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Wings Over Scotland



A decisive choice 264

Posted on August 26, 2014 by

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Picking up a buzz 172

Posted on May 01, 2014 by

Yesterday, we discovered a rather curious anti-independence “listicle” on the popular viral-meme website Buzzfeed. Entitled “Scotland. The UK. 10 Myths. 10 Facts.”, it describes itself as “myth busting” by an author identified only as “YouDecide2014”.

It was shared or retweeted by a variety of Conservative Party special advisers, the 10 Downing Street Facebook account, and even the UK Ministry of Defence.

sheepie

The crude, extremely biased article gives no indication that it’s written by the UK government. The closest it comes to doing so is right at the end, where it says “Get the facts at www.gov.uk/scottishreferendum. The Buzzfeed account page makes no reference to the UK government, and the layout makes the piece look like any normal article on the site, although in fact it’s posted on Buzzfeed Community, which is an area where users can post anything they want to without censorship.

We decided to find out more.

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How money changed everything 200

Posted on December 05, 2013 by

We all know there’s something strange about Britain. Germany and China have their factories, France and Japan their nuclear power plants. America has Google and Apple and the world’s largest navy. But how is it that Britain, a country that closed its mines and shuttered almost its entire manufacturing industry, is still a major world economy?

infra

The answer is Britain’s best-kept economic secret. It links Grangemouth, the obscene cost of housing in London, the Royal Mail sell-off, Channel Island tax havens and George Osborne’s disregard for the poor, and explains why an incomprehensible financial crisis triggered by bad American mortgages led to the closure of municipal libraries and swimming pools across the UK and a programme of permanent austerity.

And more to the point, it explains why only London, not Scotland or Wales or Yorkshire or Wearside, matters to the British political class today.

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    • Young Lochinvar on Not So Octopus: “Geri @ 7.38 Hit the nail right on the head again. Yoof trendy is not necessarily “right trendy”.. C; And…Apr 10, 01:09
    • Young Lochinvar on Not So Octopus: “AX Because we have been forcibly indoctrinated by persons “historical” such as yerself with agendas.. Who? 1. Royalty 2. Protestant…Apr 10, 01:00
    • Cynicus on The quality of mercy: “Bilbo says: “Trump….. may be good at a certain type of business that has made him rich….” =========== NOT TRUE…Apr 9, 23:48
    • Cynicus on The quality of mercy: “Bilbo says: “Trump….. may be good at a certain type of business that has made him rich….” =========== Not true.…Apr 9, 23:26
    • Geri on Not So Octopus: “Gen Z Aptly named the zoomers. If it’s not on social media it didn’t happen/isnae real..lolApr 9, 23:19
    • Rev. Stuart Campbell on Not So Octopus: “You seem to have forgotten to name any of them, ironically.Apr 9, 22:48
    • Colin Dawson on Not So Octopus: “Is there a way where the voters could choose the order of the regional list candidates rather than the parties?…Apr 9, 22:21
    • Geri on Not So Octopus: “George, That is unfortunate but it shouldn’t be held against everyone else. There are individuals I’d think twice about now.…Apr 9, 22:08
    • MaryB on Not So Octopus: “George Ferguson @ 7.22pm I can well understand why people are so tired and jaded with the independence movement, especially…Apr 9, 22:03
    • Alf Baird on Not So Octopus: “There is nobody to be held higher than those who have lost or stand to lose their liberty fighting for…Apr 9, 21:47
    • George Ferguson on Not So Octopus: “@Mark Beggan @9:09pm It was nothing to dae with me either. Self made situation for the Independence movement. We are…Apr 9, 21:39
    • Mark Beggan on Not So Octopus: “I want a clean conscience after the 7th of May. When the whole shit house comes burning down I will…Apr 9, 21:09
    • Bilbo on Not So Octopus: “There is quite a lot of comment saying that support for the Greens is generational where the majority of their…Apr 9, 20:52
    • George Ferguson on Not So Octopus: “@Geri 7:45pm So I have ruined the Independence movement. The fact that I was defrauded twice is not relevant. Perhaps…Apr 9, 20:38
    • Bilbo on Not So Octopus: “You are never going to get a party that is fully aligned with your own personal political views in normal…Apr 9, 20:37
    • Bilbo on Not So Octopus: “I’m afraid the others are correct Socrates. If your grandson is involved in the Greens, he is either an ideologically…Apr 9, 20:28
    • agentx on Not So Octopus: “Why is the name in English and not Scots?Apr 9, 20:26
    • Bilbo on The quality of mercy: “Trump is touted by his supporters as a business President untouched by the grubbiness of the Washington political machine. The…Apr 9, 20:25
    • Geri on Not So Octopus: “Eh? Wales belongs to England. Scotland is a country. Scotland is in a Union with England. Not with Wales or…Apr 9, 20:03
    • Cuphook on Not So Octopus: “Here’s my idea: Non-voters are counted on the list just as political parties are and each time non-voters win a…Apr 9, 19:58
    • Geri on Not So Octopus: “So basically you’re waiting on 5.5 million people agreeing with you before you’ll even consider if Scotland should be an…Apr 9, 19:57
    • Geri on Not So Octopus: “You have that the wrong way around. It’s ppl like you that have ruined the Yes movement. You aren’t asked…Apr 9, 19:45
    • Geri on Not So Octopus: “I have to agree with GM. They weren’t in Holyrood five minutes & immediately started reversing on indy with inventing…Apr 9, 19:38
    • agentx on Not So Octopus: “Why is it “Alliance to Liberate Scotland Party” when the Wales Nationalist party is Plaid Cymru?Apr 9, 19:30
    • George Ferguson on Not So Octopus: “@MaryB I am so glad I didn’t stand as an Independent Candidate seeking Scottish Independence. I couldn’t share a platform…Apr 9, 19:22
    • diabloandco on The quality of mercy: “Thank you so much auld yin! Now some others may listen to it!Apr 9, 19:01
    • Joan Hutcheson on Not So Octopus: “Well said, Lorna. Sane and intelligent as always!Apr 9, 19:01
    • Lorncal on Not So Octopus: “Hi Alf. The problem with the Alliance, for me, is that some of the candidates are as batshit on some…Apr 9, 18:52
    • Geri on Not So Octopus: “Exactly, Twathater. No voters voted for this shite & now they complain about it. It was evident this would always…Apr 9, 18:46
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