There are two articles on the Spectator website today relating to last night’s breaking story about Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon. One of them readers of this site have seen already, because the Spectator has literally just cut and pasted it in its entirety from Wings (without any attribution or acknowledgement).
It’s the text of Salmond’s submission to the Hamilton inquiry, and we know they copied it from us (rather than having been leaked it independently) because of this paragraph:
As we told readers last night, that redaction was made by us – not by Salmond – as an extra precaution to prevent the possibility of one of the complainers in the criminal trial from being identified. It didn’t appear in Salmond’s actual submission, and so Wings is the only possible source for it being in the Spectator.
Stealing our story lock, stock and barrel without a credit is rather poor form from the magazine, but it’s the other piece we’re more concerned about.
If this site seems to spend most of its time being angry at the SNP these days, that’s because we are. And a large part of that is because there’s very little that hacks us off more than people insulting our intelligence.
Smith’s tweet is just a crassly offensive flat-out lie. This week’s vote is NOT about “EU membership”. The United Kingdom hasn’t been a member of the EU since 31 January. We’ve already left and there’s no going back. The vote is about whether we leave with a sliver of a trade deal slightly reducing the self-inflicted harm, or the total catastrophe of no deal at all, and it’s just crushingly embarrassing for all concerned that Smith thinks so little of his own supporters as to believe he can “frame” it otherwise.
We’ve just received the most extraordinary Freedom Of Information response from the Scottish Government, readers. Trust us, you want to go and make yourselves a strong cup of tea before you read it. Or get this guy to bring you one.
We’re grumpy this morning, readers, because it’s Sunday and we were planning a long lie and then someone told us about this. It’s the First Minister appearing on the Sophy Ridge show on Sky News at around 8.45am and you need to see it.
In news that will come as a shock to absolutely no readers at all, McDougall wasn’t just lying, and wasn’t just wrong about one thing, but was both wrong and lying about pretty much everything he said.
Both of the Yes camp’s “scare stories” which were sneeringly mocked by McDougall during a BBC debate in Inverness actually came true – the Tories DID win the next election, and Johnson DID end up as leader of the party and then as Prime Minister.
(McDougall burst into tears at Scottish Labour HQ on the night of the 2015 election as his party lost 40 of its 41 seats despite his services as Jim Murphy’s speechwriter and adviser, his powers of chortling seemingly having deserted him.)
The Daily Record today carries a piece by Scottish Labour MPs Ian Murray and Martin Whitfield (no, us either) bitterly attacking their leadership over the Euro election results.
The two men complain that Jeremy Corbyn and Richard Leonard won’t listen to them, and insist that the party must “heed the people” if it ever wants to wield power again.
So it’s a bit ironic that they won’t take their own advice.
Wings Over Scotland isn’t the only website dedicated to scrutinising the truthfulness of things claimed by politicians and media pundits. There’s the widely-respected and diligent FullFact.org, there’s Scotland’s own The Ferret, and there’s the BBC’s Reality Check (which frequently takes the more unconventional approach of, er, not making a finding either way about what the reality of things is).
And then there’s Channel 4’s FactCheck, which we’re going to generously assume had a liquid lunch yesterday and was a little under the weather.
Because not only is the conclusion that it reached on the subject of an independent Scotland having to use the Euro utter nonsense that’s been debunked roughly 1000 times in the last six years, it doesn’t even agree with itself.
Michael Glackin of the Sunday Times is the only serious contender to the Scotsman’s demented Brian Wilson as the most poisonously, blindly instinctive hater of anything even passingly connected to the SNP or independence in the Scottish media. His weekly bilious rants in the paper make even Scottish Daily Express hacks wince and say “Blimey, that’s a bit strong”.
But even by those standards, this week’s column is quite something. So let’s take a little look at just how much of an idiot you can make of yourself if you never allow facts to get in the way of your rage.
The extremely sharp and perceptive New Statesman writer Stephen Bush buries some of his political insight in a daily email newsletter (because, we assume, his fax machine doesn’t work, you can’t send telegrams any more and London flats don’t have enough room to keep a lot of messenger pigeons or let you send smoke signals).
And it’s a lot easier just to quote you a chunk of today’s than it is to rewrite the same observations into a new article ourselves.
TURABDIN on Two Men Unalike: “Removing an elected president for diminished responsibility is a complex matter which it would seem the US system has no…” Mar 4, 08:56
Hatey McHateface on Two Men Unalike: “Did Kipling or Churchill ever write anything about oath breakers?” Mar 4, 08:50
Mark Beggan on Two Men Unalike: “‘An appeaser is one who feeds the crocodile hoping it will eat him last’ Winston Churchill” Mar 4, 08:39
Hatey McHateface on Two Men Unalike: “Hmmm. Every total a multiple of 100. What are the chances? Indicative to me of somebody in charge of an…” Mar 4, 08:19
Hatey McHateface on Two Men Unalike: “Pop one in every Baby Box. Get Scotland’s future citizens accustomed to reality at a formative age.” Mar 4, 08:13
Hatey McHateface on Two Men Unalike: ““it’s actions” It’s “its actions”, Geri. Key to the restaurant business is presentation. That’s true, even when you’re naught but…” Mar 4, 08:05
Hatey McHateface on Two Men Unalike: “Good link, TURABDIN, and probability theory most certainly tells us that if we all read online articles for long enough,…” Mar 4, 07:47
Hatey McHateface on Two Men Unalike: ““word on the street” What street is that, Geri? Of far more interest, what are you doing there? BTW, did…” Mar 4, 07:34
Young Lochinvar on Two Men Unalike: “Oi Vey! Guys! Guys! Settle.. What you’ve both just railed about came direct courtesy of Uncle Sam! BIGLY FACT! Jesus…” Mar 4, 03:19
Young Lochinvar on Two Men Unalike: “Hmmmm.. Try: I could not dig, I dare not rob Instead I lied to please the mob. What tales shall…” Mar 4, 03:05
Young Lochinvar on Two Men Unalike: “Geri @ 11.31 Mystic Meg there Geri.. Pearl clutching from the “never have or will see service” hawks here but…” Mar 3, 23:40
Geri on Two Men Unalike: “Just in time for him to claim diminished responsibility & unfit for trial. I dunno why the yanks don’t ever…” Mar 3, 21:19
Geri on Two Men Unalike: “I hate to break it to you but the UK is the terrorist. The shit they’re involved in across the…” Mar 3, 21:12
Geri on Two Men Unalike: “Does it have an invisibility cloak? A secret stash of interceptors?” Mar 3, 20:58
TURABDIN on Two Men Unalike: “UNFIT.. https://archive.is/8oxBO keep away from matches, sharp objects and military hardware.” Mar 3, 20:40
Mark Beggan on Two Men Unalike: “Never in the field of British politics has so little been done by so few to protect so many.” Mar 3, 20:21
Iain More on Two Men Unalike: “It seems that those that followed the orders of Fuhrer Von Trump the Child Rapist are going to heading home…” Mar 3, 19:33
Sven on Two Men Unalike: “Maybe the ones whom some may feel to be too white, white, white, Mark.” Mar 3, 18:35
agentx on Two Men Unalike: ““At 1 December 2024 The total number of people registered at December 2024 to vote in Scottish Parliamentary and local…” Mar 3, 18:32
Mark Beggan on Two Men Unalike: “That needs changed. It’s being abused.” Mar 3, 18:25
agentx on Two Men Unalike: “” Voting by post If you know that you won’t be able to get to the polling station on polling…” Mar 3, 18:11
agentx on Two Men Unalike: “Earlier on Tuesday, it had been speculated that HMS Duncan might be deployed to the area, however Starmer confirmed on…” Mar 3, 18:04
Mark Beggan on Two Men Unalike: “Should the Scottish government issue Stab Vests to its citizens?” Mar 3, 17:39
Mark Beggan on Two Men Unalike: “With the Postal vote scandal now hitting the news it begs the question. How many postal votes are there in…” Mar 3, 17:29
Geri on Two Men Unalike: “It will become the currency. Do you think anyone in the ME will continue to trade in $ when the…” Mar 3, 17:23
Mark Beggan on Two Men Unalike: “We are already involved in the ‘big game of RISK’. In fact we are up to our necks in the…” Mar 3, 17:21
Hatey McHateface on Two Men Unalike: “I guess it’s a completely forlorn hope that even if the data is ever compiled and published, it will detail…” Mar 3, 16:55
Breastplate on Two Men Unalike: “Yes, John, I hadn’t noticed my ‘nd’ missing but I’m absolutely sure you understand what I have said. You are…” Mar 3, 16:50
Hatey McHateface on Two Men Unalike: “Informed and incisive analysis, Geri. I don’t know how you do it. How many billions will President Trump need to…” Mar 3, 16:48
Hatey McHateface on Two Men Unalike: “Fit happened there, Implants? Something seems tae hae hastened yer e [ Loving the economic illiteracy of your belief that…” Mar 3, 16:38
