The reaction of the Scottish media and political opposition to Audit Scotland’s annual report on the NHS today has been nothing if not predictable. But we thought you might like an instructive and enlightening look at the two very different types of approach they’ve taken to trying to mislead the Scottish people about it.
First up is the non-specific Scottish Labour apparatchik (as far as we’re aware he has no official role in the party since Jim Murphy quit – indeed we don’t know what he does for a living at all any more) Blair McDougall:
This is what we in the writing trade call a “flat-out lie”.
We weren’t going to take Professor Adam Tomkins’ hysterical “NATMAGEDDON!” article for this week’s Spectator seriously enough to pull it apart line by line.
But once we’d wiped the tears from our eyes we thought we’d better do our job.
After we highlighted the ridiculous inconsistencies in press reports last week regarding Edinburgh MP Michelle Thomson’s business dealings with a couple in Cumbernauld, we’ve been in a lengthy dialogue with Sunday Mail editor Jim Wilson over the plainly utterly wrong claim in the latter paper that:
After we provided the Mail with documentary evidence of the sale price, we naively expected a tiny mealy-mouthed correction buried in a corner of this week’s edition. But what we got was something very substantially worse even than that.
We apologise for another post on the subject of The Wright House, everyone, but we do love getting our teeth into a puzzle, especially when it comes with a side order of lots of juicy evidence of the Scottish media telling people outright lies.
This should be the last one for the forseeable future, and we’ve actually got some solid info to impart this time rather than just a confused expression, so buckle up.
It appeared on any possible interpretation to be complete nonsense, but Ms Dugdale – who’s pledged to make education the issue at the heart of her leadership – has been somewhat reluctant to clarify the statement.
Several queries from her Lothian constituents have gone unanswered, but one Wings viewer did manage to get a single tweet of response.
The editor of the New Statesman just tweeted this image, trailing an interview with Jim Murphy, who alert readers may recall led Scottish Labour for a few months this year before its apocalyptic disaster of a general election campaign which saw it lose 40 of the 41 Scottish seats it won in 2010:
Oh, wait – maybe he’s trying to claim the credit for it.
Kezia Dugdale talking to Gordon Brewer on BBC Scotland today:
“I’m astonished that you’ve spent 10 minutes in this interview talking about independence and Trident when almost 50% of the poorest kids in the country can’t read […] I’m sure you’d be shocked to know that 50% of the poorest kids leave our schools unable to read.”
We suspect he would too. Because it’s total cobblers.
There’s been a veritable flurry of polls commissioned to mark the impending one-year anniversary of the independence referendum. In the last 48 hours alone we’ve seen ones from Survation, YouGov and Panelbase, making a variety of interesting findings. As ever, though, the trick is in the interpretation.
As we were poking around with this, we thought it’d be useful to have all the basic donations and spending information about the referendum in one place. It’s normally scattered around different places and hard to access easily, and it’s quite interesting.
Northcode on The View From Row Z: “Good God! I don’t believe I’ve ever witnessed a mind so thoroughly outpaced by the speed of its owner’s unthinking…” Jun 1, 10:11
diabloandco on The View From Row Z: “Turabdin, that is another success story for the ‘sweeping under the carpet ‘ brigade. No-one held to account, absolutely shocking.” Jun 1, 10:02
Northcode on The View From Row Z: “What’s your game in this place? What’s your angle? I’m a Scot speaking up for Scotland and my people, the…” Jun 1, 09:49
agentx on The View From Row Z: ““With what certainly sounded like a warning of repercussions, she sternly rebuked those in the NEC in 2021, in a…” Jun 1, 09:48
Northcode on The View From Row Z: ““was it exposure to the English” Indeed, many peoples around the world have expressed how their interactions with England, their…” Jun 1, 09:22
TURABDIN on The View From Row Z: “STILL awaiting the punishment of those responsible for the gross neglect that destroyed the GSA «iconic» Mackintosh building. The perception…” Jun 1, 09:21
Northcode on The View From Row Z: “Good God! I don’t believe I’ve ever witnessed a mind so thoroughly outpaced by the speed of its owner’s unthinking…” Jun 1, 08:36
Frank Gillougley on The View From Row Z: “Clearly, the ability to intelligently lie is inversely proportional for those in authority, hence she couldn’t have seen the motorhome…” Jun 1, 08:06
Hatey McHateface on The View From Row Z: “The Hate Crimes Act remains in force in Scotland. As it happens, no political party seems to see any popular…” Jun 1, 08:05
Rogueslr on The View From Row Z: “Is there any evidence the motorhome ever left the drive? And if so, where was it spotted on the ANPR…” Jun 1, 08:03
Hatey McHateface on The View From Row Z: “A masterclass, Northy, on how it is possible to circle even a single wagon. Here’s what a wondering world wants…” Jun 1, 07:32
Hatey McHateface on The View From Row Z: “An excellent post, Ian. There can now be no doubt that the SNP has foisted two in a row of…” Jun 1, 07:25
Roastin on The View From Row Z: “Point taken about London based journalist not being as clued up as Scottish journalists but the main Scottish papers have…” Jun 1, 07:13
Hatey McHateface on The View From Row Z: “What’s to deal with, YL? There’s not one of us who hasn’t sat up into the wee, small hours, crafting…” Jun 1, 07:09
Hatey McHateface on The View From Row Z: “Big deal, Northy. Now correct the rest of the shite.” Jun 1, 07:02
Aunty Flo on The View From Row Z: “Do you reckon that Nicola’s pathetic behaviour & exposure of many lies told during this whole corrupt pantomime has jeopardised…” Jun 1, 06:10
twathater on The View From Row Z: “The ONLY reason she is NOT on trial is because of the COPFS who are obviously NOT interested in serving…” Jun 1, 03:59
Young Lochinvar on The View From Row Z: “You know, see when you sit and slowly reflect on the human condition as it’s developed.. Well, Building another Ark…” Jun 1, 01:42
Cynicus on The View From Row Z: “Or, to paraphrase Oscar Wilde’s comment on reading of the death of Little Nell: “ it would take her heart…” Jun 1, 01:42
Young Lochinvar on The View From Row Z: “She probably did but any of the alphabetties needing “incentivised” would be one lead that should be followed..” Jun 1, 01:31
Cynicus on The View From Row Z: “Campbell Clansman says: 31 May, 2026 at 5:00 pm “With her lies Sturgeon climbed to the top of the (Holyrood)…” Jun 1, 01:19
Del G on The View From Row Z: “If oor Nicola didn’t see most of these items, my question is: Who were they going to? This sounds like…” May 31, 23:59
Mark Beggan on The View From Row Z: “No Comment. Mind your own business.” May 31, 23:52
Northcode on The View From Row Z: “Correction: Muriel Stark should of course read as Muriel Spark.” May 31, 23:38
Northcode on The View From Row Z: “You lot are too harsh on the lassie. She’s a simple wee soul who only wants to be known and…” May 31, 23:10
prj on The View From Row Z: “I suspect that when the police got involved they found a more serious crime to investigate and that was Murrell.…” May 31, 22:40
robertkknight on The View From Row Z: “Aye… Bring a tear to a glass eye, so it would.” May 31, 22:28
William G Walker on The View From Row Z: “Hello All, Whatever happened to the £667,000 which was “ring-fenced” in the late 2010s for Independence? Never mind the £410,000…” May 31, 22:26
Ex President Xiden on The View From Row Z: “She is currently on TV trying to reinvent herself amongst the wokeraty.” May 31, 22:26
