“…a constitutional convention should consider how to further embed equality and human rights within the constitution and the extent to which the people of Scotland should have constitutional rights in relation to issues such as welfare, pensions, health care and education.”
“…and we need to stop human rights legislation interfering with our ability to fight crime and control immigration. That’s why, as our last manifesto promised, the next Conservative government will scrap the Human Rights Act, and it’s why we should also consider very carefully our relationship with the European Court of Human Rights and the Convention it enforces.”
I can’t decide for you, but I know which one seems more appealing to me.
The calmer heads found in the Scottish independence movement – and in our better moments we like to consider ours among them – can often be heard cautioning against over-deploying allegations of bias, and citing Hanlon’s Razor in doing so.
(And to save you clicking on the link, that’s the one which runs “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity”.)
It is, of course, possible and frequently the case for BOTH to be present – a glance at any Scotsman column by Michael Kelly or Brian Wilson will verify that – but this morning we’re going to focus on the latter side of the equation.
Alert contributor Scott Minto came across a weird little story in The Sun this week. We had a look into it and found the “Loyalist” nutcases responsible, whose Facebook page helpfully also provided us with a much more beautiful and uplifting sight.
Flying proudly over Glasgow City Chambers, just as it should. Not long now.
Over the last 30 days, Wings Over Scotland’s readership has soared to almost 42,000 unique users. Although in February our number of unique visitors eclipsed daily sales of the Scotsman for the first time (and has grown 25% since then), soon we’ll have no idea how we’re doing comparatively, because the once-proud newspaper has now joined the Herald in ducking out of monthly sales reporting. The Guardian reports:
“All four titles were pulled out of monthly reporting against the background of plunging print sales. In The Scotsman’s case, its sale in January was recorded as 32,435, only 21,806 of which were sold at the full cover price. That represented a year-on-year drop of 17.5%. Scotland of Sunday’s circulation fall, to a January average of 38,493, was worse. That was 24% fewer than in January 2012.”
Veteran readers of this site will know how hard it is to nail Scottish Labour down on a policy for just about anything. So when we suggested earlier today that the party DID have a (sort of) firm policy on something – namely calling on the Scottish Government to bring forward legislation to stop people being evicted over bedroom-tax arrears – we probably shouldn’t have been surprised to be contacted within minutes by a Scottish Labour press officer angrily insisting that it didn’t.
For the seasoned political analyst (and also for idiots like us), it can be hard to offer a rational explanation for why any thinking human being would ever believe a word the Labour Party says about anything any more.
It came to power 16 years ago promising to introduce electoral reform, then ditched it. (But still hilariously claims to be committed to the principle despite 100 years of failing to deliver it.) It also pledged not to introduce university tuition fees, then introduced them. It campaigned for re-election on a promise not to increase them, then increased them. It – well, we could go on all day, just about tuition fees alone.
But let’s cut to the chase and move up to the present day.
“Millions of Scots will lose out on an RBS share bonanza worth up to £800 if they choose independence, Business Secretary Vince Cable has warned.
The Treasury is considering giving every taxpayer in the UK shares in RBS as part of a give-away ahead of the next general election. Coalition sources calculate the windfall could be worth £400 to £800 per person.
Coalition Cabinet minister Mr Cable said his Liberal Democrat party backed the payout to ensure taxpayers benefit from 2008’s billion-pound bailout of the Edinburgh institution, although he cautioned the Coalition not to “rush” the process.
Asked if Scots would get a chance to benefit in an independent Scotland, he said: “No. It is at the moment vested in the British Government.”
Even leaving aside the astonishingly crude bribery/blackmail aspect, we’re still a bit confused. Unionists constantly tell us that RBS is “Scottish”, and that therefore an independent Scotland should take on all of its debt. But apparently the people of the rUK will still own the whole bank, so they’ll get all the shares and the profits.
Sometimes, readers, it really does seem like the No camp is devoting most of its anti-independence efforts to putting us out of a job.
A lot of independence supporters are getting excited today about this clip of Labour shadow-cabinet MP Helen Goodman telling the BBC that Labour would keep the bedroom tax. They’re right to highlight it, but most are doing so for the wrong reasons.
Goodman’s position is that Labour WOULD still implement the hated tax, but would only penalise people for over-occupying their housing if they’d been offered smaller accommodation and refused to move. Opponents of Labour are observing the hypocrisy of the party raging against the tax in public while admitting they’d retain it, which is fair enough, but also misses the real point.
As we’ve mentioned before, it really has been a revelation to discover that the Daily Record’s iPad app – which gives you the entire printed paper, not just the selection of stories that reach the Record website – is free on weekdays. Today, for example, it brought us a large not-online Page 2 piece on former Tory cabinet minister Liam Fox’s idiotic hardline policy suggestions for the party, which were expertly ridiculed by Conservative commentator Alex Massie yesterday.
Thanks to Mr Massie’s splendid work, there’s no need for us to bother with Fox’s comments. What we noticed instead was the Record’s analysis of them.
When the Daily Record lost Magnus Gardham to the Herald, they made sure to call on a like-for-like replacement. Torcuil Crichton, the newspaper’s self-styled “man in Westminster” (and who has never approved a single comment on his political blog in almost five years), is Gardham’s only rival as the most virulently and overtly Unionist staff reporter – as opposed to opinion columnist – in the Scottish media.
lothianlad on ACC Houston, We Have A Problem: “Honestly STU, Your dilligence must be making them really nervous. Well done for your persistance.” Jul 1, 15:00
Captain Caveman on The Fast Track: “@Alf “Orwell was around slightly before postcolonial theory had really developed” Good grief, first you’re name dropping Orwell left, right…” Jul 1, 14:59
Hatey McHateface on The Fast Track: “That narrative would be more compelling if we didn’t have the example of the EU referendum to dispel it. There…” Jul 1, 14:06
Hatey McHateface on The Fast Track: “Chronology tells us that colonialism developed millennia before Fascism. But we don’t let awkward facts get in the way of…” Jul 1, 13:57
Hatey McHateface on Strike A Pose, There’s Nothing To It: “Shakespearean tragedy! WTAF are you on about! It’s a comedy the likes of which not even The Bard could have…” Jul 1, 13:52
Cynicus on ACC Houston, We Have A Problem: “Thanks for doing that, Rev. Like Peter Bell, many of us prepare reading transcripts of testimony to video. The services…” Jul 1, 13:45
Peter McAvoy on Strike A Pose, There’s Nothing To It: “Is it just me or does the term crown agent sound like a medieval tyrants minion or dystopian fiction.” Jul 1, 13:40
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Fast Track: “« The purpose of NEWSPEAK was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits…” Jul 1, 13:34
Hatey McHateface on Strike A Pose, There’s Nothing To It: “First, a majority of the voters have to care. This is where I think all the barking up the colonialism…” Jul 1, 13:26
Alf Baird on The Fast Track: ““‘Notes on Nationalism’” The colonized native only becomes a nationalist ‘to free his people’ (Fanon). National liberation cannot come about…” Jul 1, 13:08
AlMac on Strike A Pose, There’s Nothing To It: “Yes thank you for that Mr Angry – it was intended as a humorous response to Wing’s Twitter suggestion that…” Jul 1, 13:06
Hatey McHateface on The Fast Track: “Orwell defo an improvement over all those third-world racists, such as Fanon, etc. We could even make a half-decent case…” Jul 1, 13:01
Alice Timmons on Strike A Pose, There’s Nothing To It: “Stuart, I sincerely hope you are taking VERY good care of both your health and personal safety. It unfortunately seems…” Jul 1, 12:57
AlMac on Strike A Pose, There’s Nothing To It: “That question mark was a smiley face when typed – I’m not asking if the transcription is TLDR. However the…” Jul 1, 12:41
Spartan 117 on Strike A Pose, There’s Nothing To It: “It’s a transcript of an interview. If you don’t have the intelligence to read the article, don’t bother commenting.” Jul 1, 12:38
Campbell Clansman on Strike A Pose, There’s Nothing To It: “They decided there was no provable case of fraud on the part of the SNP. Let’s face it: as long…” Jul 1, 12:26
Spartan 117 on The Fast Track: “You have correctly identified the Professional Career Politician, the scourge of the current age.” Jul 1, 11:54
Spartan 117 on The Fast Track: “I’m sorry for your loss, NC. Condolences. I don’t think I could disagree with anything you’ve said there.” Jul 1, 11:52
Captain Caveman on The Fast Track: “I note you haven’t deigned to respond to my earlier critique as regards your misappropriation of Orwell despite his published…” Jul 1, 11:51
Iain Ross on The Fast Track: “The other significant issue is that, according to Mr Swinney, the two sums involved (c£460,000 embezzled by Murrell and c£660,000…” Jul 1, 11:50
Alf Baird on The Fast Track: ““Some of the reasons” We need only comprehend the root cause of all such events in a colonial society is…” Jul 1, 11:27
Northcode on The Fast Track: “Stop all the clocks… the stars are not wanted now; put out every one, pack up the moon and dismantle…” Jul 1, 11:18
Billie on The Fast Track: “Bumped in to an SNP councillor who I hadn’t seen for quote a while as I left the SNP about…” Jul 1, 10:55
Alf Baird on The Fast Track: “Yes James, Scots need to understand that “the devolved parliament to Scotland” is merely part of the machinery of colonial…” Jul 1, 10:52
James Che on The Fast Track: “Spartan 117. You are correct, Devolution had nothing to do with democracy in Scotland, it was about control that had…” Jul 1, 10:37
