Wings Over Scotland

We know only a few of you sit through these long video clips, but for the benefit of those who do this is a slightly unusual debate organised by the Prospect trade union and chaired by Magnus Gardham of the Herald, which took place at the union’s conference in Glasgow last month and saw Anas Sarwar and Nicola Sturgeon quizzed on some quite specific topics by various representatives of civic Scotland.

Readers can, as ever, come to their own conclusions as to which of the two gave the most convincing and honest answers, but one line from early on did leap out at us.

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Charlie Brooker in the Guardian, 17 June 2014:

“David Cameron has responded to [the ‘Trojan Horse’ schools] crisis by declaring we need to celebrate ‘Britishness’ with more enthusiasm.

More enthusiasm? More? We’ve been celebrating Britishness with the strained determination of a man desperately trying to shit a cricket ball for the past five years. There’s a Union Flag on every cushion, bedspread and Rimmel commercial. Twee cartoons of the London skyline adorn packets of biscuits. TV can’t shut up about Britain. The Great British Menu. The Great British Summer. The Great British Sewing Bee. The Great British Bake Off. The Great British Bayou. The Great British Bull Run. The Great British France.

We had the Olympics, for Christ’s sake. We spent the whole of 2012 waving flags like a semaphore dictionary on fast-forward. And that wasn’t enough? Now, years later, just as the Keep Calm and Carry On posters are finally starting to yellow and peel and fall from the wall like scraps of torched parchment, now Cameron wants MORE of that bullshit?”

Nice to know it’s not just us noticing.

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In the course of debunking some No-camp myths about “high taxes” and the cost of living in Scandinavian countries, we’ve often mentioned that in addition to average real incomes being far higher in places like Norway and Denmark (even after adjusting for the cost of living), that average is itself misleading, because the poor distribution of wealth in the UK means that it’s artificially inflated by the incomes of the super-rich.

Now it’s possible to actually put figures on that.

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This morning’s papers report that Labour, the Tories and a small fringe party whose name has slipped our minds for a moment will this week release a statement about their shared commitment to further devolution of powers to Holyrood after a No vote.

We’re sure that Scotland’s journalists are all on top of the situation as usual and will put the statement under microscope-like scrutiny, but just in case, we have a tip.

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The top five most-read stories on Wings Over Scotland in the last seven days.

1. Voters less ordinary
Housewife turns out to be activist. What could go wrong?

2. Inaudible mumble amplified
A good week to bury someone calling a million Scots racists.

3. Becoming the story
Smearing the messenger.

4. To the editor of the Scotsman
Standing by for developments.

5. The unacceptable face of politics
Grumpy-Looking Man confronts Not Quite All There Woman.

This week’s theme: CYBERNATS! (Again.)

WEDNESDAY: Panini “politics sticker album” jokes are evidence of vile abuse:

SUNDAY: Panini “politics sticker album” jokes are light-hearted comedy material:

The BBC: you have to pay for this or you go to jail, readers.

The Sunday Mail has an editorial leader today about “cybernats”, in which the Daily Record’s sister paper offers the view that “far too much attention is given to these clowns”. It’s a good point – there’s been a surfeit of coverage of the subject lately.

From the last four days alone. Why can’t people just stop going on about them, eh?

For our 2,500th post we wanted to say something positive about the media for a change, and the opportunity has presented itself, albeit in a sad way. BBC Radio Scotland’s Sunday morning show “Headlines” is the only political programme – radio or telly – that we made a point of never missing, and today is its last episode.

Canned by the state broadcaster for reasons as yet unexplained, it’s going to leave a big hole in our weekends. Presenter Ken Macdonald’s warm, relaxed, funny and always even-handed style never failed to bring out the best in guests from everywhere on the political and cultural spectrum, and it was a show that always sounded like everyone on it was not only having a good time but making the listener part of it too.

We’re fighting hard to beat back our cynicism about the reasons for it going, and our dismay that it’s to be replaced from next week by a new programme hosted by just what absolutely nobody was crying out for – more bloody politicians. So we’ll cut that line of thinking short and just say thanks to everyone on the show for making us smile every Sunday no matter what, and always making the independence debate feel a little bit less nasty, even if only for an hour at a time.

This one’s for you, Ken.

The story in yesterday’s Scotsman carrying outrageous and defamatory slurs against me has today vanished from its website. There’s nothing by way of an apology or correction in the paper’s usual page 2 corrections column, however, and there’s been no reply to either my email of yesterday morning or the letter our solicitor sent yesterday afternoon. Be assured, readers, that the matter won’t rest there.

But today things are even more interesting.

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Daily Mail columnist Jan Moir has a piece today on the nasty comments a tiny handful of idiots made to JK Rowling this week, which – unlike the alleged “barrage” of abuse supposedly unleashed against Labour activist Clare Lally – can at least definitely be said to have happened.

The piece is a tedious one-sided rant, but at the end something awesome happens.

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Alert readers will have had a hard time missing Labour spin doctor John McTernan on TV and radio and in newspapers this week. A former special adviser to Tony Blair, he’s been rolled out on heavy rotation across the media to pontificate on Campbell Gunn’s minor briefing error (which was swiftly apologised for) about frontline Labour activist Clare Lally, and to strenuously insist to anyone who’ll listen that abusive “cybernats” are co-ordinated and controlled by the SNP.

Anyone who’s followed Scottish (or, indeed, Australian) politics for any length of time will have been rubbing their eyes and syringing their ears in surprise at Mr McTernan being invited to cast aspersions on anyone else’s morals and ethics. Anyone who hasn’t might want to bring themselves up to speed.

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