Stories of the week, 11/5/2014
Posted on
May 11, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
The top five most-read stories on Wings Over Scotland in the last seven days.
1. Quoted For Truth Extra
The first defection to Yes from inside “Better Together” itself.
2. The talk of the town
What Alex Salmond really said to GQ, stripped of media hysteria.
3. What an arsehole looks like
Vile taxpayer-funded scumbag repeatedly abuses decent citizens in public.
4. Character assassination
Journalism, as imagined by a petulant six-year-old.
5. Look away now
Massive story almost totally and inexplicably ignored.
This week’s theme: not pretending any more.
The weeks are flying by now Stu..tick tock
I’d like a crack at next weeks top stories.
1]London to declare Edinburgh Agreement null and void due to a technicality.
2]UKIP MEP candidate insults the whole of Scotland on BBC debate on Monday night.
3]Kezia Dugdale defects to LFI[OK,that might be a long shot]
4]Couple take out defamation writ against newspaper.
5]Scientists discover Moon being pulled out it’s orbit by huge gravity well emanating from BT HQ.
Croompenstein
I seem to recall that there were 500 days and now it will shortly be 100 days to go. Time is flying.
I see James Kelly’s fundraiser is now just £303 short of his goal.
link to indiegogo.com
If No wins this referendum it will be in spite of ‘Better Together’, not because of it.
Goldenayr – Kezia Dugdale won’t jump ship until the polls show well over 50% for yes. She has a career to consider. She has bread to butter on the right side. She is a Labour MSP therefore unencumbered by principles or the best interests of her constituents.
Greannach
I look forward to the next poll then so my prediction can come true.I was going to make it Jo La reads from script at FMQs but that’s a given.
Not sure LfI would want her. Would they want tainted goods if they’re trying to create a decent party? There’ll need to be a big spring clean.
Maybe you could predict that JoLa doesn’t read from a script, but that’s just too wacky!
100 days to go yet it feels far less than that from even a cursory glance at the ground campaigning going on up and down scotland for Yes. It’s remarkable just how enthused and determined it is and it’s only going to get more so the closer we get.
Scottish Labour have already ran two big campaigns off the back of fearmongering and it didn’t end well for them in 2007 and 2011. Nor did narrowing polls or a liabiilty for a leader sway them from their couterproductive tactics.
Greannach
You’re right.
LFI would never take her,it would make a mockery of their hopes of redeeming the labour party.
How about…Jo La delivers her questions by interpretive dance at FMQs.
More believable than not reading her script.
@goldenayr – Jo La delivers her questions by interpretive dance at FMQs.
Brilliant – the dance of the sugar plum fairy or for JoLa the soor ploom fairy,
Down in Wales, Plaid members. How can we help?
Croompenstein
I’ve been fluctuating between fits of laughter and nauseous at the thought of her in a leotard since I came up with it.
Oh my sides…pass me a bucket.
Robert Llewellyn Tyler
Get the truth out as to what the media are doing.
Robert Llewellyn Tyler
And find Paul Flynn and get a quote off him about Westminster committees.
I’m hoping that Gary managed to get his hands on the blueprints for the Deathstar before waving goodbye to BT.
Very strange – was making some donations to a few of the indigogo fundraisers tonight, when I get a text from my bank asking me to phone. I’d made so many payments (4!) in such a short space of time it had been flagged up as potential fraud, so my card is now blocked till morning! Fair enough, but isn’t it funny that this also happened a month or two ago when I was making donations to the yes fundraisers?!
Robert Llewellyn Tyler,
Good of you to ask, thank you.
Media bias is the biggest problem, so anything about that in the welsh media will help.
I hope we can help you in the future.
Let the world know that the BBC (aka EBC) is pushing lies and working for the BT outfit indeed acting as HMG/BT propaganda agents. That would be much appreciated. Thank you.
Goldenayr
I like the thought of JoLa using interpretive dance to answer questions. Damn, forgot she can’t do answering. How about her asking questions/reading the script in rhyming couplets or through the medium of mime or classical ballet? Maybe she and Jackie Bailie (since Margaret Curran is ensconced in the Imperial Council in London) could ask the FM searing questions in a Lloyd Webber style duet. Like Elaine Page and Susan Boyle.
Perhaps the most useful service that our friends in Wales and elsewhere could provide isn’t merely pointing out the many media lies but making it very clear that scotland isn’t going anywhere after a Yes vote. Those working for an Independent Scotland want an amicable and friendly realationship with the rest or rUK, whatever the No scaremongers say. We simply want it on the basis of every other normal democratic country with the powers to shape the future for ourselves and our children.
Robert Llewellyn Tyler
Hi Robert, You could try http://www.solidaritywithscotland.com though it’s really for people outside rUK.
Hope to be able to return the favour soon.
Diolch yn fawr.
Wings Over Wales, with a wee Dragon Logo, would work really well.
Robert Llewellyn Tyler
Sorry,forgot to thank you for your offer.Do you have any sites like we do here?
Wings,Newsnet,Bella?You could use them to get the message out if you do.
We could contribute to helping you after September if you don’t.Apologies,not too up to date with what’s happening in Cymru at the moment with everything that’s going on here.
Greannach
Lloyd Webber..LoL
Everybody would have to bring extra footwear cause they’d be flinging their shoes at the two cats screeching.
It would be nice to see JoLa asking her questions in Morse code by rapping out dots and dashes with a pair of drumsticks on Ian Gray’s heid.
Ian Brotherhood
Do empty vessels make the most sound?
Seriously O/T but I don’t think it is too sinful.
Got another book for you to read folks. Not dynamite like The Claim of Scotland but a little light reading. It has serious historic context but please remember I don’t know how accurate,not being a history buff. It has the bonus of nice easy to read cartoons! Some of which are hysterically funny.
Scotland Bloody Scotland by the Baron on Ravenstone. Printed in 1986 and, I think, still widely available.
The Preface states,” Scotland, once a proud European nation, was sold in 1707 for £398,085 and 10 shillings……….
(He continues) The Scots, for reasons you will understand if you read this book,are a people who have given up being a nation. That is the cause of their problems.”
He concludes,on page 91,”The Scots today are at an all-time low, their popular culture a tartan joke…….
..If Finland, Norway, Faeroe and Iceland can be nations, there is only one reason why Scotland cannot be one: her own people.
This is our one chance to prove him wrong. We can do it.
Ian Brotherhood
It’s that empty it would sound like a kettle drum.
@Wilma – there is only one reason why Scotland cannot be one: her own people.
In a f*cking nutshell!
Goldenayr
Re Kezia Dugdale, I had the same thought that she would be the one to jump ship. She ain’t thick and she does not strike me as the going down-with-the-ship type. She did strike me as being extremely ambitious and I am sure she must have thought about her route to SLAB leader whatever the outcome in September.
Once we get over 50% in a few polls the prize of the leadership of Labour in Scotland is there for someone bold enough to step forward. And don’t kid yourself that LFI will not welcome whoever it is with open arms. You don’t look a gift horse and all that. Interesting times.
I could be talking shite of course- has been known!
Goldenayr
Here is MP Paul Flynn talking to RT tv. “Going Underground” on Friday about that committee meeting.
link to rt.com
Wilma Watts
Considering we’ve been mostly talking about interaction with Plaid and which medium Jo La could use to deliver her script at FMQs,I’d say you’re not really OT.
Hope the Baron is happier now he can see us passing the winning line.
Tam Jardine
Probably not as much shite as me.
I even considered emailing her about it.She’s certainly passionate about the causes she cares for.I’d just like to ask her if she thinks that what she seeks can be delivered by Old Etonians.
caz-m
Cheers,will watch it later.Catching a bit of telly while on here before Zebidee calls.
Ian Brotherhood
Was going to be ‘witty’ about ex headmaster Ian Grey’s cranial echo chamber, but you beat me to it. Damn you, sir!
Might be a good idea for JoLa to do it in the form of mime ala Marcel Marceau.. Probly just point at FM and give a shaking hand motion though..
James on Scot Goes Pop has passed his nominal target figure on the first day.
link to indiegogo.com
Good news Morag – I emailed James earlier today and he was very touched by all the messages and donations he received today.
Croompenstein
Or turn round,bend over and point at her arse.It would be more eloquent than the drivel she comes away with.
Hold on,what’s that playground rhyme..
Milk,sugar..?
Brilliant Morag… btw… any news on Lockerbie. A new investigation was prominent in the news last week?
His request was very modest. I hope people who didn’t already donate won’t hold back because he’s got to the target. He does terrific work and I love his blog.
Goldenayr
Thanks. It is just it takes me so long to type on my kindle the topic has moved on, maybe 10- 15 comments by the time I hit the Submit button!
Alba4Eva, I was sworn to secrecy about what’s going on, but others have been leaking. I’m doing an article for Wings about it, but as it isn’t a scoop any longer due to the leaking I don’t know if Stu will still want it.
A good place to keep abreast of developments is Bob Black’s blog. link to lockerbiecase.blogspot.co.uk
Wilma
It takes my brain that long.
Tam Jardine
I’ve never voted Labour and I think they are contemptible but I really believe LfI are decent, principled people and I sincerely hope they would avoid the likes of the Holyrood seatwarmers and the London brigade who voted for the cap on benefits spending in March. Surely LfI don’t need nobodies like Thomas Docherty, Sheila Gilmore, Willie Bain, Gemma Doyle, Mr Greatrex, Anne McGuire, Ann McKechin et all. I only know their names because of their disgusting support of Ian Duncan Smith and their contempt for poor people.
Goldenayr
Send that email. I will send one too… Something stirring and evocative! Looking at her tweets she actually does do campaigning for causes so maybe she can see the light before it becomes just naked ambition.
Morag
I have 2 dozen of those badges set aside for you. Not sure how to get them to you. You could email me at my name then at then Gmail dot com
Or put something in off topic. It’s kind of awkward on a site that is monitored by some HMG department to do these things.
@goldenayr – Or turn round,bend over and point at her arse LOL 🙂 with that I’m off to bed hopefully not too many nightmares, either that or I’ll wake up pishing masel laughing.
Sweet dreams croomps.
Tam Jardine
Will do it the morning so it’s first on her list when she gets in.Be interesting to see if I even get a reply.
Tam, thanks, I’ll try emailing you now.
I wish I’d taken some badges with me yesterday evening. I was singing in a concert and I’d put one of the gold ones on the collar of my black blouse. Afterwards I was having a cup of tea backstage with one of the orchestra and she admired the badge in a “Yes absolutely” sort of way. I’d forgotten I had it on!
I tried to give her the one I was wearing but she wouldn’t take it from me. Memo to self, always carry spares.
Sudden thought. I was co-opted to present the conductor with his thank-you bottle. Conductor being paid-up Labour and a No. I wonder if he saw it when he was giving me the obligatory peck on the cheek 😀 ?
Thanks Morag. All I know at thebmoment, is that when Scotland votes YES, there is going to be a whole lot of ‘UK secrets’ exposed. …that is one of the principle reasons for me voting YES.
I am in no doubt at all that Al Magrahi was innocent. …the guilty are still walking free.
Greannach, that’s not entirely fair on IDS, the tories and their pals in Labour. It’s not just the poor they hold in contempt, it’s the disabled and unwell too.
The kind support of the “Scot goes Pop” fundraiser is a very welcome and timely rebuke to the revolting filth like the tory MSP who smeared the Yes campaign and the Weirs. He and the tory press are clearly wildly out of touch with scottish public opinion and their selfless generosity. Thank goodness.
I see the YES Scotland email hacking investigation has ended.
link to newsnetscotland.com
There must be some way to get ISPs to comply if a crime has been committed.
Anyhoos,Zebidees calling.Oichde mhath,
Some rare video footage of Better Together activists presenting a positive case for the union through the medium of dance.
link to youtube.com
TMITJ – Hee, hee, nearly spluttered my tea all over laptop there. 🙂
Alba4Eva, unfortunately the Scottish Crown Office and the Scottish government are complicit in covering up the Lockerbie scandal. It’s going to take more than a Yes vote to clean out that particular Augean Stables.
TMINTJ
Hey, leave English folk traditions out of vile BT propaganda! ;-D
Let the English have their own wonderful quirks, Scots have enough of their own.
(I must say I’m impressed by their footwork, I’d fall over my own feet if I tried anything like that. And “pattens” is a word I learned when reading Jane Austen.)
Morag, after a YES vote, we get to vote for whichever government we want. You could even get to Hollyrood yourself. 🙂
Were those dancers at a funeral- it didny half start slow!
OT anybody out there searching for a wee hacienda ?
If so full details can be found on Wee Ginger Dug.
Wish I had the funds but sadly no!
@ Wilma Watts
For years the “Yesterday Channel” ran, on a perpetual loop,”A history of Scotland”.
Until about 18 months ago.
Replaced by all day repeat loops of lovejoy and histories of everything – but Scotland or our people.
Everywhere there are union jax, even when there is zero reason for union jax to be seen.
Suggest Wilma – you have a look at the infamous “Ragman`s Rolls” – when the elite swore allegiance to an inglish king.
Again.
A new week, another story ignored by the BBC. Listened to GMS between 08.00 and 08.50 this morning to hear a Labour lovefest of Douglas Alexander talking about… nothing of any substance, followed by a piece about John Smith.
Also every half hour we heard about the C of S pleading for reconciliation …after the vote! Yet I heard nothing about the really big story of Canon Kenyan Wright supporting a Yes vote as the only way to achieve the type of Scotland he would like to see – also castigating Darling, Brown, Menzies Campbell et al for their hypocrisy in signing the Claim of Rights and then doing nothing about it.
Although now living in England and unable to vote, Kenyon Wright and his opinion would carry a lot of resonance with those who think that Devo Max(sic) is still a good idea. It would certainly gain more than a few Yes votes, but of course that’s why it’s been ignored.
Full marks to the Sunday Herald for printing this article yesterday, btw.
On Sept.22nd or 23rd., after the votes of the Isles and Kyles have been counted and we supply a resounding “YES” to Independence, I will be demanding all my taxes and Nat. Ins. Contributions (plus Accrued Compound Interest) from H.M.R.C. and from the London Treasury.
As a sufferer of chronic heart disease I don`t want a short-term pension from “them” daan saaff but demand all my money be returned to me.
On death, the Holyrood Govt. can impose the Duty and likely benefit from the capital sum and Accrued Compound Interest.
Westminster is again in the act of horn-swoggling the people of Scotland.
We do not have a “Sovereign Wealth Fund” thanks to mis-management and the incompetence at Westminster.
Once again we are allowing an english tory govt. to steal our money with zero sanction. £3 Trillion plundered from Scotland`s sector of the North Sea between 1974 to 2010.
Who gave Salmond a mandate to Rescind our Claim of Right to monies robbed from us.
My first payment of tax and a Nat. Ins. stamp (at age 14) began in OCT.1963. as a full-time employee.
Accrued Compound Interest applied to 51 years = PLENTY.
Multiplied by millions of Scots = hundreds of billions.
Westminster wants to pay waallies in weekly pensions —. and retain the Real Money