Since the astonishing election of 56 SNP MPs to the UK Parliament last May, the Unionist media – suddenly deprived of a whole contacts book full of friendly Scottish Labour bench-warmers ready to feed it cosy stories over a boozy expenses lunch in Whitehall – has raked through every bin and gutter in the land looking for anything (however pathetic) that it can try to puff up, distort, and rope into service as “dirt” on each of the Nat members, in an attempt to discredit them and the party.
So let’s just have a little look in here and – YIKES!
Sometimes it’s the smallest, most trivial things that give you away. Graham Grant is the Home Affairs Editor of the Scottish Daily Mail, and earlier this morning he tweeted this snarky dig at prominent independence supporter and pundit Pat Kane, also of the primarily-1980s band Hue And Cry:
Ostensibly it’s a throwaway gag aimed at puncturing an opponent’s pomposity and over-inflated self-regard while portraying the journalist as an arch, wise cynic.
(It seems needlessly churlish and picky to also point out that McGarry currently isn’t an “SNP MP”, so we won’t do that.)
Instead, the author, worth hundreds of millions of pounds, intends to try to pressure McGarry into making a donation to her childrens’ charity, Lumos, which we can only presume is happy to receive money generated by what some people might regard as intimidation bordering on blackmail.
So that’s all well and good. If you’re going to bully people, after all, it’s probably best if it’s at least for a worthy cause. Rowling was full of praise for abusive Tweeter “Brian Spanner” when he raised some money for the same charity last year by selling t-shirts mocking the loony “Scottish Resistance” campaign group.
But not all charitable donations attract such gratitude.
Social media amused itself briefly tonight over a spat between former SNP MP (now independent) Natalie McGarry and children’s author and hedge enthusiast JK Rowling.
In a cunning meta-twist which simultaneously proves and disproves its own claim, the headline above is itself a lie. It’s of course not true that every single headline you read in a newspaper is absolutely false.
As politics wakes up from the holidays, any readers still bothering to gaze at the pages of the Scottish media could be forgiven for a crushing sense of deja vu.
Over the last few days, as most of Scotland’s media has focused on hysterical smear stories and outright lies, we’ve been digging around trying to uncover the truth about events around and leading to the closure of the Forth Road Bridge.
We’ve lost count of how many times we’ve drawn people’s attention to the necessity of sticking with newspaper articles right to the end if you don’t want to be horribly misled by eye-catching headlines. But it never hurts to have another example.
If you only read the start of today’s Scottish Mail On Sunday “bombshell” on the Forth Road Bridge (the left side of the picture above), you might come to a very alarming conclusion. But if you get all the way through it, to the paragraphs we’ve highlighted in red and enlarged on the right-hand side of the image, you’ll discover the truth.
We were considering having a day off today, readers. There’s absolutely nothing of any note happening in Scottish politics, and the papers have been reduced to scraping up all manner of barely-reheated leftover dregs to fill their pages.
But then someone drew our attention to something in Scotland On Sunday about the ongoing Women For Independence fiasco, and we were too annoyed to let it lie.
I. Despair on The Final Robbery: “Not quite – Sturgeon and Beattie were not “initially charged.” They were arrested and interviewed, then released without charge.” May 25, 14:01
Athanasius on The Final Robbery: “Soon…anyone else thinking “take one for the team?”” May 25, 14:00
duncanio on The Final Robbery: “The COPFS didn’t prosecute the other two that were initially charged. I suppose that doesn’t stop a private prosecution from…” May 25, 13:55
agentx on The Final Robbery: “Nicola Sturgeon has responded after her estranged husband Peter Murrell was remanded She wrote on Instagram: “My reaction to the…” May 25, 13:55
Graeme on The Final Robbery: “£660k missing, £400k accounted for. What was deep throats advice in all the Presidents men?” May 25, 13:53
Cuphook on The Final Robbery: “Well done, Stu. Keep at it until the whole story is told. We’re not going to get independence until it…” May 25, 13:53
Ian on The Final Robbery: “The excuse of doing it to “bankroll a lavish lifestyle he craved but could not afford” is such nonsense. The…” May 25, 13:51
Iain More on Only An Excuse: “The ugly sisters take turns at cheating and have done so since the 1950’s at least. My one surviving grand…” May 25, 13:47
I. Despair on The Final Robbery: “1. The SNP has the option now of suing Murrell for recovery of the money he has admitted stealing from…” May 25, 13:43
sam on The Final Robbery: “No embezzlement of funds charges reating to his period as CEO from 2001 to 2010. He married Sturgeon in July…” May 25, 13:40
Iain More on The Final Robbery: “Wait a minute he admits to embezzling 400k plus from the SNP! What in the fuck happened to the 660k…” May 25, 13:38
Socrates MacSporran on The Final Robbery: “A little over £33,000 per year to be in something of a sham marriage with Sturgeon – I reckon he…” May 25, 13:32
sam on Only An Excuse: “Murrell appointed CEO of SNP in 2001 and served to 2023. No embezzlement charges in the early period. Married Sturgeon…” May 25, 13:24
Radical Cartoons on The Final Robbery: “Such a shame that organising honey traps to ruin a man’s reputation, then slandering him & hounding him until his…” May 25, 13:20
Willie on Only An Excuse: “So he walked in the sunshine into court three on tbe Royal Mile and left later in a prison van…” May 25, 13:11
Mr Boyce N Franks on Only An Excuse: “The SFA Confirmed that Hearts should have got a possible winning penalty against Motherwell and Celtic should not have got…” May 25, 12:53
Mark Beggan on Only An Excuse: ““I was decieved” Of course you were you stupid little Turnip. You don’t honestly think he wanted your sexy body…” May 25, 12:48
factfinder on Only An Excuse: “Indeed, Socrates. It would be interesting to know if there are details available of any individual items purchased with the…” May 25, 12:47
James on Only An Excuse: “So where does this leave the mugs who’ve been voting for the SNP over the last few years. The scotland…” May 25, 12:27
James on Only An Excuse: “YL; Cheers! As you know the Scottish people only bestowed the sobriquet “Good” to one of their kings who had…” May 25, 11:58
Socrates MacSporran on Only An Excuse: “I note from the posts by agentx there is a difference of £58,375.84 between the sum Murrell was originally charged…” May 25, 11:57
100%Yes on Only An Excuse: “I’d love to know if he can’t got into a relationship with her would he be still facing a trail?” May 25, 11:42
Oneliner on Only An Excuse: “Perhaps she will give evidence from behind a screen” May 25, 11:39
agentx on Only An Excuse: “Nicola Sturgeon married former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell on July 16, 2010, at Oran Mor in Glasgow. Murrell: The…” May 25, 11:35
Geri on Only An Excuse: “Oops! Sorry, I posted in the wrong convo… It’s psychological warfare & it’s by design to feel hopeless & absolutely…” May 25, 11:28
Bilbo on Only An Excuse: “I see that the SNP saying that Holyrood has to ‘unite behind Scotland’s right to decide’ https://archive.is/qWTfK What about independence…” May 25, 11:25
agentx on Only An Excuse: “It’s obvious now why the trial was put back from early May until after the election. I imagine what a…” May 25, 11:20
Bilbo on Only An Excuse: “From articles read, there’s no pictures of Sturgeon there offering her husband moral support. Any chance of seeing her there…” May 25, 11:18
agentx on Only An Excuse: “Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Houston led Operation Branchform, and said Murrell “abused his privileged position with access to Scottish National…” May 25, 11:08
Geri on Only An Excuse: “It’s psychological warfare & it’s by design to feel hopeless & absolutely fck up every level of government so the…” May 25, 11:06
