Scotland’s Future In Scotland’s Hands
Posted on
March 11, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Still no sign of any video despite repeated requests, but we’ve finally managed to lay our hands on an audio recording of Alex Salmond’s New Statesman lecture in London last week, including the audience question-and-answer session afterwards.
(The main speech ends at 36m, if you’ve already read it and want to get to the Q&A.)
EDIT: The speech, though not the Q&A, is now available on video here.
I’m getting a “video can’t be played because the file is corrupt” message? Is there a problem – or is it just my kit?
Watched the lecture a day or so ago, keen now to watch the Q and A, but to go O/T where is Morag now that Al Jazeera are about to break the story on Lockerbie, tonight (Tues ) ?.
Works for me, though I am downloading it to listen on a better player
I am the same Stu,video cant be play because file is corrupt.
“video can’t be played”
“video cant be play because file is corrupt.”
As noted in the FIRST SENTENCE (tsk), it’s not video. You can’t stream audio on certain setups. You have to right-click and download the file.
A decent browser would play it anyway 😉
I cant get the link to work either.
But full audio also available at …
link to newstatesman.com
Scroll down to the comments area and its slotted in at the top. Includes Q&A too.
Gosh…isn’t he good…sometimes when I see that smirking, smug face and I have to be honest, got negative thoughts on him. However listening to his logic, his words and his attitude to open discussion and challenges, you really have to take your hat off to him…he is so far and away head and shoulders way above anyone else, it should be embarrassing for the pro-union parties.
@ Henry Hooper
Indeed. He is civilised, calm, authentic and completely convincing.
Smug? If only people were able to tear the media-spun veil from their eyes and see Westminster for the complacent sham that it is.
Listened to the Q&A, I truly cannot understand peoples antipathy towards this man. He is head and shoulders above his opponents.
Henry Hooper
Hear Hear! That has brightened up my whole day.
He is a master at making a case for Scotland, completely at ease and on top of his brief. Yet there are some who will not watch or listen and get their impressions coloured in for them by the media spin for a ‘NO’.
Thanks for posting this.
Great speech – deserved a thousand times the exposure it received. Contrast this statesman with Osborne’s threats delivered with the engine running. The press fail not just Scotland but the Engish public also. It doesn’t fit with the narrative that our FM is reasonable, measured and cooperative.
I know full well it is and must be a wider movement than Alex Salmond as frontman- would love to see much more from Patrick Harvie, Dennis Canavan and the rejuvenated Tommy Sheridan (check out his amazing speech at Kirkcaldy for a master at height of his powers). That said, we are blessed with Alex and Nicola. Trying not to sound like a groupie.
BTW o/t – just got mair pre dam busters yes papers- not old hat at all but urgently need something new to counter all the shite fae Feb
Rev, and SNP MSP (can’t remember who) posted the full video to her Facebook timeline a few days ago. I’ll see if I can find it for you.
It’s an excellent speech, but what is really impressive is the way he is able to deal with questions from the audience afterwards,
Thanks Stu, was having problems finding this. Much appreciated sir.
Albaman, Morag said on a previous thread that she was off up to Holyrood this afternoon to watch a preview of the Lockerbie documentary. She hadn’t seen it yet. It will be interesting to hear what she thinks.
Ah well, can’t find it at all. Even checked on others’ timelines but it’s nowhere to be found.
Maybe someone else will remember. The post was titles ‘For those who missed it’.
O/T Just heard the news on Radio 4. Now I have to find out what Mark Carney actually said as opposed to what the BBC said he said. Argh!!!
The boy done well.
I think the audience was very warm in its welcome and much more so in its thanks at the end.
He charmed their socks off.
Thanks for putting that up Rev , it was fantastic ! I was immensely proud of Alex Salmond , and who can say that after all these years of campaigning , about a guy who is acknowledged as a great Orator by people in other countries . However here in Scotland the Labour Party and the rest have shovelled shit on him for years and the wee , stupid people believe it !
I believe he is trying to run a very fair campaign that will appeal to the rUk as well because will have to live along side them after Independence . Just because rUk is running a biased, project fear campaign doesn’t mean we have to. Alex Salmond seems to be able to rise above it all ,but I’m not so good and feel like kicking something sometimes !!
Crown office has trashed the Lockerbie film as nothing new here move along. BBC Scotland tea time news.
Mr Bateman has a pop at Ms Baillie & Gordon.
link to derekbateman1.wordpress.com
NewStatesmanMagazine has a youtube channel.
link to youtube.com
And they have posted a video of the speech there.
“Alex Salmond’s New Statesman lecture: “Scotland’s Future in Scotlan’s Hands”
link to youtube.com
😉
“And they have posted a video of the speech there.”
Sadly that’s only 10 minutes long.
Sermon on the Pound 😀
Priceless!
Nae wonder Cameron got ootay toon…
o/t File on 4 looking at the rigging of postal votes 20:00 on radio 4
@call me dave
Derek’s blog has been down for an hour or so for me.
An excellent speech, well delivered and well received.
Alex showed why he is the best politician in the UK. He is a wholly committed man to the cause, and always has been.
Very well done. Q& A were also answered very well.
Follow on I can access Derek’s blog if I go into a new private window!
My son was a senior member of the Labour organisation at Westminster for several years until recently. We often talked politics and he told me quite frankly that in his opinion (and it was shared by many of his colleagues) Alex Salmond was far and away the best politician in the UK. They actually wished that he had been a Labour MP as he would inevitably have won the leadership and would at this very moment be Prime Minister in a Labour government.
It’s because Alex Salmond is so good that he attracts all the vitriol from his opponents.
I should say that my son left the organisation because he was convinced that Milliband is useless and that Labour will lose the next election.
That was wonderful, the man is a star, I have to say all those in this country who hate Alex Salmond with a passion are idiots, I don’t like calling people names but idiots they are.
In my view Alex Salmond is the best politician this country has ever produced, I hope he has body guards as we all know what the British state are capable of.
Hope there’s be a Salmond versus Cameron TV debate. Alec will destroy him. I think they both realise that!
O/T
On RBS and whether it goes. It won’t. But it would do us no harm if it did and took its debts (none of which were run up by us)with it.
However it is as well to remember some history. It was formed by whig unionists to counteract the Bank of Scotland which had Jacobite sympathies. It was the bank of choice for many of the parcel of rogues when they got their bribes to vote for the union
Luke 4:24
King James Bible translation.
And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
Not completely true of course, some of us have faith in the messenger and the message!
OT – Just received this email from Yes in the Glen :
“Dear Contributors,
As you are already aware the Yes in the Glen fundraising went into phase 2 at the start of the month. We have since transitioned from Flexible Funding to Fixed Funding.
We are a long way off of our target and as such we have taken steps to ensure damage limitation. As such we have moved our fundraiser from flexible (where we get paid even if it doesn’t hit target) to fixed (where we must hit our target to receive the funds).
On April the second we will know if the event is going ahead or not. If we don’t hit our target on the second fundraiser then we will be cancelling the event. All people who donated on this fundraiser will receive their refund automatically from Indiegogo.
As for those who donated in the first fundraiser, which is all of you receiving this email. If you donated using PayPal then we will refund your money on PayPal. This may take a few days so please bear with us.
As for those of you who paid using credit card. It will take us a while to nail down your details to issue a refund. We will email all affected that paid by credit card rather than PayPal and arrange direct deposit with your bank or a postal order to refund the sum to you.
Now by now you will have already noticed that indiegogo, PayPal and the credit card company have already deducted their fees. As for PayPal, those fees will be refunded when we refund the sums to you via PayPal so there will be no loss of funds.
As for the indiegogo and credit card fees, well they are already gone and indiegogo’s terms and conditions will not allow a refund of them.
So, because they equate to just under what I donated to the actual event, I will be covering it with that sum to ensure that nobody loses out. It may take a few weeks to get it all back to you but we will sort it out.
This email is more of a what if than anything else but if we do not hit target by the 2nd of April, unfortunately the event will be cancelled. We hope this wont happen but unfortunately we are having to take a pragmatic view of the situation.
Our new fundraising link is here:
link to igg.me
We would appreciate it if you could share it.”
SO I HAVE!
Not specifically to do with the discussion, but with the title of the thread:
it has probably been said many times on this site, that Robert Crawford’s book “Bannockburns” (yes – plural) is a great read. Ought to be compulsory for anyone wishing to vote on September 18.
Includes on p.29 a quotation in Latin which I will try to learn by heart…..
At nos non imperium neque divitias petimus, quarum rerum causa bella atque certamina omnia inter mortalis sunt, sed libertatem, quam nemo bonus nisi cum anima simul amittit.
It’s from the Declaraiton of Arbroath, of course, as you all recognised immediately….. At least learn the English or Scots translation…..
As a politician, Alex Salmond is head and shoulders above the likes of Cameron, Miliband and Clegg. His long political career speaks for itself. Dogged determination – and good humour – in the face of impossible odds. And now we’re at the point of an independence referendum.
It’s no happenstance the NO people desperately try to smear Alex Salmond. Scottish independence wouldn’t even be debated unless for him. He lead his party to two election victories and opened up the debate, made the idea of independence a reality. Other pro-independence political and civil leaders just don’t command that amount of attention.
After Scottish independece, a discreet plaque should be placed in Linthlitgow or Strichen or some other appropriate place. Not keen on statues, unless you can place traffic cones on their heads.
@Indie Vidual
‘We often talked politics and he told me quite frankly that in his opinion (and it was shared by many of his colleagues) Alex Salmond was far and away the best politician in the UK. They actually wished that he had been a Labour MP as he would inevitably have won the leadership and would at this very moment be Prime Minister in a Labour government.
But he was, wasn’t he – and Labour PM was his ambition – according to the one and only Edwina Currie?
Derek Bateman
Remember how he couldn’t bring himself to speak to the newly elected Fist Minister for weeks because of his psychotic loathing of Salmond?
bfh—wow that’s so bad
was that when SNP won a majority Scottish Parliament ?
@bookie from hell – no it was the 2007 election where SNP formed a minority government and wee McConnell had to be dragged out with his fingernails dragging the walls..They haven’t got over that initial defeat and thats why Toom Tabard was so disrespectful of FM
JohnB says
At nos non imperium neque divitias petimus, quarum rerum causa bella atque certamina omnia inter mortalis sunt, sed libertatem, quam nemo bonus nisi cum anima simul amittit.
does it mean?
But we are not at power or wealth, for the sake of which wars and all rivalries among men, but liberty, which no good man loses but with his life at the same time.
or words to that effect?
Meanwhile, out in the real world, YLE (Finnish national broadcaster) carried this item on their website.
link to yle.fi
To those of you who don’t know Finnish, the headline is “London’s City wants to rip the EU’s cap on bonuses”
It’s about the new EU rule that no bonuses should exceed the recipient’s yearly pay.
London City types don’t like it at all, they’re threatening to leave and relocate in the US or Asia. (Why does that sound somehow familiar?)
YLE cites a Julian Dixon, who conducts his business activites in the shadow of London skyscrapers, as saying this is yet another way the eurocrats sink their teeth into the City, because they’re just envious.
YLE goes on to say that the financial sector accounts for approximately 10% of the UK’s GDP and that there are appoximately 2,500 financial workers who earn more than a million euros a year.
Next YLE points out the increasing income inequality in the UK and interviews the leader of a charity opposed to increasing income inequality.
This new EU ruling was conspicuous by its absence in the BBC website. World, UK, European… Not a whiff of this story.
Aaron Sorkin couldn’t have written better! Thanks for posting Rev, that was superlative – Salmond at his best, especially in the Q&A.
Really hope the video for this surfaces. I want to preserve it on DVD.
@bookie from hell
‘Remember how he couldn’t bring himself to speak to the newly elected Fist Minister for weeks because of his psychotic loathing of Salmond?
bfh—wow that’s so bad
was that when SNP won a majority Scottish Parliament?’
No, it refers to 2007 when Salmond was FM of a minority SNP government. You can extrapolate from that the degree of mental anguish felt by Brown and SLAB in 2011.
What a great speech by the first minister,cannot understand how the likes of Danny Alexander gets huge media coverage last week and this gets a fraction!
Well….i can understand it actually,its called media bias!
Re Brown disrespecting Salmond’s election, I thought it was 2011, as Brown wasn’t PM in 2007?
I now know why the BBC have REFUSED to provide the full recorded video (its cuts off at 13 minutes and has BBC reporters talking over it) – It’s POSITIVE about Scotland and put’s Alex Salmond in a very good light.
A great orator and defender of Scotland.
Excellent speech – Applause at the end was more than the beginning!
(I am a shareholder of the BBC as a License fee payer and the restriction of their media which I and everyone else pay for the sake of a bias makes me absolutely livid but truth & reality I am sure will prevail) link to youtube.com
Sorry to go totally trivial but Alex Salmond’s and JoLa’s respective weight losses just beg the question.
Was it just another SNP initiative that SLAB first opposed but then adopted and claimed as theirs?
@ Jamie Arriere 9.29pm
It was 2007, Brown was Chancellor then. Brown wasn’t PM in 2011, Cameron was.
DOH!!
Anybody got FT access? Want to read the article this BBC article links to.
link to bbc.co.uk
Looks utterly absurd and might be good for a number of laughs.
@RogueCoder
link to archive.is
Salmond really is one of the best statesmen in the UK atm. Outstanding.
Absolutely first class. Very inspiring. He’s right; the positive nature of our campaign alone is making Scotland a better place
anyone subscribe to telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
unionist minister saying no such thing as Scottishness
It was 2007 and it was Blair that never called. Brown congratulated Salmond about 4 weeks after the election during a call over business matters.
IMHO Alex Salmond is the finest politician, certainly in Europe, the most consistent and the most TRUTHFUL & HONEST hence he is the focus of the attack by the ESTABLISHMENT of thieves, fraudsters & thugs to protect their putrid Westminster system. If we succeed in breaking away from the cesspool that is UK then the whole rotten game in London will crumble and everybody will see how corrupt and poisonous it has been for the last couple of hundred years.
There is something rotten in the state of Lizzie’s Kingdom and Alex Salmond has the ability and power to expose it and it’s elite gangsters. These thugs and gangsters will not let that happen without a fight, it’s their ponsi game that is in danger. Hence the panic and frantic attack from all the rotten politicians past and present the rats nest is in danger and all the rats are going to its defence.
I have said often Alex had better be careful because this lot will stop at nothing to protect their wealth and power, I DO MEAN NOTHING! Hence all the means the state has to suppress the truth and support lies, fear and terror of their own citezens to keep their sordid protection racket intact.
They see ECK as the enemy general and they will try to destroy him to cut off the head of the opposition and they believe that will finish the game, revolt over. If these thugs had any brains they would see how broad and deep the independence parties have become, we have a lot of good leaders and this revolt will never be suppressed for long. ONWARD &UPWARD YES YES YES!
@bookie from hell, here’s the telegraph piece on archive.
link to archive.is
Alistair Carmichael telling us that there’s no such thing as Scottishness. Worth a few more yes votes I would think. What a fanny.
I am fairly sure it was left to Douglas Alexander to phone Salmond to congratulate him.
All this Scottish constitutional stuff can get a bit depressing at times because of the relentless negativity of the NO side, so I thank whoever it was that first linked this to WoS. I really like the song and I LOVE the Irn-Bru curlers! 😀
I think the Telegraph have stitched The Prime Minister for Portsmouth up a tad but it is amusing to see it happen to BT for a change.
No-one can doubt Alex Salmond’s bravery. He’s been in and around Westminster long enough to know the kind of people he’s up against, and is putting us up against.
What did he say at Calton Hill? ‘These are powerful forces we face.’ Words to that effect, delivered without melodrama, but you could tell he meant it. We can’t say we haven’t been warned, but he knows that we know it’s no ‘game’, and that’s why the pathetic efforts of Darling, Balls, Alexander, Lamont and MacDougall look ever-more lame as they cast about for a way – any way – to frighten us.
They’ve failed, and now – enjoy it folks – that fear has been returned, with levels of interest that would make Wonga green with envy.
We’re winning, and they know we know that they know that we know it – it’s a death-spiral of their own making. What was it again, that Labour spin doctor said, years ago, in his diary? ‘All this huge stuff about trust…’
(Forget his name now…Scottish sounding…has-been gobshite and war criminal…quite a few of them right enough…)
The ranks of New Labour has-beens is about to swell considerably, and their Scottish Conference will help speed the process. Can’t wait to hear the main speeches – JoLa, give it your best shot hen, cause it’s the last time you’ll ever have a captive audience. From September onwards, the biggest crowd you’ll be part of (if they’ll have you) is in your local bingo-hall.
Just had a listen to part of the Q&A session. Got to say Alec Salmond really inspiring to listen to. This should be required listening for anybody considering public office.
O/T
100,000+ copies of the White Paper printed.
link to bbc.co.uk
Now if only Wings had a pound for every copy printed…oh!
Alf Young on Newsnight Scotland says the nuclear gas leak was only a “wee” leak and nothing to worry about.
What if this “wee” leak had went un-noticed Alf?
What if there was a massive build up of gases that lead to a huge explosion Alf?
Wee leaks lead to big bangs Alf.
Fuckwits should keep their mouths shut when they don’t have a clue about what they are talkin about.
@John B
That quotation has similar sentiments to the Declaration of Arbroath, but it is from Sallust’s “Cataline’s War”
I was impressed with Alex’s reply to one questioner about his positivity. He said the penny dropped when he realised that he had to do things differently, not just in what you were arguing for, but in how you framed the argument, how you thought, behaved were perceived. (Paraphrased).
He followed this up at the end by saying that the way that the referendum discussions were progressing, the manner of debate, the reawakening of people’s interest in politics were also positive outcomes of the campaign!
Live as though we live in the early days of a better world!
Really inspirational, the audience really connected with it!
I think that this is one of the main reasons we will win this ‘thing’.
TheDeclaration reads
“Non enim propter gloriam, diuicias aut honores pugnamus set propter libertatem solummodo quam Nemo bonus nisi simul cum vita amittit.”
It’s simple, just mark an “X” next to YES on Sept 18th and you get rid of,
Trident
RBS (Yee Ha)
Westminster Scottish MPs
Scottish Lords
HS2
Helping rebuild London
Illegal Wars
London Establishment
GCHQ Spying on you
Etc…
The list is endless. But you get the point.
Vote YES.
Actually, I’m going to substantially agree with the Crown Office here, for possibly the first time in recorded history. The basic narrative of the film was in effect a re-run of the original line of inquiry that was pursued in 1989. Al Jazeera had (or claimed to have) some new information that corroborated it, but in fact there was nothing substantial in there that I wasn’t already aware of from my reading round the subject.
I’m not knocking the film because it was well made and for the viewer who wasn’t already familiar with that part of the narrative it was informative. It was good in that it brings the problems with the case back into the public eye. It wasn’t new though, despite the hype.
Something was a bit off. The reason I was contacted to be in the film in the late summer of last year was, as I understood it, because the Al Jazeera investigation had uncovered evidence that their prime suspect had travelled to London on the day of the disaster. They believed London was the scene of the crime, and when they heard that I had an analysis of the forensic evidence that showed London was the scene of the crime, they thought it was a perfect fit.
Except, that part wasn’t there. The main evidence suggesting London was actually my own contribution. The other thing, “sources say the bomb was introduced at Heathrow”, was a detail the investigation didn’t acquire until December. Nothing about how the bomb was taken to London, or by whom, or how it was got into the baggage container. That was the bit I understood they had, the reason I was involved, and the bit I was waiting for.
Why would they leave that out, when it was originally so central? I believe Iran was leaning on them a bit, so I do wonder.
So yes, there was really nothing new. Except my assertion that the forensic evidence shows the bomb went on board at Heathrow. Which the Crown Office have been aware of for more than a year.
Plenty to see here folks, and I believe plenty more to come.
Dear Rev & fellow readers.. I want to carry out some research on BBC website bias.
Can anyone computer whizz kids explain to me how I can access the BBC archive of stories over the past 6 months (if there is one)?
By the way, after the showing of the film Jim Swire said he and some of the other relatives were definitely going to put in an application to the SCCRC for a third appeal. This should happen next month.
Then they will HAVE to listen. In theory anyway. Jim said maybe in three years we’ll have it licked. Certain other people expressed due scepticism at his timetable.
@caz_m –
‘Alf Young on Newsnight Scotland says the nuclear gas leak was only a “wee” leak and nothing to worry about.’
So, if Alf has a ‘wee gas leak’ in the office, does he imagine that no-one nearby objects, or is curious about the source?
Thankfully, Alf doesn’t release radioactive/potentially fatal farts (so far as we know) but it ill behoves him to lecture the rest of us on how to react when we find out that a neighbour has been doing so – that the unwelcome emissions happen to be odourless does not diminish the gravity of the offence. Silent but deadly right enough…
Pffffeuuurrp to you, Mr Young.
@ Morag, Yes, there wasnt much new in there tonight. Have known about the Iran PFLP-GC link for years, and the causal link from USS Vincennes (their Captain received a medal for shooting down the Airbus). Something they didnt mention, and this is hearsay, but following the warning given a fortnight before, i understand that several senior people moved their seats from that flight to earlier ones, so the threat was credible and acted upon. The link from Germany to London is the crucial one. Could it have been a simple cross channel ferry trip?
The story about the changed flights was investigated and turned out to be unsubstantiated. Nobody special changed their flights, and there was nothing unusual about the booking patterns on the plane. There’s a whole academic paper on it that seems sound enough.
Yes, probably just a ferry trip. Ferry security checks would never catch that device. I had hoped there might be something about that on the film, but there wasn’t.
Inspirational positiveness does not sit well with foul language.Just saying and will keep on saying. My wife is now A YES supporter but says she would not dream of encouraging her friends to read some of the blogs for indy ,including this one,because what she perceives as offensive language. She has no issues with the robust language used by that nice Mr Bell or Mr Bateman!
I guess the more difficult question to track down will be what/who instigated the change of focus from Iran/PFLPGC towards Libya. We can speculate but there will be dark forces behind such a move and ultimately may prove impossible to penetrate. In an Indy Scotland we can arrest Blair and ask him…
Permananently banned from twitter after a stream of complaints apparently. Nothing to do with last night I suppose……
When you hit some people below the water line they really try to do a North Korea and close you down…dissent from official position is banned.
The British Establishment, made up of ‘Salamanders’, has always destroyed anyone who came in its way.
That is why it has survived for so long.
Alex Salmond is the biggest threat it has ever faced.
Under normal circumstances, he would have been destroyed long ago.
Incredible good luck for Scotland has seen him thrive.
The main reason that he has survived is the internet.
For the first time, ordinary people have had access to information which was meant to be kept hidden from them.
If only each day’s W o S articles could be published and distributed like the Metro.
We would then be looking at a 80% YES vote.
It’s getting ridiculous,so many companies,people are threatening to move south if we vote YES,we could end up calling the whole of UK,Scotland
YA BEAUTY
Does anyone else think Gordon Brown might have a wee sideline going as a target on a shooting stall at the links market,
seven corks for 2 quid, hit him three times and you win a life size Bugger the Panda 🙂
Wee Sally @ the state broadcaster hints at the spin they will give later today on the GERS figures when she states that it is expected Scotland’s deficit will have increased due to plummeting oil revenues. She said previously Scotland’s defecit was smaller than rUK.
“. Silent but deadly right enough…
Pffffeuuurrp to you, Mr Young.”
All I can say is thank God brussel sprouts are not radioactive s’all 😉
Btw
for the uninitiated the Links Market is reputedly the longest street fair in Europe at just under 1 mile long,
it is held in April each year on the esplanade in Kirkcaldy (an its always bloody freezin) 🙁
You can see why it didn’t get TV or film coverage and only selective press attention. Warmly received, well applauded, a strong reasoned speech with a strong message of reply to recent Westminster tactics.
It was never going to get anywhere near a prime time slot.
Who knew?
Douglas Fraser has got to be the biggest enemy to Scotland since the Battle of Culloden and the Highland Clearance.
He is evil personified.
The guy detests anyone or anything that is a threat to is beloved UK.
He just can’t get over the fall of the Labour Party in Scotland.
At BBC Scotland, he is given the time and space, unhindered, to stab Scotland and his fellow Scots in the back, assisted by is BBC partner in crime Robert Peston.
These two bastards would love nothing better than to see Scotland brought to her knees.
Fraser needs to be constantly reminded of his treachery to Scotland.
The world of Philip Hammond
link to mirror.co.uk
How many people in this world would consider voting to become a slave or vassal of another person?
How many countries in this world would consider voting for another country to enslave it rob it of its wealth, culture, history and enforce its wishes on it.
There are a lot of countries who would like to be the master race.
There’s only one I know of who half the population think that sounds like a good idea and would vote to be a second class vassal in their own country. GUESS WHO? Proud pseudo middle class Scots! PATHETIC TRULY PATHETIC.
Scotland’s Future in BBC’s hands!
BBC will be focussing “the cost of the White Paper” this morning at 8.50 am
How much has the UK government spent on anti independence propaganda
BBC RADIO SCOTLAND MORNING CALL
Call 0500 92 95 00. Text 80295.
Email morningcallscot land@bbc.co.uk.
Morning Scotland/Call Kaye/Call Louise/Call Me a Taxi, whatever the hell it is now, will be discussing the cost of the White Paper.
Starring Jackson Carlaw (who was just a schoolboy when the McCrone report was published, but has had ample opportunity since his last appearance to go away and find out what it is).
Clearly, they’re setting-up a hatchet job, so let’s see what sort of reaction they get – what are good one-liners to justify the money spent on the document?
What is the estimated total salary of the BBC belters who appeared before a Holyrood Committee yesterday and refused to answer basic questions about their accountability? i.e. how many of their ‘customers’ complained about BBC referendum-related products?
Personally, I blame taxpayers for spending taxpayers money ordering copies of the white paper.
Re Call Whatever Stooge Is In the Chair This Morning
The narrative goes like this:
Unionists: We can’t be expected to vote Yes with so little information about what a Yes vote means
SG: Here’s your information in the form of the White Paper
Unionists: Er..But look at how much it cost to produce that information!
If we had a media that wasn’t wholly corrupt this would be laughed away in seconds. Instead, it’s the state broadcaster’s topic du jour.
A FOI should be submitted to Westminster on the cost of their laughably titled ‘Scotland analysis’ papers. Y’know, the ones that said Scotland was extinguished in 1707.
The White Paper is a great use of public money.
All the information you need on how a Scottish Government would be run after Independence in one document.
I think it is BBC Scotland who should be in the dock here.
We pay them £300 Million a year for a public service and yet we are still waiting on positive unbiased information on how Scotland would be run after Independence.
So who is ripping who off?
BBC Scotland have got some neck on them.
Do as I say not as I do.
They were up in front of a committee in Holyrood yesterday, and we are still waiting to here how they got on, nothing to see here, move along.
Also John Swinney made speech last night on the Scottish economy, no mention of that either.
And why is the fantastic news of Scottish salmon sales increasing throughout the world not their main headline.
The answer is simple. Any positive news about Scotland shall be suppressed.
Any negative news on Scotland shall be highlighted.
Re: Caithness Radiation Leak
To reveal if there has been contamination to the wider Caithness area I suggest the Scottish Government send in their own vets to keep a close eye on newly-borns this calfing/lambing season.
This is something WM would have done last year (secretly of course) as part of any ‘official’ radiation release response.
They will have data, SG should be asking to see this data in order to gauge how to respond. SG should be putting monitors on the site (if anyone brave enough can be found)
The release levels being mentioned (40X ‘safe’ level) are enough to kill a human being at close proximity within minutes. If, as they are reporting this was a pressurised leak then we need to know if it was a straight leak to the atmosphere, the pressure of the leak and the quantity released.
Wind direction and thermal lift would tell us where the leak then went. If it was blown south across the Scottish mainland it could be devastating to the populace. Problem is, it would take 5-20 years for the effects to show up in humans as these low level doses take time to set in.
@Ian
Q 4 K
How much does WM spend on lavvie paper?
Academic condemns BBC Scotland
link to youtu.be
Courtesy of NNS
And re the BBC, specifically the arrant cheek of McQuarrie and Boothman to question the methodology of Prof Robertson re the latter’s report on BBC/STV bias.
Well, that’s fine, you pair of superannuated stooges, but presumably you’ll also be questioning the ‘methodology’ of your favourite son Prof Curtice, whose predictions based on ‘polls’ in 2011 were so spectacularly, hopelessly wrong that they would have got the most junior researcher sacked. You won’t be doing that, you say? Nope, didn’t think so.
on call kayee the noo hope I didn’t lose the rag regards the anti indy documents doh
On ‘K’ –
Grace was great, and William’s now sticking the boot in. Great stuff.
Louise just said BT ‘relies on public donations’.
@bunter –
You are William? Well done that man!
Aye that’s me and cheers Mr Bell on his follow up!
Morning Call on Radio Scotland is a complete and utter disgrace. It IS a hatchet job.
There is no balance what so ever as they have both Tory Jackson Carlaw and a Libdem on versus Alex Bell, so 2 to 1 in favour of no.
Next Louise White keeps repeating that the cost of the white paper is £ 1.25 million (lost count the number of times she repeats this). She then advises that the Scottish Government has called in to say that the actual cost is £ 800,000 . But Louise White doesn’t accept this as she said ’rounded up its £ 1 million. But then repeats that with advertising and distribution is more likely to be £ 1.25 million.
The other thing that the programme tries to make out is that people will not bother reading it!. This is despite the fact that people have gone to the trouble of ordering it. The other thing she ignores is the amount of downloads
@Edward –
Right after the news the cost suddenly shot up to 1.5 million. Seems to have dropped back to approx. 1.25, but there’s a long way to go…
I see on Twitter that Better Together have posted an article about Carney (BoE governer)’s speech yesterday.
I also see that someone pointed out that every claim made in their analysis is inaccurate.
If you didn’t laugh you’d cry.
Ian Brotherhood says:
“what are good one-liners to justify the money spent on the document?”
I just emailed this:
£1.25m for White Paper on future of Scotland.
£1.2m PER YEAR cost to the public purse to subsidise the bars, restaurants and cafes of the House of Lords.
They set up a hatchet-job, then hit themselves on the shins. Oohyabassye!
Expect them to change the subject to ‘salt’ any moment.
With regards to Neil
NumptyBibby I remember thiscomment I made some time ago.
Aye the chump put a poll on his web-site:
Should Scotland be Independent?
YES = 94.7%
Then the NuLabour Numpty party disappeared it.
Don’t worry about Morning Call the overwhelming majority of the callers are in favour of the White Paper. Folk are not daft and the BBC / ‘NO’ coalition have had their argument trashed on various levels. People will see it for what it is.
They will move onto the other topic when the producer realise this. ‘Salt’ 🙂
I am again encouraged by my fellow Scots.
People are talking about the WP in our local just about daily now, our savvy landlord keeps a copy under the bar for quick reference, dispelling 9 myths and sometimes stopping arguments getting out of hand.
Any pub landlords (and I know one particular landlady who reads wings) please get yourselves a hard copy ASAP.
Ian Brotherhood
SNAP 🙂
They’re back on the WP because they finally found a No voter…but it turns out even he doesn’t object to the WP.
Damn!
That White Paper is a disgrace – all this stuff about education, childcare, renewables, you name it, and not a single word about salt.
Texted them I like salt in my porrige but no mention yet 🙁
Achnababan says:
11 March, 2014 at 11:43 pm
Dear Rev & fellow readers.. I want to carry out some research on BBC website bias.
Can anyone computer whizz kids explain to me how I can access the BBC archive of stories over the past 6 months (if there is one)?
Search BBC on Google
Click on News
Click on Search Tools
Click Any Time and choose Custom Range
Enter from to dates
Re audio
Worked perfectly for me although I had problems trying to fast forward. Solution I right clicked on audio file link and opened in new tab then right clicked and chose ‘Save Audio As’ then opened in iTunes (on Mac) perfect! On PC I right clicked and because I have IDM installed I had the option of ‘download with IDM’ not sure what would happen on PC if you don’t have IDM installed. It could be worth giving it a try. IDM=Internet Download Manager
Sorry the only comments I can make are about computer/internet problems.
When it comes to politics and current affairs I’m just a learner that is why I come to ‘Wings Over Scotland’ for my lessons.
Thank you all very much for your very helpful, informative and interesting articles and posts.
O/T Re: Aberdeen City Council
I am hearing that the proposed letter, is actually against local government code of conduct on publicity….council lawyers informed the esteemed leaders of this, but they went ahead with it anyway.
All councillors that voted for it are in breach of this and have failed in their duty….don’t know if it’s enough to get them all out and hold an election though!
…and white paper AND salt wi my chips, still nae mantion 🙁
@SquareHaggis –
Text them again – tell them that you like salt on your porridge and you’re definitely voting No. You’ll be first on after the news. Sorted.
Scotland’s Future for £12.50 a pop (perhaps only £8.00, according to the SG). Excellent value if you ask me.
Unionists really don’t want people to know what is going on and how they are being lied to all the time. They don’t want people informed and engaged – that’s too dangerous for them and their cosy self-serving careers.
The YES campaign has done Scotland a great service by reminding us of our natural inclination to question ‘authority’ and find things out for ourselves. And the unionists won’t be able to put Scotland’s growing sense of empowerment back in the box.
Not corrected by Ms White was the caller who said that the YES billpoards were paid for by the SG. How about a FOI question to the UK Government on the papers produced by thirteen departments and the huge staff constantly researching ways to damage YES. What about the £5 M spending by BBC for its BEtter Together propaganda?
I order 3 white papers, all have been handed out to friends that want more info…
If we had to pay for it, I would.
Looking forward to Fred MacAuley’s show this morning – then I can switch the radio off and take the dogs for a walk.
O/T Latest GERS figures now released.
Scotland generated 9.1% of UK revenues (inc geographical share of North Sea revenue)
Total public Sector expenditure for Scotland was 9.3%
Scotland deficit 8.3% of GDP
UK deficit 7.3% of GDP
According to these figures Scotland was subsidised by rUK to the tune of £1.6bn (or £304 per head)in 2012-2013.
Prepare for the onslaught.
@Ian
Never thought of that one, darn!
link to parliamentlive.tv
HoL constitution committee with Alistair Carmichael and Lord Wallace starting at 1030am if anyone fancies it.
Potential questions include:
What plans the Government are making for the constitutional implications of a ‘yes’ vote in the referendum?
Do the UK Government view the timetable for independence in the event of a ‘yes’ vote (independence by 24 March 2016) as binding? What would happen if the negotiating teams could not reach an agreement?
Would the UK negotiating team contain persons other than Government Ministers?
Would Scottish MPs have to leave the House of Commons on independence day? How would they be removed?
What legislation would be required in Westminster to allow negotiations to begin? What would be required to ratify the outcome of the negotiations?
What legal principles should apply to negotiations on the division of assets and liabilities (such as the national debt) that are currently UK wide?
Does the UK Government accept that there could be some ‘shared services’ following Scottish independence?
Indeed Mocha, hopefully they come out all guns blazing about the tax changes to the oil industy etc
It’s like BBC Scotland are in death-wish / going-down-in-flames mode.
How else can you explain them running this morning’s Radio Scotland non-story about the WP cost, the day after the BBC bias hearings at the Scottish Parliament?
I listened up until it went salty, and it was like hearing a great YES Scotland radio advert.
The Libdumb guy was really dumb.
The closing bit of the discussion is truly awe inspiring when you compare it with party politics. The English correspondents have lots to think about concerning Westminster not doing England justice.
MacCauley on, tranny off.
The have had requests for around 100,000 copies of the White Paper
What do they think a 700 page document lots of graphics, pictures and colour is going to cost per copy.
£10 per copy including advertising, printing and postage seems pretty reasonable to me
The point people need to understand is that the cost is this level because it is popular. Perhaps that is what is really annoying them in point of fact.
Looks like the BBC is going to retaliate for the accusations of bias by being very, very biased. One day they are going to want public support…they can want. Hope Osborne screws them over on the licence fee and removes it from being a criminal offence.
SquareHaggis says: People are talking about the WP in our local just about daily now, our savvy landlord keeps a copy under the bar for quick reference, dispelling 9 myths and sometimes stopping arguments getting out of hand.
That’s just fantastic – the people thinking about it and talking about it (which is what the Aye right! leaflets also encourage). No wonder the Unionists are running scared – the cat’s getting out of the bag…
This is my job. This is what we do. We do it all the time. We’re not “sent in” as you suggest, but rather we are constantly monitoring the disease situation in farm animals across Scotland for new and emerging conditions, changing prevalence of established conditions, and resurgence of diseases believed to be eradicated.
If there is any funny stuff, we WILL find it, and we will not be sweeping it under the carpet either I assure you. It is part of our normal everyday job, and the surveillance system is set up in principle to ensure that any occurrences of this nature are flagged up and investigated.
Why are so many posters insistent that Mr. Fraser is evil personified, but that Mrs. Fraser is the shining light of impartial, nat-friendly journalism?
What do you think it must be like over the dinner table in the Fraser household?
Could have been “dark forces” and a lot of people think so. Alternatively, some days I suspect it’s going to turn out to be turtles – I mean weapons-grade incompetence – all the way down.
@Ian Brotherhood
Grace was indeed great 70+ years, not taking any crap re ‘better together’ From the lib/dum. Not reading any papers either. Well done her.
@bunter
Excellent work.
I am ‘astonished’ at how many turn off Fred! He’s the best thing that the BBC have to entertain us. I also took the opportunity to severe his connection and went to the dentists, it was less painful 🙁
C’mon BBC Scotland we want and deserve better.
Morag, the other thing which was missing was any mention of the breakin at Heathrow. Have you any thoughts on why this was not mentioned last night as it would certainly allow an explanation/strengthen the case for the suitcase to have been put on at Heathrow rather than anywhere else.
Regarding your viewing yesterday at Holyrood, was there a good attendance there from the msp’s and was there any discussion post viewing?
YES campaign has full page advert in the Metro .
So on the bus open it at the page and leave it where it can be seen!
Alan, the Heathrow break-in is rather peripheral. Nobody knows if it was really connected to the bombing or not. It’s certainly not necessary for the Heathrow loading – Heathrow airside leaked like a seive. It’s not a question of “that’s impossible nobody could have penetrated airside – oh look there was this break-in.” So the fact that there was a break-in is interesting, but not central to the case.
What is more interesting now is why the statements relating to the break-in were filed as being of no possible interest to anyone, on 2nd February 1989, and never looked at again. It’s a damning indictment of how seriously they were considering an airside penetration at Heathrow as a possible cause of the disaster, only six weeks after the plane came down.
The showing was poorly attended because it was put on at very short notice. A jury-rigged set-up in a committee room was used, with poor sound and the picture confined to a square in the middle of the screen with aspect ratio problems. I got the feeling most of the attendees were journalists, interns, the press and various Justice for Megrahi hangers-on.
Morag, I hadnt realised that Heathrow was so leaky. Guess it makes a bit of a mockery of the “front of house” security when roond the back it is so slapdash. I guess if you were in the game, you would know exactly how and where to load the bomb and the easiet way to do so. Was there any checking of staff, ie new employees who were there for a few days or weeks who then moved on. One would expect some detailed recce to have been done, particularly if they had previous mil training. I know I would have, (and I do).
Re the meeting, I suppose it could be seen as a distraction if any from SG got involved and could attract flak which is unwelcome before Sept.
Alan, the showing was organised by Christine Grahame. I’m not quite sure what the object of the exercise was other than to give publicity to Al Jazeera’s film (not that I’m saying that was a bad thing), but in the event it provided Jim Swire with a platform to tell the press he and other relatives of Lockerbie victims intend to apply to the SCCRC for a third appeal.
Regarding Heathrow, everyone concerned agreed that once airside, anyone could go wherever they liked and place suitcases wherever they liked. It was also a fact that there were hundreds of security passes missing, maybe as much as a couple of thousand. When Bedford was asked who could have put a suitcase in the container he said, “anyone who worked at the airport”.
Another point is that Iran Air had an operation in Terminal 3 as well, as far as I know. I don’t think they were one of the companies who had a station in the interline shed, but their employees would have had access.
It’s not impossible that the breadk-in was for the purpose of getting the booby-trapped suitcase airside and hidden somewhere, to prevent the actual bomber from having to get through security carrying the thing. It’s also possible it was just a coincidence and had nothing to do with the disaster, with the bomb suitcase being carried airside in some other way.
By the way, Alan, bear in mind this was 25 years ago. I believe they have tightened up a lot since then, including the installation of CCTV everywhere. (Oh to have had CCTV footage of the interline shed in 1988!) Lockerbie was one of the incidents that prompted improvements in security.
@Morag –
‘What do you think it must be like over the dinner table in the Fraser household?’
Would you mind passing the salt?
F*** the salt. What about the White Paper?
@ Ian
“White Paper? Sorry dear have only got Black Pepper in the mill…”