Reaching out to Yes
Alert readers may recall that since the election of Jim Murphy as Scottish Labour branch office manager he’s barely gone a moment without promising to “reach out” to Yes voters. Last month he even pledged that he’d employ some in his team if he won the Labour job.
We imagine they’ll be fair hammering on his door after the latest addition to his crew, because today’s Herald reveals that Murphy’s new chief of staff, and joining “Better Together” director Blair McDougall among Jim’s backroom boys, is to be our old pal John “there will be no referendum” McTernan.
Wings viewers will of course be familiar with Mr McTernan’s history, a few choice highlights of which we picked out here – he thinks Scots are racists and beggars mooching off London, among other charming and vote-winning views – and it’ll be interesting to see how Murphy’s sudden attempts to portray Scottish Labour as a more left-wing, redistributive flavour of political organisation square with McTernan’s view from just two months ago that:
And it should also be fun finding out – in the light of Murphy’s stated intention to tax the mansion-dwellers of south-east England to pay for Scottish nurses – whether McTernan still thinks that:
We can hardly wait for John’s first pronouncements in an official capacity – perhaps another of his legendary predictions. We’re keenly awaiting the announcement of the hiring of Ian Smart and Councillor Terry Kelly. But mostly we’re enjoying the thought of Murphy offering jobs to Yes-voting Labour supporters on the thrilling and tempting premise that they’ll get to work under Blair McDougall AND John McTernan.
We’ll leave the last word on this one to Glasgow SNP councillor Mhairi Hunter:
Because we’re just off to wipe some of these tears out of our eyes.
The news just keeps getting better. Welcome to the fold.
McTernan sums up everything that has gone wrong with the Labour party.
I’m beginning to think that Labour, northern branch, know the games up and they really aren’t trying any more.
Christmas tree reinstated, shiny shiny.
All Labour has left is a bunch of quasi-rabid attack dogs whose only gratification, and purpose, is going around sniffing each others @rses.
Take note of the date, because this is the day that Labour lost Scotland.
Why the surprise , one arch Blairite who believes
in Iraq and boots on the ground in Syria employs the other.
All we need now is for Tony to be Jims major
sponsor.
Looks like that ‘winning’ formula in the indyref will continue for GE2015, cue a tidal wave of sewage for the compliant MSM to lap up. What these balloons don’t realise is that the unionist vote won despite them, not because of them. I wonder who is paying McTernan and McDougall’s wages this time around?
Perhaps Labour will embrace independence if we all pretend it’s their idea.
A new team with new faces, new ideas, new ways of communicating to help wavering supporters to return to the fold!
Eh!
Block booking hire of worst elements of BT will not auger well for JM’s attempt to reunify the Labour Party in Scotland.
I am finding it hard to imagine a worse team of political pundits to persuade errant Labour voters back to the fold!
Excellent!
Does that mean that McTernan isn’t standing as a candidate in his own right for Darling’s old seat?
Sorry to go O/T immediately, but I’m on a mission just now to complain about the pathetic efforts of BBC “journalists” to hold British Nationalist parties to account for their lies. So here’s my complaint about the Willie Rennie interview last night:
“Willie Rennie MSP was asked about “Home Rule,” traditionally a key Liberal policy. He asserted that Home Rule had “been delivered” for Scotland and was not clearly challenged on this. Firstly, no aspect of the Smith Commission proposals have yet been delivered and given the resistance of many in the Westminster Parliament, there is no guarantee that they will be, especially given that many Smith Commission proposals were previously recommended by the Calman Commission and subsequently rejected. The more concerning issue, though, is the BBC’s ongoing woolly definitions of the terms “Home Rule” and “Devo Max.” Throught the referendum campaign, these words were used almost interchangeably and in the context of Irish devolution a century ago and the Scottish debate over the last few years, have come to mean very clearly the devolution of all powers except foreign affairs and defence. The Smith Commission proposals do not meet this definition at all, yet the BBC itself has allowed the terms to be debased and offers no challenge to someone like Willie Rennie in this case when he insists that what is being proposed is “absolutely Home Rule.” Since most viewers have a reasonably clear understanding of what Home Rule meant in the Irish context and Devo Max means in the Scottish context, to allow him free rein to claim that “Home Rule has been delivered” is muddying the waters dangerously and allowing viewers who have not studied the proposals in depth to be grossly misled.”
Feel free to C&P. It should only take a minute or two to make the complaint. Complain about “standards of interviewing,” NOT “bias.” I suspect “bias” complaints just go straight in the bin.
Back on topic: John McTernan really creeps me out. I would not be at all surprised if he has some extremely dark skeletons in his closet. And Big Jim really doesn’t understand, does he? The referendum campaign is over! Why can’t he just accept the result and move on?
Haha, spoiled for talentless choice.
Like the tweet!
John McTernan is also on the record as saying there would be no independence referendum, and that the Labour Party was not the “dole party” in his own rather sensitive, empathetic words. Of course, there is also his spell in Australia…
My dad is a Labour Councillor, No voter and Jim Murphy supporter – heaven help us. However he has very recently shown signs that his support for big Jim may be ill-founded and that Labour could be in serious trouble, he also admitted that if he was younger he would probably have voted yes, there is hope.
In the valley of the blind, the one eyed man is king ????
Another London liar attempting to dictate Scotland’s future by being sent to keep Dim Jim & Deputy Dug on the London line.
People of Scotland be aware, this piece of London garbage exists to destroy our dreams and keep Scotland shackled to Westminster.
No Westminster gofer should ever have a say in the running and future prosperity of OUR country.
Red Tory Traitors – Kick Them Out – No To Westminster – Vote SNP.
I’m sure the BBC are putting the finishing touches to his office the now.
Has hell frozen over yet, I tend to think that if all the YES supporter are like me and my better half, Dim Jim, yes I watched Yew Choob this morning, will have one hard job on his hands and with that crew behind him, and I hope they are wielding a knife, nae chance.
Cheers Ronnie,loved it, Husband has the original on his MP4 player so we hear it a lot in the car.
Tears up application form.
Stoker, is that not just a gift to us Yessers, Dim Jim and Deputy Dug. Love it.
On the 18th September I stood outside my local Edinburgh polling station and listened to the smug chat from the No representatives on the other side of the doorway. Those people were all well-off middle-class types, all Labour affiliated or Labour supporters. I kept coming back to how I felt as an SNP supporting teen growing up in the Thatcher years. The No voters reminded me of the Tories I came across back then. They were alright thanks, cared nothing for helping the unfortunate, were embarrassed by the idea of Scotland and were quite happy to see it rubbished in the name of “Great” Britain. Since the referendum I have come to the conclusion that the No supporters are just the modern-day Tories. Conservatism isn’t dead in Scotland, it just exists across two parties – the real Tories and New Labour. Labour only need to pretend to shift to the left in Scotland in order to win back some core support in the west. Otherwise carrying on along a right-wing agenda will do just nicely and help them maintain the support of the smug, self-interested No Thanks mob. Murphy, McTernan et al are perfect for this job, right-wingers aiming at a right-wing voter, aided and abetted by a right-wing press.
BBC Scotlandshire would like to thank Jim Morphy MP for going with the satirist’s choice as Chief of Staff.
I think it is becoming very clear what the two JMs’ tactic for winning back YES voters to the Red Tory cause now is. Basically, it boils down to this:
Tell them how stupid they were, and how very lucky it turned out to be a NO vote. Now eat your cereal and let’s kick the blue tories out.
Well I can’t figure out what they are doing.
Perhaps “Big Dim Jim” is an accurate representation.
Welcome back to the fold ex-Labour YES voters, please come and get knee’d in the groin.
Is John McT the fella who opens emails to colleagues with “Dear Cunt”?
A love bomb expert.
Look, I realise Mhairi’s tweet was amazingly witty and positively sidesplitting. But would someone mind explaining it to me?
I can’t wait for the Wee Book of McTernan Quotes and Counter-Quotes to hit the streets.
Now, where did I put that fairy for the top of the tree …
@Morag – Christmas is coming …
Helena Brown says:
“Stoker, is that not just a gift to us Yessers, Dim Jim and Deputy Dug. Love it.”
It sure is, Helena, and thanks to the ‘Yoo Choob’ crew for the new ‘Dim Jim’ name – i think we’ve got the pair of them well named now.
@Morag – and I’ve nearly stopped coughing now – thank you very much [insert harrumphy face thingy]
Self seekers who can’t and don’t count. Good bye Labour Unionists. So long liars.
Having a key backroom hand in the self destruction of both UK Labour during the Blair/Brown warfare, and Australian Labor during the Gillard/Rudd internecine years, in joining northern branch Jim’s staff, ‘one trick pony’ McTernan couldn’t have happened to a more deserving guy.
@ Rolf,
You make some good points mate, but the referendum was won for No by the over 60s while the under 60s votes Yes.
The truth is that the referendum was lost because the MSM/Unionists scared the over 60s with threats to their pensions etc.
This is why Dim Jim has said that he will target the older Labour voters who voted Yes, as he knows they can be manipulated.
With the MSM on side, as well as Blair McDougal and McTernan, labour have all the tools they need to start working on the over 60’s who voted Yes, but what Dim Jim hasn’t said is where all this extra support for the SNP has came from.
Perhaps internal polling is showing that a lot of this voting group has now realised that the Vow and promises about the NHS was a lie and are shifting to the SNP, ( any SNP insiders on Wings, know and could say?)
If this shift is happening then Dim Jim hiring the experts of ‘Project Fear’ makes perfect sense.
Worth looking into Rev?
I need a job but I’m not *that* desperate… Unless, double agent??
@ Morag,
“Look, I realise Mhairi’s tweet was amazingly witty and positively sidesplitting. But would someone mind explaining it to me?”
Glad you said that Morag, I don’t get it either.
Anyone care to explain?
Hold on folks – think this through before jumping about with glee.
The strategy used to steal the referendum worked as far as Labour’s concerned.
They know the trigger points to use. Lies work, Pledges work, Fear works.
They have the MSM and BBC/STV in their pockets just like they had for the referendum so no-one, but no-one, is gonna pull them up for lying their back teeth off.
It’s shaping up to be the most horrific anti-democratic period ever known in Scotland – their main players are getting into position and none of them; Murphy, McTernan or McDougall could give a rat’s shit what anybody thinks or says about them.
They’re going for broke on this. They know the game can either be won by pulling of the lies and pledges and fear tactics again and why shouldn’t they it worked before, or they can present a ‘nothing possible’ manifesto because English Labour will never give an inch to help in Scotland if its to damage their chances down south.
All Murphy’s got is nothing but fear and lies and that’s what’s heading down the line to us as we speak and McTernan’s just put the top hat on to confirm that.
The SNP better get properly tooled up to handle this.
Illegal wars, tax evasion, fraudulent bankers. Labour/Unionist criminals. Westminster child molesters, fraudsters, crooks, secrecy and lies. They get away with murder, funded by Hedge Funds.
I wonder if Jim’s just trying to assemble the biggest team of arseholes he can so that he looks okay in comparison? Not that it’ll work, mind.
Maybe he’ll manage to find room for Euan McColm in there somewhere. And Katie Hopkins will be out of the Big Brother house soon enough.
The gift that keeps on giving
Morag says:
Look, I realise Mhairi’s tweet was amazingly witty and positively sidesplitting. But would someone mind explaining it to me?
OK. This this how the Xmas fairy got to the top of the Xmas tree. It was a bad Xmas day at Amazon. The slaves were revolting. The elves were oot oan strike. The snaw was 10ft high and the reindeers widnae start. Santa hid the flu and in walks this fairy with a Xmas tree. “Santa where will I stick this?” And that is why …
Rolf says:
@11.21am
How right you are, i live in Midlothian and on polling day it was evident there were serious divisions.
The ‘we are middle class now’ brigade in the Labour camp who have grown prosperous and are more concerned with the price of their hoose than democracy.
And in the other camp the old die hard Labour ma faither always voted labour (yawn) who Gordon brown targated three days before the Referendum.
On the 19th i listened to AS say that he did not care what we did or what party we joined as long as we did something, lots of people listened and we are now in a better position but do not underestimate what these BaS*** will do go get back at us.
I joined the SNP in Nov as i am hell bent on helping to get an SNP MP in Westminster! i will never forgive them for their treachory the sooner we are rid the better.
Nice topical one for you Rev.
Another topical example of BBC once again simply reporting press releases as fact, not doing any background research and giving a massive PR boost to The Circle Health private healthcare company which has pulled out of it’s hospital today.
link to falseeconomy.org.uk
Thanks, Jim, I got it in the end. I think I thought it must be more subtle than that. Look, it’s Friday and I was awake half the night with my roof sounding as if it wanted to take off and fly to North Berwick, OK?
Are Labour mad? John McTernan, the man who was literally hounded out of Australia, and Australian politics, for offending just about every person in that country. That John McTernan?
I can just imagine there must be a huge queue of folks just dying to work with such a creature. Good grief!
link to smh.com.au
We would like to congratulate Jim Morphy MP on his decision to go with the satirist’s choice.
I don’t think they’ll quite twigged that Scots voted No despite the direction of folk such as Blair, Jim & John.
Ye gods! Is this for real. He’s hired that scumbag McTernan to win back slab voters who voted yes? Dim Jim really creeps me out, there are no words, well except sweary ones to describe that other odious creature. It’s okay having a laugh, but after the referendum performance there might just be some dumbo’s who will vote for them. AAAAARGH
O/T having been reading over on Bella what some of the no lot have been telling us, but do you know something, I still don’t know why they voted no. There’s been a lot of waffle and psychobabble, but no actual reason why. They seem to want us to forgive them or something, it’s quite pathetic really. Just come oot and say it, maist o’ ye were feart, end of.
Tony Bliar, Bliar Mcdoodal, John Mcfearnan now there’s a tolly half back line if ever I saw one and the tolly neocon anti Arab anti socialist anti Scottish boot licking leader of this bunch of highly paid Cowboys and con artists is none other than Jimbo Murphy the only (openly?) Blairite still in the Labour Party in ENGERLAND.
Who pays for this all star line up of weasels? Let’s guess labours head office in London pays some third party who donates the money to “SCOTCH branch office” where it is divid up and leaves the radar. They then apply the tolly establishments policies to the natives in their capacity as colonial officers.
The WESTMINSTER system is totally corrupt and dangerous.
I’m guessing, only guessing mind you, that with this latest *ahem* appointment by Lord Saint Jim of Murphy the Labour party in Scotland are well advanced with their plans to stop working hand in glove with their Tory masters and begin working shoulder to shoulder with the S.N.P.
Alternatively, back in the real world, Murph the Smurph is continuing to build up his “We hate the S.N.P. and everything that they stand for” team for his ultimate crowning in the coming weeks at a date yet to be determined.
nI thought we on Wings had cornered the market of wickedly funny humour, and Mhairi Hunter comes up with that tweet, gaun yersel Mhairi.
Sorry, that should have been thanks to the ‘YEW CHOOB’ crew.
link to youtube.com
___________
“The General Election is in May, as we know from our fight for Independence the BBC will be a big stinking propaganda machine as usual, not forgetting the recent revelations of their coverups of paedophilia.”
“It is now time again to bring as much attention to this as possible and before the elections, we shall meet at George Square and walk peacefully to the BBC studios to make ourselves seen and heard once again by publicly exposing the BBC for all their corrupt ways..”
link to facebook.com
I said yesterday that in Scotland, Democracy was dead and buried in an umarked shallow grave in the forest.
Today, the plotters of that death have hired another democracy assassin in McTernan, to seek out and deal with those that are trying to find democracy.
We need a name for Jim Murphy’s new team.
Murph and the Murphites?
Jim and the Jimadists?
The Three Ms (Murphy, McDougall and and McTernan)?
Reply to gillie
Murphy’s Muppets
The Dozy Dozen
@Papadox
Hahaha. Snigger!
O/T
Excellent coverage of the nonsense over an oil fund in the national today. Good to see some proper coverage of the issue. Piece on the political hypocrisy of the UK Government on the matter (including Labour) AND an excellent piece by Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp of business for Scotland.
http://www.thenational.scot
Murphy is an absolute apolitical careerist, driven exclusively by self interest and hatred of the SNP for standing in his way.
McTernan is another kettle of fish entirely. Loathsome with a capital L, his politics are obscene and thoroughly toxic in Scotland, while his sneering contempt for Scotland and the people who live here is well documented.
These individuals working together is a dream come true for Labour’s enemies in Scotland, I hope full advantage can be taken of this. The MSM must be monitored closely though and any pandering or capitulation to McTernan must be challenged publicly.
McTernan’s lust for power and prestige is remarkable and I have no doubt that he sees himself as a bigger fish even than Murphy. Apponting McTerban is electoral suicide from Murphy, I can only surmise that McTernan has a hold over him of some kind.
This are about to get nasty. Let’s be ready to fight back but never surrender our own decency and I tegrity. There is nothing which frustrated mass media trolls like McTernan more than consistent, measured rebuttal. Satire too, is of course a very effective weapon and I’m sure we will have fullsome opportunity to deploy.
We need a name for Jim Murphy’s new team.
Murph and the Murphites
Jim and Jimadists
The Three Ms (Murphy, McDougall and McTernan)
Is it Labour North British (Scotland Sub Division)or Labour – Sub Branch (North Britain)?
Obviously it’s not Scottish Labour because when I checked the Commissions’ register, no such party under that name is listed.
Perhaps Gordon ‘end of boom & bust’ Brown could clarify?
One more thing. Now that the SNP have over 100,000 members, is the Labour North British Branch or whatever it is called, still the largest political party in Scotland?
Perhaps Johan ‘some hing fur nothin’ Lamont could clarify? And is she still active in politics? I thought I might have seen her coupon at a food bank photo-op over Xmas but no such luck.
The Labour Party don’t need to have any members in Scotland. They have the BBC.
They could move to the right of Attila the Hun, and they will still be portrayed as a socialist party by their media/state partners.
Low information voters are their target.
@ gillie
What about the M&Ms or would that be too sweet?
By the way, in the video that Murphy released last week, did anyone else notice that when Kezia opened her mouth to speak, the camera cut away to a scene of her and Murphy in the distance. Why did the PR guys do that? What would actually happen if we saw her speak?
The core of SLAB are working class tories. Murphy’s first priority is to consolidate that core and his antics are all directed towards that end at this point in time. He is utterly cynical and is building a team around him which is a mix of the cynical and the gullible. Together they will play the bad cop/ good cop routine to frighten and to soothe the SLAB faithful. Once he is secure in that goal he will start to make noises and use the MSM to draw back in enough of those who have left the fold to keep SLAB in power. Whether he will succeed will depend on how many sad, gullible people there are in Scotland. Less than there were no doubt but how many remains to be seen.
Jim Murphy is far from Dim, Labour lost 1/3 of their support during the referendum.
What better way to get them back than reaching out to all the Blairites who defected and voted Yes?
@GG
Update today on the Guardian…..
link to theguardian.com
I believe I understand what Labour in Scotland is trying to do, lots of headlines that look good when printed on the front page of a newspaper or when included on a MSM website. Trying to persuade the lapsed, disinterested Labour voter that they are still for the people of Scotland.
Obviously anyone who reads behind the headline and understands the body of the report/story and the twisted truths will not be swayed by the lies and spin.
I just don’t understand this appointment, it comes across like the so called man of the people appointing someone who hates the people.
What is their end game or strategy? It just beggars belief at the moment!
#thetruthwillsetyoufree
McTernan, the only person to be sentenced to transportation from Australia to the UK.
Jimmy says:
Update today on the Guardian…..
link to theguardian.com
John McTernan will be gutted.
link to thetimes.co.uk
“Labour doesn’t get it. Privatisation is good for the NHS – John McTernan”
Can anyone find a single statement, tweet, post, quote or article from Mr McTernan anywhere that displays any kind of genuine compassion for his fellow people? I bet you can’t. Same goes for McDougall and probably Murphy too if you take out the faux stuff.
What an uncaring, macho team, so off-putting with their vicious strategy of smear and fear, all they’re interested in is get Labour elected at any cost, they don’t have a care for the people of Scotland. They thought they won the referendum but they didn’t, they’ve almost wiped out support for their party in Scotland, what losers.
I’m puzzled why Labour think McTernan’s such an asset, he’s repulsive, Australia says he left their Labour Party in a worse state than he found it, he appears to be doing the same in Scotand.
I just don’t get Labour’s collective logic.
People like McTernan and Kelly encapsulate everything that people despise about the Labour Party, yet Labour continue to give them a voice within, and on behalf of, the Party.
Lets not get too complacent. As a few havce noted above, Project Fear II has kicked in, and regardless of cynics here, they got their desired result last time around.
With BBC on side, its going to be a tough few months up against the UberKuntz…we need be prepared..Rev, we await the call for contributions for The Wee Anti-Red Book
The struck enough fear into enough Scots to get 55% in the referendum vote so I guess they are sticking with a similar team & strategy to get enough people to vote Labour for fear of the Tories getting in.
They are also obviously dressing themselves up as “socialists”.
We have got to hope there aren’t enough people to fall for this crap. Also southern based media will not play along with the game this time and will highlight inconsistent policies within the Labour Party.
o/t but relevant, REV during the referendum campaign you had an insider who regularly leaked advance copies of the NO campaigns leaflets etc, to you for onward publication. Can we expect that the same type of service is already in place with regard to the unionist parties general election campaigns?
@ gillie and Jimmy
here is your Guardian link archived (Times is behind a firewall). This preserves it for eternity and also doesn’t add to their slush fund from adverts.
link to archive.today
To archive links, copy the link address, open up Archive Today, paste the link into the red box and click submit. After it has archived the link you can see the archive page and copy and paste the archive link.
link to archive.today
McTernan is one of the most odious characters that ever existed. He is a bigot and full of racist bile and insults. What you see on TV is not the man that posts on Twitter.
May I add my voice to those who have already advised some caution over the appointment of Mr McTernan to Jim Murphy’s backroom team.
Unless I see hard evidence that the No voting electorate have undergone a clear change in voting intentions, I refuse to believe that another Fear Campaign aimed at the 1 million elderly voters in Scotland will NOT produce a similar result.
Frankly, anything else looks like wishful thinking of which we had so much prior to the Referendum, but which only served to fill us all with false hopes. Sure, it all felt good at the time and it was very understandable, but as a means of winning a vote it was all so inadequate.
McTernan, on the other hand, had his feet firmly on the ground of his long experience of how to win ugly in politics. We will have our work cut out to beat him to the punch, especially since HQ has yet to acquire, it seems, sufficient grasp of election strategy.
We made serious tactical errors in 2014. Not sure if HQ has learned any lessons. If they have, I see no sign of it.
No, this appointment says nothing at all about ‘reaching out’ to Yessers. Entirely about employing masters of the dark arts to come up with relentless nastiness and fearmongering over the next few months.
While the BBC bias, lying, non-reporting and misreporting was bad enough during the Referendum Campaign I reckon that we ain’t seen nothing yet.
They are already much worse than pre 18/9 and I hate to think what crap they will be shovelling at us by 7/5.
It is obvious that WM are terrified of the possibility of a massively increased SNP representation after 7/5 and they will stop at nothing to prevent that happening.
We must be prepared for the dirtiest dishonest campaign in UK electoral history from the unionists and their media fan club.
I would hope that this time The SNP and the rest of the YES supporters will take the gloves and take no prisoners.
No more Mr Nice Guy stuff.
I’m not convinced Project Fear was so successful (apart from generally suppressing the YES vote which should, after all, have been 90%).
On the 6th September a Yougov poll showed YES at 51% for the first time, after a steady upward climb for some months. It looked as if it was going to be a YES win – in spite of the fear mongering. Then panic set in. The VOW and promises of devo-max, home rule, near-federalism were all over the MSM. That’s what swung the vote in my view. and that is what now has to be delivered as a minimum.
But I agree that fear mongering will continue, and lies and media propaganda. The Quebec experience shows that asset stripping and attempts to destabilise the economy will also be pursued. A strong SNP presence in Westminster will help to protect us from that. A strong Labour showing will be a disaster.
Vile venomous viper, perfect addition to murphs club.
These snakes will say and do anything to stop Scotland from progressing. The bbc and most of the media are thoroughly corrupt and will cover every lie over and over again with relish.
Worked last time did it not?
I do hope the snp, radical indy, greens etc are sharpening their claws. Playing nice does not work.
Of course, appealing to Yes voters is the exact opposite of what they intend to do. These people may be mendacious and hypocritical, but they’re not stupid. They know Yes voters are a lost cause – they can only hope to appeal to the nasty vote now. Bigots, sectarian football fans, Tories, and those who can’t think for themselves and been conditioned to hate the SNP at any cost.
The best way of doing that is exactly what they are doing: keep fighting the referendum, sowing division and hatred on every issue and and attacking ‘nationalists’ no matter how logically inconsistent, stupid, or at odds with what the Labour Party was once about that may be.
The new Nasty Party, ladies and gentlemen. Worse than the Tories.
Douglas Alexander was the prime mover in getting Ed Miliband to banish McTernan to Scotland. His presence in England during the election campaign would be toxic.
It’s been obvious to me for some time that McTernan’s been involved, now it’s confirmed.
I can just imagine the 3Ms meeting….
JMur: “Fuck, fuck, fuck”
JMcT: “Cunty fuck fuck”
JMcD: “Fuckety cunty fuck bastards”
JMur: “Bastardly cunty fuckers”
JMcT: “Fuckardly bastarding cuntliness”
JMcD: “Cunting fucker bastardy fuck”
That’s how labour policy is made now.
@manandboy
“I refuse to believe that another Fear Campaign aimed at the 1 million elderly voters in Scotland will NOT produce a similar result.”
My fear exactly. We should not underestimate these Machiavellian spin doctors and what they are capable of with the full (almost) MSM behind them. I don’t think we’ll do as well as the polls suggest unless we can show up the 3Ms for the nasty, lying scumbags that they are.
The mask slips… the only ‘reaching out’ to Yes voters that Murphy wants, is to reach out and grab them by the throat.
McTernan always reminds me of the Tebbit character from Spitting Image, but without the compassion.
Heaven help us if this bunch win in 2015 and 2016.
I remember being told how Thatcher held the opinion that Scots were “wrongheaded”. That “they” had to change their minds/beliefs/politics to suit the UK government. Or to put it another way, that Scots would only get to be happy if they would just learn to want what they would be given.
In the minds of men like McTernan any Scot or person living here does have a different opinion, they have a criminal opinion. Are commiting a though crime and have to be forced to change. Politics he believes does not represent the will of the people but control of the people’s will. I don’t know if its more like Stalinism or Totalitarianism.
Political freedoms and rights are like writing on a blackboard which has to be constantly rewritten because they are being erased just as quickly. McTernan would behave this way where ever he lived. He just happens to be living here and seeks to make some Anglian-dictatorship over the Scots because political power imposed is his preferred version of the world. Let’s just say most English people would be a bit shocked at who was being presented as their Scottish friends.
It seems our biggest problem in the coming months is still the msm. Since Murphy became leader he has had more exposure and the media has sought his opinion on events more often than the first minister. He is allowed to make statements without being challenged and really it’s just a Jim Murphy advertising slot.
I wondered at times during the referendum why better together folk were allowed to give their opinions directly whilst very often the politicians in favour of yes were paraphrased or quoted by a journalist/reporter. It seemed like we were back in the 80s being disallowed from hearing Gerry Adam’s voice.
However, let us remember that mcternan and MacDougall have lots of connection in the media and whilst MacDougall may take to twitter in his own right to make pronouncements, he certainly doesn’t answer questions about those pronouncements.
The SNP must be reading Wings as they are all tweeting McTernan’s views on SNP website as posted by STU..
Alex Clark says:
“Jim Murphy is far from Dim,”
He’s as dim as a 2 watt bulb.
There’s nothing clever about Murphy.
It’s the advisers (hidden or otherwise) and media behind him who
dictate his direction or put across any form of cleverness etc.
Have you ever seen Dim Jim in an interview situation which he or his masters do not control? No, and you’re never likely to, Alex.
And there’s a very good reason for that, which we all know.
The closest we got to anything like that was his 100 Street Rants, even then he avoided perfectly legitimate and pertinent questioning and just proceeded to ridicule and shout people down.
Get the brainless cretin into a fair and open debate with Nicola, beamed live for all the world to see, where he has no scripted answers, and we’ll soon see what this cretin is all about.
No, on second thoughts, maybe better getting him into a one-on-one with Wee Eck, Nicola is, afterall, the first minister, DimJim is a mere local branch manager for the London Labour chain.
Aye, Dim Jim & Deputy Dug right enough.
gillie says:
We need a name for Jim Murphy’s new team.
Murph and the Murphites?
Jim and the Jimadists?
The Three Ms (Murphy, McDougall and and McTernan)?
I suppose “The Three Stooges” is just too obvious a name to suggest Gillie, or is it?
I had been led to believe that ‘the Murphy’ was a ‘big hitter’ a ‘massive brain'(mind you after 9 years at Uni without graduating I have some doubts about that) a ‘political giant’…and then he appoints McTernan to ‘his team’!?
McTernan is one of life’s perennial losers. He has only been associated with one successful election campaign, the one when Tony Blair was elected and that was in spite of McTernan participating. Every other campaign where he has been involved in has been a failure whether in OZ, England, Scotland or (Wales, NI??).
Lesley-anne says:
“We need a name for Jim Murphy’s new team.
Murph and the Murphites?
Jim and the Jimadists?
The Three Ms (Murphy, McDougall and and McTernan)?”
How about The Boney M’s? – coz there’s nae meat tae thur policies.
(idea nicked fae Ian Brotherhoods pet name for Dim Jim)
Say ‘No’ to The Red Tory Traitors – vote SNP.
McTernan? Has Murphy gone completely bonkers. Labour, having gone off the deep end a long time ago, have finally sunk to the bottom of the ocean. If Scotland votes in any great number for these clowns, I think we should all just give up. All will be lost!
Murphy despite his initial euphoria is realising he has taken a toxic batten.
He,and Labour in general are becoming more and more desperate, it will get worse. So now he pulls in all the old crows that helped avoid Indy to help him again.
They do not care how they get a result, no democracy for Scotland. They will lie, cheat, misrepresent,shout, swear, try and frighten people once more. Add in the disgusting BBC and all it’s proxies and they could have a chance to get what they want.
So we need to mobilise, we need to tap into the spirit of the YES campaign. Concerted efforts are what we need again.
We need to stuff them at the polls, no if’s no but’s, we gotta do it.
Or we really are sunk for a generation or more. Now is the time, now is the hour.
Dear Stu,
Will you please refrain from publishing pictures of Jim Murphy? Avoiding glances at the front page of most newspapers, displayed in all our shops, is tricky enough, without having to reach for the sick bucket whilst on here.
Thanks in advance, Apache-Alba
@ a supporter
I had been led to believe that ‘the Murphy’ was a ‘big hitter’
He can break eggs.
Meanwhile the charade continues “Whitewash” Chilcot Report delayed until after general election
That particular picture of Mr Murphy always puts me in mind of Ray Harryhausen’s skeleton warriors in ‘Jason and the Argonauts’
I expect to see news of the Polls closing very soon, factually or otherwise, thats what will be reported along with Unionist interviews confirming the SNP slide and heralding the public backing the Murphy Messiah.
Cue the Curtice comments as that 20% reduces each week between now and May.
McTernan as part of team Murphy will cause problems for a movie of Murphy’s career. In an interview Murphy said he would hope Peter Capaldi would play him: however McTernan was supposed to be the inspiration for Malcolm Tucker, so who would play him?
(from what I know of Capaldi, he’d relish the chance to rip the pish out of both of these chancers)
We need a lie sheet assembled.
ie “YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD TRUST LABOUR?
– THINK AGAIN”
…. Read on
Followed by a long list of the lies and deceits they have carried out against Scotland. Each with verifiable links to the proof articles.
These to be delivered to every house in Scotland, we have many people who I am sure could see this done, we have people in all areas. I would be up for delivering in my area for a start. These should be ready for delivery 7 days prior to the election.
Anyway, that would be my idea of how to combat the devious forces against u.
us!
If you watched FMQs yesterday you will be amazed to read the Scotsman’s account of the encounter. Kezia Dugdale (large picture at top of article) is quoted as raising a litany of damning accusations of SNP incompetence.
Poor Nicola (no picture) only managed a short lame response:
“Ms Sturgeon said that email had been sent from “an official to statisticians”.
She added that the Portakabin at Victoria Infirmary had been opened 10-years ago.
Ms Sturgeon acknowledged that there were pressures on the NHS, but added that they would be “considerably worse” if Labour had remained in power.”
link to archive.today
I must have imagined Nicola’s part in the exchange. Airbrushing the SNP out of the news is obviously a cross media tactic since they probably do have to report on FMQs?
@Stoker
Don’t go getting an irony bypass on me now
manandboy says:
9 January, 2015 at 1:01 pm
May I add my voice to those who have already advised some caution over the appointment of Mr McTernan to Jim Murphy’s backroom team.
Unless I see hard evidence that the No voting electorate have undergone a clear change in voting intentions, I refuse to believe that another Fear Campaign aimed at the 1 million elderly voters in Scotland will NOT produce a similar result.
========================
Then we must do our project fear. We must aim it at the same 1 million elderly voters and tell them vote for Lab, Con, Lib Dems and get NHS privatised, get pensions reduced, get more austerity, pay for your Doctor appointments, Private health insurance upwards of £300 per months etc etc.
@Jackie g – there are SNP members who are wingers, me for one. I also took those quotes and posted it on Facebook. I think if we talk to ourselves we will be doing our cause a disservice. Surely we should all be on facebook and twitter with those quotes and any other juicy morcel the REV digs up, get them out there to as many people as we can. Lots of wingers post some brilliant information, its our duty to get it out there.
@ Morag
@ Patrick Roden
Re Mhairi’s tweet – perhaps meaning that “all our Christmasses are coming at once”.
James Caithness says:
Lots of wingers post some brilliant information, its our duty to get it out there.
Spot on James keep up the good work..
Alex Clark says:
@Stoker
Don’t go getting an irony bypass on me now
Nae fear, Alex, the waiting times are too long, apparently!
Let’s call them what they are and retain our honesty and integrity:
The Three Bastard Monkeys. Have No Shame, Feel No Shame, Epitomy of No Shame. Murph, McD, McT.
Maureen Mangan – “It seemed like we were back in the eighties, being disallowed from hearing Gerry Adam’s voice”.
Aye, but Scotland’s independence is a more serious prospect for the Unionists than the sad violence visited upon the common people during the 1980s by Irish Republicans, Unionists and the British State. This time the Unionists very livelihood and status is at stake.
The No voter ground troops are sheepishly quiet as they know their leaders cheated. Leaders who would “sell their grannies for glue”. Meanwhile the Yes supporters are rarin’ to go. We will win, starting from a base of 45% – allegedly – and as life’s waterwheel picks up we oldies out from life’s pond and makes way for the young.
Imagine, as a pensioner, voting No because “they say” you might lose a few shillings a week on your pension with independence.Shameful.
@capella. Hubby and I commented the exact same thing yesterday. If you watched Rep Scot News last night or read MSM today you would think Nicola Sturgeon was pressed from all sides whereas the reality was that she was great yesterday. Epitome of Angry Sturgeon and able to answer all questions. We thought it was her best FMQs yet!
In reply to Rolf:
Its not strictly fair to say that the middle class in Scotland are all tory voters. If we take where I live, East Dumbartonshire, the vote split was:
Number of votes
Yes 36,624
No 48,314
Which reflects the end result fairly well. I suspect that many of those NO voters were the well-off elderly who were carying their life savings around in their jumpers. Convinced by the NO campaigns door-to-door tatctics that they were about to be made penniless by Alex Salmond. I certainly knew of one OAP who did this. Meanwhile the YES stalls in Milngavie were staffed by Doctors and Lawyers – all of whom could see the sense in independence as much as the next person.
That’s some picture of mild mannered Jim. On TV he doesn’t get asked any hard questions. Soon as he is on the street and confronted he behaves like a maniac!
Couple of points for deliberation (well, three now);
1. Do you think Murphy is going to do an internal hatchet job on Labour and then then run into the welcoming arms of Uncle Dave, either pre or post 7/5?
2. As a devolved Parliament, does the Scottish Parliament have any power/authority to set up an “independent” media review commission, and in doing so, would it have any ability to impart powers to it to deal with the clear bias the 90 odd percent of the “Scottish” branch of the EBC currently exhibit?
3. Why are the people are up against so blatantly obviously self serving hypocrites (my pre watershed version) and we seem to be the only ones who can see it (even though it is crystal clear)?
I despair , the amount of pish flooding out of the northern labour branch assistants going unquestioned and becoming focal points for msm topics is really beyond belief . Lets put every last one of them out a job in the next 16 months .
A Complaint To The BBC – Re: Sunday Politics Scotland
(sent 14.12.14)
“On the aforementioned show the presenter failed to challenge Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy when he deliberately lied by stating: There’s only one way to replace David Cameron at the General Election and that’s with a Labour vote.”
“A complete and utter lie and he should have been challenged and corrected on it.”
“This extremely poor and unprofessional approach does absolutely nothing to dispel the growing feeling in Scotland that BBC Scotland is nothing but a Scottish Labour mouthpiece, with news and political programmes becoming more and more akin to Scottish Labour Party broadcasts.”
“In 1951, 1959, 1970, 1979, 1983, 1987, 1992 and 2010 Scotland mostly voted Labour but ended up with a Conservative Government.”
“This incident is not a one-off and is occurring far more frequently.”
“Jim Murphy lied and should have been challenged by the shows presenter, Gordon Brewer.”
“People do not pay a TV Licence fee to be subjected to amateur presenters allowing right-wing party leaders promote their agendas, unchallenged, with blatant lies and propaganda.”
At the time i thought this to be a good complaint which they could not wriggle out of It’s only now, when looking at it again and with the reply in my possession, i can see there is so much wrong with it and i put it up here on WOS so that others may learn from it and can be guided when making their own complaints, which we should NEVER cease doing – the more the better.
Reply to follow – after i have my dinner.
@Stoker
It’s after I have my “tea” unless it’s a late dinner LOL
The three EM EGO’s
Jon D says:
9 January, 2015 at 11:00 am
All Labour has left is a bunch of quasi-rabid attack dogs whose only gratification, and purpose, is going around sniffing each others @rses.
Quasi- rabid? you have got to be joking! take a look at the picture of Spud at the start of this section and tell me that mans not rabid ! he might not be frothing at the mouth but the look of pure hatred has to be seen to be believed ! top marks to any candidate that has the Niagara falls (rhyming slang) to use that picture in their election address it will kill Labours vote stone dead.
Reply received to complaint as detailed on my post @ 3.51pm
(received 08.01.14)
“Thank you for your correspondence. Your comments were passed to the Editor of Sunday Politics Scotland, who has asked that i forward her response as follows:”
“Thank you for being in touch about the programme on 14th December.”
“I am sorry you feel that the presenter had an extremely poor and unprofessional approach and seems to you an amateur presenter. This might come as a surprise to the many viewers who regard Gordon Brewer as a consummately professional interviewer and who tell us they approve of his forensic close questioning and pursuit of interviewees, with whom in my experience he is invariably firm yet polite.”
“The reason for your conclusion appears to be that he did not upbraid Jim Murphy MP for a ‘complete and utter lie’ in saying that the one way to replace the Tories was to vote Labour at the General Election.”
“It might be helpful to repeat what Mr.Murphy said: ‘The Scots have a choice – we can either protest against the Tories or we can replace the Tories. A vote for the SNP or a vote for the Lib Dems here in Scotland can be a protest about the Tories. There’s only one way to replace David Cameron and that’s by a Labour vote at the General Election – and for every seat that the SNP or Lib Dems try to win from us here in Scotland, the fact is that it reduces the size of the Labour Party and increases the chances of David Cameron remaining in Downing Street, they run the risk of just that happening if Labour is defeated in some constituencies.”
“I think that it is pertinent in examining your argument to note that the current state of the relevant parties in the UK parliament is SNP-6; Lib Dem-56; Labour-257; and Conservatives-303. While you argue that from time to time Scots have favoured Labour in the popular vote but got a Tory government (which is correct), he is arguing that the SNP cannot beat the Tories in a UK contest, because they stand only in Scotland, and that the Lib Dems are unlikely to beat the Tories, because they have only a fifth of the seats Labour currently have. That is a political argument, not a lie; and, because most psephologists and other political scientists would be in broad agreement with that argument, the presenter clearly did not regard it as a priority for pursuing Mr.Murphy, as he did in other subject areas during the coarse of that interview.”
“Incidentally, we are a mouthpiece for no-one. We report news and current affairs fairly, accurately, impartially and authoritative. That is what the licence fee payer expects us to do, and what we have been doing for over ninety years.”
O/T
A fellow winger put this on an earlier thread, apologies that I can’t remember who. It is very good and articulates the fallacy of ‘trickle down economics’. Be prepared for touches of incandescent rage to bubble up listening to some of the instigators and followers who have benefited from this atrocious ‘model’. But also be prepared for others who have the insight to see that it is simply immoral and that it has caused a massive de stabilising within society…
I rather suspect it’s all quite deliberate myself, but this does not cover that ground…maybe Part 2 will.
As mentioned by original link poster, this was aired last night on BB2, and is available for 29 days. Part 1 of a 2 part series which I think is on next Thurdsay. Anyway…enjoy…ish.
link to bbc.co.uk
Team Thrush cos they’re all irritating c**ts
link to facebook.com
slagging these individuals off won’t get us anywhere
These guys and their amoral tactics won the referendum because they had the mainstream media at their beck and call. We need to be alert and smarter than them this time to avoid a repeat in May. Save your energy for more productive activity Lets make sure that the truth is heard above the lies and deliberate misinformation which confused and frightened so many in September
Lesley-anne says:
9 January, 2015 at 1:36 pm
gillie says:
“We need a name for Jim Murphy’s new team.
Murph and the Murphites?
Jim and the Jimadists?
The Three Ms (Murphy, McDougall and and McTernan)?
I suppose “The Three Stooges” is just too obvious a name to suggest Gillie, or is it? :D”
If Jimbo’s in it then it cannae be The Three Degrees.
[Just for eternal students of pop.]
Those three?
The McSpreaders
@gillie says: 9 January, 2015 at 12:14 pm:
“We need a name for Jim Murphy’s new team.”
How about, “The Three Caballeros”? This was a Disney Film, circa 1944/5. It stars Donald Duck, who is joined by his old friend, “José Carioca”, the cigar-smoking parrot, (from Saludos Amigos (1942). and then later (Donald),makes a new friend in the persona of the pistol-packing rooster named, “Panchito Pistoles”.
I’ll leave it to commenters to make a play on the names, “José Carioca”, and “Panchito Pistoles”. (Reference to Duck Eggs gains no points).