other…” Aug 12, 13:01
Spartan 117 on The Other Kind Of Winning: “The National is a Goebellsian comic strip that does more to damage any credibility of the Independence movement than anything…” Aug 12, 12:49
agentx on The Party Of The Dead: ““ALMOST half of Scots would back the Scottish Government declaring independence without a referendum or Westminster’s permission, The National can…” Aug 12, 11:50
Alf Baird on The Party Of The Dead: “Reflecting a far better understanding of our ever-worsening colonial condition, it finally looks like maist Scots have haed eneuch an…” Aug 12, 11:20
Confused on The Party Of The Dead: “GERS when the people who robbed you, tell you how poor you are – let’s talk about GDP per capita…” Aug 12, 11:01
Captain Caveman on The Party Of The Dead: “Southwest Scotland would be awesome 🙂 Sadly though. It comes down to tax. I’m about to go for early retirement…” Aug 12, 10:15
Captain Caveman on The Party Of The Dead: ““Bald Eagle” 😀 Love it. Hand me the Pledge and duster” Aug 12, 10:13
TURABDIN on The Party Of The Dead: “security, war & collateral damage futures, a stock that never fails…certainly worked in Iraq. But first you must destroy &…” Aug 12, 08:53
gm on The Party Of The Dead: “Well spotted Turabdin. The Ruling Class.” Aug 11, 22:05
James on The Party Of The Dead: ““….Who is the pathetic twat?” Still you, Bubba.” Aug 11, 21:10
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: “Generally speaking, TURABDIN, in our culture, we don’t expect the offspring of anybody to be held accountable for the sins…” Aug 11, 21:06
Hatey McHateface on The Party Of The Dead: “Isn’t that how to deal with a fatberg? Divide it into smaller lumps that can then be individually flushed.” Aug 11, 20:56
Aidan on The Party Of The Dead: “What useful activities do you spend your day doing that you can be “diverted” and “distracted” from?” Aug 11, 20:40
Young Lochinvar on The Party Of The Dead: “OL Probably to hide the fact he hadn’t fully thawed out, plus all the resuscitation equipment he requires when brought…” Aug 11, 19:39
Young Lochinvar on The Party Of The Dead: “HMcH I suspect it was the Diet Coke supplies that got hardest hit. He’s a fan apparently.” Aug 11, 19:36
Young Lochinvar on The Party Of The Dead: “Well hold on there Bald Eagle! True. I uncharacteristically missed that one 🙂” Aug 11, 19:31
James on The Party Of The Dead: “Well said, diabloandco. Those 4 Yoon trolls are endless. Here all day, every day to divert, distract and divide. As…” Aug 11, 19:29
Aidan on The Party Of The Dead: “Have you thought about moving to South West Scotland? It’d be nice to get some more English voices into the…” Aug 11, 19:21
James on The Party Of The Dead: “What a fucking clown you are, Adrian. You keep good company. Cue the SP.” Aug 11, 19:20
TURABDIN on The Party Of The Dead: “FILTHY LUCRE… https://archive.is/AkQ3T the spawn of a major war criminal keeping it in the family.” Aug 11, 18:42
Captain Caveman on The Party Of The Dead: “Sure! Keep the cash rolling in. £20 on the meter so far. 🙂 Never done a good grift before, sounds…” Aug 11, 17:53
