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.
Geri on Binfire Of The Vanities: ““he was a mossad stooge from way back, an agent of a foreign fucking power, which is I think, still…” May 5, 23:50
Jamie on Binfire Of The Vanities: “Hatey, I was trying to talk to you but I realise now you are either German or English, and I…” May 5, 22:50
Hatey McHateface on Binfire Of The Vanities: “Here you go, James, have a fish. Three days since it was landed. Been in the sun quite a bit.…” May 5, 22:42
Hatey McHateface on Binfire Of The Vanities: “I kind of skimmed your steaming piles, Confused, but glad I stuck it out to the end. Great news about…” May 5, 22:36
Hatey McHateface on Binfire Of The Vanities: “You talking to me? Jeezo, and you were the one complaining about “flat earth level of trolling pish”! But seeing…” May 5, 22:19
Bibo on Binfire Of The Vanities: “@ 100%Yes Ali won’t be back. You can tell he is totally indoctrinated and lacking in critical thinking if he…” May 5, 22:05
James on Binfire Of The Vanities: “The pair of them are sharing a caravan in Margate…. One bedroom.” May 5, 22:05
Confused on Binfire Of The Vanities: “it’s rude to mock someone for their looks, even if unfortunate https://archive.ph/eF9Eo sometimes you wish the sons of satan, enemies…” May 5, 22:02
Cynicus on Binfire Of The Vanities: ““Surely there must be one SNP politician who actually wants Scotland to regain its independence and is willing to put…” May 5, 22:01
Confused on Binfire Of The Vanities: “www.youtube.com/watch?v=W10xuGFYmM8 that is funny, but this next is hilarious, metal-guru polishes his brassneck and puts it on display https://archive.ph/HDj4H -…” May 5, 21:59
Mark Beggan on Binfire Of The Vanities: “They aint gettin off that easy. They still have to pay their share of the slave reparations and give back…” May 5, 21:58
Confused on Binfire Of The Vanities: “while its established TONY BLAIR is a cunt, a spawn of satan, who drove the nail into the coffin of…” May 5, 21:56
Confused on Binfire Of The Vanities: “the trouble with -cunts- being the devils own, is they never seem to go away; a bit of decent weather,…” May 5, 21:55
Mark Beggan on Binfire Of The Vanities: “So it’s the Beast cage for Linden. Only took ten years for justice to be served.” May 5, 21:49
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Binfire Of The Vanities: “RÓISÍN MURPHY: ‘FRIENDSHIPS COLLAPSED OVER PUBERTY BLOCKER CRITICISM’ (Republic of Ireland) Singer Róisín Murphy has spoken out for the first…” May 5, 21:47
Sven on Binfire Of The Vanities: “Mark Beggan @ 21.11. Well, definitely not with me, Mark (for which small grace I’m sure you are duly grateful).…” May 5, 21:31
Aidan on Binfire Of The Vanities: “No James – I have spent the last few days up in Svalbard. Nice to jump off my final plane…” May 5, 21:22
Doug on Binfire Of The Vanities: “James Connolly joined the British army. Michael Collins [and other republicans] worked for the GPO in London. Sir Roger Casement,…” May 5, 21:20
Mark Beggan on Binfire Of The Vanities: “Socrates said; To do is to be. Plato said; To be is to do and. Frank Sinatra said; Do Be…” May 5, 21:11
Doug on Binfire Of The Vanities: “As long as Swinney remains leader of the SNP there will be no progress on independence. Vote [or don’t vote]…” May 5, 21:07
agentx on Binfire Of The Vanities: “I predict that SNP and Reform UK Ltd will not perform as well as the polls predict.” May 5, 20:48
Jamie on Binfire Of The Vanities: “If you have so much pity for the people of the flag on my profile, why don’t you go and…” May 5, 20:33
Hatey McHateface on Binfire Of The Vanities: ““each one is free and independent when he/she realises it” Let me start a wee list: 1) Destroy your UK…” May 5, 20:27
Hatey McHateface on Binfire Of The Vanities: ““at least put some effort into it” You’re flying the flag of a country whose leaders have pursued policies that…” May 5, 19:53
Sven on Binfire Of The Vanities: “Mark Beggan @ 19.18 “Indy is finished before the vote begins.” To be is to do, Mark. The practise is…” May 5, 19:47
100%Yes on Binfire Of The Vanities: “I see Ali hasn’t returned your call. I’ll answer for him, their not and never will the SNP & Greens…” May 5, 19:36
Northcode on Binfire Of The Vanities: ““assimilation aye fails when peoples remain, even ‘the dregs of a rusted culture’ (Fanon) enough to breath life anew.” I…” May 5, 19:21
Captain Caveman on Binfire Of The Vanities: “On the contrary YL. The Welsh are a lovely, friendly and most welcoming people (as indeed are the Scots, present…” May 5, 19:20
Mark Beggan on Binfire Of The Vanities: “Indy is finished before the vote begins. Gloating is for fools.” May 5, 19:18
