Spot the missing letter
As keen readers will know, this blog is often to be found lamenting the disappointing standards upheld by the Scottish media. We’re especially dismayed when fully-staffed professional newspapers fail to catch spelling errors and typos, such as the one that crept into Brian Monteith’s latest batshit-mental ponderings for the Scotsman.
While bafflingly castigating Alex Salmond for failing to have the referendum at a time advantageous to the Unionist parties, Conservative pundit and former MSP Mr Monteith has inexplicably left an “L” out of one of the words in this sentence:
“Then can we all move on and get back to the real world of sorting out the nation’s problems like having jobs for our youth and care facilities for our elderly”
Sloppily, none of the Scotsman’s subs caught the error. Can you help them, readers?
Halving?
Are we talking fractions Stu? ;o)
‘get back to the real world of sorting out the nation’s problems like having jobs for our youth and care facilities for our elderly’
What a cosy, warm feeling it gives me when I hear a Tory saying stuff like that. It’s the urine streaming down my leg as I p!ss my self laughing at their opportunistic, shameless hypocrisy. ‘Real world, my arse!’ as Jim Royle would say.
He also thinks Tony Blair was elected in 2007.
“He also thinks Tony Blair was elected in 2007.”
I missed that one
O/T, but Labourhame has risen from the dead, featuring ‘i am not, and never have been a Unionist’ Murphy.
I wonder how many comments will get through?
The Unionists were right back in 2007. Having an Independence referendum would be too distracting for MSPs from the real issues that hard working Scots are interested in.
The unionists have been way to obsessive on the referendum and left the Scottish Government to get on with governing Scotland well.
How do you say in unionist, “own goal”.
Yes that’s a very interesting article on Labour Hame – Jim believes in the Union but is not a Unionist. Usually I would say that I struggle to get my head round that one, but given Jim’s high-profile status as a Celtic supporter perhaps these ideological gymnastics are to be expected. Then again, given his vocal pride when he first sat around a cabinet table “where an Empire was built” – the same Empire that f***ed his much-vaunted antecedents – I don’t expect much sense from him, it’s all just careerism anyway. He doesn’t believe in anything. I also noticed Murphy’s ‘don’t even bother trying to disagree with me cos the mods won’t let you through and even if they do then you’re a cybernat cos that’s the name me and my mates have for people who don’t agree with us that we use so we don’t have to engage in a debate with ordinary citizens who might have a point’ caveat at the end. Jim’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer really.
Sorry for going O/T again Stu.
Has anyone else had this message when trying to login on NNS?
‘ Login denied! Your account has either been blocked or you have not activated it yet. Did you not get an activation e-mail and follow the validation link?’
I have contacted NNS, but haven’t had a reply.
Apologies for going O/T but has any one else had a look at the VAST ???? amount of Bitter, sorry, Better Together campaign sites there are planned for this weekend?
If the weather is O.K. tomorrow I think we might toodle along to the one in Annan and give them a wee bit of support……….NOT!
If we do go along it will be to try, and no doubt fail, to get an answer to the $64,000 question.
Why are we better together?
My brain is already doing somersaults trying to figure out what their answer will be.
O/T Sorry Rev.
According to the Bitter Events finder there are no events within 100 miles of Edinburgh. Oh dear! left hand not talking to right hand, that’s the Better Together difference. Hopefully meet some of them at Porty tomorrow, the balloons, the face painting , the cut and thrust of well balanced, reasoned and mature debate-cannae wait. On topic- Brian Monteith is an utter bampot , was he seperated from Micky Kelly at birth?
The bitter unionists are in Dundee city centre tomorrow.
Lovely.:-)
juteman
I was logged on to N.N.S at 18.20 with no problems .
I see the likes of Tom Harris will be campaigning in Glasgow South tomorrow. Hope he realises that it’s not like twitter and he can’t simply block people he loses the argument to.
Don – In a similar vein, let’s hope Eric Joyce isn’t doing any campaigning tomorrow, as we all know how he settles arguments.
That Jim Murphy article is a work of deranged genius. I’ve left a comment, but don’t expect it to be published. Here’s what I wrote!
“But this weekend I’m certain I’ll be subjected to another round of insults by SNP supporters on the internet (known as “CyberNats”) who want to silence their opponents.”
Ah yes, the old “don’t bother disagreeing with me, because I already know you’re speaking nonsense” tactic. Nobody wants to silence you Jim, we just want you to be truthful. If unionists (and yes Jim, that includes you, because you are in favour of the union) want to stick to the truth, then I’m happy to see you make as much noise as you like, as it would only damage the case for the union.
Unfortunately, you stick with generic, baseless statements saying we’re “safer” in the bad times and “more prosperous” in the good, without giving us any examples to show the accuracy of these statements. Well, we’re in bad times now, and the only thing keeping Scotland safe from Tory health cuts and outlandish university fees is the fact that these areas are run from Holyrood, not Westminster.
If only the same could be said of our welfare and pensions…
I simply posted on Labourhame.
Not a unionist?, snigger.
Really sorry, this is doing my head in…where the “L” is it…? Or rather, where should it be…?
Posted on Labourhame at 1pm today outlining Labours standard opposition to all things posited by the SNP, and noting the apparent hypocrisy with their current stance on cuddling up with the Torys. Also pointed out the clear conflict of interest Jim Murphy has on the issue…
Amazingly nothing has appeared apart from the 3 “ooooo I agree Jim what a great guy you are” comments made by other Torys.
@Strathedin
seven letters long, ends in ‘ing’
To divide something into two equal parts or portions….
Thanks Adrian B…sorry, but I don’t agree that an “L” has been missed out from the word in question…to me, the sentence is meant to be as it reads…otherwise, of course, Monteith would intend that we should get on with reducing (youth) jobs and (elderly) care facilities by 50%…and surely he can’t mean that…can he…?? Of course, if we are being really pedantic, we could take his meaning literally as “having jobs for our youth and care facilities for our elderly” are part of the nation’s problems…(at least he said nation instead of state…)….
On Twitter Jim Murphy MP was celebrating working for the Tories
Juteman: I was going to try to get down there tomorrow, but one of my Masters students is in desperate straits so I’ll be working with him most of the day…
But I’d be really interested to find out, a) who was there, and b) why we are better together, so would much appreciate if if you could enlighten us …
O.K. folks here it is. Tonights entertainment comes direct to you from You Tube.
I don’t want to spoil the entertainment value of what you are about to watch, but boy…………
link to youtube.com
Go Kevin Go Kevein go go go! :!
In fact just keep going till you reach the English Channel Bubba.
I tried to listen to it all but I’m afraid I failed. Perhaps there are others out there who have a stronger constitution than me, or maybe it was just my sides were too sore to continue listening.
Sorry to disagree with some on here and reluctant to defend Monteith on anything, but there is absolutely nothing wrong in the above sentence. Spelling, context and grammar are all satisfactory. As to Murphy, I once met him outside a primary school during the Paisley by-elections in the early nineties. He was handing out leaflets for Labour and I was doing the same for the SNP. Passing the time and during informal chat, Mr. Murphy informed me that his dad was an Irish navvy and that the only reason he was in the Labour Party was to ensure that he did not follow a similar career path. The man is an out and out careerist.
In debate, I do not normally mention the personal life of opponents. I think that everyone is entitled to their privacy. However in the case of Mr. Murphy, his arrogance, self promotion and willingness to divulge the occupation of his father to a complete stranger and at the same time boast that his membership of the Labour Party would ensure that he would not navvy on a building site left me speechless.
Mr. Murphy cannot bring himself to accept that he is a unionist, such a concept, given his cultural background, would be unacceptable to one with an Irish nationalist upbringing. Irish nationalism is entirely legitimate for many so called socialists. Scottish nationalism? Not so, especially when it interferes with career prospects!
Great to see that LabourHame, in both its ‘feature’ articles and its comments, is still delivering spades of comedy gold. You can see where ‘wee sausage rolls‘ Ryan got his inspiration from.
Jim Murphy states emphatically that he’s not a “unionist” and then carefully explains to us why he believes in the union. Surely this new definition of anti-unionism – ‘I believe in the union but I’m not a unionist’ – merits another guest post from Uncle Remus. Or, better still, maybe Humpty Dumpty could be recruited to explore some variants of Jim’s ‘logic’ here. Something along the lines of, ‘I believe in Jesus Christ but I’m not a Christian’ or, ‘I believe in socialism but I’m not a socialist’.
My favourite, though, is the revelation that Jim begins his piece with:
“This weekend I’ll do something I’ve never done before…I’m going to go campaigning. And the Tories will be there on the same side”.
So, it’s official, then, Jim has no objection to campaigning with the Tories. Glad that one’s cleared up, though it’s hardly a revelation, there surely can’t be anyone in Scotland who needs Jim to confirm the reality of the Labour-Tory coalition for them. But wait a minute, Jim has another revelation:
“As I’ve said before, I won’t be campaigning alongside David Cameron”.
Hold on, there’s something not quite right here. I mean, Jim’s objection to campaigning alongside David Cameron can’t be based on the fact that Cameron is a Tory. For Jim has just told us that he has no objections to campaigning alongside Tories. So Jim must have some personal reason for not wanting to campaign alongside Cameron. But what could this be?
Is Jim intimidated by the Tory toff’s posh accent and superiority complex? Does Cameron have industrial-strength BO? Is Cameron the seed of Satan? Or does Jim know some dark secret about Cameron’s past, which discretion prevents him from sharing with the rest of us but which is serious enough to discourage Jim from campaigning alongside his prime minister? We’ll never know. We’ll never know because Jim doesn’t tell us.
But what kind of half-arsed ‘Better Together’ campaign is this when Jim won’t even share a platform with his prime minister? And this, in a campaign to determine the future of Britain (or whether Britain, as presently constituted, has a future), when both Jim and Dave are seeking the same outcome in the referendum. If they can’t even publicly demonstrate that THEY are ‘Better Together’ in something as straightforward as a referendum campaign, how are they going to persuade the rest of us that we are ‘Better Together’ with them in government?
It’s politics Jim, but not as we know it. Or as Humpty Dumpty said…
@strathedin
I think that you may well be letting Brian Monteith off the hook a little too easily. The above article is a short tongue in cheek piece written off the back of the Scotsman article in which the whole referendum is seen as being in effect a waste of time. Monteith rubbish’s the timing of the referendum, peppers his article with snide remarks acussing Salmond of having the Referendum at a time that does not suit the Unionists – while Monteith headed up the Think Twice “NO-NO” campaign against devolution back in ’97. He told us then that devolution could not work. How strange then that he thinks more powers should now be devolved?
Its a piece that is typical of MSM articles these days. More unfounded opinion than any real facts or news. Its just another recycled piece of rubbish, the sort that the Scotsman or Herald regularly print.
Given many of the half baked policies coming out of Westminster for the last two years don’t seem to actually be doing anything to help getting young people into jobs. Cuts in benefits and care are also having an undesirable effect on care facilities for the elderly.
The missing ‘L’ story is perhaps not so daft after all. No need to be pedantic, just look at what is actually going on within these islands.
Monteith runs a think tank – don’t many old Tories seem to do this? or are many involved in a handful of think tanks? Here is a far better balanced piece that he has penned himself for his own site rather than lowering the tone to suit the Scottish MSM. Its genuinely a much more interesting read than the Scotsman Sh*te.
link to thinkscotland.org
not got a problem with him making a living and plenty of people tell lies to get jobs, but mebbe his job is over and he ought to get his pension rights decided by a second question on the referendum
I never ever see comitment to Irish republcanism as compatable with British unionism, does anyone outside of the Glasgow CLP feel the same?
cheers
charlie
Monteith runs a think tank – don’t many old Tories seem to do this?
OH MY GOD!
The Tories are running think tanks!
Damn! I didn’t realise the Tories had enough Brain cells, collectively, to rub together to light a fire!
Well bang goes my thoughts on how the Tories get their ideas. I thought it was just a simple, very simple, case of the first Tory to arrive at Westminster on a Monday morning got the chance to come up with “this weeks jolly good wheeze!”
Aye just the usual britnat piffel from Monteith nothing new, I also tried to post on labour hame regarding Jim ‘now you see me, now you dont’ Murphy BUT SURPRISE SURPRISE it certainly hasn’t appeared, so I have tried again but dont raise your hopes, I wont.
@ Adrian B
Your enlightenment would be revealing, and gratefully received, if I were ever to fall into the trap of taking Brian Monteith ( or indeed Michael Kelly ) seriously…did you consider that there could be more than one tongue firmly in cheek throughout this thread…just a thought?
;~)
So campaigning with Tories is OK as long as Cameron’s not there? It doesn’t count that way?
Arbroath 1320
That video was painful yet funny as hell. Kevin certainly does have a strange interpretation of history especially his comment that the american states were sovereign countries before joining the USA! (Texas I know was the only one)
What a baw bag
I was in Ayr to check out the “No” action day…fairly low profile really and most of them were local Tory / Labour councillors (having a group hug!). About 10 of them with ages ranging from 60 – 75.
These are the 10 reasons for the UK in the leaflet that they are handing out:
1. Scots are represented by over 270 embassies as part of the UK.
2. Scotland exports twice as much to rUK as to rest of world.
3. 1 in 5 workers in Scotland are employed by rUK firms.
4. 31K workers in Scotland have jobs with UK govt.
5. Scottish banks were bailed our with £470bn of UK taxpayers money.
6. 800K Scots live and work in England & Wales without need of papers or passports.
7. UK has 2nd biggest aid budget delivered by staff in East Kilbride
8. The UK means SCots can sit at top table at the UN
9. Scots save billions opn mortgages due to UK AAA rating
10. The pensions of 1M scots are guaranteed by the UK.
Not really a robust argument against Independence is it.
@Gaavaster
Is that leaflet going to be handed out at all the No sites this weekend?
Maybe someone can get a hold of one and send a copy to Stu or any of the other fine contributors to this site who are much more patient and lucid than me to go through each of these ‘reasons’ and expose them for the guff that they are? (Could be ten individual articles for you there Stu, or just one great ‘Ripping apart the No campaign’s ten reasons-fest’!)
I’ve no idea Dal Riata, I sit on the wrong side of the fence to know the workings of the mind of the ‘unionist’, or any of their plans for that matter… ;o)
Sorry folks I’ve just got to give my response to the Bitter Together campaign leaflet, so here goes.
1. And your point is?
2. Oh, and AFTER Independence we will no longer be able or allowed to export to rUK. Just keep cutting your nose off to spite your face Buuba!
3. So what are you saying, rUK firms will no longer employ Scots in Scotland AFTER Independence?
4. And your point is exactly? AFTER Independence the SCOTTISH government will require workers to work in the equivalent SCOTTISH departments!
5. You really mean the LONDON CONTROLLED banks don’t you?
6. So?
7. So what you are saying is that an INDEPENDENT Scotland would NOT be giving aid to foreign countries, right? WRONG!!!!
8. AFTER Independence Scotland, as a member of the U.N., would STILL have a chance to sit at the top table, only this time it will people from an INDEPENDENT country and not a bunch of London controlled MUPPETS! France, Russia, China, U.S.A. and U.K. are NOT the only countries that sit at the top table in the U.N.
9. And HOW exactly does a AAA rating affect mortgage payments? The AAA rating reflects the interest payments that the U.K. GOVERNMENT makes on its loans NOT the interest payments individuals make on their mortgage payments.
10. So what are you saying here exactly? Pensioners in an INDEPENDENT Scotland would NOT have their pensions guaranteed by the SCOTTISH government?
JEEZ what a bunch of absolute dingbats! Honestly, I’m sure you could get a 5 year old child to write a better list of reasons than this one. THIS is how they expect to win over the people of Scotland to voting NO in 2014. Sorry I forgot, under the question layout laid down by the Bitter campaign that should of course be I DISAGREE.
Well folks I hate to be one who disagrees with the BITTER campaign here but honestly…….
I for one, as well as my partner, will be voting YES in 2014. That is if we have managed to stop laughing and are able to stand long enough to put our cross in the appropriate spot!
My response to Mr Murphy’s Labour Hame piece in case the moderate it out!
“I’m sorry Mr Murphy, but you ARE a Unionist. Traducing those of us who aren’t with the epithet “cybernate”, and falsely claiming that we are trying to silence anyone simply looks like special pleading.
On the one hand you say you hate what the Tories stand for, but on the other you are prepared to share a platform with (some) of them. How can you expect the people of Scotland to take the “Better Together” message seriously when the constituent parts of the campaign seem so dis-united?
The problem for Unionists (for that is what al of those in the Scottish Tories, Labour and Lib Dems are) in Scotland and the UK more generally is that you have no coherent vision for the future of Scotland, still less a positive one. You disagree so fundamentally over where you are all going, how can you expect us to follow you? All the opinion polls show an overwhelming majority of the Scottish people want some form of further devolution, whether devo max or FFA, but you know you have virtually no chance of delivering it at Westminster.
You promise jam tomorrow, yet you refuse to say when it will be delivered, how much we will get, or even what flavour it will be….. and yet you have the effrontery to accuse those in favour of independence of not having a positive case.
Selectively sharing a platform with “some” Tories may not make you a Tory, but doing so in the name of Unionism, whilst refusing to tell us what that means, does make you suspect in my eyes, and I suspect those of many others on the progressive left of politics.
YOu can’t have your cake and eat it Mr Murphy. You’re either a Unionist or a supporter of independence; to maintain otherwise is disingenuous. The reason why many former Labour voters like myself have abandoned you is that your party has no positive vision for Scotland’s future, preferring to see it shackled to the corpse of the unreformed, ramshackle and crypto-medieval UK system which you lack the courage and power to change.”