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Start as you mean to go on

Posted on December 16, 2014 by

When Jim Murphy spoke on last night’s Scotland Tonight, he’d been the “leader” of Scottish Labour for approximately 60 hours. Here’s how he’s going to play it.

Let’s quickly examine those statements, shall we?

Murphy’s claim that Scottish Labour has “about 20,000” members is the one that leaps out immediately. By our calculations the true figure is closer to 7000.

But we’re partisan, and people might expect us to try to play Labour’s numbers down. The trouble is that Labour itself was telling journalists as recently as this weekend that its membership was 14,000.

cookmembers

We think it’s probably uncontroversial to say that 6000 new members haven’t joined since Murphy’s election. So even if we assume that Labour were telling the truth on Saturday – a highly doubtful prospect – Murphy was telling a whopper last night.

He then attempted to explain away the huge gulf in membership between Scottish Labour and the SNP by suggesting that SNP membership was as cheap as £1, while Scottish Labour’s cost up to £40. The trouble with that is that it’s not only technically untrue, it’s actually the OPPOSITE of the truth.

SNP membership is more than twice as expensive as Scottish Labour’s, and has been for quite some time. The minimum fee to join the Nats is £12 a year. (Strictly speaking there’s a £5 concessionary rate for the unwaged, but it’s buried very deeply on the join page of the website and is only mentioned if you choose to pay by credit or debit card, not by cheque or the default direct debit. Labour has concessionary rates going as low as £1 a year for students and the armed forces.)

Scottish Labour membership is a flat-rate £5 for everyone, and has been for months:

labjoinmarch

The “special referendum rate” of £5 a year has in fact continued for the three months beyond the referendum, and is still available. Labour were actively publicising it before the leadership election as a means of influencing the vote. And Jim Murphy knows that full well, because he was one of the people doing it.

murphyjoin

Murphy’s claim that Scottish Labour membership cost up to 40 times that of the SNP’s, then, is a lie on a startling scale. The truth is that they already undercut the Nats by 60%, and have done for most of 2014.

But Murphy isn’t the only senior Scottish Labour figure who’s been telling whoppers recently. This was Margaret Curran, the party’s shadow Scottish Secretary, writing on her own website a week ago:

“Today, some constituents in the East End have emailed me about their concerns about shale gas extraction, which some people call fracking, particularly after last night’s vote in the House of Commons.

Last night, we debated the Infrastructure Bill, which covers a whole host of issues including roads, the British Transport Police, planning and shale gas extraction.

While we welcomed moves to enable further infrastructure projects across the UK, we thought this bill was wholly inadequate in other areas.

That is why I voted with other Labour MPs to refuse a second reading for this Bill.

The emphasis is ours, and the reason we’ve emphasised it is that it’s a lie.

Unfortunately for Margaret Curran, the House Of Commons records all its votes, including the one on the second reading of the bill on fracking which took place last Monday. And despite Curran’s claims, Labour did NOT oppose it.

Just 10 MPs did, most of them from the SNP and Plaid Cymru, backed up by the sole Green and a couple of Northern Irish members. Labour in fact didn’t vote on the bill at all – it abstained, as it so often does on votes which are in any way uncomfortable. Yet apparently Margaret Curran was happy telling her constituents a flat-out lie.

We suspect that Scottish Labour will try to get away with a lot more of those between now and May 2015. Rest assured that we’ll be here to keep the record straight.

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crisiscult

If MP’s lie to their constituents, is there any kind of complaints procedure? Based on the information above, Curran said: I voted to refuse … ; whereas she abstained. Am I missing something? Is that just a misunderstanding?

CyberNiall

It takes 4 minutes 45 seconds to sign up. Another lie!

One_Scot

The man is full of shit.

Bobjay

Anyone can get away with a lie if they aren’t challenged.

The problem is that very few journalists want to challenge them.

R-type Grunt

So Labour are liars. Who knew?

Martin Wood

This is beginning to look like the reopeneing of the Local Labour Branch supermarket.
There’s a new branch manager…
The new branch manager is proudly announcing that he is completely in charge of:
which shelves the stock goes on,
the shift rota
and a new rack of ” devolved” managers specials that the London Labour Megastore Head Office will let him play with…

The actual stock is no different from last week and has nothing that the London Labour Megastore can’t sell south of the border…
He’ll still have to attend staff meetings in London…
The big descisions will still be taken by the London Labour Megastore Head Office ..
The new branch manager willl be whipped into line if needed…

and he hasn’t told everyone that – come April.
The only thing they’ll be stocking is porage……….Austerity Flavour……4p a bowl

Sandra

As if the price of membership has anything to do with why people join a party. The man’s an idiot as well a liar.

Bruce

I think SLAB needs a new anthem.

MochaChoca

I expect the Daily Record will also be reporting these misunderstandings and/or inaccuracies.

joe kane

Even if it was forty pounds to subsidise this utter dud of a party it’s worth every penny. Pound for pound it provides more and better entertainment than the TV Licence Fee. Jingo Jim’s anti-nationalist, pro-patriotic jog in a Scotland football top outside BBC Scotland HQ, Pravda Quay, Glasgow was a hoot.

Looking forward to the Saltire-loyal MSP Kezia Dugdailymail first appearance at Thursday’s First Ministers Questions where she’ll explain why its patriotic, but not nationalistic, to lie to Scottish voters about Labour’s policy on fracking.

Gordon Hay

Then there is this insight from Peter Jones (who I believe is well-connected in Scottish Labour circles) in today’s Scotsman –

“The party is completely hollowed out. Its membership in the constituency parties is less than 10,000 and perhaps not even a tenth of what the SNP can now boast.

What’s more, senior party members tell me that most of the existing constituency membership comprises the relatives and friends of councillors/MSPs/MPs who see their primary role as protecting these fiefdoms and who would not welcome, let alone cause to happen, an influx of new members who might try to oust second-rate post-holders in favour of somebody new and better.”

farrochie

Easy, he’ll claim he meant £1 per month for SNP. Snake oil salesman, remember.

bookie from hell

Lie to Scottish people to protect Labour Party

not a good start

manandboy

The No Campaign continues with a new face.
But with the same old strategy.
Lie, lie and lie again.
Ad infinitum; ad nauseam.

One_Scot

Labour, the unionists and the media have got away with telling lies for so long now that then have normalised it.

They can make up whatever they want to suit their agenda, and feel no guilt, because in their mind they no longer see lying as wrong.

A very sad state of affairs for people at the bottom who know they are liars, but cannot do anything to stop it.

Nobby Power

I understand that Lindsay Roy ‘did a Curran’, and assured one of his constituents that he’d voted against the Infrastructure Bill. A nice properly written e-missive too, not just a stock one.

But then, what does he care: he’s offski in May. As they used to say when he was headmaster at Inverkeithing HS…Roy Boy On Tour.

Lollysmum

This is definitely the way to go.

Jump on every lie as soon as you hear it & publicise it widely as Stu has done here.

The readership of Wings is big enough to start the ball rolling & with the National,NNS, Common Space(started yesterday)& other news outlets springing up it is probable that they will pick up the stories & run with them because they know they can rely on Stu’s research to back everything he says with facts.

Forget the insults-we don’t need them & it does tend to make it look as though we are sore losers. The facts will do the job so much better & watch the liars squirm when confronted. 🙂

Tick tock tick tock

McV

I spoke to two Labour members last night, that didn’t realise they were. They are members of a union, and were not aware that part of their subs go to the Labour Party. No-one made them aware of it when they signed up.

Needless to say they won’t be Labour party members for long as they both plan to opt out of the Political Fund 1st thing this morning, so Jim’s fantasy figure will be getting further from the truth the more people we inform.

caz-m

Murphy is a professional liar. In the 30 second reply to John Mackay, he says that Scottish Labour have 20,000 members(lie), that SNP membership is £1(lie), Scottish Labour party members pay OVER £40(lie) and then says Scottish Labour party members pay UP TO £40(lie).

So in a quick 30 second burst, he has spouted out FOUR lies.

And he is hoping to become our First Minister.

No Chance!

thomaspotter2014

Did Murphy get asked about the rendition through Scotlands airports while he was involved in the government of the day??
Surprise me and say yes.

Macart

Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies…

Can’t get that tune out of my head whenever I see Murphy for some reason.

manandboy

Jim is going to change the way the party is funded.
He’ll probably switch to the No Campaign model –
get wealthy Tories to make some million pound donations.

annie

Read yesterday that someone emailed his MP Tom Greatrex (?)to ask why they abstained on fracking and was told in reply that Labour voted against and SNP voted for.

Flower of Scotland

I see McWhirter is wagging his finger at us “Cybernats”! He says that we should take a leaf out of Nicola Sturgeons book and be more friendly towards the lying Labourites. She has to. We don’t.

MochaChoca

Gordon, that sounds fair.

All it would take is for Labour to muster around 10 – 20 “hingers-on” for each of their 500 (approx) elected representatives to achieve the 7000 likely membership.

Wouldn’t leave many ‘unconnected’ average joes among it members either, it’s more like a big club than a political party.

Brotyboy

Peter Jones (who I believe is well-connected in Scottish Labour circles)

If this is Peter Jones the economics journalist I find it hard to believe that this Dundee High School FP is well-connected in Scottish Labour circles through any other channel than his NUJ card.

Certainly if he was politically sympathetic to Labour I haven’t noticed this in his writing until now, and it would also put him way out left with Stalin and his ilk in the eyes of his erstwhile schoolmates and social circle.

Of course, there is the possibility that the rumoured ‘Strathern Road snobbery’ has in his case fuelled a radical progressive, but I would doubt it.

On second thoughts, if he’s a Tory then Scottish Labour is a natural home.

think again

Not so much starting as he means to go on, more a case of business as usual.

His lack of grasp on matters financial is only surpassed by his lack of grasp on the concept of truth.

HandandShrimp

I joined the SNP recently so I am aware of the subscription rates. The minimum is as Stu says £1 a month although I think all the parties have a £5 rate for the unwaged, be that Labour. Greens or SNP (although it is harder to spot on the SNP page whereas it is trumpeted on the Labour page.

The default rate on the SNP page is £5 a month and you have to change it to the £1 or £3 rate. Even at £1 if Labour were 40x more expensive then it would be £480 a year to join or £2,400 a year if you use the SNP default rate.

No wonder they have no members 😉

If he is going to tell such bare faced lies (and such easily refuted ones) then Labour are in deep do do.

Haggis Hunter

The problem here is Murphy is the British establishment’s man in Scotland, he is their hope of keeping their ‘union’..he is of Irish descent and doesnt see Scotland as being a coutry. He doesnt know anything about the history of Scotland.
The media will back him, he can lie as much as he wants, we have to keep our message up, especially on social media, as Scotland does not have a voice, apart from Wings, Newsnet and the National.

manandboy

Jim is going to look at the ways SLAB organise the party.

I wonder if the Labour-Orange Order partnership will come under scrutiny.

Or should that be The Orange Order-Labour partnership, since the OO has more members than SLAB.

I can remember when politics was soooooo boring.
Now it’s the only show in town.

[…] When Jim Murphy spoke on last night’s Scotland Tonight, he’d been the “leader” of Scottish Labour for approximately 60 hours. Here’s how he’s going to play it.  […]

One_Scot

“The cybernats are playing into Labour’s hands”

You know the world is f’cked up when Jim Murphy is allowed to be an absolute arse, and we are the bad guys for pointing it out.

Thank God I am mortal.

dan huil

Either BBC “journalists” are ignorant or they are happy to go along with such lies.

Desimond

Reminds of this sad day for SCOTTISH Labour:

SNP: What do you want to approve this Budget?
Labour: 10’000 Apprenticeships
SNP: Good idea, we can find money for 25’000
Labour: We abstain

galamcennalath

I have followed politics for a long time, but more so recently. Never ever have I been so aware of any party so blatantly lying day after day, statement after statement. With Labour it seems to have reached the stage where if we heard something which was true, we would be astounded!

Thatcher is supposed to have once said something like, it’s OK to lie in politics, the trick is not to be found out. With Labour in Scotland they have gone well beyond the point where they even care whether the lies are obvious!

I can only deduce that they have reached such a state of meltdown that they just say what they think needs to be heard, facts and reality don’t come into it. They are no longer clutching at straws, they are thrashing at the water as they sink deeper and deeper.

Desimond

Is Jim doing his finest Velociraptor impersonation there?

Fiona

There is no better illustration that Mr Murphy is a neoliberal politician. He clearly believes that all human behaviour is determined by price/economic considerations. Like a lot of these clowns they subscribe to an economic theory which only works if all goods are direct substitutes for each other and so one buys the cheapest. Thus one will buy membership of a political party on the basis of price regardless of what that party stands for. Just as one will be perfectly happy to buy dog food rather than cornflakes if dog food is cheaper.

BrianBluntTotal

You might need to treat me with the thicko treatment – as much as i hate Curran and all that she stands for the Public Whip website states she voted against the Infrastructure Bill on Dec 8th. Which is right?

Dorothy Devine

Thanks Macart , that’s now stuck in my head – on the plus side it has displaced ” All I want for Christmas is you”
which is preferable to ” all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth” but only just.

Cuilean

Thank God for this site, Stu, as we know that Labour’s mouthpiece in Scotland, the BBC (Jackie Bird, Glen Campbell, Sarah Smith etc etc), will certainly not be putting the truth to UK Labour’s Scottish branch members.Watching BBC Scotland politics shows is like watching a nest of vipers, all only looking out for number one, be they politicians or so-called ‘reporters’.

Ken500

Insulting people’s intelligence with those couple of bampots, just makes folk even more angry. Remember all you investigating?, colluding ‘journalists’, don’t mention the War.

john j

This party is so used to telling lies that it has become second nature.

manandboy

Now that Jim has committed himself to all things Labour in Scotland,
do we know where he is currently residing?
As the reformed listening Labour Leader in Scotland,
I just doubt he’ll hear very much if he’s living in London
and merely commuting to Pacific Quay.

arthur thomson

Interesting programmes yesterday and today at 9.30 am on radio 4 called The Kingdom to Come. Worth a listen in my view. My blood pressure didn’t rise uncontrollably as I expected.

heedtracker

Its teamGB state sanctioned fraud. THE VOW worked well. BBC radio politics shows gave Gordon Brown a fine send off last week, explaining that Crash was a deeply moral and honest man who’s moral honest compass or whatever, was set because he grew up in a Scottish manse. When it comes to the British rule of Scotland, their liggers and ("Quizmaster" - Ed)s can say anything they like merely because who is going to challenge them?

PictAtRandom

Seems that “sliding scales” and The Snakelike One are perfectly matched.
(With apologies to Mr McWhirter.)

Robert Roddick

I can see a business opportunity; a newspaper ”The Daily Liar”. Mind you we possibly have one already if not so overt!

David Stevenson

Labour grassroots campaigning in Rutherglen 5-6 weeks after the referendum consisted of an MP, an MSP, three councillors and one “civilian” who I wouldn’t be surprised to find was related to one of the other five or fancies stepping on to the Labour career ladder. Bereft of real activists and members but they did have a big turnout on 18th September. They like to “claim” the polling stations. I got the returning officer to make them remove a bag with Labour livery on it off the main door to the polling station at the European Parliament election. They are always at it round here.

@Haggis Hunter

There is a strong smell of bigoted sectarianism coming from your last post.

Luigi

Geeez, only 60 hours gone and the compulsive liar is already at it big time. I can see Stu and WoS being rather busy with this guy, over the next few weeks. Lots of material will appear, care of the one and only Jim Murphy. He just can’t stop himself.

The man is a lie generating machine.

H

Jim said that membership is £40, 2011 finances report £106,644, so if Jim is tell in the truth £106644/£40 = 2666 members 2011 he rumbles his own party

dmw42

Are Jim Murphy’s constituents being properly represented at his workplace whilst he’s up here prostituting himself in front of the media?

fred blogger

if people speak truth and speak it out loud, in a common voice and language, tyranny, oppression and/or injustice can never gain traction.

Ken500

The irony is it will only be because of increased SNP MP’s holding the balance power in Westminster that the Tories can’t introduce EVEL in Westminster and destroy Labour’s power.

Jim should start being really nice to the SNP. His imperial masters. Stop lying bampot, everyone is sick to death of it.

McV

Sorry. Not awake yet. I meant subscribers not members.
Bad me.

Bill McLean

Haggis Hunter – I’m half Irish but 100% Scot, if you understand? Let us have no divisiveness on this blog. To be intolerant is not our raison d’etre. Some here may disagree over policy, but leave sectarianism and name- calling, and any of its cohorts to the unionists!

Papadox

IMHO:
Tell me lies once shame on you, tell me lies twice shame on me.

The problem with liars is half the lies they tell aren’t true! Jimba and his dug are on a different scale.

As for journalists in Scotland, half tell their lies from conviction and give it 100%. The other half are scared of loosing their jobs, they prefer to loose their credibility.

No no no...Yes

Jim Murphy is a man that cannot be trusted and this article is this an early Christmas present gift wrapped, complete with a bow, from Jim to the pro-indy parties. It is also gross stupidity and demonstrates a lack of strategic thinking on a huge scale. Here is the reason why:

If Jim had been upfront and divulged the lowly membership figures then he could then rightfully claim that after his recruitment drive in the Spring that membership had gone up by x %, directly as a result of his great leadership skills and positive message getting through. However, he has shot himself in the foot because even if the recruitment drive is a success, a false 20,000 baseline makes any progress difficult to claim as a success! The only avenue now left is to further perpetuate the lie. It also means that they will never reveal the true membership details until the day after he resigns.

With regard to this illusion of Jim being in total control, he said to judge him on what he does. His next test is to re-shuffle all parliamentary shadow cabinet posts, WESTMINSTER and Holyrood. Of course, he cannot carry out the former, as he is NOT in charge of the Westminster cabinet, ED is.

What about the Labour Party GE2015 Manifesto? This will be a One Nation fairy story and how on earth does Jim expect to get his new socialist ideas included in this document. No chance!

I will refrain from using foul language and expletives, because that will not help undecided readers, but this latest chapter of SLAB is way beyond belief. I just hope we can convince a majority of the people of Scotland, in Labour held seats particularly, to vote SNP at the GE2015.

inky Pic

Why would you risk telling lies like that which can easily be found out when you are trying to build trust? I’m not getting this man at all.

Tamson

Actually Desimond, it was worse than that: the Labour group at Holyrood voted AGAINST the 2011 Budget – they didn’t abstain.

muttley79

The problem is not so much Murphy and Curran lying, it is the fact that MSM never hold them to account. If anybody from the SNP made these statements it would be the headline news on Reporting Scotland and the like.

Grouse Beater

Murphy just describing hinself as a socialist, and one who cares about Scotland, is a blatant lie!

A wealthy studio executive in Los Angeles told his Malibu Hills home was on fire reacted immediately as follows: Without a single mention of his wife or his full-time cook who were there at home he shouted down the phone, “Get my cars out the garage now!”

Murphy determined to rescue a corrupt and useless branch party and not helping the people of Scotland is doing the same thing.

‘Time Passes’ – Grouse Beater

Davy

A new dawn for the red tories with a new red tory leader, swiftly followed by the same old red tory lies and shite.

I think we could be a witness one of the fastest car crashes ever by the new red tory leadership in Scotland, Murph-zilla appears to be under the impression he can say whatever he feels like and will be able to get off with it.

Boy, is he in for one shit-cake of a surprise.

fred blogger

Papadox
the half truth/lie statement is very corrosive.
one cannot blame self for the lies of other’s, if they control the vitals of life, or have power and influence over them, we are often obliged to listen.
we must ensure that bullies never prosper.

BillDunblane

Jim ‘poundshopporkie’ Murphy.

Literally!

Luigi

Davy says:

16 December, 2014 at 11:09 am

A new dawn for the red tories with a new red tory leader, swiftly followed by the same old red tory lies and shite.

I think we could be a witness one of the fastest car crashes ever by the new red tory leadership in Scotland, Murph-zilla appears to be under the impression he can say whatever he feels like and will be able to get off with it.

Boy, is he in for one shit-cake of a surprise.

And there in lies the big problem for JM. The BBC MSM treating this character with soft gloves will do him no favours at all – it will only encourage him to bullshit and bullshit his way out of trouble every time. It’s the only weapon he has. Again and again and again. Until one fine day, in the not too distant future, he gets careless, and says something really stupid. And then the shit hits the fan, folks.

It’s only a matter of time.

Stoker

Skeletor seems to be now transferring his tripe via STV.

I wonder if that has anything to do with the volume of complaints going into the BBC regarding the recent Slabber overload and the constant questioning of the Slabber membership numbers?

This is why it’s important to complain every single time these ("Tractor" - Ed)s get to perpetuate their lies unchallenged on the BBC.

We have to put a stop to this constant use of “BBC Scotland” as a Slabber mouthpiece with every news and political article now becoming nothing more than a free Slabber Party broadcast.

You do not need a licence to make a complaint and you can easily do it online at BBC Complaints.

If we don’t start acting now then we have no right to be moaning about it when they crank-it-up from January to May and if we let them away with it, it will severely damage our hopes come May.

As for John McKay and STV, in the footage above, they have now lost all credibility as a serious and honest political broadcaster.

To not challenge a blatant liar on 2 humungus lies stinks of sheer amateurism, at least, and pure corruption at worst – possibly both.

I wonder if that programmes sponsors agree with the levels of lying and piss-poor presenting on display at STV?

STV – broadcastings equivalent to the Daily Rectum.

ronnie anderson

Next round of membership offers for Labour party 2 for the price of 1 & buy a membership for Christmas for Family / Friend or is the latter already been done methinks (Falkirk).

WOS as a non Partisan organization could crowdfund a large arena for Jim to answer questions from the public at large,Bbc might televise it. Our Christmas Gift to the Scottish People. awe rite shout at me if you want.

Macart

@Dorothy

Its been driving me mad for days, but if its a toss up between envisioning Murphy or Mariah Carey for long periods of the day… 😀

Greannach

What drives Curran to keep on lying? Does she truly think people won’t find out? Has she such a low opinion of people in the East End of Glasgow? Some of us can read and even have computers.

Chic McGregor

Anyone know if it is within the remit of Holyrood to extend the concept of perjury to pronouncements made by elected representatives on public forums?

If it is, then a Bill should be drafted pronto.

Greannach

It’s difficult for STV to catch up and try to behave like a serious news and current affairs broadcaster when for decades all they’ve had to do is report on football and/or some colourful Mr Glasgow characters reminiscing about shipyards.

Free Scotland

Even if the new Scottish Branch Manager offered memberships on a “buy-one-get-one-free” basis, his marketing campaign would still be a total flop. Too many people have seen right through the likes of Murphy and Dugdale, and hearing them asking people who have left labour to consider rejoining is like hearing a dog owner instructing his dog to eat its own vomit.

Desimond

@Tamson

Wow..thanks, I really should have known.
Its even worse when you see it alongside Kezia’s recent rants about “College neglect”

(apols cant archive from work pc)

link to angusmacdonald.info

Adam

If Curran says she voted to refuse the Infrastructure Bill a second reading, that means she voted No in the first reading – so what you’re describing isn’t a lie, because she doesn’t say how she voted in the second reading.

Just saying – if those of us on the pro-independence side want to hold the mainstream media to account, we need to make sure our own statements are accurate.

[…] Start as you mean to go on […]

Steve Rankine

STV has never recovered from losing Jim White and Charlie Nicholas….

Labour are desperate, Murphy is desperate.

Him being leader is them happy to hold whatever support they have left, whilst trying to get the Tory vote in Scotland.

You only have to look at what happened in Renfrewshire with his constituency….that’s what he is looking for across Scotland, these middle class voters that seemed to vote No, he wants them to vote Labour.

I don’t think he really cares about being called out on websites, but he should, as it’s how many people got switched onto politics and how to make an arse out of politicians like him.

dan huil

Bogof Labour.

boris

It’s taken David Cameron & Sir Jeremy Hayden 7 years of Machiavellian manipulation but they are almost there.

link to thefreelibrary.com..+TORIES+You%27re+a+chump.-a0172279890

Training Day

Cook’s tweet sums up the degraded state of ‘journalism’ in Scotland because of its refusal to challenge Labour. ‘I’ve asked, been tellt, won’t investigate any further, now go away you irritant.’

Pathetic.

Jim

@muttley79
The problem is not so much Murphy and Curran lying, it is the fact that MSM never hold them to account. If anybody from the SNP made these statements it would be the headline news on Reporting Scotland and the like.
___
Having read the National a few times I am unimpressed by it’s lacking of any real news regarding these lies when on a daily basis these “politicians”, are exposed on this website as the scum that they undoubtedly are.
That is part of the problem as, fantastic as it is, this website doesn’t reach near enough people but a publication like the National portraying itself as a supporter of independence can and should be following suit or better leading from the front in exposing these people on that said daily basis.
I get the feeling that the publishers of the National have decided to bite the bullet and tap into what is after all a very lucrative market to prop up falling sales figures elsewhere.

big jock

Yes the Scotland top was farcical. I am surprised he wasn’t drinking more of his Irn Bru and chewing a McCowans toffee bar, just to prove he wasn’t a Brit anymore. Does he really think that’s what makes Yes voters tick! Does he think we are that shallow and brainless. “Look at me I am Scottish please join my party”! Good God he is even worse than Lamont, and has started with lies and will finish with lies.

Stoker

BBC TV Licensing accused of using G4S meter readers to spy.
link to archive.today

Also, according to various sources, Lewis Hamilton recently presented with the BBC Sports Personality of The Year doesn’t even have a TV Licence.
link to archive.today

Quentin Quale

Labour in Scotland seem to have learned quite a lot from their recent referendum campaign. They are playing down the fearmongering and scare stories but ramping up the blatant lying. No msm to challenge them so they assume they will get away with it. They treated the people of Scotland with contempt when they were the Tories mouthpiece – this is beyond contempt.

Ken500

The West Lothian question is a myth, but Cameron is trying to push EVEL through using Scottish MP’s. The deluded LibDems. Squealing like pigs.

Reading a balance sheet has never been a Westminster accomplishment. Anyone who thinks the Unionists are winning is deluded.

boris

Methinks Rev. Stuart Campbell would be a shoo in for the Deputy Editor job advertised in the National. If not for him I would certainly give him his own daily column. Readership would massively increase as he brought to the Scottish public aspects of UK governance which are even now being avoided by the National. Today’s coverage was bland and focused more on events outwith Scotland at a time Spud Murphy is running loose in Scotland gaining maximum television,radio and press coverage airing blatant lies and at best distortions of the truth

Stoker

ronnie anderson says:
“WOS as a non Partisan organization could crowdfund a large arena for Jim to answer questions from the public at large,Bbc might televise it. Our Christmas Gift to the Scottish People. awe rite shout at me if you want.”

Ah canny shout fur laughin!

I had a momentary vision of the Rev and that coward Skeletor sitting up on a stage in front of a packed Hydro and then the vision vanished, as fast as Skeletor, stage right – WHOOOOOSH!

macbeda

Is this whats happening in SLAB World

link to dilbert.com

EphemeralDeception

Murphy is careful not to bare faced lie he qualifies his answers with ‘I think its’ etc.

Curran on the other hand has a history of blatant lies directly deceiving the public and contradicting the official record. This is just the latest example but is something SNP/Greens etc can challenge when interviewed.

In any live broadcast it is possible to stop and Ask Margaret Curran via the media to make a correction and explain her fabrications for example. It is time to force under the microscope what the media chose to ignore.

Bob Sinclair

NEW SLAB Anthem:
I know a song that nearly everybody knows,

I know a song that nearly everybody knows,

I know a song that nearly everybody knows,

And it goes something like this,

New Jim, same as the first, but a little bit louder and a little bit worse.

Repeat until insane.

ronnie anderson

@ Bill McLean 11.04. Bill I dont read anything divisive or intolerant in Haggis H post 10.29 ( mibbee the West of scot thing in me)Murph Curran Lamont promote their Irish connections they well know that Votes are divided along sectarian lines as well as political lines,Wingers are of many religions & none & many political persuasions & none & many nationalities.Religion will always raise its ugly head in Scotland, but only if we let it.BTW my family name comes from the Norse (anderssen) & Im 100% Scottish.

Capella

But look at it this way: tomorrow he will be back on TV announcing that he has now reduced the cost of joining Labour. See? – sorted.
Over on RT they have an article on anti-propaganda in London. Strike magazine have been creative.
link to rt.com

Craig Patrick

In a BBC interview with Brian Taylor Mr Murphy stated:

” What the Scottish Labour Party does in the future is up to the Scottish Lavbour Party when it comes to devolved policy”

This banal statement was portrayed as a Clause 4 moment despite a continuation of the “branch office” being funded and run by London.

Kevin Evans

Am so sorry stu for having to use this language but when it comes to referring to Mr Murphy there are no words too strong or crude to describe him.

THIS MAN IS A COMPLETE C#^ T.

fred blogger

they are desperate to put us back in our box and seal the lid firmly shut.
our audacity to vote yes and mean it, in the face of full force of the UK state railed against us, has and will inspire others right across the UK to speak out for social justice.
our legacy will be to have changed UK politics forever and we will also become indyscot sooner than many believe.
see words of ghandi, who was inspired by the works of percy and mary shelly

biggpolmont

And if someone thinks its still too expensive to join I am sure they will be able to find someone in falkirk who will pay it for them even if they dont really want to join!

Grizzle McPuss

Jim Murphy – Voluntary or involuntary actions?

An involuntary action is one which occurs without the conscious choice of an organism. If it occurs specifically in response to a stimulus, it will be known as a reflex.

Involuntary actions may or may not occur with the awareness of the organism performing it.

Involuntary actions are opposite of voluntary actions.

Voluntary actions occur because of choice.

When analysing the actions of Mr Murphy, what are we seeing? A politician so blinded by his own self-belief in himself that he reacts automatically in swerving from truth? You could ask; is Mr Murphy actually aware of every political statement and utterance that he makes?

Alas, Mr Murphy is typical of his (historical) type. He merely sticks to the extreme political agenda that he dreams up in the quiet moments by himself; he looks to the world that he wants to create and occupy. A self-obsessed reflection is painted to have him in centre focus, but the edges blurred with noise which is usually perceived not to enhance his landscape. Everything outwith of the focal point is not pertinent to the world-view of Mr Murphy’s type.

Like many obsessed and determined creatures, his is an auto-pilot approach; the involuntary action made large.

These are not easy people to do battle with; voluntary actions do not merit much in their agenda. Theirs is a personal political dogma embraced and buried deep within their sinews long ago. The “stimulus” to involuntary action within them is naturally that which contradicts their perceptions……free thinking.

heedtracker

EVEL is probably even a bigger load of bollox than THE VOW. That balding BBC dude that looks and sounds like he’s from a British Pathe Empire rules 1920’s the planet news reel, Norman Smith is it, laid it all out for super cringer and proud Scot Jim Naughty this morn,
1. EVEL is not a big deal in teamGB, much like Libdem electoral reform comedy referendum. England owns Scotland, why change it.

2. NO gov can bind the next, so if Labour do win, they’d scrap it.

3. By the time the next GE passes, it will all be dropped as no one in Westminster gives a shit anyway. And why would they, the system works for them and so what if a few more sweaties turn up with SNP badges on. Naughtie sez, it could even be as much 20 new SNP MP’s, ooh!

link to tvnewsroom.org
Smith was educated at Oundle School and St Peter’s College, Oxford, where he read History and royals grovelling.

Scot Finlayson

William Hague talking about devolving more power to England in parliament.

fred blogger

Stoker
ronnie anderson, what an excellent idea, fund a meet and greet with murphy with Q&A’s.
‘an evening with jim,’ hosted by the rev?
bags i do the microphone volume’s.
we can supply creates and irn bru as a rider.
🙂

Luigi

Grizzle McPuss says:

16 December, 2014 at 12:34 pm

In other words, he is a compulsive liar who, sooner or later is going to slip up. His big porkies will catch up with him eventually.

It’s only a matter of time.

Tartan Flower

So he wants to change how his party is funded? Perhaps he could ask for a donation from his brothers in blue.

Iain

I wish I’d posted this earlier, so that it would be more prominent – it’s really worth reading:

A Sad Day for Scotland – Jim Murphy is a Thug.
link to ajustchurch.blogspot.co.uk

Tobias Hendry

Here is a true statement from Murphy in 2010. It’s a pity for him and his ‘Labour No’ buddies that he didn’t take his own advice.

“If you vote like a Tory, if you speak like a Tory, if you act like a Tory, Scotland will treat you like a Tory,” Mr Murphy concluded.”

link to archive.today

Haggis Hunter

BBC LabourServative are just so used to getting away with lies that they think it can continue this way.
O/T Why was the name of the egg chucker, up in court not released?

Ken500

The Tories are trying to use Scottish MP’s, the deluded LibDems to bring in EVEL. Turkeys voting for Christmas. Squealing like pigs. Just like Labour.

It would be laughable if it wasn’t so tragic. Go on Moore vote for it.

CameronB Brodie

@ Jim Murphy
Can I ask you to break character for a minute, and answer me truthfully as to why Israel merits statehood, yet Scotland doesn’t.

Does an aggressive and racist nationalism founded on imperialist intervention (Zionism), trump civic nationalism founded on a centuries old Scottish identity and culture?

You might want to confer with Margaret Curran on this one, as to the sustainability of a ‘one state solution’.

A (reluctant) Labour Member

Re Curran: strictly speaking you’re not quite correct. There were two votes – the first a motion to decline the second reading which Labour MPs (including Curran, though not Murphy, Brown and Darling) voted for (link to publicwhip.org.uk). However, the government voted the motion down. The second was the vote for the second reading itself which Labour MPs abstained from, having lost the first vote.

The Man in the Jar

@Iain
at 12:47pm

Good link worth reading. Thanks.

KennyG

Is anybody else screaming inside? If the real McKay was doing his job properly he would have been armed with the facts and would have put it to bed there and then. But then it’s a testament to the mainstream media that none of us are remotely surprised by this. Instead this lying bastard is allowed to lie to and mislead the public with impunity. It’s disgusting.

One thing that still gets me through all this is “the settled will of the Scottish people.” “Look at us in our lofty pearch standing as champions of democracy”, said a Scottish conservative intending to vote Labour.

Brian Fleming

Regarding Labour and the truth, it was Peter Mandelson who once said on Sky News that “the job of a spin doctor is to manufacture the truth.” They live in their own poorly digested post-modernist fantasy, where what they feel would be useful at any given moment is, by definition, the truth. It is pointless to expect any objective truth from such people, as they live in a different reality in which objective truth does not exist.

Desimond

Anyone else shiver over last 24 hours whilst watching the oft shown coverage of Tony Blair being clapped by Neil Kinnock and Jim Callaghan when justifying rewriting ‘Clause 4’ as “Reclaiming Labours way”.

Hearing Jim Murphy talk the same talk about rewriting Clause 4 for Scottish Labour only makes me wonder what right wing hell awaits them, and possibly worse, us.

Cactus

Good afternoon all readers post 18th September.. that Wee Blue Book was quite an eye opener eh?

Rev Stu says above:
“Just 10 MPs did, most of them from the SNP and Plaid Cymru, backed up by the sole Green and a couple of Northern Irish members. Labour in fact didn’t vote on the bill at all – it abstained, as it so often does on votes which are in any way uncomfortable.”

This, bluntly, is why we all NEED to vote for a pro-Scottish party in our next General Election.

Imagine there was a bill going through, to do something positive in Scotlands immediate interest, all the usual characters would probably abstain or vote against it. So where does that leave us? What do we do? What can we do?

Answer: pro-Scottish bottoms (SCO) on Westminster (UK) seats.

Fred

Nice bit of research Tobias! 🙂

Scot Finlayson

Jack Straw asking Leader of The House for analysis on the impact of Scottish MPs on legislation concerning only England/Wales.
Was it not 22 out of 3600 in the last 14 years, 0.6%.
Surely these are the stories our MSM including the National and Ian MacWhirter should be writing about .
It is called Investigative journalism a totally dead duck in Scotland. (Rev Stu being in Somerset)

De Valera

Another excellent article, this mans lies have to be exposed. Every day is another BBC/STV Murphy love in, even the Daily Mail were at it yesterday.

It is time the National was as robust as this, after all the SNP get a daily roasting by the MSM.

turnip_ghost

I still cannot understand why not ONE journalist can compile these…”contradictions” shall we say..then present them to him or Curran or ANY number of MP’s. Imagine it. Someone who is willing to stand up and accuse them of either ignorance or being a liar!

I very much doubt we would see ANY Unionist on the new TV channel, hopefully, coming because they might actually do that…

Patrick Roden

Ok peeps, so why not all take direct action by signing this petition to make it illegal for MP’s to lie to us.

link to change.org

If this was made law our independence would be guaranteed!

bookie from hell

Labour raging over EVEL.,Westminster debate,Better Together walofs

frankie goes to holyrood

Iain Macwhirter, writing in the Herald, has warned online YES supporters to avoid intemperate personal attacks on Mr Murphy as this may play into his hands, as he could just point to nasty cybernats (again).

Perhaps we thus comment that Mr Murphy is inconsistent and/or forgetful and perhaps did not have time to check facts prior to his interview?

Andrew Walker

link to snp.org

SNP now calling for membership numbers of the branch office.

big jock

Not being cheeky but I thought he was an Eire supporter anyway!LOL. You know a plastic paddy type. I can get away with that as my ancestors were all Irish. I wonder if he has ever been to a Scotland game? Thought he would wear the top anyway.
I don’t need to prove I am Scottish nor do I need to be Scottish to vote yes or want the best for Scotland. He is trying to hard now and its cringeworthy!

Stoker

Cactus says:
“Answer: pro-Scottish bottoms (SCO) on Westminster (UK) seats.”

Sure is, Cactus.

Karma is a bitch and our bitch is about to start biting back.
😉

Scotland needs to rid herself of the LibLabCons.

farrochie

Letter in today’s National by Dave McEwan Hill says

I believe the actual paid-up political membership of Labour in Scotland is now below 4,000

The writer does not give a source for the figure.

tombee

Why don’t the Labour Branch Office hold a raffle. They could offer a first prize on one free membership and as a second prize they could offer two free memberships.

They could charge 50 a ticket or two for a fiver. That would seem to be in keeping with their logic these days.

bowanarrow

Jim strikes me as the magicians assistant, while we are all watching his unbelievable goings on the magician is already started sawing us in two.

heedtracker

link to bellacaledonia.org.uk Wings over Scotland getting a spanking from vote NO teachers there. SNP and YES campaign told as many lies as BetterTogether UKOK.

link to bellacaledonia.org.uk

The vote NO teacher says SNP Scots have to raise council taxes, charge uni fees like what England does and end poverty in Scotland because the money going towards better pay for teaching and more money going to further education colleges for more opportunity for poor people. or

“The SNP have been lying, spinning and/or standing idly by watching while we get on with things as best we can, and all their efforts go into trying together to blame Westminster for all the ills of the world while simultaneously patting themselves on the back for anything good that happens.

They can’t have it both ways. And if Scotland is going to be the successful country we all want it to be, independent or otherwise, that needs to start with honesty. We aren’t getting that from our Govts, be they based in London or Edinburgh, and we didn’t get it from either campaign during the referendum. I’m not going to vote for the biggest political, bureaucratic, administrative and social change in the country’s history based on a pack of lies. I’m not going to vote for the undeniable hard times that would follow a Yes vote without knowing that I can trust those who have asked for my trust”

Strong stuff. SNP has cut FE college places but this NO rage takes the easiest vote NO cringe of all and the usual proud Scot but cringer route is? avoiding the giant how did we get here then query. At the very least proud Scot but no voters can rely on honest future Scots First Minister Jim Murphy to tell them the truth and how Labour in Scotland will certainly raise council taxes, scrap university fees, joyfully raise Scottish teachers pay… sorry, laughing so hard at this my carer’s coming with a sedative.

Patrick Roden

Mr MacWhirter blames ‘cybernatz’ for losing the referendum!

That’s taking the biscuit Ian!

It was your friends in the media, the ones who lied themselves or were prepared to print /broadcast lies from the BT campaign that were the reason we had our democracy stolen.

It’s gutless (so called) journalists who are the enemies of Scotland and I mean enemies!

Les Wilson

It is high time politicians are held legally to account for telling provable lies in order to influence the voting public. We saw it day in and day out during the Indy run up, and we know the consequences.

This practice has to be stopped, no wonder after the event, when the truth gets out people get angry about it.
Yet, they can walk away smiling, job done!
It is not good enough, high time they paid the penalty.

big jock

We lost the referendum for 3 reasons and nothing to do with the yes campaign. Firstly the Brit nats 20% who would vote no event if they took away their grannies pensions. Then the Fearties who were scared of their own shadows and in the end voted no out of sheer terror or having to be a grown up nation 20%. The other 15% were the middle classes and self preservation types.

Do not look to blame those who voted yes. Instead ask why if Scotland is a nation should the question even have to be asked in the first place!

Stoker

@ Patrick Roden.

First of all i compliment you on your efforts, your heart and mind are in the right place.

Please excuse my scepticism when i say that these petitions are not worth a rats erse.

I have witnessed one (from another company you may of heard of) being hijacked and used by a filthy ("Tractor" - Ed) whom i despise. That petition gained somewhere in the region of 120K signatures and ended up doing us and our cause not one ounce of good.

I have witnessed another petition by NNS gather over 25k signatures only to be completely ignored by the con that was the Smith Commission.

I could give you a list of examples but i think i’ve made my point and hope you understand when i say what’s the point, i don’t think they get us anywhere.

I wish i could be more positive about these petitions but experience has taught me differently.

Unless someone can show me a few recent examples of ones which have helped to make a difference i don’t think i’ll be convinced.

Good luck in your aims.

btw, Patrick, i notice that the petition is to get them to stop lying inside “Parliament.” In Scotland that’s not so much the problem because the SNP don’t let them away with it. The problem we have, as you are probably aware, is most of these lying scumbags routinely do it from the relatively safe haven of a compliant and colluding TV/Radio station or press release.
How do we put a stop to that?
There are supposed to be organisations set up to “regulate” these outlets but as we all know they are as useless as the outlets.

Luigi

farrochie says:

16 December, 2014 at 1:44 pm

Letter in today’s National by Dave McEwan Hill says

I believe the actual paid-up political membership of Labour in Scotland is now below 4,000

The writer does not give a source for the figure.

It’s up to the Red Tories to disprove it.
A figure of “below 4,000” sounds about right.

Ken500

The Referendum was lost because of Unionists cheating, lies and the VOW. The promise of full fiscal autonomy which has now been reneged on. The liars will reap what they sow.

tombee

Sorry OT,

Today’s National, criptic crossword, one across,
What Labour is in Scotland, critics say, 6 and 6,?.
ANSWER, Really Fucked ?.

Stoker

Let “STV” know your disapproval at their collusion in Skeletors lies.

Click on the link and scroll down to “General enquiries and complaints” – demand answers.
link to stv.tv

Helena Brown

Stoker says: With regard to the lies told inside and outside of Parliament. I would actually like to see these people being told that if they repeat these scurrilous lies outside the house they will be sued. They seem to go without fear, going onto repeating them willy nilly and if nobody in the MSM are going to hold them to account then perhaps the courts are the only place.

Desimond

While the Establishment continue to ignore the SNP actually being the party in power, was interesting to see STV News seek public opinion on Jim Murphy taking over.

They could only find 2 Labour voters, 1 was a member who actually voted for him whilst you almost heard the camera-man sigh when a guy replied “I hate Scottish Labour!” after another guy had told of his Road to Damascus conversion from Labour to SNP following “Labours Blair years”.

Jim is not the Messiah…he and his crew are still viewed very much as the naughty boys!

Ken500

Scotland raises more in taxes and spends less but spends more on NHS/Education (pro rata) than the rest of the UK. The SNP protect NHS/Education. Some teachers need an education. Some of them can’t read a balance sheet or understand how the Barnett formula works and support Labour. Some teachers would rather spend £Billions on Trident and illegal wars than education.

The money – £Billions – Westminster have wasted on illegal Wars/Trident, tax evasion and banker fraud could have educated half the world. £1.3Trillion. The National Debt.

Helena Brown

Haggis Hunter says:
16 December, 2014 at 12:53 pm
O/T Why was the name of the egg chucker, up in court not released?
Sorry but it was, by the name of Stuart Mackenzie, so called independence supporter.

Cactus

Here’s a question you could try asking someone of the ‘proud Scot but’ persuasion..

“It’s heartening to know that you consider yourself to be a proud Scot, but have you ever considered yourself to be a passionate Scot?” No buts!

What’s LOVE without PASSION?
X

muttley79

@bookie from hell

Labour raging over EVEL.,Westminster debate,Better Together walofs

That is because they see their career paths to high political office at Westminster being permanently eliminated. That is why Darling was so annoyed with Cameron on the 19th of September. Take away their opportunities to be PM, Chancellor, Foreign Secretary, Defence Secretary etc, and they will become much less interested in fighting for the Union in future.

Quentin Quale

Thought I’d contact Labour in Scotland for clarification on this issue – still laughing on finding on their website that they have a ‘Truth Team – Find out the Facts and Expose the Myths’. Beyond parody. These pronouncements are superb examples of Orwellian doublespeak. Eric Blair must be birling at a helluva rate.

Dr Jim

What’s Ian MacWhirter got against the truth, is that not supposed to be the basis of his job, to find the truth and shine a light upon it, or is there another reason he has a problem with people who try to expose those who would seek to subvert honesty, or as a newspaper man is the worry that internet sites such as Wings perform the function he and his fellows should, does he in fact have more in common with self obsessed lunatics like Alan Cochrane than objective journalism, are all us Cybernatty evil people wrong, if we are at any time not being factual, is not your job Mr MacWhirter to then expose that. Both ways you cannot have it Ian old son, sliding backwards an forwards between all worlds gets you contempt and you will deserve it. Do your job, you have a newspaper voice to do it, do’nt criticise those who have none and use the only way open to make their opinion heard, that’s whether you like it or not, so get over it and grow up…I am Alex Salmond

think again

Some thoughts on comments by H @ 10.57 and farrochie @ 1.44 regarding membership figures.

Dave McEwan Hill believes it to be, in mainstream media print, at 4000, I don`t believe his lawyers will be troubled by Jim`s. The earlier comment by H might I believe also be on the generous side at 2666 as the income figure also included a contribution by the affiliated and party organisations in Scotland. This is from their audited accounts available at

http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk

I believe Jim Murphy might have erred on the high side, perhaps he will correct this during tomorrow`s daily Murphy.

Nana Smith
Nana Smith

Want a laugh??

DUMBARTON and Vale MSP Jackie Baillie has been handed the Finance remit on the shadow cabinet.

Stoker

@ Helena Brown.
I like that idea and would go one step further in wanting to see
a law introduced to make prosecution of these liars easier.
Sick to the back teeth of it and something has to be done.
__________________

THE LIEBORE PARTY:

4th November 2014
BBC Political Correspondent Glenn Campbell states that
Slabber “have a membership of over 13,000.”

19th November 2014
BBC Chief Political Correspondent Laura Kuenssberg states that
Slabber “have a membership of fewer than 17,000.”

13th December 2014
BBC Scotland Correspondent James Cook states that
Slabber “have a membership of 14,000.”

13th December 2014
BBC Political Correspondent Glenn Campbell decides to contradict
his previous lie and state that Slabber have 14,000 members.

14th December 2014
WOS Journalist and Owner Stuart Campbell reveals why he thinks
the true figure of Slabber membership could be closer to 7000.

15th December 2014
Slabber manager, Skeletor, states on STV that he thinks his
branch office has 20,000 members and then states another lie
about SNP membership fees.

jackie g

Saw this today and thought it was very positive, just a shame better together decided to turn a positive campaign into one of desperate fear and intimidation.

The Scottish independence referendum was “well run” and an example to be followed, according to the election watchdog.

they also go on to say,

John McCormick, Electoral Commissioner for Scotland, said: “On almost every measure of participation the referendum exceeded anything we have seen before and people overwhelmingly said they found the experience of voting positive.

SquareHaggis

Bit of a gaffe really.

Telling everyone it’s £39 dearer to join the Labour party looks a lot less attractive than a pound for the SNP, especially in these times of austerity.

Unless he’s looking to secure Tory votes for Tory money.

Basically telling those who can’t afford it, like the hard working families he spouts on about so readily, to take a hike.

Membership will fall.

Ken500

The North/South divide. Tell the truth south of the border that’s alright. Tell the truth in Scotland. That’s the terrible CyberNats. Attempted Press censorship that will not work. Double standards.

It’s easier for the lazy ‘Press’ to just accept political hand out for extortionate salaries. Westminster controls the Press. If they print the truth they can get arrested. Just ask the two faced Guardian. Clegg/Cameron put the heavies in to vandalise the Press room. Their Chief has just retired. Coincide?. Publishing panny Unionist articles. The constant Gov surveillance.

Westminster slap on ‘D’notices to keep their secrets.

fred blogger

SquareHaggis
yes, murphy is implying/admitting that the SNP are very good with the economy, which in fact they are.
🙂

Eugene Fraxby

“If this is Peter Jones the economics journalist I find it hard to believe that this Dundee High School FP is well-connected in Scottish Labour circles through any other channel than his NUJ card.”

I thought Peter was married to Rhona Brankin, the former Labour MSP.

CameronB Brodie

Re. Stuart Mackenzie.

I would like to know why Jim Murphy’s security team stood watching with hands in pockets, as the vicious attack was not over in the blink of an eye. I would also like to know why they did not try to apprehend Stu as he walked away, all be it at a brisk pace.

I still smell something rather unpleasant.

Nana Smith
Brian

Another fine piece of detective work and analysis by WoS. I am so grateful for your perseverance and commitment. The scales are still falling from eyes. These people are beyond description. Roll on May 2015.

Stoker

THE LIEBORE PARTY:

4th November 2014
BBC Political Correspondent Glenn Campbell states that
Slabber “have a membership of over 13,000.”

19th November 2014
BBC Chief Political Correspondent Laura Kuenssberg states that
Slabber “have a membership of fewer than 17,000.”

13th December 2014
BBC Scotland Correspondent James Cook states that
Slabber “have a membership of 14,000.”

13th December 2014
BBC Political Correspondent Glenn Campbell decides to contradict
his previous lie and state that Slabber have 14,000 members.

14th December 2014
WOS Journalist and Owner Stuart Campbell reveals why he thinks
the true figure of Slabber membership could be closer to 7000.

15th December 2014
Slabber manager, Skeletor, states on STV that he thinks his
branch office has 20,000 members and then states another lie
about SNP membership fees.

16th December 2014
Dave McEwan Hill explains in a Scottish newspaper, The National,
why he believes the true figure to be much closer to 4000.

I hereby call on all you involved with the Scottish branch of the UK Labour Party to bring your proof to the table and prove to us all that Stuart Campbell and Dave McEwan Hill are wrong in their figures.

Tic Toc, Slabber, Tic Toc.

ronnie anderson

@ Grizzle McPuss 12.38 Is they,re a Dr before McPuss how did you get Murph on the couch lol.

heedtracker

link to heraldscotland.com

Well that’s me told! OK so Jim Murphy is a bloody nice guy and cybernats need to f off and die and maybe not vote for all new Labour in Scotland, but it was them wot lost it.

Personally I’d have thought the real headline was the BBC/UKOK wide media vote Jim Murphy or else blitzkrieg that was dumped on us over the weekend. BBC were absolutely spectacular in their historic efforts to get us to vote for whatever con Murphy’s now peddling but that’s all fine and dandy is it? Where I am, BBC news blasted out vote Murphy every half hour for starters, much like say their Vote Nob Orders campaign via liggers ligger Gavin Estler but lets all kick a few cybernats going WTF is going on in teamGB, its like the week before the referendum all over again.

Whatever the Herald’s paying oor Ian, its too much or not enough, cybernat balancing of judgement there, the clown.

Helena Brown

Heedtracker @3.49pm, I have never really taken word written by Ian McWhirter seriously for years. He cannot make up his mind where he is on the matter of whether Scotland should or should not be independent, so if you have been told of consider yourself and probably me worried by a toothless sheep.

Graeme Doig

Re the accountability of this mad sociopath. Nicola Sturgeon has to insist that his lap dug dale answers for her masters comments as he flits from one tv studio to another spouting deception.

He is currently answerable to no one and that is a dangerous state of affairs.

I totally agree that he is so deeply into his own slurry that he is bound to trip himself up eventually but it is galling having to listen to him get away with so much in the meantime.

I look forward to NS dismantling both of them at FMQ’s.

heedtracker

Just caught up with Herald/MacWhirter welcome Jim Murphy we love you and wish I hadn’t

“However, no-one really believes that is possible. And if Murphy only claws back 10 points or so in the polls, then he saves a lot of seats. Remember, the SNP only won six MPs in the 2010 General Election against Labour’s 41 in Scotland. There are no Labour seats in Scotland where the SNP is less than 10 points behind.”

Murphy “saves” Labour seats does he?

and what WTF does this mean?

“When Murphy first put his hat in the ring for leader, I said he would have to undergo an ideological brain transplant to lead the Scottish Labour Party. Well, the operation appears to have been a success. For now, at least, we are looking at New Jim – Man Of The People and True Scot.”

First we got proud Scot buts and now its True Scots. How do you test for true Scotness anyway? Must be satire.

Jim Murphy’s a True Scot now so, Proud True Scot Buts, vote Labour in Scotland.

Bugger (the Panda)

@heedtracker

Ian MacWhirter and Gerry Hassan are no friends of the SNP.

Hassan is still a Labour man and at the slightest hint of a resurgence in their fortunes would jump ship. MacWhirter is a UK Federalist in the old Liberal tradition and views independence with stifled alarm. Any hint of more powers for Scotland and a passing reference to the word federalism would get him swooning, starstruck and selling his journalistic soul, as he dashes supporting pen to paper.

Sinky

Broty Boy at 10.25

Peter Jones is well connected to Labour. To be fair he is a bit more measured than the rantings of Brian Wilson and John McTernan.

Scotsman columnist and economist Peter Jones is married to Scottish Labour politician Rhona Brankin The former Scottish Executive minister who retired in 2011.

Desimond

This just beggars belief from Scottish Labour…
Murphy defending his new Cabalet, I mean Cabinet

“..and even someone who didn’t vote for anyone in the ballot.”

How can anyone with any respect be in a position of authority in a party that cant even be arsed voting for the people running that party. Truly shambolic!

cirsium

@ Nana Smith, 3.26

Very interesting article, Nana. Thanks for the link.

Bugger (the Panda)

Jim Murphy is a congenital liar and not a bright one at that.

He has become used to be able to lie as he willed without being brought to book, as the unionist press and Labour BBC would cover his odious tendencies.

When confronted with his lies, as never happens by any of our forth estate, by a member of public he hectors, bullies and shouts the person down or, simply ignores them and their question.

He fails to recognise that we know and we tell others his mendacious traits. They see them and pass it on. It is all a bit viral, which is an appropriate word for Murphy; something that infects, weakens and can kill the host.

I hope he kills the Labour Party in Scotland.

Desimond

Purely a coincidence that SNP is on the rise and Labour in turmoil in an election year…..BBC Radio Scotland announce a new 2015 format…key changes include:

A new three-hour morning discussion programme hosted by Kaye Adams will replace Morning Call

Speaking about the changes Kaye Adams said: “This new show will allow us to really discuss and dissect the issues of the day – and put our decision-makers on the spot.”

Famous15

I think what McWhirter is saying is do not snatch failure from the jaws of victory.

I have read so much OTT stuff about the somewhat unpleasant Mr Murphy and hands up I suggested he was an excellent snake oil seller but perhaps some people are turned off by that, So let’s be subtle.

Mr Murphy has assembled a widely skilled team so let us hear their ideas in detail. The SNP Government have said the door is always open to good ideas.They will implement good ideas so let us hear them!

Always do yor best for Scotland.OK!

heedtracker

@ Helena Brown, it all just looks like McWhirter wants the red tory story to go away and he really hopes against they have become a left of centre Labour outfit from the 30’s, over the weekend, in the blink of any eye, under permission from the BBC etc. Anyway, if any of this con is even remotely possible let alone true, isn’t pressure for the 45% YES votes forcing red tory Labour to actually do stuff what people want from their government? and hows that for McWirterwesque naivety and wishfully thinking. His “True Scot” stuff is really bockin though.

Sinky

As Adam Ramsay former NUS chief says on Murphy’s tactics:

And, thirdly, this triangulation won’t work because the voters who have swung from Labour to the SNP have done so not because they are soft nationalists who love a saltire, but because they are soft socialists who see the SNP as sitting to the left of Labour. Sounding like a patriot will do little to win those people over.

If all of this sounds bleak for Murphy, that’s, largely, because that’s how things are – but for one glimmer of hope. One of the key reasons Labour has fallen apart since 2007 is that it’s been driven more by hatred of the SNP than by a coherent plan of its own. Murphy is utterly loathed by many yes supporters. There are huge numbers who now see their primary job as destroying him and his party. And, that kind of hatred eats movements alive.

If he can wind his opponents up until they look as bitter, nasty and directionless as his party has appeared for most of the last decade, then maybe, just maybe, he will have tricked them into giving him a chance. If they just ignore him, and let him get on with tacking and jiving in a hunt for long shifted trade winds, it seems fair to assume his party slowly, gradually, loyal supporters still fondly clinging on, will sink.

MarkAustin

Helena Brown says:

16 December, 2014 at 2:36 pm

Stoker says: With regard to the lies told inside and outside of Parliament. I would actually like to see these people being told that if they repeat these scurrilous lies outside the house they will be sued. They seem to go without fear, going onto repeating them willy nilly and if nobody in the MSM are going to hold them to account then perhaps the courts are the only place.

Some of the problems with Westminster is that there is a parliamentary convention that members do not lie, and therefore any such accusation is an offence by the person making the accusation, and can result in suspension from the House. This means two things: blatant lies can be told; and can only be challenged by circumlucations which are so cumbersome that they go over most people’s heads. Also, once a statement is made in Parliament, any reporting or repeating of it is covered by Parliamentary privilige—which means there can be no legal challenge to it, and also makes a direct charge of lying a breach of Parliamentay privilige, again making challenging it tricky.

This attitude of mind tends to “carry over” to other matters, making journalists reluctant to expose open lies until they get too blatant

michael

There is something deeply sinister and menacing about Jim Murphy.

He tells bare faced lies while staring at the interviewer, who know its lies, almost daring them to ask a follow up question. They seem to be too scared to drill down past the first and only question on each topic.

It makes me want to hold up my new £10 per month SNP membership card like a crucifix to a vampire.

K1

Thanks for that link Nana, nice to see you back too 🙂

Think it really articulates where things stand for Labour in Scotland right now…and yes that last paragraph, Sinky, is a far more intelligent articulation of what MacWhirter made a complete hash of in his outpourings.

link to opendemocracy.net

muttley79

I think what Iain Macwhirter was saying was that if too many people from the Yes side give Jim Murphy abuse then it will play right into his hands. Adam Ramsay says the same thing in the article Sinky quotes from. I think the advice that they are trying to give is to ignore Murphy because he feeds off ill feeling. I think it is very sound advice. Do not make the mistake of putting Murphy centre stage because we dislike him. He tried to stir up reaction against him during the referendum and succeeded. Lets not play into his hands again.

Bill McLean

Ronnie – it’s not your reading of Haggis H post at 1029 I’m getting at it’s the way people like Murphy can/will use any appearance on here of intolerance whether racial or religious! You say yourself that “Wingers” are of many persuasions and none – let’s keep it that way. “Religion will always raise it’s ugly head in Scotland. But only if we let it”. Well let’s not let it!

Stoker

Two questions for the new Slabber branch manager:

(1)-With your recent claims of autonomy will you be publishing your own manifesto?

(2)-With your recent claims of autonomy will you be changing your party logo?

After-all, the Rose is not only the logo for the UK Labour Party, it is also the emblem of England, or does your “autonomy & patriotism” not stretch that far?

heedtracker

Another day, another spectacular/dreary teamGB fraud pumps out the UKOK con from rancid Guardian’s year summary of teamGB greatness, long to reign over us, happy and glorious, god save teamGB, lol

“The Yes campaign made steady ground in the polls until, with just a fortnight to go, it nudged ahead for the first time and panic swept through Westminster. In the event the union survived, Scots voting 55.3% to 44.7% in favour, but only thanks to hastily assembled cross-party pledges of substantial further devolution from London.

A historic deal in November gave Holyrood direct control over £14bn ($22bn) worth of tax and welfare policy. But the longer-term consequences for the union may lie south of the border, where England’s disgruntled regions eye Scottish gains with envy.”

Doesn’t Holyrood already “control” £14bn ($22bn) worth of tax and welfare policy? so what’s historic about it honest newspaper of the year Guardian or, how much our fellow countrymen are prepared to shit all over Scottish democracy.

link to wingsoverscotland.com

Wee Alex

I agree that attacks on Murphy should not be personal and could be counter productive.

There is enough factual information out there to expose his right wing credentials without the need for unnecessary personalisation.

Let’s wait and see his Clause 4, let’s wait and see if Milliband is prepared to accept them, let’s wait and see if Labour in Scotland really is independent both in policy terms and financially.

Let’s wait and see if he is willing to debate with opposing politicians, instead of pretend interrogation by Labour friendly media.

Many believe it was Murphys whispering campaign that led to Lamonts resignation. Let’s wait and see if the enemies within are content.

Finally let’s see where Westminster opinion polls are in the New Year.

No no no...Yes

Sinky 4:27pm and others

“If he can wind his opponents up until they look as bitter, nasty and directionless as his party has appeared for most of the last decade, then maybe, just maybe, he will have tricked them into giving him a chance. If they just ignore him, and let him get on with tacking and jiving in a hunt for long shifted trade winds, it seems fair to assume his party slowly, gradually, loyal supporters still fondly clinging on, will sink.”

McWhirter and Adam Ramsay have today both pointed out the potential problems for pro-indy folks like us going overboard with personal comments about Murphy et al. Coupled with the fact that the MSM and the political opposition check Wings and other websites craving that we give them ammunition, we would be wise to acknowledge the situation and act accordingly. We want undecided voters to read Wings and follow our cause.

Adam Ramsay in particular hits the nail on the head. As we all know Murphy is dangerous. Remember, he succeeded in his wind-ups during the campaign and he is capable of doing something similar again. The General Election is an important step on our journey to independence and I would hate to think we will present the MSM and Unionist parties opportunities to divert attention to pro-indy supporters for the wrong reasons. This website’s rules on posting are clear and we should abide by them. Time to get of my soapbox now.

Ken500

Murphy gave people abuse. He is a born liar. He as supported every vicious Westminister policy. He went out to cause as much trouble as he could to line his pockets. The rest of them are bad enough but these two unelected bampots have never had a job in their life. People are expected not to comment according to a sanctimoniius ‘journalist’. Aye right. Let’s pussy foot around Jim. Aye and don’t mention the war. Forget it.

galamcennalath

My only questions for Murphy would be ..

Will SLab be allowed to have different policies for Scotland from LonLab on reserved issues? And, if so, what mechanism do you intend to use to get those unique policies for Scotland passed at Westminster?

CameronB Brodie

Human rights lawyer Niall McLuskey QC, who works with Amnesty International, told CommonSpace that Murphy’s affiliation with the HJS raises “serious questions”, while Dr Nafeez Ahmed, author and executive director of the Institute for Policy Research and Development (IPRD), described it as “very worrying”.

link to commonspace.scot

CameronB Brodie

Hope this isn’t considered abuse.
Human rights lawyer Niall McLuskey QC, who works with Amnesty International, told CommonSpace that Murphy’s affiliation with the HJS raises “serious questions”, while Dr Nafeez Ahmed, author and executive director of the Institute for Policy Research and Development (IPRD), described it as “very worrying”.

link to commonspace.scot

manandboy

To talk about Murphy is to follow Murphy.
To follow him is to be led by him.
Need I go on.

There is value and gain to be had in studying Murphy’s tactics. We failed somewhat to do that in IndyRef and ended up losing everything.

But to fixate on Murphy is exactly what the BBC and the Daily Record do. Maybe we talk so much about him because we see him so often on the telly and read about him so much in the DR. On an everyday basis, whose side are we on?

Are we really OK with doing the exact same thing as the Unionists? Soaking up all Murphy’s propaganda?

If all 1.6 million Yes voters stopped watching the BBC and stopped buying the DR or whatever, the battle would be nearly won already.

I know it is not easy to change. It took my famiy 2 years to chuck live TV; and the mother-in-law refuses steadfastly to abandon her beloved DR. Just as many still cling to their beloved Labour party.

We Scots are very conservative as a nation. We prefer the comfort, the security and the familiarity of what we’ve always done in the past, although in truth we are also very selective about it, but won’t easily admit it.

Securing Independence will require us to learn to change.

Time to start practising.

CameronB Brodie

Bow down to your masters, folks. England owns you. Democracy in the UK, is dead.

England won’t put up with Scotland’s behaviour for long
Do the people and politicians of Scotland honestly think they can continue demanding a series of referendums in perpetuity?

Well, Scotland can stay drunk if it wants. But England isn’t going to keep picking up the tab. These issues didn’t really matter much in England so long as they remained on the political back-burner. But the Scots keep insisting on pushing them onto the front burner. And in Ukip, England now has its very own SNP. English votes for English laws are the minimum that is required to head off a serious backlash.

link to telegraph.co.uk

Tony Sutton

Curran and Murphy, what fag-ends of politicians. Let’s stub them out at the ballot box next year.

heedtracker

Torygraph very blue Tory “likes” for NOT red Tory Jim Murphy too, but Tory boys are beginning to lose patience with all this Scottish nonsense. Thanks again Proud True Scots Buts. Dont know this torygraph boy, not Comical Cockers but still great.

We are a nation apparently but a nation of drunks. On English greatness and how very dare they, who the hell do they think they are anyway etc

“We are part of a political union. It is a union that was reaffirmed, by the Scottish people, a couple of months ago. And we all have a stake in that union. Even us knuckle-draggers south of the border.

Do the people and politicians of Scotland honestly think the rest of the United Kingdom is going to simply sit back while they carry on the way they’ve been carrying on before, during and after September’s referendum? Do they genuinely believe they can continue demanding a series of referendums on independence in perpetuity, until they get the result right, or get bored of asking the question? When Jim Murphy boasts “what happens in Scotland will be decided in Scotland” does he not wonder what conclusion his English colleagues and the people they represent will draw? Did Darling, Brown and Alexander honestly think they could unilaterally rewrite the UK constitution, and offer “Scottish Home Rule”, funded via the Barnett Formula, without any English reaction at all?

Scotland is a nation that has become drunk on constitutional arrogance and self-righteousness. “We might stay in the union. We might not stay in the union. We’ll let you know when we’re good and ready.” “Better off together? Forget that. You keep your noses out. What happens in Scotland will be decided in Scotland.” “What? You want English votes for English laws? Who the hell do you think you are? You can talk about that in due time. Now shut up, and keep writing the cheques, or we’re off.”
Well, Scotland can stay drunk if it wants. But England isn’t going to keep picking up the tab.

CameronB Brodie

Sorry, here’s the same link.

link to tinyurl.com

Stoker

michael says:
“There is something deeply sinister and menacing about Jim Murphy.”

michael,
I firmly believe he is THE most dangerous politician to enter Scottish politics, in my adult life.

He is extremely divisive, has no scruples whatsoever, has more faces than any town clock and constantly lies without even flinching.

He has openly stated that his intentions are to be FM and then devolve as many powers as possible away from the devolved Scottish parliament to local authorities while keeping the real powers of any true nation in the hands of Westminster.

Therefore leaving Scotland even more impotent and a bigger laughing stock than it already is.

I wouldn’t be surprised if it were ever revealed that he was being supported and driven by forces outwith Westminster, and it started long before the 18th September 2014.
Just a gut feeling, nothing more.
______

When these ("Tractor" - Ed)s stop sh!tt!ng on my country and spreading their lies i might think more of them but until that day comes they’ll get all the respect they deserve from me – zero.

izzie

It is up to we yessers to get ourselves on these phone ins and ask ackward questions.

Nana Smith

Reactionary name calling will get us nowhere. Leave that to the unionists for if we don’t they will use it to their advantage. Yessers bad, SNP bad, Indy bad.

Yes we were maligned throughout the campaign and they will continue to cast slurs and lies, but we must grit our teeth.

Believe me I don’t know how I still have any teeth left.

Fiona

And in Ukip, England now has its very own SNP. English votes for English laws are the minimum that is required to head off a serious backlash.

What does that even mean?

A backlash like deciding to leave the union?

Bring it…..

Grouse Beater

What is ‘personal’ about attacks on Jim Murphy?

He is so obviously wildly, grossly unsuitable for the post he has managed to grasp. He sold Scotland down the river and now comes paddling back to sell us canoes.

Giving a politician a cutting name is an accurate method of identification of his attitude and political stance, a way of letting him no he is not and never will be forgiven for betraying the people they said they represented.

Are we to give him respect?

His presentation is appalling. His holier than thou hides a nasty temper. He’s lost the Ranger’s vote.

He does look as and sound as if dug up and should be reburied – immediately.

ronald russell

I Emailed Margaret Curran asking her why she lied to her constituents. No reply so far. Wonder why?

Ken500

The only changes that have come is by criticism, and not accepting the status quo. The majority opposed the Iraqi War and the lies, the majority oppose food banks and sanctions, torture, supporting apartheid States, absolute despot monarchies, breaking international wars and the hypocrites who support them. Lying and secretly stealing from Scotland for years to fund their illegal wars, tax evasion and banking fraud. Thatcher and the McCrone Report but do not hold them to account or Murphy will not pleased. Aye right. It’s ‘journalists’ who should be holding them to account not protecting them. The Referendum was lost because of their cheating and lies. They are now paying the price. Save the crocodile tears.

Author_Al

Mr Mcwhirter can say what he likes about folks on here I guess, but I would rather he – and fellow so called journalists – take Stu’s brilliant investigative posts and get the truth out there. Labour offer nothing new, are deceitful and untrustworthy and desperate. Scottish Govt needs to be far more robust in its response to lies and cover ups. Mr Murphy needs to be made to explain what he knows about the CIA flights from Scottish airports, why he cosies up to the Henry Jackson Society, why he has inflated SLAB membership, why he won’t refer to Westminster by name, why he only wants to make decisions about devolved matters, why he bothers to exist…

liz

I agree about Jim Murphy being a very dangerous man and that’s why l wasn’t happy at him getting voted in.

If Sarah Boyack or Neil Findlay had got in they would have been easy to oppose.

I also believe he has got backing in high places.

K1

When you think of the attention that Murphy drew from the media over his ‘irn bru crate’ tour and in particular how he used it to call foul with the egg incident, it was clear even at the time on Wings that he was ‘stirring’ just for this very effect.

Rarely has this not been referenced in articles about him and in broadcast reporting since the referendum. He merely hammered home the idea that the Yes side was full of ‘natz’ etc and all the concommitant associations that went with this, feeding into the ‘fear factor’ which was essentially part of their game plan. This actually may well have had a ‘positive’ effect for the No campaign. And may well be a fundemental tactic that they deliberately use to their advantage.

It makes complete sense then, that they will use what they consider effective over and over again. Although as has been mentioned on other threads, its power is much lessened by people being more informed on what they are really about. Nonetheless, it’s difficult not to ‘take the bait’ because of the sheer gall of the man and the MSM’s free pass when it comes to holding him to account.

This is exactly the area that we get ‘wound up’ about. ‘Cause we are mostly honest people seeing the situation as it is and it’s like; ‘CAN NO ONE SEE WHAT’S HAPPENING RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM?’ The tendency then in the face of the powerlessness we feel is to attack the bastards for what they are doing, and vent our spleen, I think, quite rightly at them. But this is then attacked by those same bastards who have the advantage of the free pass to paint us as ‘nutjobs’ to a much wider audience who are not as informed, and so don’t really understand why we are so ‘wound up’ by the bastards in the first place!

They win, people like Murphy ‘win’ on this ground because, as is often outlined on here, they have the MSM acting as loud hailer for their agenda.

Countermeasures. Switch off from the MSM. Make posters, talk to people. I can’t watch any news anymore. I actually use Wings as my go to for what is happening in Scotland politically. If the Rev isn’t flagging it, it ain’t worth a sh** as far I’m concerned now.

heedtracker

If I was an actual Proud True Scot But thinking about voting for the Herald’s McWhirter vote for that really lovely Jim Murphy’s New Old Nice Labour in Scotland luv in, I’d be curious as to why The Daily Telegraph, Daily Record, BBC etc are so hysterically desperate for me to vote Murphy and Labour next May.

The Herald, Daily Rancid, BBC in Scotland and the Torygraph united in what? Maybe Comical Cockers will tell us, he says he knows everything.

Grouse Beater

I’d like to make it clear that I think Murphy is a pitiful character.

For someone of little charm and ability to think he can alter the political course of Labour UK and regain the trust and respect of the Scottish people is truly pathetic.

K1

Aye, his arrogance shines through his opague veneer.

Paula Rose

So – Jimbo wants the Labour party to be more left-wing, which the SNP is, so my advice to him would be to let the SNP get as many seats as possible in order to counteract the English marginal constituency problem.

Bob Mack

E.V.E.L. debate today was a laugh a minute. Labour having kittens. No fair was the cry!. Welsh wanting to know they could still sponge of England. Then, a series of Tories stating that the English public deserved the same powers as Scotland. Correct me if I,m wrong but they have outnumbered Scottish M.P.s for decades by eight or nine to one, and have quite willingly pushed through legislation which affected Scotland without batting an eyelid. i.e. Poll Tax. Now suddenly the English feel disadvantaged. HA. HA. HA .HA! I think that the debate flushed out the hypocrisy that has been going on in this country for a long time. Party is more important than the need of the people. That was very clear today. Therefore the next time you here a politician warble on about the need to help society, just boot them up the ass. They are lying!!
And as an aside, can anyone tell me what accusation laid at Mr Murphy,s door on this site or any other is not true? He put himself in the public domain, and as such must face scrutiny.

wingman 2020

@manandboy

“If all 1.6 million Yes voters stopped watching the BBC.”

Thats all it would take. And use the license fees for funding other media initiatives.
Its a lot of money.

My £145 is waiting for the first major initiative.

I dont miss TV … the propaganda, endless advertising and endless repeats.

Netflix and Amazon Prime are much better. Plus I can play anything on my PC, iPad or Iphone straight to my TV.

Catch up anyone?

Graeme Doig

Nana Smith 3.26pm

Recommended reading. Ta 🙂

Still not sure I’d find many a psychiatrist argue with my assessment of him in an earlier comment.

kininvie

On the radio tonight we had McClymont vs John Redwood on EVEL.
Gregg McClymont used the 1% argument and the HoC Library source, spotlit here a couple of threads back – and Redwood was a bit flummoxed. Guess who reads Wings, then?

I’m sorry to see the Rev giving ammunition to Scotlab, but I suppose it is all good publicity for Wings

Kathleen McKechnie

Murphy is getting so much more attention than he deserves. The best thing we can do is totally ignore him. He is no political threat unless we take the bait that the media is feeding us ! I am going to concentrate on other more important issues and have decided today not ever to make any furthar comments in regard to JM. Scotland has bigger fish to fry !

Papadox

Is Jimba a honourable liar or a right honourable liar? And what is the difference?

A (reluctant) Labour Member

@ronald russell and others: Tempting as I’m sure it is for folk to email Margaret Curran and accuse her of lying, I’ve previously explained, with sources, why she isn’t on this occasion.

Unfortunately, Rev Stu got it wrong on this one, understandably so but nevertheless you’re fuelling her ‘nasty cybernats’ line for continuing to attack her on this. God knows there are enough reasons to crucify those leading our party and running our branch office, but this isn’t one.

(Also, incidentally, if you’re not her constituent and/or don’t provide a name and address, general protocol is that she won’t reply and her staff will most likely delete it before she even has chance to see it.)

Natasha

I have been having a lovely time emailing various Labour MPs to ask them how they voted on the Infrastructure Bill and carefully reminding them that before they reply they might like to consider the fact that their vote is a matter of public record.

I’m not expecting any replies.
🙂

Natasha

A (reluctant) Labour Member 8pm
Unfortunately, Rev Stu got it wrong on this one . . .

Have you checked the link in the article? It doesn’t look to me as if he got it wrong.

Bill McLean

Papadox – MPs are addressed as “honourable”, members of the Privy Council are addressed as “the Right Honourable” – aye I know what you are thinking. Murphy is not a member of the Privy Council so is addressed, in Westminster as the “honourable gentleman” – neither of which is appropriate to the type of person he is! Privy Councillors can be drawn from many professions but mostly politicians as far as I know. Their role is to advise the head of state in our case the Queen! Not for much longer I hope!

crazycat

@ A (reluctant) Labour Member (and Natasha)

Surely the point is that Labour MPs voted for an amendment, which if it had passed would have prevented the second reading of the Infrastructure Bill.

But it didn’t pass. Labour MPs knew that. They knew that, once the amendment was defeated, the only way to prevent the second reading was to vote against it unamended.

They abstained.
They abstained in the knowledge that this would allow the second reading.

Therefore, to say that they voted against a second reading might be the truth, but it certainly isn’t the whole truth.

They are therefore deliberately misleading people who are unaware of the sequence of events.

Is that not the case?

heedtracker

link to theguardian.com is a miserable slice of UKOK triumphalism/rubbing AlicSamin’s nose in it but it is extraordinary how this “Guardian History of how our Scotland was saved from er the Scots” part 1, completely leaves out the actual UKOK media vote NO freak show wot one it and especially the BBC!

What is wrong with these meeja creeps from the Press and Journal to the Queen, that they have to pretend they don’t exist in teamGB politics all the time? Oh yeah, its only half time. Ref 2 coming to England very soon.

No doubt Graun’s part 2, “The Rise and rise of the all new Jim Murphy!” will maybe give all the fraudsters in Pacific Quay a wee mention.

liz

@kininvie – that’s almost funny.

Using the Rev’s report when it suits them.

If Redwood was flummoxed is that because he didn’t think McClymont would be that smart

Natasha

@kininvie & liz
It’s not hard to flummox John Redwood; have you seen that footage of him going ‘la, la, la’ to the Welsh National Anthem when he was Secretary of State for Wales?

Charles Edward

The battle is for better together is still being waged with their lies.

As already mentioned above Dan Hodges (staunch Labour supporter with pedigree writing in the Torygraph? – ’cause he’s really going to reach ‘the people’ from that pulpit.. ) slamming Indy as some sentimental outpouring from which we should have all sobered up by now.
Real concerns are still our problems here. Education cuts are wiping out support for kids who need it, we could have changed that situation and more.

He is still peddling the subsidy nonsense, all us down here are paying for you so shut it. Lies.
Every day there is the trickle exposure to Great British lies as truths, BBC is the worst.

Figures on how much Scotland pays for this disservice need to be repeated.

Onwards

@Grouse Beater

I think McWhirter has a valid point.

The YES side has to win the intellectual argument, middle class votes, the votes of people who voted no.

‘Red Tory’ might be a valid accusation about Murphy, but talking about scum and ("Tractor" - Ed)s plays into their hands, and just allows the likes of Murphy to paint his opponents as an angry mob.

Sure, he likes to wind people people up by putting on his calm, quiet ‘voice of reason’, even when spouting outright lies.
But if delivered in a reasonable manner, enough people will accept it as the truth.

We all need to remember that his style might be smooth, but his ultimate aim is to keep Scotland in line – providing a block vote of MP’s to prop up the UK Labour party.

And his argument is basically weak.

Powerless Patriotism isn’t a meaningful substitute for Devo-Max or independence.

Andrew Walker

All this talk about EVEL usually forgets one thing. If the vote affects barnett consequentials then it cannot be a purely english matter.

I think once EVEL is pushed through it will affect a very small amount of legislation.

However, defeats on the Red Tories due to EVEL would still be highly damaging to them hence the noise.

I don’t think us Scots have much to fear from EVEL unless it takes an incorrect view of ‘english matters’. If it did, then of course that would be grounds for another referendum or perhaps even UDI.

Andrew Walker

Natasha, you are very unlikely to get a response from an MP unless you are from their constituency. I’m no fan of the tories, red or blue, but that’s just how it works.

Proadge

Stoker says:

“This is why it’s important to complain every single time these ("Tractor" - Ed)s get to perpetuate their lies unchallenged on the BBC… If we don’t start acting now then we have no right to be moaning about it when they crank-it-up from January to May…”

Sorry, disagree. There is absolutely no point in complaining to the state broadcaster about their political coverage. Nothing changes – they’re not biased as a result of some oversight but because their raison d’etre is to protect the British Establishment and the status quo, and to be – in the words of a former BBC Director – ‘the glue that holds Britain together.’ To write complaints is to participate in the charade that the BBC actually cares about impartiality. It doesn’t matter how many aggrieved yessers complain – this is not a numbers game. They are not answerable to us but to the Establishment. Yes they will crank it up between January – May but writing complaints will not have the slightest impact on that.

The only thing to do is not pay the licence fee and not watch or listen to their propaganda – and, as a result, act ‘as if you live in the early days of a better nation.’

Oh and help to crowd fund any academic research that systematically documents how politically biased against independence they are – which will help erode further their dwindling credibility.

Grouse Beater

Onards: But if delivered in a reasonable manner, enough people will accept it as the truth.

Never give a sucker and even break.

Robert Peffers

@dan huil says: 16 December, 2014 at 10:33 am:

“Either BBC “journalists” are ignorant or they are happy to go along with such lies.”

Ye made a wee typo there, Dan. –

“BBC “Journalists are ignorant AND they are happy to go along with such lies”. There – I’ve corrected it for you.

Paula Rose

Sorry cherubs but I’m just not getting this – how can there be EVEL if we are better together?

Robert Peffers

@manandboy says:16 December, 2014 at 10:42 am:

” … I just doubt he’ll hear very much if he’s living in London and merely commuting to Pacific Quay.”

Ah! Yes!, Manandboy, but this is The Smurph we are considering here. The same Smurph famous for exorbitant expenses claims. What better way to boost such expenses than to live in London and more frequently commute to Scotland. Particularly if you book into an hotel in Scotland so as to return, “Home”, to London on the following day.

Andrew Walker

Just read that MSP’s are questioning Murphy’s 20,000 claim.

It’s entirely possible that this has been driven by this website. Keep up the good work Revstu.

Let’s make our feelings known in these comments. The site continues to be read by journalists post referendum.

Macbeda

Its just dawned on me .
Jim Murphy spent nine years at University and didn’t get a degree.
How is that possible?
Normally 4 years to get a degree means that means he took someone’s possible place in the other five years – someone who who could have gotten a degree and done something useful for society.
How can this be?
How can you attend university for nine years and fail.
Who paid the fees?

CameronB Brodie

Of course, the Palestinian vote sans the wrecking amendment deserves to be supported. Israel’s summer massacre showed the world a cynical political elite maintaining the occupation of the West Bank and the blockade of Gaza to pretend Israeli Jews still face an existential threat. If you can terrify a populace, otherwise rancid politics gets a free pass as long as it pretends to be most serious about “security”. A lasting peace settlement with the Palestinian Authority raises the prospect of “normal” politics and limited room for hysterical, populist manoeuvres. If Britain, as one of Israel’s most loyal arms suppliers and backers on the international stage, recognise the Palestinians it is a foreign policy defeat for Netanyahu and his odious cronies. Instead of talking about peace while shelling civilian population centres, they might have to start taking it a bit more seriously.

link to leftfutures.org

@ Jim Murphy
Any comment?

Iain Gray's Subway Lament

What kind of supposedly serious political journalist asks a question like that of Murphy without having done any research and then just sits back and let’s him lie through his teeth?

Good to see the unionist media are as big a joke as ever after they humiliated themselves in front of 45% of scots only a few months ago.

CameronB Brodie

The UK government has finally said it will review arms sales to Israel. Unfortunately we have been here before. In 2009 the then foreign secretary, David Miliband, told parliament that it was “almost certain” UK weapons had been used in Gaza. “We are looking at all extant licences to see whether any of these need to be reconsidered in light of recent events in Gaza,” he said.

The arms sales continued and nothing changed. Since Miliband’s statement the UK has licensed £50m of weapons, including missile-targeting equipment, gun sightings and drone components.

link to tinyurl.com

@ Jim Murphy
Any comment?

A (reluctant) Labour Member

@ crazycat: that is an interpretation. However, it doesn’t change the fact that what Curran actually wrote is entirely, undeniably and verifiably true. Like I say, there’s plenty of reasons to justifiably attack them (see: Jim Murphy), there’s no need for anyone to undermine their own credibility by making baseless attacks.

muttley79

@Proadge

Sorry, disagree. There is absolutely no point in complaining to the state broadcaster about their political coverage. Nothing changes – they’re not biased as a result of some oversight but because their raison d’etre is to protect the British Establishment and the status quo, and to be – in the words of a former BBC Director – ‘the glue that holds Britain together.’ To write complaints is to participate in the charade that the BBC actually cares about impartiality. It doesn’t matter how many aggrieved yessers complain – this is not a numbers game. They are not answerable to us but to the Establishment.

^This times by about a million. I have got to the stage where I really do not care what the BBC do, and that goes for their branch at Pacific Quay. There is talk that some of them wanted to go on strike on the night of the 18th September. Even if that is true it was far too late to mean anything. I view them with absolute contempt and disdain, and I am not a tough person at all.

Chic McGregor

@iain
Thanks for that.

Caltonjock doesn’t do things by halves either:

link to caltonjock.com

CameronB Brodie

It is also the case that the situation in countries where NATO has been most active in killing people, including Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and Pakistan, has deteriorated. It has deteriorated politically, economically, militarily and socially. The notion that NATO member states could bomb the world into good was only ever believed by crazed and fanatical people like Tony Blair and Jim Murphy of the Henry Jackson Society. It really should not have needed empirical investigation to prove it was wrong, but it has been tried, and has been proved wrong.

link to stopwar.org.uk

James Caithness

EVEL . The Tories pushing it. Labour MPs getting very angry in WM about it. I hear talk of tactical voting to keep SNP out.

I may be wrong but I don’t see it.

Lib Dems are struggling as it is and will be wanting as much votes as they can get, every vote will be treasured by them. They won’t be too happy with Con Party after 5 years coalition where they definitely got the short end of the stick from the electorate. They can’t afford to be generous to Labour.

Con party are doing their best to destroy the Labour party, they handed them the poisoned chalice before and during the referendum. Carrying it on now with EVEL, I can’t see them letting up.

Labour Party will have their diehards who would vote for a roll of lino with a red rosette on it. But by all accounts and what the polls are saying is Labour is leaking support.

The SNP must, as part of their strategy, make sure its not all positive there must be an amout of negativity about the labour party, push the fact that to get more powers we need MPs in WM with Scotlands best interests in place. Also make sure the amout these MPs collect in expenses, their voting records, what they have or have not voted on.