Although we’re retired we already wrote this, so we may as well put it up for the 99.9% of Scots who don’t read the comments on David Leask‘s columns in the Herald.
It’s a claim he’s been banging on about since at least 2014, without ever providing a scrap of evidence to support it (his standard modus operandi), and yesterday was no exception. So let’s show Little Dave how proper big-boy journalists do it.
The First Minister released a short film this week.
While it has the character of a hostage video, with terrorists just off-camera pointing a gun at the unfortunate victim and forcing them to read out a pre-prepared text, sadly we doubt that was the case. We think this is really what she believes and intends.
Even just the tweet above by the author of the Times piece fails all kinds of basic journalistic standards of impartiality, but the article itself is vastly worse.
Any time you’re not sure whether something that happens in Scottish politics is good or bad for the cause of independence, here’s a top tip for you: see how the enemies of independence feel about it.
“Running scared” would seem to be a fair, if understated, summary.
In an attempt to freshen up its usual panel of tired and tiresome politicians and pundits, last night’s Question Time (ostensibly from an oddly-vague location in “the North East”) featured moderately-known circus fortune-teller Gypsy Rose Petulengro, crossing her palm with silver for some analysis in a short break from one of her celebrated seances.
The clip above was her take on whether Nicola Sturgeon would resign if either of the current inquiries found that she’d systematically and repeatedly lied to Parliament and broken the Ministerial Code, and the strange thing about it was that for someone who was professing to be looking into the future, she didn’t even appear to know the basic pertinent facts of the present or the past.
Alert readers will know by now that there’s nothing the Scottish media – and the Scottish Daily Mail in particular – likes more than printing scary-sounding figures with no context whatsoever by which people could judge how big or small they really are.
Nothing’s changed today (other than a rather sneaky inset shot of an old story about a different statistic which misleadingly makes today’s one look like a big increase), so rather than bang on we’ll just fill in the blanks: ScotRail runs around 760,000 trains a year, so this year’s cancellation figures amount to about 3.5% of all trains.
Which is to say, around one time in every 30 that you go to get a train it’ll have been cancelled and you’ll have to wait for the next one, which on the average commuter line will probably mean 15-20 minutes.
Which is still a pain in the hole, of course, but if it’s such a high number ask yourself why the Mail is so pathologically averse to simply telling you what percentage it is.
We’ll see you again with these figures in a few weeks, folks.
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.
Young Lochinvar on The Long Unravelling: “The “Supreme Court” was a creation of Teflon Tony and crew and obviously post dates the Act of Union so…” Nov 21, 02:33
Young Lochinvar on The Long Unravelling: “That wee bone however would have momentous impact in an election or referendum. Ask politicians who seek recounts. Just saying.” Nov 21, 02:15
Young Lochinvar on The Long Unravelling: “Gloriana; you are simply mendaciously playing arithmetical sophistry using figures for polls, figures as voted and figures per capita to…” Nov 21, 02:10
Young Lochinvar on The Long Unravelling: “Good points. Can you do the same for Westminster?” Nov 21, 02:02
Michael Laing on The Long Unravelling: “Have you really got nothing better to do with your time than endlessly churn out tedious, insulting, infantile bilge, Faceache?…” Nov 20, 22:15
Confused on The Long Unravelling: ““chortle” but postgate was a socialist and subtly, not preachy, wove these themes into his work … (starts thinking about…” Nov 20, 22:08
Confused on The Long Unravelling: ““rab clark” dont be afraid of your FREEDOM www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVw7fzIP6cQ” Nov 20, 22:06
Michael Laing on The Long Unravelling: “It’s almost like the independence party has been infiltrated, dismantled and neutralised by agents of the UK state.” Nov 20, 21:59
Dan on The Long Unravelling: “Plus the clangers are unfortunately now tainted in my mind because of all the racket created by all the folk…” Nov 20, 21:40
sarah on The Long Unravelling: “A detective inspector on the case has said the same – that it was NOT R—-n agents.” Nov 20, 21:34
Dan on The Long Unravelling: “It’s complex. The Clangers was broadcast on the BBC so naturally you have to consider whether the storyline is an…” Nov 20, 21:33
Aidan on The Long Unravelling: “You need to go back and read the Opinion of the committee, particularly the last paragraph under the title “Background”…” Nov 20, 21:16
Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Yeah, I’ve noticed that on TV booze adverts too. If you can just catch the small print at the bottom,…” Nov 20, 21:14
Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Jeezo, Ros. Not only are you destroying CM’s rep, now you’re going for Mark Hirst too. Soon Indy will have…” Nov 20, 21:02
Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Never heard of him, but tell us, how does he spell “Scotland”? Can he get that right? Help us decide…” Nov 20, 20:52
willie on The Long Unravelling: “To change the topic if I may can I just say that this evening I chanced on a full page…” Nov 20, 20:52
Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: ““jenno-side” Naw. 36 deid ain’t “jenno-side”. In the SS, you’d have been thrown out if you couldn’t exterminate 36 in…” Nov 20, 20:48
Confused on The Long Unravelling: “do the clangers remind you too much of beavers? I saw this and thought of you www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NlQiQfC4zQ” Nov 20, 20:43
Confused on The Long Unravelling: “getting the support of a half scottish golf nut who owns a lot of property here -should- have been a…” Nov 20, 20:37
Republicofscotland on The Long Unravelling: “Craig Murray, already blew the bullshit Skripal nonsense official English narrative out of the water – this is just the…” Nov 20, 20:29
Confused on The Long Unravelling: “slightly accidental post; but that ridiculous war is past its sellby date, it jumped the shark a long time ago…” Nov 20, 20:28
Republicofscotland on The Long Unravelling: “When Jefferey Sachs choses to speak – you’d do well to listen to his words. Scroll down a wee bit…” Nov 20, 20:18
Zander Tait on The Long Unravelling: “You do know your Time Machine YL.” Nov 20, 20:16
Xaracen on The Long Unravelling: “Your analysis of the matter is inept. The committee clearly took the view that the provisions of the Treaty’s Article…” Nov 20, 20:14
Republicofscotland on The Long Unravelling: “The evil monsters, that are committing jenno-side in the Levant region, just bombed the ancient city of Palmyra (sssyr-ia) -…” Nov 20, 20:06
robertkknight on The Long Unravelling: “The MAGA hat waving Raspootyn apologists are out tonight I see. Obviously never spoken to a refugee from east of…” Nov 20, 19:55
Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Jeezo, how old are you? Mentally, I mean. It’s only 30 years or so since we pushed them back out…” Nov 20, 19:55
Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: ““I’m pro Minsk Accords” You sure? According to Pres P, the Minsk Accords no longer exist. “residents of the Donbas…” Nov 20, 19:43
Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Wow, Confused, that’s some post! You do know, don’t you, that Napoleon and the Wehrmacht both invaded R and marched…” Nov 20, 19:20
Robert Hughes on The Long Unravelling: “ahahahaha ! fckn brilliant , ma man . But yr forgetting ….whilst the Big R has been the graveyard of…” Nov 20, 19:16
