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Nationalism in reverse 234

Posted on February 16, 2016 by

We saw a very interesting article on the London School of Economics website today.

lseblog

It notes that in 2006, the year before the SNP came to power, 65% of Scots identified themselves as “Scottish not British” or “more Scottish than British”, but by 2014 – the year of the independence referendum – that number had fallen to just 49%.

It concludes, correctly, that just as we noted on Sunday, support for independence is fundamentally political in nature, not nationalist. But that only tells half the story.

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Person swears on internet 425

Posted on October 19, 2015 by

Nation’s political journalists shocked.

fo1

More “news” at 1pm, 6pm, 10pm10.30pm, etc, etc, etc, etc.

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With permission 144

Posted on October 16, 2015 by

So shortly after this:

smartroy

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An outbreak of coyness 199

Posted on September 29, 2015 by

We know that the media isn’t normally shy about identifying which side of the Scottish independence debate people are on, especially if they’ve been behaving badly.

telegraphviolence

So we were a little puzzled by the papers this morning.

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A sour taste 223

Posted on September 23, 2015 by

Alert readers may recall an incident last year in which the Scottish media got itself very worked up about some independence supporters threatening to boycott holiday company Barrhead Travel after its owner sent a barking-mad letter to staff about how the company would go out of business if Scotland voted Yes.

The Telegraph, Express, Times, Daily Mail and Scotsman were among those covering the story at length – with the latter going so far as an extraordinary comparison to the Nazi atrocity of Kristallnacht – and someone called Jim Murphy opined that it was “a new low” and “the worst type of negative politics”, despite the SNP having discouraged and disassociated itself from any boycott.

So we’re sure that you won’t be able to move later today and tomorrow for newspaper articles about something similar, but significantly worse, that happened this weekend.

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Why we won’t give up 161

Posted on September 19, 2015 by

One year ago today.

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Don’t you just hate nationalism? 231

Posted on July 22, 2015 by

Tony Blair quoted in the Independent today:

blairnat1

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Friendly help for the Daily Mail 119

Posted on July 14, 2015 by

As part of their tireless campaign against abuse and threats on the internet, the Mail’s ever-alert reporters will doubtless be wanting to run a major piece on the deputy leader of UKIP calling today on a widely-read website for Nicola Sturgeon to be killed.

huffnutt

No need to thank us for the tip-off, guys. All part of the service.

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The grinding wheels of justice 80

Posted on June 10, 2015 by

An update for those interested, via an alert cartoonist:

From: Garreth.Lodge

To: Christopher Cairns

Subject: RE: Ian Smart

Date: 9 June 2015 14:25:33 BST

Dear Christopher,

Thank you for your e-mail to Kezia with regards to her exchange with the First Minister in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday 23rd April 2015.

Kezia can confirm that the person mentioned in the exchange has had their membership of the Labour Party put under administrative suspension and an investigation is currently being conducted by the General Secretary of the Scottish Labour Party.

If you have specific questions on the investigation you will need to direct them to the Scottish Labour Party, not Kezia’s Parliamentary office.

If there is anything other issues Kezia can help with as your MSP, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Kind Regards

Garreth

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Under rocks and slime 347

Posted on June 02, 2015 by

I had no time for the way that Charles Kennedy conducted himself in the referendum campaign and it would be hypocritical to pretend that I did.

But before that he was one of the main reasons I voted Lib Dem for over 20 years – a compassionate, principled man who took some difficult stands and left his party in a far healthier place, both politically and morally, than it occupies now.

ck3

He deserves better than this.

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Waiting for Nicola 323

Posted on May 04, 2015 by

Taken in Greenock earlier, prior to the First Minister’s visit.

flegs

It seems an appropriate image for today.

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The side of the thugs 129

Posted on May 04, 2015 by

Amazingly enough, the Scottish press today ISN’T wall-to-wall with stories about Baron McConnell of Glenscorrodale, UK peer and lawmaker, endorsing the “f***ing booting” of Conservative supporters at the weekend, in a striking contrast to when a young SNP candidate said similar but less offensive things some months ago.

(Lord McConnell’s friends were talking in the future tense about something they would do. Mhairi Black was talking in the past tense, about things which she HADN’T done.)

sunjack

As far as we’ve seen, the small piece above in the Scottish Sun is the only coverage. (The Daily Record, as well as not reporting the McConnell comments at all, actually has another go at Mhairi Black instead.)

But we were having trouble recalling any “hate-filled violent mobs” (McConnell’s actual full quote) on the Yes/SNP side. And so was an alert reader who had a dig through the papers from the last couple of years.

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