Here’s an extraordinary display from Labour’s Jim Murphy, still standing on an Irn Bru crate and drawing crowds of up to a dozen people (several of whom sometimes aren’t even Labour staffers) in 100 locations across Scotland. This one’s apparently Ayr.
Not only does the former Secretary of State for Scotland spend most of his time bellowing furiously despite already being the only person with a microphone, but the demented rant he embarks on when asked a question by a lady in the crowd about Gordon Brown’s disgraceful lies over organ transplants will have readers used to Mr Murphy’s normal TV persona blinking and rubbing their eyes.
Most striking, though, is his complete refusal to meet the woman’s eye at the end of his extended “SNP BAD!” outburst, in which he’d completely ignored her simple and reasonable question. Several times at the end you can see him consciously turn away from her so as not to catch her gaze, presumably out of shame.
Vote No and trust him with Scotland’s future, readers.
It’s all in there – “tear apart”, “rip to shreds”, Braveheart, two world wars, Rule Britannia blah blah etc – inside the first 100 words, so you know what’s coming. Although we’re pretty sure you’re not supposed to leave umbilical cords attached for centuries.
But as it turns out, that’s the most sensible part.
And this time we’re not being sarcastic. We were bemused yesterday when a number of people on Twitter started swapping referendum-based jokes about Stanley Baxter, who for younger readers used to be some sort of pantomime star and vaudeville performer. The jokes were explained today when it was revealed, to our considerable surprise, that Mr Baxter was in fact still alive and urging a No vote in the referendum.
Baxter, who left Scotland 55 years ago and told the Times that he now returns only for “the odd funeral”, nevertheless felt able to assert from these occasional visits that support for a Yes vote was founded in hatred for the English from simple-witted Scots who “don’t know any better” caused by “Braveheart” and hey, stay awake at the back there because we’re coming to the important bit.
(We note with passing interest and without comment the paper’s own description of Rod as a “Scotland fan” rather than a “Scot”, and that a few lines later in the same piece he says “as I don’t live there I shouldn’t comment on independence”. Whoops!)
Hmm, what could have brought that on all of a sudden?
When UKIP’s Nigel Farage was recently made rather unwelcome in Edinburgh, a whole slew of Unionist politicians and commentators – most notably Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie – took to the nation’s airwaves and newspaper columns to piously condemn the protestors who peacefully but loudly voiced their disapproval of Farage’s policies. Angry online No supporters, as is their wont, were less measured in their fury at the “suppression” of Farage’s free speech.
Today, the subject of the media’s blanket outrage – there are sizeable stories in the Daily Mail, Telegraph, Scotsman, Herald, Daily Record, The Times, Express and many more – is the saintly British Olympic cyclist, Sir Chris Hoy. The unfortunate sportsman has been the subject of what the Mail calls “vile abuse” for some comments in yesterday’s papers in which he ostensibly refused to take sides in the independence debate (but in reality could barely have made his position any clearer).
But another similar (and rather more serious) story, about online abuse directed at a Scottish public figure every bit as well known as Hoy, inexplicably gets only a microscopic fraction of the coverage.
We’ve spent a fair bit of time over the course of this website’s existence documenting the multi-media witch-hunts that invariably arise in the Scottish media whenever some obscure and/or anonymous independence supporter on the internet says something slightly intemperate (or even just expresses an unpopular opinion).
We especially enjoy contrasting it against the way that the elected, taxpayer-funded representatives of major political parties can get away unremarked with comparing the First Minister to dictators and genocidal mass murderers (of the sort “Better Together” donors like to give hundreds of thousands of pounds to).
The vast difference in the amount of media weight given to abusive behaviour from British nationalists and that from the independence side (the infamous “cybernats”) has long been a feature of Scottish political debate, but over the last 12 hours the phenomenon has seen an intriguing new twist.
We stumbled across this quite by accident yesterday. We think you’ll enjoy it.
The clip is from last year, and was aired on Canadian national news channel Sun News. Douglas Murray is a British writer who claims to be half-Scottish on account of unspecified links to Unionist breeding ground the Isle of Lewis, popular haunt of No-camp luminaries like Alistair Darling, virulent Labour anti-devolutionist Brian Wilson and controversial “Better Together” donor Ian Taylor.
Murray studied at Eton and Oxford and writes for august UK journals like the Spectator and Guardian, as well as appearing on numerous BBC political shows. For some reason, the Canadians consider him an expert on Scottish politics, qualified to inform and enlighten their viewers. See what you think.
We recently received the same letter from the Radio Times as many other people did, in response to our complaint about the magazine’s misrepresentation of respected Scottish historian Dr Fiona Watson last month. The problem related to an article about the film “Braveheart”, which made some deeply unpleasant implications easily read as saying the SNP were xenophobic racists encouraging anti-English violence.
The reply didn’t address the very specific issues we’d raised about what Dr Watson did or didn’t say, so we wrote back to the mag’s editor Ben Preston seeking clarification on a couple of important points. His reply is below.
The Radio Times was funded by the licence fee until the government sold it in 2011. We don’t remember receiving a cheque for our share. The extract below is from a feature about William Wallace in this week’s edition.
Let’s read that carefully. “Braveheart” has allegedly been “a gift to Alex Salmond and the SNP”. In what context? The context of “fuelling anti-English sentiment”. There’s no mention of winning elections, no mention of making people feel more positive about Scotland, no ambiguity whatsoever – the specific end to which the film has served the SNP, according to Dr Watson, is “the justification of anti-English sentiment”, and the associated perpetrating of violent assaults on young children.
We’ll run that past you again – the SNP love “Braveheart” because it helps them in their cynical aim of fostering xenophobia and getting little kids beaten up.
Unionists never miss a chance to sneer at “Braveheart”, a film which won five Oscars and tells a true story (very heavily embellished by Hollywood) about a people’s fight for self-determination. Only last night, Scotland Tonight retweeted one eager young No voter using it as an explanation for the increase in support for independence among the 18-24 demographic, even though the film came out almost 20 years ago.
This sort of thing, though, is fine:
That’s because nationalism is great, so long as it’s British.
I’ll make a confession: I don’t think Scotland needs independence. I’m not certain full independence is the most desirable option. At this stage in the debate, on Wings Over Scotland, that might be a quite contentious assertion. But last year, on numerous talkboards and comment threads, starting with that statement frequently saw me being called a “cybernat”, an “SNP stooge” or in one instance, “Salmond’s stormtrooper”.
That was because the statement always came with a “but”: “…but we do need control of welfare” or “…but we do need fiscal autonomy”“. And the “but” never went down well.
Full fiscal autonomy was the reason I voted Liberal Democrat in 2007. It had much to recommend it over the SNP’s full independence policy, both for Scotland and the rUK. It would have been a gradual approach that wouldn’t have scared many horses, north or south of the Tweed. It was an “I do want independence but am too polite to say so, in a very British way” kind of option.
It could have passed barely noticed by the UK media. Friends and family in England would have responded to your declaration of being a “full fiscal autonomy supporter” with a weary eye-roll and “Do shut up about Scottish politics, dear”. Independence, even if virtually synonymous in the detail, instead attracts “What? You want to rip my country apart, literally destroy 300 years of history and rob me of my entire identity, you evil separatist nat bastard?”
Andrew on The Blackout: “Any “independence” supporter who votes for a unionist party is a traitor to the cause. I can completely understand not…” May 31, 10:58
Hatey McHateface on The Blackout: ““chattering intellectual born stinking out of the thigh of Nietzsche” That one has a certain je ne sais quoi, Alf.…” May 31, 10:43
Willie on The Blackout: “This article exposes on detail just how utterly ineffective and rotten the OSCR is as a regulator. It makes a…” May 31, 10:28
Doug McGregor on The Blackout: “https://www.oscr.org.uk/about-oscr/who-we-are/oscr-board/ For those who want to know a bit more about OSCR , another well heeled quango.” May 31, 10:19
Mia on The Blackout: “If a QR code for this article is added to the leaflet, there is no need for the reader to…” May 31, 10:14
Alf Baird on The Blackout: “There are plentiful ‘goitrous academics’ in Scotland who are naturally opposed to, or at best ambivalent about the liberation of…” May 31, 10:10
Stoker on The Blackout: “sarah says on 30 May 2025 at 10:10 pm: “Rev, I have revised my suggestion made at 3.31. To make…” May 31, 09:04
Captain Caveman on What Anas Actually Said: “Yeah, ’cause a never ending stream of dribbling left wing administrations (decades of ’em) – first Labour, then the SNP/Greens…” May 31, 08:42
diabloandco on The Blackout: “The bloody schools should be waking up and telling parents of the intrusion in education , the demands made of…” May 31, 08:07
Hatey McHateface on The Blackout: ““All of the political classes appear to be hateful, greedy people with something to hide, this is pretty much across…” May 31, 08:06
diabloandco on The Blackout: “Me too!” May 31, 07:57
Hatey McHateface on The Blackout: “It’s Da Dews! Da Dews, ah tell ye!” May 31, 07:55
Hatey McHateface on The Blackout: “So whats your conclusion, James? Was the hysterectomy worth the money?” May 31, 07:51
Anton Decadent on The Blackout: “There is a noxious web of influence across all avenues of power and influence, politics, academia, finance, media, NGO’s, the…” May 31, 00:22
Mia on The Blackout: “Yes, sure thing, but who are they? They are not public figures. They are not ministers. They are not politicians.…” May 30, 23:32
James on The Blackout: “Speak for yourself, sunshine. Still, at least if enough lemmings/lemons vote for them there wont be anyone transitioning on the…” May 30, 23:24
James on What Anas Actually Said: “Tories on steroids? Fcuck that. Any ‘Scot’ that votes for Fish Face should immediately be sectioned and sent straight to…” May 30, 22:56
sarah on The Blackout: “Rev, I have revised my suggestion made at 3.31. To make it more affordable, rather than send a leaflet with…” May 30, 22:10
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on The Blackout: “Mike Benz (YouTube interview 3 days ago) gives astounding insights into the long ongoing subversion of governments and societies throughout…” May 30, 22:04
Hatey McHateface on The Blackout: ““lords and masters” All very well, but what of our mistresses? What are our mistresses into?” May 30, 22:04
Hatey McHateface on The Blackout: ““goitrous academics” Leaps out of the text, beats me why ” May 30, 22:01
Xaracen on What Anas Actually Said: ““Could you venture an opinion on whether, by the letter and spirit of Scotland’s real and ancient constitution, an Independent…” May 30, 21:53
Lorn on The Blackout: “If you were told, twathater, that lots of our lords and masters are into prostitution, you would believe it because…” May 30, 21:38
Hatey McHateface on What Anas Actually Said: “That’s fascinating stuff, Xaracen. Could you venture an opinion on whether, by the letter and spirit of Scotland’s real and…” May 30, 21:07
Alf Baird on The Blackout: ““What is the link, if any, between the OCSR, LGBYS, the trustees, the COPFS, the alphabets, the civil service, the…” May 30, 20:56
agent x on The Blackout: “The seven trustees are clearly shown on the website https://lgbtyouth.org.uk/our-people/ James Blair, Ian Rivers, Nic Mooney, Danielle Eadie, Dee Mackenzie,…” May 30, 20:55
Xaracen on What Anas Actually Said: ““That is to say, asking the adult population of the country (ie all sovereign Scots) what they wanted?” Which ‘facts’…” May 30, 20:12
Nae Need! on The Blackout: “Read this, if you have the time . . . by fuck, the Conservatives are up to their necks in…” May 30, 19:41
Mia on The Blackout: “Who are these trustees of LGBTYS and why exactly should their reputations be shielded if they might have been knowingly…” May 30, 19:23