Silly season
Today the Scottish Sun is almost entirely devoted to things idiot celebrities have said to each other on Twitter (or stories about Rihanna’s earrings), while the Daily Record relegates the Lib Dem Trident fiasco to a couple of small side columns in order to splash a double-page “EXCLUSIVE!” spread with the shock revelation that the First Minister of Scotland has sent letters of congratulation to some successful Scots.
(A feature for which it bewilderingly felt the need to waste taxpayers’ money by sending Freedom of Information requests to the Scottish Government.)
The Scotsman goes big on famous people’s favourite churches (people have favourite churches?), and the Herald has a South African, of all people, complaining about Alex Salmond taking a stand against discrimination.
We might take the day off.
After the emails between the Record and Rangers that have been released over the past few months, the home of Succulent Lamb journalism can lecture *no-one* about “fawning”, “cringeworthy” or “fan mail”….
How many trees were wasted by the Record in printing this drivel.
At least Salmond does not have to write letters of condolence to the families of servicemen who have been “sacrificed” for the greater glory of US oil companies.
Aren’t all the journalists away on holiday. I thought they just let the proverbial infinite number of monkeys loose during the summer hols.
Why do I care if the FM has congratualted someone again?
Why is there a Daily Record come to that? The last time I read the Record I was shocked at the appalling grammar and the journalism by numbers approach to every little story.
Is there a meter which can record the level of unionist Scottish cringe? Or is it already way off the scale?
Och, put it down to being some effects of the heat.
Embradon – well said!
Went to see The Art of Killing in GFT last night. Now that shows evidence of really SCARY journalism, this is just pap
O/T
New name for the no-camp could be Thrown Together.
Talking of pap journalism, BBC running an article without any sense of irony, on how to count numbers in a crowd.
It finishes with, “Counting crowds has become so much more about public relations and point-scoring than a quest for the truth”.
thrawn the gither
@wullie;
🙂
The Daily Record — spewing BritNat tosh every day of every week — they imagine people who read it care. People who care are the ones who care, the rest just glaze over. This is all part of their Alex Salmond character assassination which has worked but at the end of the day, people know better – whether they know it or not.
Who is that photobombing Alex Salmond with the saltire top left? Disgraceful.
I wonder if – since the negativity about independence is now seen to be counter-productive for BT – they now think that being negative about AS is the way forward? It seems to me this can only work in YES Scotland/the SNP’s favour – I mean how much spin and lies can the union churn out before the Scottish public begin to disbelieve the arse-gravy about Salmond?
The DR article is a good example, people with a pathological hatred for the SNP/Salmond probably won’t be turned anyway, but I share this kind of thing with folks I know to be generally against indy because of their dislike of AS and I can see them frown a wee bit.
Its a bit grasping, desperate and contrived (the photos the DR used are obviously entirely unrelated to the subject of the article.) People who if left alone would vote no as a matter of course are being made to question what they’re being told because of this kind of clod-footed spin.
Long may it continue.
Don’t you have a favourite church, Rev? 😛
(If it’s of the Tom Cruise variety, best keep the answer to yourself…)
Gary Player namechecks Mandela, Ghandi and Martin Luther King and then adds “And this is what we have learned from probably the greatest world statesman in the world today and that is Lee Kuan Yew [Singaporean politician] and that is to communicate.”
Any relation to Lee Kuan Yew-hee?
@Ray
Charlotte?
“Celeb notes Scots government tried to hide”.
Silly season indeed.
“Don’t you have a favourite church, Rev? :P”
It’s too hard to choose between Durham Cathedral and the tiny wee one in Bradford-on-Avon, obviously.
Damned if he does, and damned if he doesn’t. From the Herald:
‘GOLF legend Gary Player has criticised Alex Salmond for refusing to attend the Open at Muirfield this week.’
Don’t you have a favourite church, Rev?
Thanks to the Rev’s Twitter feed, I have a new favourite church.
https://twitter.com/JohnDonoghue64/status/356490493724614656/photo/1
OT a far more interesting article here than the MSM puff pieces. A rebuttal of Alastair’s pathetic relaunch of No-Better together.
@ pabroon
<i>”I wonder if – since the negativity about independence is now seen to be counter-productive for BT – they now think that being negative about AS is the way forward?”</i>
Yep… I thought this as well. There has been a definite switch to dissing Salmond at every opportunity. As well as the usual political suspects, posters at GH and Scotsmen seem to have ramped it up.
Of course, if the FM did not send letters of congrats to those individuals, the headline would be:
“Salmond snubs sports stars”
If you can’t fault the plan, attack the man.
O/T Artist impression of O.O march.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151803277873982&l=810e86d13f
It is indeed a case of ‘Don’t play the ball, play the man’. And there are a significant number of people who, for one reason or another, Alex rubs up the wrong way, so the No-ists see mileage in the ‘Independence = Salmond’ and ‘Salmond = Buffoon/Sneaky/Self-important (Delete as applicable)’ angle.
Can somebody explain what is actually wrong with the First Minister celebrating Scottish success, or sending congratulations?
Would the naysayers have the same problem with any other country and its political leader?
This Scottish cringe is a national embarrassment, and makes me want to weep at the attitude of some of my fellow Scottish citizens.
What is wrong with our First Minister of Scotland writing to congratulate Scottish sports achievers???? I just don’t get it. I mean seriously, what is the problem?? All Government leaders around the world, including London do it. An eminently stupid article in the record, by what appears to be an eminently stupid person.
Meanwhile in the REAL world, there is a very interesting article in the NY times from April this year, which discusses from an american view, the defense capability in Europe.
Importantly, it addresses the London Governments’ financial inability to run both conventional forces and trident.
In relation to Trident, Quote ““Either they can be a nuclear power and nothing else or a real military partner,” a senior American official said.
A very interesting article, basically asserting that the US have been quietly urging the UK to get rid of trident, in order to better fund conventional forces.
Source : http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/23/world/europe/europes-shrinking-military-spending-under-scrutiny.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
.
The only thing the Project Fear mob are winning in this referendum so far is the prize for being the nastiest form of pond life on the planet.
They still think it’s the 1970’s . They don’t have a clue what they are doing. It will be next up FM caught wearing flares or high wasters
Red Ken Livingston survived lifelong demonisation by the media as did Tony Benn. The majority of the public are smarter than the Press barons give them credit for.
Talking of the Silly season. An oldie, but a goldie…
Independent Inverness Councillor, Jim Crawford lodged a formal complaint regards Alex Salmond`s saltire waving at Wimbledon atrocity.
Here is the article in the Inverness Courier:
http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/News/Formal-complaint-over-Salmonds-saltire-stunt-12072013.htm
In one of the comments underneath is a link to a Facebook page which celebrates the nature of the man and his complaint. Don`t worry, it`s not offensive (unless you are a Tory Britnat).
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Help-Cllr-Jim-Crawford-find-his-spine/356493441146202
It’s quite simple what’s wrong with the First Minister celebrating Scottish sporting success – he should be celebrating them as BRITISH sporting successes. Never mind that he’s the First Minister of Scotland rather than the UK, his OBSESSION with referring to them as Scottish instead of British shows him up as the narrow nationalist he is. Oh, and he’s a fat bastard as well.
(I think that just about covers it…)
I’m pretty sure it’s the Daily Express because some of the hysterical, shrieking types on the Better Together page were discussing the fact that the despised Eck is going to make us pay more taxes now with his stupid separation plans and how he MUST BE STOPPED! NOW
I did wonder reading it yesterday what on earth the Express had said and where they’d got that. Anyway, their trusting readers clearly believe every word.
On a happier note, I see both the Better Together and “vote no to save the union” Facebook pages have had to resort to Daily Express articles today for their daily dose of scaremongering and Salmond bashing. I won’t be too unhappy ff they’re becoming narrowed to the Express and Daily Telegraph.
@Juteman
Can somebody explain what is actually wrong with the First Minister celebrating Scottish success, or sending congratulations?
There is absolutely nothing wrong with a national political leader sending congratulations. Unfortunately the MSM and Unionists contest the national part, and that is where their problem lies. They do not want Scotland to be regarded as a proper nation, because to be one means you run your own affairs.
Would the naysayers have the same problem with any other country and its political leader?
Nope they don’t. However, they do not regard Scotland as a country or nation.
This Scottish cringe is a national embarrassment, and makes me want to weep at the attitude of some of my fellow Scottish citizens.
Yes, it is being illustrated more and more by the MSM and the Unionists. They simply do not have a positive case for the Union. Therefore, they have no choice but to personally attack Salmond, and the SNP, in particular. I imagine that, as the independence movement grows, then it will become more of an attack on it generally. I mean Lamont’s media adviser, and script writer, has already publicly called Salmond an “arse”, so you have to wonder if they can keep this relentless barrage up against the FM for the next 14 months or so?
I was expecting to see “Well done, now any chance of a photoshoot” style letters but no, just “Well done” from wee Eck on behalf of the Nation. Sounds like the Daily Record were hoping for the same but ended up looking pretty desperate, no change there then
@Doug Daniel
It’s quite simple what’s wrong with the First Minister celebrating Scottish sporting success – he should be celebrating them as BRITISH sporting successes. Never mind that he’s the First Minister of Scotland rather than the UK, his OBSESSION with referring to them as Scottish instead of British shows him up as the narrow nationalist he is. Oh, and he’s a fat Nazi bastard as well.
(I think that just about covers it…)
@Robert Louis: Thanks for the NATO/USA link Robert. Interesting reading…
Any explicit expression of Scottish nationhood now seems to be unacceptable, including holding up our national flag in public or teaching Scots about their nation. The implications of this are disturbing, especially if we vote No. If Scottish nationhood is not acceptable then it has no future in a Britain where our sole Tory MP has already publicly accepted with approval an assertion from London that Britain is simply England by another name.
@roboscot
Any explicit expression of Scottish nationhood now seems to be unacceptable, including holding up our national flag in public or teaching Scots about their nation.
Bulls-eye.
If you believe Scotland was subsumed as a county of England then of course the FM’s behaviour in waving a Scottish flag and writing to congratulate sportsmen who happened to be born in an area formerly known as Scotland will be seen as treason.
For those of us who believe Scotland is still a country with a flag then of course we will see those that deny its very existence as ("Tractor" - Ed)s of the foulest kind.
We are all ("Tractor" - Ed)s then – the question is, which one do you want to be?
😉
I agree with those comments that suggest that unionist now seem to be targeting AS, not that they didn’t before and anyway i have always believed that politicians of ALL parties should be able to take some stick, but the great unwashed now seemed set on taking things to new heights, or should that be depths, however i am sure that someone like the nice Mr Alexander MP will call on them soon to refrain from such vile personal abuse. He will wont he?
BTW anyone else got news that the Labour Forward campaign are going Large this weekend, when hundreds of them, well that’s what their e mail says, will be holding meetings etc to put forward their views, mind you it also said that hundreds of them had been going around Scotland for the past few weeks doing the same, although not in this neck of the woods it would seem, surely that nice Mr Sarwar wouldn’t tell fibs, so for watch for the flurry of activity where you are folks.
We are all ("Tractor" - Ed)s then
“The difference between treason and patriotism is only a matter of dates.” In this case, the dates are 1 May, 1707 and 18 September, 2014.
Let them know what you think.
http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/5016920/Let-us-know-what-YOU-think-about-The-Scottish-Sun.html
Ah, Gary Player,eh. He who said in 1966 when South Africa was fully in the grip of apartheid:
“I must say now, and clearly, that I am of the South Africa of Verwoerd and apartheid … a nation which is the result of an African graft on European stock and which is the product of its instinct and ability to maintain civilised values and standards amongst the alien barbarians … The African may well believe in witchcraft and primitive magic, practise ritual murder and polygamy; his wealth is in cattle. More money and he will have no sense of parental or individual responsibility, no understanding of reverence for life or the human soul which is the basis of Christian and other civilised societies. … A good deal of nonsense is talked of, and indeed thought about ‘segregation’. Segregation of one kind or another is practised everywhere in the world.”
Oh, but of course, when (most of) the rest of the world said, ‘No, apartheid is bad – very bad.’, and started the sporting bans and boycotts, then, Mr. Player starts giving it the – ‘Oh, yes, apartheid is very bad. I was always against it, really.’ – routine. Hhmm…riiight!
And here he is making statements about it being wrong for Scotland’s First Minister to make a stand against discrimination? And the MSM are reporting that as a *good* thing? Do they have no shame?…
…Ha! Ha! Yeah, right! *Of course* they have no shame! This is a chance to vilify Alex Salmond, the First Minister of Scotland and ethics and etiquette don’t come into it – this is Project Fear Scotland Must Vote No Bitter Together GBUKOK British Establishment Cabal’s MSM propaganda department, where, seemingly, nothing, no matter how dirty, dubious or illegal is off the table.
what next?…..
Headline…First Minister being nice to people……Record….First Minister sooking up tae people.
DUCK season!
(I believe that’s the correct response whenever anybody says “<anything> season”)
“DUCK season! season”)”
(I believe that’s the correct response whenever anybody says “
Surely, with Elmer Fudd newly back on the Labour front bench, it MUST be Wabbit Season.
I think the record is just showing up how bad mannered the “celebrities ” are.
Rev. Stuart Campbell says:
Surely, with Elmer Fudd newly back on the Labour front bench, it MUST be Wabbit Season.
Actually, I think his views are clearly expressed in this picture:
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/449_jpg_9393.jpeg
More like Duck Soup.
An eagle-eyed spotter on Newsnet has identified another saltire ‘waver’ – one A. Murray, who wore a suit with a tiny saltire in the tail of the jacket when he went to Downing Street. Very smart Andy, very smart.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/23225645
I wonder if the MSM and the Cringe brigade will vomit their bile over this…….?
Atypical_Scot says:O/T
New name for the no-camp could be Thrawn Together.
I’ve corrected that for you. 🙂
BobW
Alex Salmond won`t be attending the England v Scotland match at Wembley.
Some of the tweets are rather…confusing. It`s going to be a big, great British love in.
https://twitter.com/TheScotsman/status/357532860112060416
I have a letter from Alex Salmond (OK from an aide), does that make me a ("Tractor" - Ed)?
Also, my favourite church might be St Andrews Cathedral, an unused ruin that dominates the town. How’s that for a secular statement?
Scotsman online running story on Alex Salmond not going to Wembley for Scotland game in August. Rest of story is having a real go at Alex Salmond.
Including this nonsense “Labour sports spokeswoman Patricia Ferguson claimed that Salmond was staying away from Wembley because he feared backlash from fans over his “flag-waving antics” at Wimbledon.
Ms Ferguson also said that the SNP leader feared a repeat of previous sporting events, when it was reported he was booed such as at the homecoming celebrations for Scotland’s Olympic athletes in Glasgow last September.
She said: “Alex Salmond has been booed at Hampden, the Ryder Cup and the Olympics celebrations at George Square and embarrassed himself at Wimbledon with his flag-waving antics. With that record, it’s no surprise he is staying away from Wembley.”
Daily Record has blocked commenting, with only 3 comments having been successfully added.
@Jamie Arriere-
I’ve now seen the wee Saltire on Andy Murray’s suit jacket via Rev’s Twitter feed – is it for real, or just a wind-up?
Here’s a good one for a caption competition, and I’ll even chuck in a wee starter –
Murray: ‘I can say whatever the fuck I like now, cause you’ll all just laugh anyway, right?’
http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/gp68cOkhvsPLr2MMKSHTTA–/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD00MjQ7cT04NTt3PTYzMA–/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/gettyimages.com/andy-murray-meets-david-cameron-20130708-164508-253.jpg
@ianbrotherhood
There’s an editor’s note on Newsnet which says it is merely ‘tailor stitching’ which they say is common on jackets with a vent at the back, but that they are normally removed. Never heard of that before, but then bespoke tailoring is foreign to me. Whether by design or not, it looks like a saltire.
Caption:
“…so I said to the policeman, “Are you gonnae let me into Downing Street then, ya fucking pleb? If not, ye can kiss ma arse, it’s got a saltire on it!!”…..and here I am!!”
@Jamie Arriere-
That sounds plausible enough.
Long time ago I worked as a steward in a Glasgow night-club, and one of the lads was due to be a best-man at a wedding in the Bahamas. He splashed out on a new suit from Slaters, showed it to some of the guys – they persuaded him that the wee designer signature ribbon on the cuff of the jacket was part of the suit and not meant to be removed.
Months later, he brought in some snaps of his Caribbean adventure, the highlight of which was the expensively staged beach ceremony – sure enough, the wee gilded tab, with a naff ‘Italian’ name was still there.
(He wasn’t bothered by that so much as the fact that the ‘resort’ they stayed in charged £7 for a packet of Rizzlas. And that was fifteen years ago.)
Caption:
Andy (looking at Milliband) : “And you are…..?”
@ianbrotherhood,
Might have been a Scottish designer, and that’s his signature trademark.
I don’t think tailors stitching to keep the two vents together would be in that position nor do I think there would be as much stitching required for that purpose
Andy Murray is for Yes. If only for the crap he’s had to suffer for being a Scot doing well at the ‘All England’ game of tennis.
Not that it really matters in the big scheme of things, but nice to know he’ll play his hand when he thinks it maybe might help a little.
If he wasn’t for Yes, we’d know about it already.
I could be wrong, but that would make him a really cynical barstool and that’s never the impression I’ve had of him.
@scottish_skier-
Agreed.
We shouldn’t forget that Murray’s only 26 years old.
On the evidence of his behaviour since last summer, he’s a lot shrewder than folk give him credit for, and he’s clearly got a solid group of family and friends who are as savvy and selfless as they have to be to help him reach the pinnacle of one of the toughest modern sports.
More power to them all.
Andy Murray is definitely 100% Scottish, as this picture of him playing in the Wimbledon men’s single final proves once and for all.
http://gamedrunk.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/angus018.jpg
I have little knowledge about tailoring, but there are two pints to add here.
1 – nationalists do not own the saltire. Many unionist are proud scots who think that scotland is best served in the union. They identify with the saltire and lion rampant, unlike many nationalists who have an aversion to the union flag. A saltire does not equate to a nationalist, just a scot.
2 – does Murray even have a vote, though he stayed in Surrey?
A saltire does not equate to a nationalist, just a scot.
Abolutely agree 100%, so WTF were the unionist cringers having such a hissy fit over Scotland’s FM, waving Scotland’s flag, in celebration of one of Scotland’s own in a triumphant sporting moment.
I have a big Saltire flying in my garden and it’s only unionists who don’t like it – make of that what you will. – and guess what, I’m not even a member of the SNP, in fact I used to vote tory – silly me – but I always was an ANYONE BUT LABOUR voter.
GFB: I have little knowledge about tailoring, but there are two pints to add here.1 – nationalists do not own the saltire
You are quite correct. From the SSAS 2012:
…in so far as the independence debate is about identity, it is the intensity of people’s British identity that matters, not that of their Scottish identity.
Scottish identity is a near ubiquitous attachment that unites rather than divides most people in Scotland. It is how British they feel that divides them…
http://tinyurl.com/m7achtf
“nationalists do not own the saltire”
You’re going to have to point me to where anyone said they did.
In the thread above there was an emerging argument that stated that the sitching was a saltire and if it was then Murray was a nationalist. This logic suggests that there is a belief that any display of a Scottish flag is a display of nationalism. I do not believe that is the case.
This logic suggests that there is a belief that any display of a Scottish flag is a display of nationalism.
But it is. Waving a salitre says e.g. ‘I’m Scottish’ or ‘I like Scotland and I’m associating myself with that country right now.’ Doesn’t by default mean someone plans to vote Yes though. Same as someone waving the union flag doesn’t mean they’re planning to vote No. However, the the flag someone shows a preference for waving can act as a rough guide to which nation/state they identify most closely with.
See my earlier post. The saltire is a unifying flag in Scotland. The union flag in contrast is a divisive one in Scotland and other areas of Britain. Sometimes highly divisive to the point of mass civil unrest and violence (see e.g. N. Ireland).
Had the mis-fortune to be seated beside an over-pension age farmer from Kent on a long haul flight from Sydney at the weekend. He duly informed me he had been there to support the Lions and that ‘we’ had just won the Test match, to which I replied, oh, really, very good.
He followed this up with suggesting I use my mythical sporran as a suitable bin for all the litter that was gathering on the flight, that his name was Campbell and he had a kilt, that he couldn’t go into a Macdonalds for fear of his life and that it was just as well his forebearers went up to the highlands with the redcoats to civilize the wode-wearing, warring clans who would still be knocking lumps out of each other yet if they hadn’t done us the favour.
All of this was delivered with nary a smile or with any sense of good humour. An absolute wally of the first order!
It was a pity how my coffee was spilt all over the place at the first sign of shuddering turbulence.
Barontorc – as has been said here before ‘they’ll be laughing on the other side of their faces’ soon enough.
People who are proud of where they were born seem perfectly to meet the definition of nationalist.
Anyone can come to Scotland because they like the place and the values of its people i.e. civic nationalism, which might be grounds for some pride.
But people who say “I’m British and a proud Scot” are effectively saying they’re proud of their ethnicity. If they weren’t lying about the Scot part it would be like saying “I’m British and a bit of a racist”.
Which might even be true.
@Jamie Arriere
Couldn’t find an image on Google so had to do a frame grab off the video.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8CTHz_DTDtlRWdYOGhTNUs2U2c/edit?usp=sharing
Even if it was a ‘tailor’s mark’ Andy still chose the suit.
His tie (see Ian’s caption comp) looks about as saltire motifed as he could get away with.
You want unequivocally political flag bombing? Try this:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8CTHz_DTDtlUDRrNTNVLUY1dGc/edit?usp=sharing
Haven’t all Scottish First Ministers congratulated any notable sporting success by Scots?